Friday, April 30, 2021

Q4 Week 5 - Preparing for the AICE Media Studies Exam

 Due 05/07


Your AICE Media Studies Exam consists of two parts:

Section A:  Textual analysis and representation (50 marks) A moving image extract will be provided by Cambridge in DVD format. Candidates will analyze how technical aspects of the language and conventions of the moving image medium are used to create meaning for an audience. Candidates should study a range of texts so that they can discuss, in response to the question, how the following technical elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to articulate specific messages and values that have social significance:

Camera shots, angle, movement and composition:
• shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point-of-view shot, over-the-shoulder shot, and variations of these
• angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle
• movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom
• composition: framing, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls

Editing: This includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.
• cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway, insert
• other transitions: dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

Sound:
• diegetic and non-diegetic sound, synchronous/asynchronous sound, sound effects, sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective
• soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.

Mise-en-scène:
• production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties
• lighting, color design  

We spent the last three quarters preparing for this part of the exam and you completed a mock exam for this Section when you viewed the "Black Mirror" clip and wrote the semester exam essay.


Section B: Institutions and audiences (50 marks) One question is to be answered from a choice of two. Candidates should be prepared to discuss the processes of production, distribution and marketing as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:

• the issues raised by media ownership and funding in contemporary media practice
• the importance of cross-media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and at the point of consumption
• the significance of the spread of such technologies for institutions and audiences
• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences
• the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences by international or global institutions
• the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends in audience behavior.

Assignment 1:  You will partially prepare for this section of the exam by reading the following article "Audiences & Institutions".    You will then write a paper of at least 600 words, on what you learned about audiences and institutions and how this information relates to the genre or genres you have focused on this year.  You should mention and memorize information about specific studios and movies.  You will upload this paper to the Canvas Assignment Posted this week.

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Q4 Week 4 - Your Last Blog Post "Creative Critical Reflection"

Due 04/23 & 04/30

Over the next 2 weeks you have 3 assignments

Assignment 1 - Watch the video in Canvas which shows you how you can use the studio in Canvas to complete your CCR and answer the questions asked during the video. 

https://collierschools.instructure.com/courses/104547/assignments/2695024

Also this week you should watch the sample CCR's linked at the bottom of this page and start writing your answers to the questions asked in the CCR.

Assignment 2 - At the end of week one (04/23) Fill out the form "What I did to work on my CCR this week" and submit it for a grade

Assignment 3 Due 04/30

BLOG POST - This is your final blog post to your personal blog.   Your Creative Critical Reflection (CCR) should be at the top of your blog with the final cut of your movie opening just below it.  After this week we will work on test preparation exercises which will not be a part of your blog but will be submitted to Cambridge as samples of your work.

Here are the instructions for your CCR as they are written in the Cambridge AICE Media Studies Syllabus:

Creative critical reflection

On completion of the product, candidates must creatively reflect upon their work. Candidates may use any digital format, such as director commentaries, a presentation with voiceover, podcasts or screencasts. Candidates may use a different digital format to explore each of the compulsory questions. The creative critical reflection should be produced and presented individually.

Candidates must explore the following compulsory questions:

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

Learners should be reassured that admissions of ineffective choices (as long as they have explained how these were rectified, or what was learned from them) made in the production process are seen as highly reflective qualities and would not, in its own right, impact on the marks awarded.

Here are the links to the blogs of the movie openings you viewed in Q3 Week 2.   You can view the CCR's of these students as examples.







Here's a quick view of our calendar for the remainder of the year.





Monday, April 12, 2021

Q4 Week 3 - Final Cut of Your Movie Opener

 Due 04/16


Two simple assignments this week.

Assingment 1 - BLOG POST - It is time to post your final draft.  After making whatever changes you, or you and your group members have decided upon, upload the final draft to youtube and paste a working link in your blog.  Label this post "Movie Opener Final Cut".  You can have one member of your group upload the final draft to their Youtube channel, then the others can get the link and paste it into their blogs.  This post must be at the top of your blog.  This post is 25% of your grade for this quarter.   Only one post will appear above it, your CCR, which is also 25% of your grade this quarter.

Below the link, you must write a brief statement about the changes that were made after the 1st draft and why, or maybe why none were made.

Assignment 2 - Submit the Form "What did you do to work on your movie opener this week?"

Monday, April 5, 2021

Q4 Week 2 - Evaluate Your Peer Reviews

 Due 04/09


This week  you have two simple assignments.

Assignment 1 - BLOG POST 
After you receive the email containing the peer reviews, create a new blog post and title it "Peer Reviews".  Copy the peer reviews into the post and then write a summary of what they said, how you felt about the suggestions and comments, and what you plan to do with the information.

Assignment 2 - Submit the Form "What did you do to work on your movie opener this week?"