student worksheet: media profi le - pearson education worksheet: media profi le ... these are the...

Student worksheet: Media profi leIt is useful to consider how much of the media you ‘consume’.

10 © Pearson Education Ltd 2009

AQA GCSE Media Studies Teacher Guide

1. Consider and discuss the following questions.

a) When did you last go to the cinema? What did you see? Who did you go with? ________________________________________________________________b) Do you ever watch videos or DVDs? What was the last video or DVD that you

bought or hired? Had you already seen the fi lm at the cinema? How do you prefer watching fi lms?

________________________________________________________________c) How much television do you watch? Try to work it out in hours per day. How do

you watch television? Do you only watch the programmes you want to watch or do you switch the television on and just keep watching all evening? Is there any kind of programme you won’t watch?

________________________________________________________________d) Do you listen to the radio? Which stations do you listen to? How often do you

listen to the radio? Don’t forget the car on the way in to school! ________________________________________________________________e) How often are you on the computer? What do you use the computer for? ________________________________________________________________f) Do you buy or play computer games? ________________________________________________________________g) Have you got an MP3 player? What have you got downloaded on it? ________________________________________________________________h) Do you ever read the newspaper? If so, which one, and how much of it? Do you

read magazines? How often and which ones? ________________________________________________________________i) Where and when do you listen to your favourite music? ________________________________________________________________j) Do you have advertisers’ logos showing on any of your clothes, bags, shoes, etc?

If so, which ones and on what? ________________________________________________________________

From the above, did you notice any trends? Do you have any comments?

2. You could now write up your personal media profi le from the answers you gave.

Make some comments about whether you are typical of your class and perhaps

expand your comments to include what other people in your family watch and read.

____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Media conceptsThere are four major concepts in Media Studies which students need to understand:

media Language Institution

Audience Representation.

It is also useful to be aware of Narrative and Genre.

A useful rhyme to get students to remember the four major concepts is: ‘Liar liar, pants on fi re!’ Or simply the acronym LIAR!

USEFUL DEFINITIONS

Language

These are the codes and conventions of the different areas of the media. This is where students learn what makes, for example, a horror fi lm a horror fi lm, and how they can identify a soap in any language. They will learn how to read a fi lm or image and how to make meaning out of signs and signifi ers. How do you know that a red light means stop or a certain look from someone tells you they are interested in you? Body language and other signifi ers are vital in the media because the producers have to get a message over quickly and they can’t afford to spend a lot of time explaining it – especially in something like television advertising where the producers have 30 seconds to sell you a product!

Institution

All of the media is a business. They are not there primarily to entertain us. They are there to make money (with some exceptions, such as the BBC). Producers study the way we consume the media and make products they know they can sell to us. Very rarely do they make mistakes. Always ask who is making money out of the venture. Institution also covers the rules and regulations that govern the media. What constraints are television companies under when producing material? What can and can’t advertisers do to sell you their products?

Audience

Without an audience or consumers there would be no media industry. It is vital that we understand who watches what, who reads what, and what television programmes are likely to appeal to whom. Advertisers spend millions on researching audiences. For example, it would be diffi cult to try to sell a top-range upmarket BMW in an area of high unemployment.

Representation

This is how we re-present something. If I take a photo of an apple, it remains a photo of an apple, not a real apple.

© Pearson Education Ltd 2009 11

Media concepts

Representation is a crucial aspect of studying the media because we need to be aware of what the media producers are doing. Stereotypes are used in the media because it is much easier to represent groups of people as a stereotype to ensure that audiences understand.

Narrative

Even adverts tell a story. All moving image texts have a narrative. Someone is trying to pass their audience a message. This is what mediation is all about.

Genre

We all have a favourite genre of fi lm or a favourite television programme. It is important in the study of the media to understand what the forms and conventions of the various genres are and to understand the different audiences the various genres appeal to. Why do some young people fi nd news and documentaries ‘boring’ yet think Big Brother interesting?



1. To see how much students have understood so far, ask them to choose one of the following:

young people, old people, teenagers an emotion: something like love, anger, jealousy or indifference a fi lm genre: westerns, war, romance, etc.

2. Next, ask the students to produce a collage or a 3D representation of what they have chosen. They could fi nd specifi c images or words or colours they think are appropriate.

3. When they have completed this they could share it with a partner and explain what they have done and why.

HOMEWORK OPPORTUNITY

Still and moving image languageDECONSTRUCTION AND REPRESENTATIONTo really understand how images, whether still or moving, are constructed, students fi rst have to deconstruct them. To deconstruct images they have to be able to complete denotation and connotation exercises on images.

Denotation involves explaining exactly what the image shows. This is a very factual description. Connotation is the underlying message.

Other vocabulary that might be needed to fully deconstruct an image includes sign (or signifi er). This is a word or image used to represent an object or an idea. For example, a policeman holding up his hand means ‘stop’; an outstretched hand, palm up, represents no danger; green represents either the environment or jealousy, depending on the context. To make sense of an image in this case you would need a caption to anchor the meaning.

Sometimes images are cropped to increase the effect of that image.

Students can make a viewfi nder that will be useful to practise cropping. For this they will need a piece of card about A5 size. Cut an oblong in the centre about 15cm × 10cm. This creates a frame from which they can ‘crop’ images and create new meanings. Newspapers, for example, do this all the time.

PRACTICAL IDEA: VIEWFINDERS


Still and moving image language

Ask students to select any image. They should complete a denotation, connotation and cropping exercise on that image. Remember they will be expected to produce an analysis of that image in the External Assessment.

HOMEWORK OPPORTUNITY

Ask the students to hold their arms out straight in front of them and slowly move them out to the side. Tell them to keep looking straight ahead. They need to stop moving their arms when they lose sight of them. This gives them their normal fi eld of vision. Next, tell them to stretch their arms out in front of them and look straight ahead. This is the fi eld of vision of a camera. This gives them some idea about how selective the camera has to be.

PRACTICAL IDEA: FILM AND TELEVISION LANGUAGE



If you can, get out with the students to take some digital camera images. If this is not possible you need to scour some magazines to fi nd examples of the right shots. The students need to stick the images they have taken or collected in exercise books or folders and caption them. The object of the exercise is to represent various shot distances so they need to choose about fi ve images. They should include some shots from the list below.

Long shot (LS) This includes the subject and enough of the surroundings to show context. If it is a human form it will include most, if not all, of the body.

Mid-shot (MS) This usually only includes the upper or lower half of the body or object.

Close-up (CU) This shot is used to show emotions on people and detail on objects.

Extreme close-up

(ECU)

This is when extreme detail is needed, for example, a clock face with the hands ticking away or a tear drop falling.

Over the shoulder

shot

This is usually used when two people are talking. Look out for these when watching soaps.

Two head shot This is used when you want to show the two people talking together.

Point of view shot

(POV)

This is for when the camera becomes the eyes of the subject.

PRACTICAL IDEA: SHOT DISTANCE

Notes

Long shots are used more in fi lms and close-ups are used more in television. It is useful to consider why.

The above shots may be described in slightly different terms but the types of shot remain the same.

If you are going out to use a digital camera, make sure students really know how to use it, especially for the extreme close-ups.



Long shot

Close up

Over the shoulder shot

Mid shot

Extreme close up

Two head shot

Point of view shot



Timing: Seconds

Camera: Angle/Distance

Sound: Dialogue/music Lighting: Direction

STORYBOARDSWith all the information you have here on both still image and moving image language, students are now in a position to complete a storyboard. Look at the following completed storyboard. There is a blank storyboard on the next page for your students to use.

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student worksheet: media profi le - pearson education worksheet: media profi le ... these are the...

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