Media News: Two Star Legend

This week, we are looking at the genius of film posters, clever marketing and media manipulation.

The Guardian, 2015

Legend was released last week. In it, Tom Hardy plays both legendary British gangsters, Ronnie and Reggie Kray. The film has met with four- and five-star reviews from many, but The Guardian's Benjamin Lee gave it only two - calling it 'cartoonish' with a 'lack of atmosphere' (Lee, 2015).

Despite this, the film distributors included his star-rating on the poster of all reviews - placing it front and centre, in a spin that Lee himself call 'movie marketing gold'.

Read the original review HERE and the response to the poster HERE. Think about the following questions:

• How is this relevant to our understanding of media marketing?
• How is this an example of the need for us all to be media literate?
• How true is the saying, 'No publicity is bad publicity'?

Meme Project: A2

A2 students have been exploring what they think it means to be media literate. We have looked at traditional ideas of literacy, as well as more contemporary new literacies, such as digital literacy.

www.quickmeme.com

In exploring what it means to be digitally literate, we are looking at remix culture and web 2.0 ideas of creating rather than just consuming. As part of this, learners are undertaking a MEME PROJECT where they will conduct some independent research on memes then use this knowledge and understanding to create their own. They will share their meme on social media then analyse how the concept could be used as part of their advanced portfolio.

Projects will be shared on their blogs next week. Click on the A2 learners blogs to see their viral work!

Visual Representation Project

To get your creative juices flowing, the first project of the year asks you to carefully consider the difference between writer's intentions and reader's interpretations.

Using only visuals, your will create a representation of yourself which will be analysed by the rest of the class to  understand the differences in interpretations depending on our race, gender, culture, age etc.

Details of the project are below and HERE.

Welcome!

Image thanks to http://netnz.org/course/l1-media-studies/

Hello and welcome to Media Studies!

I am really glad you have decided to take this exciting, challenging and enjoyable course. I am looking forward to working with you and watching your creative genius unfold!

AS learners will:

• create one of the following products:

            - the front page, contents and double-page spread of a new magazine

            - a two-minute opening to an original film,

• set up your own blog to document your progress and journey, 
• critically reflect on your learning,
• learn to deconstruct and analyse film,
• consider representation in TV drama,
• explore the key concepts of today's media.

A2 learners will:

• create one of the following products:

            - a documentary extract
            - a short film
            - two movie trailers
            - a music video,

• build a website for your chosen product,
• design packaging and promotional material for your products,
• create a blog to document your progress and journey,
• critically reflect on your learning,
• evaluate yourself as a creator of media products,
• explore critical perspectives in today's media.

This blog will act as a hub to showcase the fantastic work that you do and your personal blogs will link out from the right. 

The website that contains all the course materials can be located at: 

http://media-studies.mrshollyenglish.com/, or http://bit.ly/DES-media.