http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/excerpts/TV03.html
http://dannystack.blogspot.com/2005/12/beat-sheets.html
http://lucyvee.blogspot.com/2008/05/outlines-beat-sheets-treatments.html
mcu.edu.tw/~vedrash/Courses/ELC/Fall_07/…BeatSheet/explan.doc
http://www.beatsheetcentral.com/
MISE-EN-SCENE (French for ‘put in the scene’)
EDITING
Some important edits are called: continuity (or ‘Hollywood’) edits; MTV (’music television’) edits; cross-cuts; follow-cuts; match-cuts; jump cuts; eye-line matches; dissolves; fades; montages; bridging; flashbacks…
SHOT TYPES
Establishing shot / long-shot / mid-shot / close-up / point-of view shot / soft-focus…
Semiotics is the name given to the study of the way by which meaning is created in the world, especially in the mass media. It is based upon the Idea of ’signs’ and ‘codes’, ‘denotation’ and ‘connotation’.
A sign is the basic unit of meaning in semiotics. A sign is any individual thing that signifies meaning; for example, your clothes are a group of ‘fashion signs’ which signify meaning (perhaps you are trying to look ‘cool’?). There are two ways that signs create meaning: all signs have a literal meaning, which is called their denotation; but, depending on the context, many signs also suggest other ‘layers’ of meaning, which is called their connotation. For example, an image of a girl dressed all in white denotes just that, I.e. this is what you ’see’; but it may also connote innocence or purity (and all that this means in our society and culture), i.e. this is what you ‘think’.
Connotation, therefore, is always more than the denotation. Signs rarely work alone. They are most often combined with other signs to form a code.
A code is a group of signs that we recognise as going ‘naturally together’ to signify meaning (e.g. a rose is a sign; but being handed to a girl by a boy could create a ‘romance code’ and suggest love).
Film and TV codes are often called technical codes because technical equipment is used to create them.
There are three ways through which codes and signs can signify meaning: Iconicity: an iconic sign or code looks just like the thing it seems to represent, e.g. an image of a cowboy seems to be just that; but it is called iconic because it suggests far more than it should: for example, our culture tends to associate extra meanings with the idea of ‘cowboy’, such as toughness, heroism, masculinity, etc. Iconic signs are never reality: they are a representation of reality.
Indexicality (an indexical sign or code) in a sign directly suggests meaning because what it shows seems to be the result of something we associate with the thing it represents, e.g. smoke suggests fire, sweat suggests exercise, appearance can suggest wealth, etc. This can be a short-cut way for a film director to create meaning.
Symbolism (a symbolic sign or code) suggests meaning because we have learned this meaning in our culture; a symbol, in itself, has no association with what it means, e.g. a red heart shape suggests love; letters combine to make words, etc. The meaning we gain from codes is said to be culturally determined which .means that our culture ‘taught’ us that particular way to interpret the meaning. For example, when we see our national flag, the Union Jack, we see more than what it simply denotes – a piece of coloured cloth: patriotism and pride, etc.
An important code is an enigma code. These codes put a fascinating question in the mind of the audience that only watching the movie will answer. They tempt the audience to watch and are often used in trailers. A convention is simply a way of doing something that we are so used to we usually fail to notice it; conventions can seem ‘perfectly natural’ or ‘realistic’ yet are anything but. So: women in cowboys tend conventionally to be either ‘very good’ or ‘very bad’ – and this seems ‘normal’ within the genre of cowboy movies; the wheels of a car always screech; guns always kill outright; a punch always knocks a person out cold.
Genre and narrative are important media conventions that are covered later, as are editing techniques and-the use of certain shot types (such as an establishing shot sequence or montage – see later).
Cinema and TV codes are created within an area bounded by the edges of a screen. By controlling what objects and action are in this frame, a film director creates what is called a mise-en-scene.
Asking questions such as ‘who, what and where’ of the characters and objects and their relative positions, expressions, appearance, costume, make-up, scenery, props, lighting, sounds, etc. in a mise-en-scene will help you analyse it.
Try to consider what effects are created in a mise-en-scene’, what meaning they have (their denotation and, most importantly, connotation), how they have been created and why they were created (which will be the director’s purpose – perhaps to develop a character, a mood, the storyline or plot and sometimes to explore a deeper meaning or idea, i.e. a theme).
Editing is the placing of separate shots together. This allows a director to manipulate space and time hundreds of miles or weeks of time can be reduced to a few scenes that appear perfectly natural and believable to the audience. A montage is a most important editing technique. It is a series of shots that are edited together to create a kind of ‘individual unit’ of meaning.
Continuity edits – especially matched cuts – are called ‘Hollywood editing’. This creates a sequence that seems to flow naturally on from the previous one, and in which the edits are ‘invisible’. These have the effect of creating a realistic and seamless flow to a story or narrative (see below) where one event leads naturally onto the next.
Jump-cuts are dramatic edits; MTV edits are rapid sequences of fast jump cuts used to create a conscious effect as used first in pop-videos;
cross-cuts/parallel editing follow different actions such as two people talking; follow-cuts follow an action to its consequence, e.g. a character looking edits to what they look at
eye-line matches are a kind of follow cut).
A sound-bridge is a sound edit that allows sound from one shot to cross into the next to create continuity.
An establishing shot is usually the opening shot of a sequence; it ’sets the scene’ and locates the action. It is often followed by a mid-shot followed by a close-up shot.
A subjective point-of-view shot (POV) is at eye-level and appears as if you are viewing the scene from the character’s perspective (as in ‘Blair Witch’).
An objective point-of-view shot acts as if you are an observer secretly looking into a scene.
CAMERA ANGLE Eye-line match / high / low
CAMERA MOVEMENT Zooming / tracking / panning / hand-held
LIGHTING High key, neutral, low key
‘DIEGESIS’ AND SOUND
VISUAL EFFECTS / SFX
NARRATIVE
GENRE
ICONOGRAPHY
THE ‘STAR SYSTEM’
REALISM
‘Verisimilitude’
‘Generic verisimilitude’
‘Cultural verisimilitude’
Camera angles can signify meaning, e.g. a subjective POV high angle shot can crate a superior feel. Different camera movements can create significant meaning – a zoom or tracking shot into a close-up of a face can create emotion, a pan across a war scene can suggest violence; POV tracking shots and POV hand-held camera shot can create tension and involvement by making you feel as if you are a part of the action.
Lighting can create atmosphere and mood as well as signify meaning, e.g. in a horror movie, light and shade are important codes of meaning. High-key lighting is harsh; soft-key lighting creates a romantic atmosphere, spotlighting picks out a character from a group, etc.
Diegesis means the ‘world of the film’: if something seems to be a part of the ‘world of the film’, it is called ‘diegetic’. So, sound that is a part of the action is diegetic sound, e.g. wind noise, screeching cars, etc; but sound that is added’ to create, most often, mood or atmosphere is called non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sounds may also be added in after filming, or may be exaggerated for effect (e.g. loud footsteps).
SFX (special effects’) often use computer-generated graphics to create compelling realism and meaning.
The use of a narrative structure is a major convention of cinema and TV. We are all immersed in narratives and have been since childhood as we tell of or hear about the complex events of the world not in the form of long-winded complex details or bald information but as absorbing and interesting stories. Yet this way of explaining real as opposed to fictional events greatly oversimplifies reality whilst at the same time; paradoxically, appearing very realistic and believable. For instance, real events are rarely clearly ‘connected’ by such simple ’cause and effect’ relationships as in stories (i.e. this leads to that because…). Yet in narrative they always are. And in the real world people are not either good (i.e. ‘heroes’) or evil (i.e. ‘villains’); but in narrative they always are to some degree at least. And so on. For better or worse, we tell and hear of world events as narratives and media producers know this and use it to create media texts that rely on narrative structures and forms to be absorbing, compelling and convincingly realistic. Because of this, filmed narratives can easily trick us into thinking we are viewing a real ‘window on the world’.
Genre means the type/kind of narrative being told, e.g. detective, sci-fi, horror, etc. Genre defines a text by its similarities to other texts. Importantly, when we watch a genre film we have many pre-existing expectations of the types of characters, setting and events we want to see (prediction is a major aspect of our enjoyment of a film, and genre helps this). Genre conventions are an important way a director can create believable ‘versions of reality’ because we fail to see that what is shown is not reality at, all, but a media convention that we have become accustomed to seeing in that kind of film. So… we don’t mind the owner of a casino being horribly killed because we see him, in the gangster genre as naturally a ‘villain’. Film companies use genre to sell and make films: a popular genre creates a greater chance of commercial success; and genre can be cost effective, making it cheaper to write new stories and reducing the need for entirely new sets. Iconography is an important aspect of genre. We come to expect to see certain objects within the mise-en-scene of a particular genre, for example, in a Western, we expect to see dusty lonely roads, saloon bars, cowboy hats and horses, jails, sheriffs badges, etc.; in a modern horror film, we expect lonely girls, ‘normal’ objects, use of dark and light, etc. These ‘genre indicators’ are called the iconography of the genre. Celebrities and film stars are an important part of the iconography of cinema and TV.
Different stars can be important signifiers of meaning. They can create expectations of character and action, help identify genre, and create powerful iconic representation of such as masculinity and femininity. Cinema and TV are able to offer high levels of ‘realism’: the bright screen, the clear and powerful Dolby sound, darkened room, etc. are highly compelling and persuasive. Such ‘appearance of reality’ is given the odd name of verisimilitude. This is yet another convention of course – there is nothing ‘realistic’ about an image on a flat screen.
There are two kinds of verisimilitude: generic verisimilitude is the ‘realism’ that convinces us because of the genre we are watching (in the horror genres it seems highly realistic for a vampire to sink his teeth into a person’s neck); cultural verisimilitude is the kind of reality that convinces us because it looks like the way things are or should
Notes on ‘The Gaze’
Daniel Chandler
Laura Mulvey on film spectatorship
Whilst these notes are concerned more generally with ‘the gaze’ in the mass media, the term originates in film theory and a brief discussion of its use in film theory is appropriate here.
As Jonathan Schroeder notes, ‘Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view’ (Schroeder 1998, 208). The concept derives from a seminal article called ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ by Laura Mulvey, a feminist film theorist. It was published in 1975 and is one of the most widely cited and anthologized (though certainly not one of the most accessible) articles in the whole of contemporary film theory.
Laura Mulvey did not undertake empirical studies of actual filmgoers, but declared her intention to make ‘political use’ of Freudian psychoanalytic theory (in a version influenced by Jacques Lacan) in a study of cinematic spectatorship. Such psychoanalytically-inspired studies of ‘spectatorship’ focus on how ‘subject positions’ are constructed by media texts rather than investigating the viewing practices of individuals in specific social contexts. Mulvey notes that Freud had referred to (infantile) scopophilia – the pleasure involved in looking at other people’s bodies as (particularly, erotic) objects. In the darkness of the cinema auditorium it is notable that one may look without being seen either by those on screen by other members of the audience. Mulvey argues that various features of cinema viewing conditions facilitate for the viewer both the voyeuristic process of objectification of female characters and also the narcissistic process of identification with an ‘ideal ego’ seen on the screen. She declares that in patriarchal society ‘pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’ (Mulvey 1992, 27). This is reflected in the dominant forms of cinema. Conventional narrative films in the ‘classical’ Hollywood tradition not only typically focus on a male protagonist in the narrative but also assume a male spectator. ‘As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence’ (ibid., 28). Traditional films present men as active, controlling subjects and treat women as passive objects of desire for men in both the story and in the audience, and do not allow women to be desiring sexual subjects in their own right. Such films objectify women in relation to ‘the controlling male gaze’ (ibid., 33), presenting ‘woman as image’ (or ‘spectacle’) and man as ‘bearer of the look’ (ibid., 27). Men do the looking; women are there to be looked at. The cinematic codes of popular films ‘are obsessively subordinated to the neurotic needs of the male ego’ (ibid., 33). It was Mulvey who coined the term ‘the male gaze’.
Mulvey distinguishes between two modes of looking for the film spectator: voyeuristic and fetishistic, which she presents in Freudian terms as responses to male ‘castration anxiety’. Voyeuristic looking involves a controlling gaze and Mulvey argues that this has has associations with sadism: ‘pleasure lies in ascertaining guilt – asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness’ (Mulvey 1992, 29). Fetishistic looking, in contrast, involves ‘the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous. This builds up the physical beauty of the object, transforming it into something satisfying in itself. The erotic instinct is focused on the look alone’. Fetishistic looking, she suggests, leads to overvaluation of the female image and to the cult of the female movie star. Mulvey argues that the film spectator oscillates between these two forms of looking (ibid.; see also Neale 1992, 283ff; Ellis 1982, 45ff; Macdonald 1995, 26ff; Lapsley & Westlake 1988, 77-9).
This article generated considerable controversy amongst film theorists. Many objected to the fixity of the alignment of passivity with femininity and activity with masculinity and to a failure to account for the female spectator. A key objection underlying many critical responses has been that Mulvey’s argument in this paper was (or seemed to be) essentialist: that is, it tended to treat both spectatorship and maleness as homogeneous essences – as if there were only one kind of spectator (male) and one kind of masculinity (heterosexual). E Ann Kaplan (1983) asked ‘Is the gaze male?’. Both Kaplan and Kaja Silverman (1980) argued that the gaze could be adopted by both male and female subjects: the male is not always the controlling subject nor is the female always the passive object. We can ‘read against the grain’. Teresa de Lauretis (1984) argued that the female spectator does not simply adopt a masculine reading position but is always involved in a ‘double-identification’ with both the passive and active subject positions. Jackie Stacey asks: ‘Do women necessarily take up a feminine and men a masculine spectator position?’ (Stacey 1992, 245). Indeed, are there only unitary ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ reading positions? What of gay spectators? Steve Neale (1983) identifies the gaze of mainstream cinema in the Hollywood tradition as not only male but also heterosexual. He observes a voyeuristic and fetishistic gaze directed by some male characters at other male characters within the text (Stacey notes the erotic exchange of looks between women within certain texts). A useful account of ‘queer viewing’ is given by Caroline Evans and Lorraine Gamman (1995). Neale argues that ‘in a heterosexual and patriarchal society the male body cannot be marked explictly as the erotic object of another male look: that look must be motivated, its erotic component repressed’ (Neale 1992, 281). Both Neale and Richard Dyer (1982) also challenged the idea that the male is never sexually objectified in mainstream cinema and argued that the male is not always the looker in control of the gaze. It is widely noted that since the 1980s there has been an increasing display and sexualisation of the male body in mainstream cinema and television and in advertising (Moore 1987, Evans & Gamman 1995, Mort 1996, Edwards 1997).
Gender is not the only important factor in determining what Jane Gaines calls ‘looking relations’ – race and class are also key factors (Lutz & Collins 1994, 365; Gaines 1988; de Lauretis 1987; Tagg 1988; Traube 1992). Ethnicity was found to be a key factor in differentiating amongst different groups of women viewers in a study of Women Viewing Violence (Schlesinger et al. 1992). Michel Foucault, who linked knowledge with power, related the ‘inspecting gaze’ to power rather than to gender in his discussion of surveillance (Foucault 1977).
MORE ABOUT MORE!: THE SEXUAL LANGUAGE OF YOUNG WOMEN’S MAGAZINES
On this page (by David Gauntlett) we consider whether the sexual freedom and assertiveness encouraged by magazines like More (and its sisters, like Cosmopolitan and Glamour) is a good thing for young women – basically, I argue that it is – and then we see what some actual teenagers think about this, via the results of some brand new qualitative research conducted over the internet.
More is a British magazine aimed at older teenagers and twentysomething women, although it is also enjoyed by younger teenagers eager to read a more ‘grown up’ magazine. International viewers might think of an even more youthful and zesty version of Cosmopolitan, with even more emphasis on sex and enthusiastic discussion of how you can make men submit to your sexual will.
The content of More is a clear-cut positive rejection of the stuffy old conservatism about sexual matters that was around 10 or 20 years ago. It is emphatically post-traditonal – or, indeed, anti-traditional (in terms of its exuberant celebration of female desire). Like other ‘girl power’ texts, it emphasises that women should be able to get what they want from men, when they want it; that men should not dictate the terms of a relationship; that a woman has the right to look and dress however she likes, for her own pleasure; and that a woman has the right to demand satisfaction in sex, in work, and in every other area of life.
Of course, there are some problems with this recipe. It is emphatically heterosexual (in a way that is not really undermined by the occasional feature on the joys of lesbianism). Some people complain that the magazines reduce women to sex-obsessed predators, and objectify men as ‘eye candy’ – but this is a blatant reversal of the traditional ‘male gaze’, and remains powerful politically. Also, like all women’s magazines (and to a lesser extent, men’s magazines) they may promote an ideal of attractiveness which readers may be unable or unwilling to attain.
Angela McRobbie has argued that feminists should not dismiss magazines such as More out of hand. She admits that such magazines may not exactly reflect feminist ideals, but points out that, as far as many young women are concerned, academic feminism is part of the world of middle-aged authority figures – and we cannot really expect young people to simply ‘do what they are told’ by the establishment. Nevertheless, McRobbie says that ‘feminism exists as a productive tension’ in the magazines. More and Cosmo do promote the kinds of confidence, self-awareness and assertiveness that feminism was always calling for: woman are encouraged to know their own bodies and their needs, to articulate what they want, and to make well-informed decisions based on their own interests and desires, and not what other people want them to do. As I say in Media, Gender and Identity (2002):
In the magazines for older teenagers and young women, the encouragement of women to be sexual actors – even predators – rather than sexual objects or victims, reflects a ‘feminist’ turning of the tables. Feminists never really suggested that having sex with lots of men was a goal in itself, but the rejection of passive femininity, and the freedom to openly desire others, is feminist progress.
So that’s one view, but really we need to check it out by talking to actual teenagers. To that end, I spent a lot of time on internet message boards for teenagers, such as Teenfront.co.uk, sending messages and emails to young people from the UK and further afield. (Being a 30 year old man hanging out on teen websites for research purposes raises ethical concerns, of course – I was always careful to say who I was, what I was doing, and reminding teenagers not to disclose their address or other personal details to anyone on the net).
Most of the young women liked More‘s openness about sexual matters:
I get every issue of More magazine and I think it is good that they talk about sex in the way that they do. I think that More is aimed at people in their late teens (e.g. 15/16 to early twenties or older) so the majority of these people are probably sexually active and the information they give you is good for these types of people. I am 16 and have been getting More for about a year now, before that I got Bliss magazine but I felt that I was growing out of it a bit. I still buy other mags too though like Bliss and J17. I personally think that if someone is reading More magazine and their parents are not happy with the content, they should not let them buy More magazine. But I think that More has a lot of information to offer about sex, and young people need educating about the facts, the more information you have the more you are going to know. Magazines are another source of information. My mum said she did disapprove at first of me reading More magazine because of the men on the centre pages and the sex position of the fortnight etc, but she was just finding it hard to believe that I was growing up – she still let me read it though. I don’t think my mum has any problem with me reading it now though. So basically I think that More is good for the right age group.
(Sarah, age 16, UK)
I think they should have a bit about sex in them, because some people don’t know properly about sex and stuff, but are too embarrassed to ask at home about it, but if they see it in a mag it might help them a bit… But if there’s too much it does get boring.
(Angie, 16, UK)
I think it’s good that magazines discuss sex… I’m 17, and I think it would be unrealistic to expect a magazine aimed at my age group not to discuss sex, as it’s already ‘part of our lives’ if you know what I mean. Personally, I think that sex being discussed in magazines makes me feel more confident, as the stuff you read in magazines is probably more reliable that the stuff people tell you, and so, if you know facts about getting pregnant or whatever, you are more likely to make ‘informed choices’ about sex etc.
(Clare, 17, UK)
Some responses made direct and indirect reference to changing gender roles and historical taboos:
I agree that with magazines discussing sex help us teens realise not only that we have to be careful, but I think it has made me more confident. With girl power and all, it has changed the roles a lot – not long ago the men were the bread winners and the women stayed at home looking after the children. Now it has all changed, a lot of women are the main money bringers, which would have seemed odd, back then.
(Charlie, 16, UK)
It’s good that magazines write about sex and boys. You learn so much, and it’s pretty interesting too. Boys are still ahead of us girls with lust and stuff. If a girl has sex with some guys, people call her a slut, and if a boy does the same thing people consider him cool. It’s not totally equal, yet. But I hope it will be some day. In relationships it’s more equal, I guess. I think it’s great that magazines brings the ‘girl power-message’. It makes you feel more confident, and it helps you 2 stand up for your rights as a girl!
(Camilla, 13, Sweden)
I reckon its great about equality, that something I feel strongly about everyone should be equal. however, I do think that sex is still a bit of a taboo subject hence all the teenage pregnancies. I think nowadays it is more open but not completely. in relationships girls are being the more dominant role and I reckon thats great we should all have a chance, but I think it tends to be the boys with the more dominant role.
(Kate, 16, UK)
This woman was supportive of sex coverage in general, so that readers would be well informed, but raised concerns about the tone of the writing:
I think it’s good that sex can be discussed in magazines as other types of media are a lot less willing to do it. However, More is slightly worrying as it focuses on the sex itself rather than the emotion, like younger mags (e.g. J17), and it only carries a small thing at the bottom of the page about contraception. If we’ve got one of the highest pregnancy rates then why aren’t mags constantly promoting ‘safe’ rather than ‘fun’ sex? Kids need to be clued up and with the prudish society we live in, mags are sometimes the easiest way to get it. As long as the content is aimed at the audience and is informative, I see no problem whatsoever. In my opinion, if parents aren’t willing to talk openly to their children about sex then they’re in no position to criticise mags that give them the information they need.
(Jane, 17, UK)
Others were less certain that a lot of material about sex was a good idea:
I think that you should have not too much about sex, but you should have some of it but just the right amount, as if there’s too much it gets really boring.
(Holly, 15, UK)
And some found the repetitive emphasis on sex rather oppressive:
I’m a virgin and don’t really understand what the point in underage sex is to be honest! I think I’d want to have sex when I’m settled with someone I love, not just to lose my virginity. … I think mags inform people about safe sex and I agree that all these ‘Sleeping with my best mate’s boyfriend’ stories are quite funny.
(Claire, 14, UK)
More! is not really a ‘teenage’ magazine of the same category as stuff like Bliss, Sugar, J17 etc. I’m 17, and so technically still a teenager, and it’s one of the ones we most read now. Some of my friends actually keep the ‘position of the fortnight’ bits, either for current use with their boyfriends, or for future ideas! I think it aims to make women feel more powerful about sex, like they’re in control etc, which is a good thing. As a 17 year old who is still a virgin, however, I do sometimes get a bit depressed by it. I find the ‘younger’ mags I’ve mentioned before too immature for me, but reading about all these people and their various romps does sometimes make me think ‘what’s wrong with me, why aren’t I doing this?’ The paradox is that I tell myself I’m happy being a virgin, that in the end it’ll be worth it, and anyway, it’s not like there’s been any great opportunity for me to lose it. But sometimes it seems to be implying that what goes on in their stories etc is ‘normal’ and a positive thing to be encouraging, and that those of us who aren’t doing it are missing out. The publishers will probably argue that it isn’t aimed at our age group, it’s meant for a bit older, but everyone reads it, and so is influenced by it.
(Helenia, 17, UK)
I’m 14 and even though I don’t often read magazines like that, when I do I find it annoying. It seems to put pressure on teens to have sex, which I think is stupid.
(Louise, 14, UK)
Overall, then, teenagers were well able to think critically about the magazines. Although some young and not-quite-so-young readers found the repeated sex themes to be rather claustrophobic, most readers recognised that they were useful in information terms, and also somewhat empowering, particularly when considered in contrast with gender roles and attitudes of the past.
Of course, it could be argued that teenagers themselves are not best qualified to say what they should and should not be reading – shouldn’t that be left to psychologists, teachers, politicians, social scientists? Well, maybe these authority figures can make a contribution, but we have seen (here and elsewhere) that young people are relatively cautious and sensible about their media choices – even surprisingly conservative at times.
The self-assured ‘girl power’ messages of magazines like More give young women a language of empowerment and self-fulfillment which is a vibrant element to stir into the mix of influences that teenagers face every day. This only makes sense within certain limits, of course – sexual power is not the same as power in other arenas, such as the workplace, and an emphasis on sexuality is often (though not necessarily) linked to certain notions of glamour and beauty. Nevertheless, the positive, confident message of magazines like More is surely a refreshing change from the subservient feminine lifestyle models of the past.
‘MUST contain an element of audience feedback and may be integrated with the presentation of the research and planning material or separately.’ – this is off OCR spec – must be included
Parts of a Newspaper
Layout, typical features and technical terms Some or all of these may be found on the front pages of newspapers.
! Box-out – A small part of the page, shaded in a different colour.
! By-line – the name of the reporter, if they are important is often included at the beginning of the feature, rather than at the end, or not at all.
! Caption – typed text under photographs explaining the image.
! Credits – the author of a feature may be given credit in the form of a beeline. Photographs may have the name of the person who took them or the agency that supplied them alongside them.
! Crosshead – this is a subheading that appears in the body of the text and is centred above the column of text. If it is se to one side then it is called a side-head.
! Exclusive – this means that newspaper and no one else solely cover the story. The paper will pay their interviewees, buying the story so it cannot be used by another paper.
! Feature – not necessarily a ‘news’ item (current affairs), but usually with a human-interest angle presented as a spread.
! Headline – this is the main statement, usually in the largest and boldest font, describing the main story. A banner headline spans the full width of the page.
! Kicker – this is a story designed to stand out from the rest of the page by the use of a different font (typeface) and layout.
! Lead Story – the main story on the front page, usually a splash.
! Lure – a word or phrase directing the reader to look inside the paper at a particular story or feature.
! Masthead – the masthead is the title block or logo identifying the newspaper at the top of the front-page. Sometimes an emblem or a motto is also placed within the masthead. The masthead is often set into a block of black or red print or boxed with a border; the ‘Red-tops’ (The Sun, The Mirror, The News of the World) are categorised by style and the use of a red background in the masthead.
! Menu – the list of contents inside the paper.
! Pugs – these are at the top left and right-hand corners of the paper and are known as the ‘ears’ of the page. The prices of the paper, the logo or a promotion are positioned there. They are well placed to catch the reader’s eye.
! Secondary Lead – this is usually only a picture and headline, it gives a sneak preview of a story that you might find inside the paper.
! Sidebar – when a main feature has an additional box or tinted panel along side of it.
! Splash – the splash is the main story on the front of the paper. The largest headline will accompany this, along with a photograph.
! Spread – a story that covers more than one page.
! Standfirst – this is an introductory paragraph before the start of the feature. Sometimes it may be in bold.
! Strapline – this is an introductory headline below the headline.
! Tag – a word or phrase used to engage a reader’s interest in a story by categorising it e.g. ‘Exclusive’, ‘Sensational’.
!Tip-on. a promotional item, such as a magnet or game piece, affixed to the cover of a publication.
Built-in Mac Screenshot Commands Key & Combination Result :
Command+Shift+3 Capture entire screen and save as a file
Command+Control+Shift+3 Capture entire screen and copy to the clipboard
Command+Shift+4 Capture dragged area and save as a file
Command+Control+Shift+4 Capture dragged area and copy to the clipboard
Command+Shift+4 then Space bar Capture a window, menu, desktop icon, or the menu bar and save as a file
Command+Control+Shift+4 then Space bar Capture a window, menu, desktop icon, or the menu bar and copy to the clipboard
One handy trick to know about when using the dragging methods (Command+Shift+4) is how the cursor crosshairs work. To delineate an exact pixel region, the cursor crosshairs should overlap the top and left edges of the area you want to capture, but extend one pixel below and to the right of it (see Figure 2). This technique works with the selection crosshairs in other applications as well
http://moviedistributionfacts.wordpress.com/
Please read following document about representation. there will be questions in the mock exam covering the main ideas. Happy Christmas!
Media Studies
Key Concepts
REPRESENTATION
By Steve Baker
Adapted for Sandringham by David Allison and Simon Wallace
2007 edition
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3
Table of Contents
Mediation ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Mediation — three things to look for ……………………………………………………………………………. 2
Representation……………………………………………………………………………………………………2
What is representation?……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
TASK………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
TASK………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
Society, the individual and representation……………………………………………………………………… 3
The Reflective view of representing……………………………………………………………………………… 3
The Intentional view…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
The Constructionist view…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Society? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Stereotypes………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
Representation — How we stereotype: …………………………………………………………………………. 6
The four parts of a media stereotype …………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Changing representations – Countertypes ……………………………………………………………………… 8
Can we ever avoid stereotypes?……………………………………………………………………………………. 9
Hegemony versus Pluralism……………………………………………………………………………….9
Hegemony………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
Pluralism………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10
4
1
ITV’s
The Bill
is one representation of the police
Representing reality
Mediation
Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it.
This may seem like an obvious point, but it is something that is easily forgotten when we get
caught up in enjoying a text. If you see a picture of a celebrity kissing her boyfriend, you may
find it unsurprising that the picture has been altered and does not show the reality of the situation,
but in fact we should bear this in mind whatever we encounter in the media. The media
place us at one remove from reality: they take something that is real, a person or an event and
they change its form to produce whatever text we end up with. This is called mediation. You
should be looking for this with any media text.
Think about a new album by your favourite group, for example: this is not just the sound of a
few musicians playing together in a studio. Instead, the reality of the sound that they might
make has been mediated before it reaches you. Engineers and producers have re-modelled the
sound and artists have packaged the album. Newspapers and magazines have reported the
group and created a context for the album so that most people probably had an opinion about
it before it came out. Once again, whatever sound the group made in the studio has been
highly mediated before it gets to you.
If you ever go to see a comedy show
recorded for the television, you will see
the process of mediation in action. What
might end up as a half hour broadcast,
will be recorded over an entire evening
— jokes that might seem spontaneous
when watched on the TV will have been
endlessly repeated until “just right”. The
studio audience will have been trained
into laughing in exactly the right way by
warm up men and the text that finally
reaches the public will also be given
context by use of soundtrack music and
computer graphics. The whole experience
of hearing a few jokes will have been
mediated.
Of course, most of us are aware of this — we know that what we are seeing in a film or a
Soap isn’t real — we just allow ourselves to forget for the time that the programme is on that
it is a fiction. At the same time, we all have ideas in our heads of some kinds of texts which
might be somehow less mediated — it is obvious that a fictional programme isn’t real, but
when we encounter something like the television news, we are more likely to believe in the
straightforward nature of the “truth” we are receiving. In fact, the News is just as sure to be
mediated as anything else — someone has decided that these are the few news items that are
the most “newsworthy” and has chosen the shots that are used to tell the stories, the graphics
that will go with them and the tie that the presenter will be wearing which will distract you so
much while you are watching. Whatever version you get of what has gone on will end up being
highly mediated — very different from the experience of someone who was at the scene
— as you will know if you have ever seen a news event taking place.
2
Mediation — three things to look for
1. Selection:
out — any news story has been selected from hundreds of others which the producers decided
for you were less interesting, any picture has been chosen from an enormous number of alternatives.
2. Organisation:
not: in visual media this involves mise-en-scene and the organisation of narrative, in the recording
of an album the production might involve re-mixing a track. Any medium you can
think of will have an equivalent to these. This organisation of the material will result in …
3. Focusing:
on one aspect of the text and ignoring others. If you are watching a film the camera
will pan towards an important character, in a tabloid the headlines will scream, for your attention.
It can be easy to ignore how different from our everyday lives this is. If you are walking
through a field, you are unlikely to see a sign saying “look at this amazing tree.” You make
your own decisions about what is worth our attention. The media text, through mediation,
tries to do this for us.
This kind of task is actually very important because in the hands of experienced media professionals
the practice of mediation can be transparent — we do not notice it happen and are
fooled into thinking that we are experiencing some kind of reality. Once again remember:
All media texts involve mediation which you should train yourself to look for.
Representation
The result of this process of mediation is that we are given a version of reality which is altered:
those are never the real people that we are seeing but representations of them which
have somehow been created. It is time now to look at this idea of representation and how it
happens.
What is representation?
The Oxford English Dictionary gives two definitions of the word:
1. To represent something is to describe or depict it, to call it up in the mind by description
or portrayal…..; to place a likeness of it before us in our mind.
2. To represent also means to symbolise, stand for, to be a specimen of or to substitute
for; as in the sentence, “In Christianity, the cross represents the suffering and crucifixion
of Christ.”
It is worth thinking about each of these for a moment: the first one is the more straightforward
— the media are in the business of describing things to us — they represent people and types
of people to us so that we end up feeling that we know what they are like.
3
TASK
What, if anything, are the following people used as symbols of?
Nelson Mandela Britney Spears Madonna David Beckham
Can you think of any other examples of people who have become symbols?
TASK
What is your opinion of any of the following
Paris Hilton Jennifer Lopez The Duchess of Cornwall* Star Trek fans Immigrants
In most of these cases it is unlikely that you know these people personally — what impression
that you have of them must come from the media. They have given us descriptions that have
affected our views of these people. The second of the two dictionary definitions is slightly
more difficult but also useful. A representation is something that symbolises something else.
The example the dictionary gives of the cross is an obvious one, but in the media you can find
plenty of others. David Beckham, as he is represented in the media is not just a football
player, but also a symbol of many things which some in the media think is positive and negative:
fashion icon, adulterer etc.
* aka the former Camilla Parker-Bowles, second wife of Prince Charles.
Society, the individual and representation
Of course it is too simple to talk just about the media mediating reality and creating representations;
we need a more subtle understanding of the process. To get this I will look briefly at
some different ideas people have had about how representation works. You could broadly
separate these into three:
The Reflective view of representing
According to this view, when we represent something, we are taking its true meaning and trying
to create a replica of it in the mind of our audience — like a reflection. This is the view
that many people have of how news works — the news producers take the truth of news
events and simply present it to us as accurately as possible.
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The Intentional view
This is the opposite of the Reflective idea. This time the most important thing in the process
of representation is the person doing the representing — they are presenting their view of the
thing they are representing and the words or images that they use mean what they intend them
to mean. According to this theory, if you see a picture of an attractive person drinking a can of
Coke in an advert, it will have the same meaning to you as the advertiser intended — go away
and buy some!
The Constructionist view
This is really a response to what have been seen a weakness in the other two theories — constructionists
feel that a representation can never just be the truth or the version of the truth that
someone wants you to hear since that is ignoring your ability as an individual to make up your
own mind and the influences of the society that you live in on the way that you do so. This
booklet will broadly be taking a Constructionist approach to representation so it is worth me
spelling out this idea again.
Any representation is a mixture of:
1. The thing itself.
2. The opinions of the people doing the representation
3. The reaction of the individual to the representation
4. The context of the society in which the representation is taking place.
Here’s an example of how this works:
If you’ve seen the film Independence Day,
you may have been amused or annoyed at the
way that British People were represented as
upper class idiots. If you consider the
different parts of the Constructionist
approach to representation, they would work
like this:
1. There must be some British people
who the producers either encountered
in reality or in other media texts.
2. They formed an opinion of them that
they were stuck up idiots which they
used as the basis of their
representation.
3. As an individual watching this, you
chose whether to believe the
representation was valid or not.
4. In doing this, you were influenced by
the fact that you are yourself British
— an American watching the film
would probably have come to a
different conclusion.
5
Society?
The last two parts of this equation — the individual and society are an enormously difficult
area which you will cover in more detail later in the course. You may find that you end up
covering them in your other subjects as well — the study of personality and the individual is
Psychology and the study of Society is Sociology and you should feel free to try to apply anything
that you learn in these subjects to the media.
For now it is worth thinking about the influence of society on what representations we receive.
If you think of one of someone like the Duchess of Cornwall, you can see that the idea
of
society
and committed republicans, people who hate anyone involved in the collapse of a marriage
and those who believe that relationships are complicated and personal to the people involved
— a multitude of views — so how can we say that society has an influence on our
views of someone?
The truth is that amid all this confusion of opinions, some kinds of ideas dominate and are
shared by a majority of people. We call views about how things should be and how people
should behave an ideology and if an ideology is shared by the majority of people in a culture
it is called the dominant ideology.
The group of ideas that make up the dominant ideology in Britain are not something that remains
static — they change as new ideas are encountered and people discuss them. For example
the dominant ideology in Britain used to be opposed to homosexual practises. Over time,
however, opposition has changed to tolerance and then to acceptance for the majority, allowing
openly gay men to present news and entertainment programmes and enter civil partnerships
with one another.
Here are some things that are generally agreed to be part of the dominant ideology in Britain:
•
People should put their families first.
•
have.
•
Women should behave modestly.
•
Women should look after their appearance.
You may not agree with all of these morals, but if I am right that they are part off the dominant
ideology, the chances are that they are the feelings of most people.
Let’s relate this back to the Constructionist view of representation. If you see an article in one
of the tabloids about David Beckham having an affair with another woman behind Victoria’s
back, you may be shocked and disappointed because his behaviour goes against what the
dominant ideology suggests married men and fathers should do. Also because representations
often act as symbols of other things, you will also be likely to think that his behaviour shows
exactly what is wrong with celebrity culture / footballers’ egos etc.
Many constructionists believe that this itself has an effect on what the dominant ideology actually
is — after all the dominant ideology is only the belief of the majority of people so if
you and others like you end up even more sure that rich people shouldn’t flaunt their wealth
as a result of seeing the article, then the dominant ideology has become a bit stronger. You
could see the whole process that the constructionists describe as being a kind of negotiation.
Over the years representations are accepted or rejected by the majority of people and the
dominant ideology is gradually changed.
6
Stereotypes
It’s worth now looking in more detail at what is going on in the other parts of the process —
the individuals and the media and their relationship with what is being represented. This
brings us on to the question of stereotypes — another word which is maybe worth a dictionary
definition:
A standardised, often simplified, mental picture or attitude that is held in common
by members of a group.
A stereotype is a simplification that we use to make sense of a real person or group which is
much more complicated. In reality there are many different kinds of Germans who are all individuals,
but it is much easier to fool ourselves into believing that all Germans cheat with
beach towels and eat strange sausages. The example that I have just given may seem harmless,
but in fact it is arguably racist. Stereotypes are potentially highly dangerous but stereotyping
itself is impossible to avoid — it is a natural function of the human mind — something
that we all do in order to survive mentally in the confusing world around us. The following
theory explains how it works.
Representation — How we stereotype:
The fact that we naturally see the world in this kind of shorthand way, with connections between
different character traits, allows the media to create simplistic representations which we
find believable. Implicit personality theory explains this process.
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judge them.
•
that we are judging — traits exist more in the eye of the beholder than in reality.
•
We have each a system of rules that tells us which characteristics go with other characteristics.
•
person perception.
•
form a pattern of connections that can be called a prototype. In other words the mix of
traits that we may consider “typical” of feminists are a prototype of what a feminist is
like to us.
•
we feel reassured. It confirms our stereotyped view — we do not need to think
further.
•
onto the person the rest of the traits from the prototype even if we do not know if they
fit them in reality.
•
form very strong often impressions of them — it is surprising to us and disconcerting
— it forces us to think more deeply.
•
prototype, often ignoring traits which do not fit into our neatly imagined pattern of
characteristics. This will particularly happen as time passes and we have time to forget
7
things that do not fit in. This can lead to enormous differences between our perceptions
of people and the reality.
•
chance to simplify and distort. We do a lot of the business of stereotyping ourselves. It
is almost as if we conspire with the media to misunderstand the world
So stereotyping is something that we all do — a natural part of the way our minds work and
not in itself necessarily a bad thing. If, for example, you were a teacher attempting to plan out
a course which would be suitable for your class, you would need to work from the basis of a
kind of stereotype of the needs of “typical” students. Having said this, even in cases where
stereotypes are valuable like this, the good teacher would have then tried to go beyond the
stereotype and looked for exceptions.
This is probably something we should all do when we encounter stereotypes — be aware that
just as with the process of mediation the stereotypes involve selection, organisation and focusing
of the complicated reality.
The four parts of a media stereotype
How can the media build a stereotype? With any group of people, there will obviously be an
enormous number of things that can be used in a stereotype, but because stereotyping is a
form of simplification, normally the most obvious things are used. These are:
1. Appearance — this can include, physical appearance and clothing as well as the sound of
the voice. e.g. “all teachers wear dreadful old clothes”
2. Behaviour — typical things that people in this group might do. “Grannies like to knit”
These first two features of media stereotypes are the same when we make our own stereotypes.
They simply involve us thinking of something that may be true of some of the group in
question and applying it to all.
The third feature of media stereotyping is peculiar to the media:
3. The stereotype is constructed in ways that fit the particular medium.
This is more difficult to understand but it is crucial for you to look for it. If you watch a film
such as
Silence of the Lambs
the same stereotype (the typical Serial Killer) being used, but there are obviously big differences
which will depend on the specifics of the media used:
The film will use close ups of the killer’s leering face, soundtrack music and reaction shots of
terrified victims to create their version of the stereotype.
The newspaper will use emotive headlines, blurred pictures of victims and police mug-shots
of the killer along with shocking text and interviews with survivors.
In each case the text will create a stereotype which it’s audience will find familiar, but it will
do it in very different ways.
4 There will always be a comparison whether real or imaginary with “normal” behaviour.
The features which make up a stereotype are always those which seem somehow different
from every-day behaviour. In fact you could almost start any stereotyped description by saying:
“this group are different because they…”
Of course the idea of what is normal in any society is an absurdity and therefore in order to
make it clear to us that the stereotyped characters are not behaving “normally” there will fre8
Independence Day:
character
also
represent a countertype?
quently be “normal” people used to act as a contrast to them. So, in a film like
Lambs
with. On the news, tales of striking workers (another stereotype) are always contrasted with
interviews with “normal” people who are suffering as a result of their actions.
The ‘normal’ person will act as a representative of us in the text — at the same time reflecting
what we might feel, or telling us what to feel depending on your point of view.
TASK
Create your own chart of stereotypes based on those that you have encountered in two or
more different media (for example, television and newspapers)
Stereotype Appearance Behaviour Media example
Changing representations – Countertypes
You may have seen the blockbuster film
Independence Day
character played by Will Smith who is
clearly intended to be a positive and
strong hero. As such, he goes against
many of the previous negative stereotypes
of black people in American films. In one
crucial scene from the film we see him
responding to the danger of an alien’s
attack by simply kicking it.
You may also have seen another film
released around the same time:
Attacks
who also responds to the attack of a bunch
9
of aliens by punching one of them. Both of these films were made virtually simultaneously:
how can we explain the fact that they end up containing what are almost identical scenes? In
both cases, the representation of black people in these films has probably resulted from the
very best of intentions. The films’ producers were probably tired of years of negative stereotyping
of black people in the movies and wanted to create a new representation. So, instead of
showing black people as criminals or as animals they have represented them as noble heroes
who get straight to the point and take no nonsense. They have also emphasised the humour of
these characters and have made sure that they are attractive enough to act as macho role models.
One analysis of this would be to say that they have created a new kind of stereotype — a positive
stereotype which could be called a
countertype
was made by selecting the negative behaviour of some members of the group, the
countertype homes in on some features which are positive. However the countertype is still
very much a stereotype — it is still a simplification of the enormous diversity that must exist
in the population of black Americans. As such, although it is an improvement on a negative
stereotype, it is still not the whole truth and many black people would probably still find it
very annoying in the way that it limits their behaviour.
Can we ever avoid stereotypes?
You will probably be able to find Countertypes whenever there is a group being represented
positively for the first time by the media. It seems as if the media find it difficult to adapt to
change and will always use the old techniques of simplification even if they’re trying to be
nice about someone. This has led some people to question whether it is ever possible to create
a representation that is free of stereotypes. If you think back to implicit personality theory, it
should be clear how natural the process of stereotyping is to us and how attractive we find this
simplified view of the world. However, if we are aware of this tendency in our own minds, we
must be able to at least try to avoid it and to recognise it in the media texts that we are presented
with.
Hegemony versus Pluralism
There are few ‘facts’ in Media Studies. The more you read, the more you will discover that
academics from different ideological starting points draw different conclusions about the way
the media works, and its relationship with its audience. Representation can be considered
from two very different ideological standpoints.
Hegemony
The hegemonic model says that the ruling classes maintain their power through control of
ideas and culture rather than force. In hegemony, the ruling classes govern by consensus: they
control the way the media represents the world so as to influence the way people think about
the world, and the ruling classes. This can become a running battle between rivals.
A more sophisticated approach to hegemony argues that the mass media adopt a consensus of
what is normal; a commonsense which is actually an ideology. The very nature of common
sense means that the audience does not question it. You might think of it as a kind of civil religion:
a set of values that the majority of people subscribe to without thinking about it.
An Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, developed the idea of Hegemony, suggesting that the
power that lies at its heart is constantly being negotiated, rather than enforced.
10
Pluralism
The pluralistic model comes from the opposite perspective to Marxism. Pluralism says that
the media is diverse, with a wide range of available choices for consumers. Rather than the
media influencing consensus, consensus values influence media representations. If particular
representations are dominant, pluralists argue, it is because they are popular among the audience,
not because powerful media institutions are ‘pushing’ a particular ideology.
After all, the main function of the mass media is to entertain – to please – their audience: to
provide representations that meet audience expectations. This is where stereotypes come in:
they pander to the views of the audience. The more media institutions pander to their audiences,
the more money they can make.
11
(with additional material by Simon Wallace and David Allison)
Ad-abbreviation for advertisement
Advance (advance story)-news of an event to occur in the future
All caps-a word or word written in all capital letters
AP-abbreviations for Associated Press, a news-gathering service
Banner-type of headline stretching full width, usually at the top of a page; also called a streamer
Beat-news source that a reporter is assigned to cover regularly
Box-material enclosed, either completely or partially, by a printed rule
Byline-the name and identification of a story’s author
Caption-the heading placed above a photograph; sometimes used to refer to the descriptive copy below a photo
Center of visual interest (CVI)-the dominate item on a page – usually a photo, graphic or headline
Classified advertising-ads run in small type in a separate section, which is often classed into different categories, such as “Help wanted” or “Lost and found”
Column (1)-a type of feature that is regularly run in a paper, featuring a single writer
Column (2)-the vertical sections of type, which may have varying widths to story on a page
Column width-the actual measurement in picas or inches; also measured in character count as a way to determine the character count of the entire story
Copy-a story or article written for a newspaper; also used to describe a page or block to text
Copyreading-checking copy for errors before it is entered into computer or receives its final rewrite
Crop-to eliminate unwanted portions of a photo to emphasize its center of interest
Cut-term for a newspaper photo or art, taken from engraving parlance
Cutoff test-reporter’s check that final-paragraphs are not essential to story
Cutline-the descriptive copy below a photo
Dateline-line at beginning of news story giving point of origin, if not local, and date, if significant
Deadline-time at which job must be handed in or completed to make issue date of publication
Deck-each part of a headline in a single font, whether one or more lines (once used to define a single line of a headline)
Direct quote-the reproduction of a speaker’s exact words, set within quotation marks and correctly attributed
Downstyle-the use of a minimum number of capital letters in headlines and body copy, where good usage permits an option
Editorial-an article that represents the paper’s opinion
Editorial column-an article representing the opinion of a individual writer
Editorializing-inserting the writer’s opinion into a news story, which should be written objectively
Euphemism-a milder word used instead of another word, possibly offensive – not an acceptable way to soften a quote from a news source
Feature story-an article of special interest with a quality other than its timeliness as main attraction
5 W’s and an H-the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How – the key questions answered by a summary lead
Folio line-the heading of inside pages, indicating section, school name, issue date and page number
Follow-up-a news story written after an event has occurred
Graph-short for a paragraph (sometimes spelled graf)
Hammerhead-a large headline of only one or two words, followed by a longer and smaller head underneath – the reverse of a kicker
Headline-lines of display type printed above a newspaper story, calling attention to relative importance and attracting readers to the story’s content
Headline schedule-list of styles and sizes, often with counts, for use in a newspaper
In-depth report-a story that goes beyond the surface to discover the news behind the news; also called an investigative report
Indirect quote-using a version of a speaker’s words without quotation marks. Example: He said that he expected to reject the plan.
Infograph-a chart, diagram or graph presenting statistical information, such as survey results and enrollment figures, in easy-to-grasp form
Inverted pyramid-a method of writing a story using a summary lead and facts in diminishing order of importance
Kicker-short, lead-in phrase above main head
Label head-a headline without a verb; to be avoided
Lead (leed)-the first paragraph of a story (see also, under Desktop publishing)
Libel-untrue statement or material that damages a person’s reputation
Masthead-list of the paper’s vital statistics, including school name and address, staff members and other pertinent data, such as editorial policy; usually found on editorial pages
Menu-in newspaper terminology, a front-page box or boxes announcing a paper’s inside contents, sometimes called teaser (see also, under Desktop publishing)
Nutgraph-paragraph giving the key details of a news story – the 5 W’s and H – when a variation on the summary lead in used
Objectivity-an attempt to write a story without showing bias or injecting the writer’s opinion
Photo release-a permission form used by photographers for persons in photos not taken at news events, granting the right to print the photo
Plagiarism-unauthorized copying of another’s work. Reproducing copyrighted material without permission – whether words or art – is a crime
Profile-feature story about a person; personality piece
Pull quote-quote from a story or news source that is “pulled out” and set as a graph in a distinctive format and type to attract readers to a story and add visual interest
Retraction-a printed correction of an earlier error in the paper
Slug-one or two words that specifically identify a story, typed in the upper left-hand corner of work to be edited or processed; also includes reporter’s last name, plus date/time from edit menu
Stet-a term meaning “let it stand” – or disregard a change that was previously marked or indicated
Style-rules regarding punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, etc.
Style book, style manual-compilation of style rules for a newspaper
Summary lead-a first paragraph that contains the essential 5 W’s and H of a news story
Teaser-a front-page box or boxes announcing a paper’s inside contents, sometimes called a menu
Trademark-the legal, registered name of a product or business. Be sure to use capital letters when using such trademarked names as Kleenex and Coke, which are sometimes used generically
try soungle
freeplaymusic for something different
creative commons site
Free Sound Effects from PartnersInRhyme.com
This is a great site but check carefully because it sells sounds as well as offering others for free.
http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/
http://www.acoustica.com/sounds.htm
http://www.alcljudprod.se/english/ljud.php
http://www.freesound.org/index.php
brilliant, but you need to set up an account and log in to download
Hi everyone
Please complete and post last week’s task. Then work on your Foundation Portfolio.
Write up guidelines
Critical evaluation has an introduction and three parts. In the introduction, you must outline exactly what you did for your AS production.
In this part you need to outline your brief, briefly how you researched it and the stages and decisions you made in the construction stage.
Include:
Part 2 (1,000 words max) – Post construction evaluation of the product and how it works
In this section you analyse the finished product. This means you must explain how the decisions and revisions you made affected the form of your work and why you made these decisions in relation to the audience e.g. ‘I changed x because it looked too childish and I knew my main audience would be women aged 30-40’.
Next, answer how your product makes meaning – what do the elements of the work signify to the audience?
Wherever possible, relate to critical theory from the course e.g. genre, audience effects, narrative, media language (feminist, Marxist, close-up, POV, hybridity, intertextuality) Remember this is synoptic.
Part 3 (1,000 words max) – Evaluation of the product with direct relation to the audience
In this section you must explain how your text fits in with the wider context of media institutions and audiences. This means you must compare your product with real media output of a similar nature. Direct comparisons to actual texts and real institutions (BBC, magazine producers) are vital.
You must analyse how well you think your product would work with the audience – you should include any comments you have had from audiences you have tried your product on. Remember evaluation is how well or effective this part is (e.g. colour choice).
Analysis is why things are as they are.
Advice:
o Don’t spend ages saying ‘I decided to research this…’ and ‘When I had done this I changed it to…’. Get straight to the point, for example ‘After researching women’s magazines I found…’ and ‘The next change made was…because…’
o Choose the key points and explain them in detail rather than trying to cover everything
o Refer to theories and ideas you have learnt in both years of the course as much as you can, think how you can use a higher level of language at all time e.g. ‘narrative structure’ as opposed to ‘storyline’
o Wherever possible try to think beyond decisions of liking or not liking. If you like something or don’t like something there is a reason why: try to uncover what this is e.g. you prefer the purple writing on the pink background rather than black. At first thought you might prefer purple but, purple and pink are actually complementary colours and this will account for why you prefer it. It is not wrong to prefer one thing to another, you must get to the ‘why’ you preferred it and write about that reason.
Avoid simply describing, always analyse and evaluate.
And watch this!ocr-gce-media-studies-e28093-20089-big
Media Studies is a fast growing subject that will teach you to analyse communication in the world around you. It is an exceptionally interesting and lively contemporary subject and is a popular choice at A-level.
It will prepare you for Higher Education or the world of work by developing the following skills:
· Group work
· Critical analysis
· Practical production skills
· Organisational skills
· Research skills
On this course you will learn about:
Media products – films, TV programmes, videos, newspapers, radio programmes and the World Wide Web.
Media Institutions – the companies and organisations that control the production and distribution of media texts.
Production processes – how media texts are made in the industry. You will have the opportunity to make media texts yourselves – for example, magazines, newspapers and short videos.
Media audiences – who watches media texts, how they are targeted and how they are encouraged to consume them.
Media debates – such as ownership and control of the press, film censorship, etc.
To be a successful Media Studies student, you must be:
ü An active consumer of the media who reads newspapers and enjoys film, video and television.
ü Self-motivated and able to work under your own direction.
ü Able to think critically, and never be satisfied with a superficial understanding.
ü Able to communicate clearly in extensive written work
What are the opportunities after this course for further/higher education and employment?
Media studies offers skills that are highly transferable to many areas of employment. Degrees in media, journalism qualifications, games design and practical film making courses are very competitive, and many universities and film schools will require a portfolio of your work along with your application.
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Although it is not a necessity, having completed a GCSE in Media studies will put you at an advantage. You should have a GCSE in English Language of C or above to join this course as it involves a lot of written work, including essays, evaluations and analysis.
A2 Entry Requirements: Satisfactory progress at AS Level. A Grade D at AS plus tutor recommendation.
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The course is made up of:
Year One: AS Level –
G 321 Unit 1 – Foundation Portfolio:
•There will be four set tasks from a menu set by OCR
•Each task will involve a preliminary and a main task, designed to create progression of skills
•The preliminary task will not be assessed, but candidates will be penalised for non-submission
•Research and planning will be assessed by teachers
•There will be an oral evaluation of the production, based upon a set of key questions supplied by OCR
•Research, construction and evaluation may all be presented as a group, but marks must be awarded individually
G322/3 Unit 2 - Key Skills and Concepts
•Q1 – Unseen sequence will be taken from the following genre:
–TV or Radio Drama
•Q2 – Case study may be taken from one of the following industries:
–Film
–Music
–Radio
–Magazine
–Newspaper
–Videogame
•It is expected that there will be a focus on British audiences and an emphasis on the students’ own experiences as consumers
Year Two: A2 –
G 324 Unit 3 – Advanced Portfolio
•There will be a menu of 13 tasks set by OCR
•For each portfolio, there will be a main task and three supplementary tasks, two of which must be chosen
•Research and planning must be presented using appropriate IT
•Evaluation must be presented using appropriate IT, in response to stimulus questions set by OCR
•Example of AP task:
•A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
•a website homepage for the band
•a cover for its release on DVD
•a magazine advertisement for the DVD
G 325 Unit 4 – Critical Perspectives
•Section B will focus on contemporary media issues
•Students will answer one question, using examples from at least two media, on the topics listed:
–Contemporary Media Regulation
–Global Media
–Media and Collective Identity
–Media in the Online Age
–Postmodern Media
–‘We Media’ and Democracy
The AS GCE units and the Advanced GCE units and qualification are graded A* to E where A* is the highest grade.
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