Deadlines, Christmas, and Postmodernism

"I like deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go past" - Douglas Adams

Well, the filming deadline is upon us. If you haven't met it, then it's essential that there is evidence on your blog for when you will be filming in January, and that you are organised to do so. Explaining why you haven't met the deadline is probably a good idea, too.

I'm not setting any formal Media Studies homework over the Christmas holidays, particualrly as I know lots of you have January exams to prepare for. However, as we'll be moving on to study Postmodernism later this year, it would be an excellent idea to do some research in preparation for the unit. In order to do so, you can:

1. Watch any of the following films:
Blade Runner
Kill Bill (Vol. I and Vol. II)
Pulp Fiction
The Matrix
Fight Club
Kick Ass
A Scanner Darkly

2. Play any of the following videogames, ideally right the way through the main storyline:
Assassin's Creed (any of the games from number 2 onwards)
Any of the Grand Theft Auto games
Braid
Red Dead Revolver
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The Sims

3. Read any of the following:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Kick Ass
The Walking Dead
Neuromancer
Watchmen

That's it. The more of these kinds of texts you know about, the better prepared you'll be for the exam. Start early!

Have a lovely Christmas and New Year, and good luck if you have any January exams...

 - JL

VIMA feedback, Blogs, Zombies

Aloha!

I've given you all 1:1 feedback on your VIMAS now, and I wrote our discussion up as a commnet on your most recent blog post. Once you've taken some steps to improve your blog, please reply to my comment explaining what you've done, so I can re-check your blog. Just to clarify: The VIMA grade is the lettered grade your blog would receive if it were completed to the standard it is currently at. The PEG is the grade I would expect you to finish A2 with assuming that you continue to work at this standard. If you improve your blog, or change the amount of effort you're putting in (either up or down...) then the PEG will change accordingly.

Keep using the Zombie-priority system to plan your filming: at the time of writing, there are just 14 days, 4 hours, 43 minutes, and 46 seconds until the deadline...

 - JL

Ideas and Stuff

Righto - well done on completing the research part of the project. Now, we need to move into planning the concept and shoot. We need to get the footage shot by Wednesday 19th December, so that's 4 weeks. Here are the next steps:

1. Come up with a concept which allows you to include elements of both narrative and performance in your video.
2. Plan how the narrative will fit with the changing sections of the song - you might find a diagram (like Freytag's theory) useful for this.
3. Storyboard your narrative - and you performance, if you're not planning on filming it the way we did when we filmed the Year 10 band.
4. Plan the shoot - and carry it out!

Remember - although the deadline is the 19th, you probably want to leave yourself a little bit of contingency time in case your shoot goes awry. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail...

 - JL

Video Games

Hi all.

Most of you are already aware that we'll be looking at video games as part of our study into Postmodernism in the media. ALthough it's still a way off yet, I think the forthcoming GTA V game is likely to be extremely useful for you to know about. There's a great article here about what it's going to be like - and it even namechecks one of the media theorists we'll be studying later this year! Ten bonus points if you can tell me the name of the critic...

 - JL

Half-Term Homework

Well, that's it - we've reached the end of the longest half-term in the history of Ever. Well done. Of course, we've also set you plenty of work to complete whilst you're away, so that you don't get bored. You will need to:

1. Complete your moodboard for Ms Butler;
2. Complete a mock-up of the homepage of your website for Ms Butler;

3. Complete your weird Frankestein-style representation graphic for Mr Lawes (see example on the right);

4. Get an initial few ideas onto your blog for your own first pitch for the music video, for Mr Lawes.

If there are any problems with these, our email addresses are at the top of the blog - drop the relevant teacher an email, and we'll answer any queries.

You'll also notice that I've given the blog a bit of a tidy-up, which includes making sure there are three A-grade exemplars of blogs from last year, and adding a blogroll of your current blogs to it so we can keep an eye on you. Except you, Daniel - your blog address must be something other than what I was expecting. Could you email it to me, please?

Thanks for all of your hard work and patience this half term (which I know is tough, with UCAS applications and all). Have a great half-term break!

 - Mr Lawes