The end of the beginning... and it's looking great

We're reaching the end of our Introduction to Media Studies unit and there is some spectacular work already on blogs that suggests we are going to have an amazing year. Mr Parker and Mr Matthews have already highlighted the excellent work in their classes and I'm delighted to say that plenty of students in my classes have really gone the extra mile.

If you want to know what a blog looks like from a student aiming for A/A* then take a look at the following...

Mr Halsey A1: Harmony, Mohammed B, Perry, Ruth, Shahd
Mr Halsey B1: Enia, Kishan, Rashida, Veerhain, Zahhiyah

These students are all making the most of the possibilities of a Media blog and deserve great credit: keep up the good work!

Mr Matthews Blogscars Awards

Phenomenal start to the GCSE course from Mr Matthews' media class...

Into the blogging HALL of FAME with special mentions and a Greenford award for 'services to entertaining the blogosphere' go to: Laura T, Leila, Zubair, Radhika, Ana, Alan, Angad, Nikita, Samsam

'Phenomenal Photoshop Prowess' award to Ammar (check out his #A* Fruitbowl!)

Blogger of the year so far - and winner of the Blogscar this week - RABIA ZAKRIA

Well done team Matthews - a great start to a GCSE which I am confident you will do brilliantly in!

Demographics: Audience Profile

Create an audience profile for a videogame of your choice using Photoshop.

First, use demographics: Age, gender, education, social class, race/ethnicity, job/profession/ earnings, home (city/village/countryside).

You can also add statements that your audience agree with (see the NME profile for an example)

Then use brand logos that the audience will use or enjoy and build them into your profile.

Ultimately, we want it to look like this:

An example profile could be GTA5...

GTA5 Audience Profile - Demographics
Age: 15-35
Gender: 80% male, 20% female
Education: Further or higher education
Race/ethnicity: Wide variety
Job: Young professional/student
Lives: major cities/towns

GTA5 Audience Profile - Brands
iPhone, Galaxy, PS3, Xbox, Nike, Top Boy, Sky Movies, Nandos, Lucozade etc.

A Big Well Done

I just wanted to single a few of my Media Studies students out for their excellent start to GCSE Media.

• Jordan - I'm really impressed with your dedication and enthusiasm; great to see someone enjoying their option subject and it shows in your work so far.
• Tejas - SUPERB blog; professional presentation and lots of hard work on show.
• Umar - always ready to contribute in class and you always give an answer to show you've been listening, well done.
• Mohammad - our Photoshop expert showing kindness and patience when helping everyone in the class - including me!
• Sambul - a great pleasure to have in the class - always on task and focused; I'm really impressed

The bar has been set high and I'm looking forward to mentioning other individuals on the blog throughout the year. 

p.s. special mention to Kishan - if you haven't seen his fruit bowl take a look at his blog, it is a work of art. 

Homework: Minority Report shot-by-shot analysis

A reminder that your homework is to finish your Minority Report shot-by-shot analysis.

The Word document with the images to analyse is available on the VLE > Departments > Media > Shared documents > Minority Report shot-by-shot analysis

Due: Wednesday 25 September

Unfortunately, we can't attach a Word document to our blogs so we will be printing these out and sticking them in our books for marking. We will find some time in lessons to do this.

If you have any questions, just let one of us know.

Good luck!

Media Guardian

A really useful site to check regularly is the Media News section of Guardian online.

Take a look
http://www.theguardian.com/media

Media Guardian

Key Concepts - notes

If you missed any of the notes from today's lesson this should help:

Language

• The Language of Media Studies
• How we ‘read’ media texts
• Recognising the codes and conventions of media texts
• Key media terms e.g. genre… denotation… connotation… narrative… 

Institution

• The companies or organisations behind the media
• Most aspects of the media are a commodity: something that is bought and sold. There is competition and a demand for profit.
• Huge institutions are called multinationals e.g. News International
• Smaller institutions can include media texts we create ourselves (blogs etc.)

Audience

• The people who consume media products
• How does the media influence its audience? Who holds the power?
• How is an audience targeted? What do the audience enjoy or learn from the media product?
• Audience research: who exactly is buying our product?

Representation

• The people who consume media products
• How does the media influence its audience? Who holds the power?
• How is an audience targeted? What do the audience enjoy or learn from the media product?
• Audience research: who exactly is buying our product?