Students were introduced to the idea that the explosion of digital media has challenged the authority of mainstream media news. The class were offered the front page of The Daily Mail and The Independent as an example of mainstream representations of the student demonstration in London last week. Students were also introduced to personal mobile phone footage uploaded to You Tube, the representation of the protest offered by Russia Today, and the personal view of an American bloke sporting a fine beard, sat in his bedroom comparing the protest to the poetry of WB Yeats! The aim of this section of the lesson was to illustrate how digital media sites such as Vimeo and You Tube have allowed the audience to challenge the representations offered by mainstream media producers. News is now available from a range of perspectives, both professional and amateur, and the impact of digital media has been to make information available/accessible to a global audience. This links to the impact of digital media audience/producer debate and also the representation section of MEST3.
Click on link below to access an example of alternative news media. This was filmed using a mobile phone and challenges the idea that the students were 'BRAINLESS', as reported by the front page headline of The Sun newspaper, as the mass of students are clearly heard being critical of the moment when a fire extinguisher was thrown from the roof, narrowly missing the police.
Below is a link to 'cveitch' who is a member of the 'LOVE POLICE' and provides his own film that captures a version of the protest that could not be considered 'mainstream'. This is an example of how You Tube has become an outlet for the reporting of news that is not mainstream and is unlikely to be broadcast by mainstream news agencies due to challenging content that fails to reflect the value system offered by mainstream media institutions. It is still a deeply subjective representation but it offers a different perspective to the representations offered by the mainstream.
The second section of the lesson involved an analysis of the trailer to Juno and the trailer to the first series of Skins. The question the class were asked to consider was related to the MEST3 exam: ' Compare and contrast the two texts with particular reference to the representation of teenagers'.
Click on link below to access the trailer to Juno:
Click on link below to access the trailer for the first series of Skins:
The lesson eventually died at 3.30.RIP.
Homework: Continue to analyse the two trailers as a written response will be expected next week. Revisit Narrative Theory and apply these theories to the trailers.
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