New to Media Studies? Welcome!

Media evolution from Sara Afonso

Week 1: Introduction to the Media

How much do you know about 'the media'. As a digital native, probably more than you think! See this brief history of the media to gain a broad understanding of how you got to being the media-savvy student you are today.

Theorists of the week:
Power and Media Industries – Curran and Seaton 

A political economy approach to the media – arguing that patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate.

Media industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands. This leads to a narrowing of the range of opinions represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity.

The internet does not represent a rupture with the past in that it does not offer a level playing field for diverse voices to be heard. It is constrained by nationalism and state censorship. News is still controlled by powerful news organisations, who have successfully defended their oligarchy.

Read their book 'Power Without Responsibility: The Press and Broadcasting in Britain' (1997)

Key quotation: "The press and broadcasting exercise a massive power, but it is more than ever a power without responsibility."

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_puttnam_what_happens_when_the_media_s_priority_is_profit

See this TED Talk on Media power and responsibility.



Tasks To Complete on Representation

Representation: thinking points

1. Firstly, think about how you represent yourself! Make a list of all the different identities you have in your life: school pupil, daughter, sister, friend, babysitter, Tesco worker, dog walker... Then draw up a pie chart with each chunk representing how much you think of yourself as that identity.

To make a pie chart that represents your identity, follow these steps:

• Complete the sentence ‘I am…” ten times. 
• Put those in to a basic order of importance. 
• Give each ‘identity’ a score, relative to the others, based on how import this label is to your overall identity. 
• Use this information to make a pie chart. 

You can use the attached Excel sheet to help you make your chart – just put in the details and the numbers and the chart will do the rest.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=122759157

Here's one drawn up for a media studies teacher:






2. Make a collage (either digitally or cutting and pasting pictures) of all the things that represent you as an individual. It might be pictures of hobbies, clothing, activities you enjoy, possessions that mean a lot to you, TV programmes that are important to you, people you admire (such as celebrities or bands)...


3. Think about the way you represent yourself to other people. Make a list of the different ways you communicate with people, particularly online: facebook, twitter, email (school and home), mobile phone - texts, bbm, Skype, letters, Youtube, MySpace, online games... Watch

The Onion's Lost Friendster Video



http://tinyurl.com/y939xk8.

How has communication changed since your parents' generation? Now watch Obama's advice about facebook.

Now watch James Cordon's reaction to Obama's new facebook page:


TASK: Make a presentation on the history of YOUR communications from the time you were a baby, entitled 'Me and the Online Age'. You can include found images and music, with captions.

PRODUCTION TASK:
Make a video which shows one person entering a room through the door, walking across the room, sitting down opposite another person and exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue.

In this video you should demonstrate three key concepts:

• match-on-action
• shot-reverse shot
• the 180 degree rule