YEAR 12 LESSON FIFTEEN/SIXTEEN 4th/7th Nov 13]: Homework

Monday's session involved reading the coursework briefs and attempting to illustrate the technical expectation of brief one and three.
Today's session involved gathering video footage for our first creative task.

HOMEWORK: Continue to record footage that can be used for the creative task. This task reflects the expectation of Brief One.
REMEMBER...students need to capture images that can be used to illustrate:

• Location and time
• A sense of character
• Narrative themes.  

WE WILL REVIEW FOOTAGE ON MONDAY AND CONTINUE TO FILM. FEEL FREE TO RECORD A SOUNDTRACK ON ANY OF THE MANY MACS THAT ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT BHS/BGS.

SNOWDEN...The story so far...

Obviously, along with the phone hacking scandal, the Snowden issue is the most significant media issue and debate SO FAR in this academic year. Digital Privacy and media and democracy are issues that students might like to explore for coursework.
Click on link below for latest Snowden resources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24768717
A World History of Spying:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24749166
Channel Four news visits the NSA headquarters in America. Another heavy serving of irony:
http://www.channel4.com/news/doorstepping-nsa-hq-fort-meade-maryland-nsa-merchandise

DAVID CAMERON AND SNOWDEN.

This post relates to the Snowden/Guardian debate and SHOULD be used as a media text for the half-term written work. Our Prime Minister seemed to attack any criticism of the behaviour of the security services in a very childish manner. He used the phrase 'Lah-dih-dah and airy-fairy' to describe arguments against the mass surveillance that has been uncovered by Snowdon. He then signed an agreement with France and Germany that COMPLETELY CONTRADICTED his earlier statement. He signed a joint statement with other European leaders that questioned and challenged America's 'spying' culture.The Daily Mail represented Cameron's speech as a direct attack on The Guardian's publication of the Snowden material. See resource below:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2476892/Lah-dih-dah-airy-fairy-Camerons-swipe-Guardian-defends-intelligence-services-eavesdropping-claims
Channel Four News Report. This report includes Cameron's odd comments:
http://www.channel4.com/news/nsa-merkel-hollande-spying-summit-us-phone-contacts
Cameron made these statements on the same day that we were discussing this issue. Feel free to include reference to this confusing moment in your work. What does our Prime Minister actually think and why is he using the language of a child to represent a key democratic issue that has caused global outrage? Politicians eh? Don't you just love 'em?
The Guardian published this article on Monday28th Oct:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/28/david-cameron-nsa-threat-newspapers-guardian-snowden
Note the readers' comments.

Students need to be aware of this agreement:
http://www.channel4.com/news/1946-agreement-nsa-read-your-email-prism-data

Oh the irony...Click on link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24712214

YEAR 13 LESSON FOURTEEN [25th Oct 13]: Homework.

The aim of this lesson was to prepare for the work that needs to be completed over the half-term. It is OBVIOUS that the big area of written work that needs to improve is the ability of students to support their argument with specific textual reference. This requires independent research. We have discussed this work in some detail therefore student work needs to reflect the substantial amount of time we have invested in considering content for this task.

HOMEWORK:

1. WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE PUBLICATION BY THE GUARDIAN/NEW YORK TIMES OF THE SNOWDEN DOCUMENTS?

This response demands that students construct three paragraphs. An argument FOR, an argument AGAINST, and a paragraph within which students offer their own opinion.

The arguments AGAINST The Guardian's publication need to consider the resources below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24490942
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24454596
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24402520
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24537254
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24668286
After our lesson, our Prime Minister made these comments. As reported by the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24668861
Students also need to refer to THE DAILY MAIL editorial comment that is critical of The Guardian.
Students need to use these resources to construct a coherent, intelligent, informed, and detailed argument.

The arguments FOR The Guardian's publication need to consider the resources below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24402520
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24665554
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23242404
The most significant resources are the sheets I gave you in class. This relates to the democracy argument and the argument that The Guardian publishing the documents IS in the national interest and that the role of a newspaper should be to uncover any abuse of power. Show me you were listening. There has been some excellent comments by students throughout the last three sessions.

Personal opinion:
Students need to use resources to reinforce their opinion. The aim of this task is for students to construct a convincing argument so please avoid general comments that lack specific detail. Use your research to construct a convincing critical argument.






WE DISCUSSED TRUST THIS MORNING...here are some resources: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9841689/Senior-Met-Police-detective-jailed-for-15-months-over-corrupt-payments.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/former-met-police-officer-paul-flattley-jailed-for-selling-information-about-kate-middleton-and-john-terry-to-t
http://watergate.info/ 
http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/plebgate-police-officers-face-mps-live/3434
If we could trust the powerful institutions that are created to protect the public, perhaps this debate would be irrelevant....however.... TRUST is a big issue. Is it acceptable for the American Security Services to be monitoring the mobile phone conversations of Angela Merkel?

   2. IS REGULATION OF NATIONAL MEDIA POSSIBLE IN A GLOBAL DIGITAL WORLD?

Resources to assist the construction of this question:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20553416
http://www.channel4.com/news/leveson-had-a-reason-for-dodging-internet-regulation
This was the meeting of world leaders that I have been referring to in recent lessons. This meeting was intended to discuss global internet regulation:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20575844
Students need to think about recent news events that have demonstrated the inability of nation states to inhibit news. Reference could be made to the events in Iran after the 2009 election or the events in Egypt during the Arab Spring. If THE GUARDIAN was banned from publishing Snowden's documents, would it really matter? I am very interested to see how students approach this question. Research will be required. Your argument needs to be precise, detailed and coherent.
Here are the links to the recent lessons. These links are packed with resources:
http://fishymediaresources.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/year-13-lesson-thirteen-22nd-oct-13.html 
http://fishymediaresources.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/year-13-friday-18th.html 

Good Luck Folks. This is an important piece of work. I look forward to your response.

YEAR 12 LESSON FOURTEEN [24th Oct 13]: Homework.

The aim of this session was to discuss the material that students are expected to produce during the half-term break. Students were presented with four media texts and asked to consider four questions. These four questions need to be completed for homework and handed to me before the first session in November.

HOMEWORK: These are the questions and resources. The aim of this critical writing task is to encourage students to use appropriate media language when constructing an analysis and support their media criticism with specific textual reference. Students need to select the key moments from the text that will allow them to construct the most convincing argument.
I expect ALL students to place a clear AIM at the beginning of their written work. This aim needs to be  the advice for improvement that I have placed on your last piece of written work. Show me that you are reading my marking!!
THE TASK AND QUESTIONS:

1. How are media forms used to shape enigma codes in this trailer?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074
2. How is the teenage experience of the central character represented in this trailer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg
3. Who is the target audience for MAD MEN?                                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcRr-Fb5xQo
4. How are media forms shaped to suggest the genre of this show?   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=242kR8uSeQ4

GOOD LUCK MEDIA FREAKS.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK THROUGHOUT THIS FIRST HALF-TERM....
NOW NAIL THIS HOMEWORK!!

YEAR 13 LESSON THIRTEEN [22nd Oct 13]: Homework.

This lesson explored and considered the question:
WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE GUARDIAN/ NEW YORK TIMES'S PUBLICATION OF ED SNOWDEN'S DOCUMENTS?
The class discussion was superb. Students were encouraged to shape an argument for and against the publication of Snowdon's documents using reference to media texts to reinforce the argument being presented. Students were encouraged to refer to the resources provided for this work. All arguments must be supported with textual reference. The aim of this exercise is to encourage students to INHALE AND EXHALE!

HOMEWORK: Complete one 'corrected' paragraph from the recent written work. The level of effort offered by students when constructing the last essay was impressive. Still a lot of work ahead of us to improve the quality and textual detail of our Impact of NDM but if the level of effort is maintained I am sure the improvement in quality will be rapid.

Students also need to research media that will be suitable for use when answering the questions we discussed today. See the last blog entry for the questions. Click on resources below:
Jack Straw on the BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24490942
Jill Abramson on BBC Newsnight:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24546598
Malcolm Rifkind discusses Snowdon on the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24537254
David Davis, Tory MP, on the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-23242404
The David Miranda Affair. BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23902999

Resources for question two. Is regulation possible in a digital world?
Uganda are trying to regulate social media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQHaFn8Ut38
Leveson and the internet:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20553416
Should we regulate the press? Channel Four News..Ian Hislop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJRMc4r7Q2Q
What do you think?

Media Theory...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/19/anders-breivik-call-of-duty
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8947861/Iain-Duncan-Smith-British-obsession-with-celebrity-fuelled-the-summer-riots.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3934277.stm
It is estimated that Romney and Obama had a combined number of over one million television ads promoting their views in the last US Election. It is estimated that both candidates spent more than 800 million dollars on promotional media. How does this relate to media theory?
Why is Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange significant in the media influence debate? Why is Jamie Bulger a significant moment in this debate?
Be prepared to discuss Marxist Theory, Pluralism, Baudrillard, Berger, The Uses and Gratification Theory, Sensitisation, Desensitisation etc...

YEAR 12 LESSON THIRTEEN [21st Oct 13]: Homework.

Students continued to construct their horror film soundtrack. There was some really good work. Well done folks.
Homework: Digest these resources as they will be used for stimulus in our next lesson.
Paranormal Activity Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074 
Juno Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SKf0K3bxg
Mad Men intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcRr-Fb5xQo
Flight of the Concords:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=242kR8uSeQ4