Here are some exam questions and clips for you to practise with. Feel free to send them through to me for marking.
If you do, I will record your marks and add them to your overall score for the year. This means that if you do well in these practises, you have the opportunity to increase your average with better grades.
QUESTION 1: Representation Practise
- watch 4 times through, take notes for 2 mins between each viewing
- 45 minutes for writing the essay
EXPLAIN HOW MEANING IS CREATED IN THE EXTRACT, USING THE 4 TECHNICAL AREAS;
East Enders (UK TV Drama)
E.R. (US TV Drama)
Question 2: Audiences & Institutions
1. Discuss the importance of convergence for institutions. Refer to media areas you have studied.
2. "Audiences are not concerned with where media texts come from." To what extent do you agree with this?
3. In relation to the media area you have studied, discuss the way that audience consumption had changed over time.
4. To what extent is digital distribution vital to the media area you have studied?
5. How do media institutions target national and local audiences in the media area you have studied?
6. How important are media ownership and funding in understanding contemporary media practise? Refer to the media area you have studied.
7. How far have audiences adapted to the changes in the media technologies in recent years? Refer to media areas you have studied.
8. How has cross-media-convergence and synergy played a role in the success of media in the area you have studied?
Audience Research. Please use the links below and answer the questions. Make a blog post under the AUDIENCE label and give it the heading; 'Audience Research'
Questions; 1. How many of the world's population are currently connected to the internet? (slide 6) 2. How many of the world's population are active social media users? (slide 6) 3. What are the top 5 social media sites used globally? (slide 10) 4. What two age-groups have the largest contingent of social media users? (slide 12) 5. What percentage of NZ's population are connected to the internet and what percentage have social media? (slide 15) 6. What are the top 3 devices used to consume media in NZ? (slide 18) 7. How many hours a day are NZ's watching/ streaming online TV services? (slide 19) 8. What percentage of internet users in NZ swatch videos online and what percentage stream content via the internet? (slide 28) 9. What are NZ's top 5 social media sites? (slide 33)
1. Who are considered 'i-gens' (page 3 ) 2. In what ways are i-gens connected and using digital technology? (pg 4) 3. How would you describe the relationship with i-gens with the content of the media they are consuming? (Summarise page 5) 4. In what way does social media play a part in influencing i-gens activity in whether they watch a film or not? (p7) 5. List the emotional motivations that drive i-gens to watch movies at the cinemas and what in general do they like about it? (p8 & 10) 6. Comment on why i-gens opt to watch movies online at home (p 9) 7. What do the i-gens say is negative about the cinema experience? (p11) 8. Use page 13 to write a few sentences about how i-gens should be marketed to if you are trying to get them to watch your film 9. Use pages 14 - 19 to write a few points about the way i-gens prefer to engage with media and what they want out of a media consumption experience
Research audience consumption trends in the following link. Make some notes for your essay on what audience attendance is like in 2022 at cinemas in USA.
Have a look at the next article and make some notes on what they say has kept movie theatres afloat this year... who produced them? How does this information fit in what we believe about the power the Big 5 have in the film industry...
Here is the RECAP for theorists. I want you to write IN YOUR OWN WORDS, a paragraph explaining each of the theories below;
1. David Gauntlett's identity theory
2. Shirky's 'End of Audience' theory
3. Stuart Hall's 'Reception Theory'
Below are some of the resources we used for each theory...
1. David Gauntlett
This theory is simple and a great one to use in your REPRESENTATION essay or in a an essay about ownership, thinking about the older structures of corporations who would have clearer pathways of power to creating representations of different groups in society. The thinking about old media VS. new media, a media where now, many people can represent themselves, is an interesting one to think about and a great one to mention in your essays!
Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.
Amateur content made this way has different values to professional media producers, in that it promotes a connection between other amateur producers – they both deeply care about the products they make and can help them work together.
When they work together in this way, audiences can make more content than producers – Wikipedia is a good example of this.
What is the advanced version?
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example, Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
Reception theory as developed by Stuart Hall asserts that media texts are encoded and decoded. The producer encodes messages and values into their media which are then decoded by the audience. However, different audience members will decode the media in different ways and possibly not in the way the producer originally intended.
Stuart Hall states that audience members adopt one of the following three positions when they decode the text:
Dominant, or Preferred Reading - how the producer wants the audience to view the media text. Audience members will take this position if the messages are clear and if the audience member is the same age and culture; if it has an easy to follow narrative and if it deals with themes that are relevant to the audience.
Oppositional Reading - when the audience rejects the preferred reading, and creates their own meaning for the text. This can happen if the media contains controversial themes that the audience member disagrees with. It can also arise when the media has a complex narrative structure perhaps not dealing with themes in modern society. Oppositional reading can also occur if the audience member has different beliefs or is of a different age or a different culture.
Negotiated Reading - a compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, where the audience accepts parts of the producer's views, but has their own views on parts as well. This can occur if there is a combination of some of the above e.g. audience member likes the media, is of the same age as you and understands some of the messages, but the narrative is complex and this inhibits full understanding.
Many factors could affect whether the audience take the dominant, oppositional or negotiated reading.
Read the following infographic and make notes for your exam based on audience trends And also how technology developments are impacting audience consumption.
NZ's technology use is also an important area to understand. Grab some stats and data from this study based on NZ examples for essays on technology and also audience trends. How companies are choosing to reach audiences is important and based on how connected to technology people are.
You're going to watch this clip of a very straightforward theory by David Gauntlett.
This theory is simple and a great one to use in your REPRESENTATION essay or in a an essay about ownership, thinking about the older structures of corporations who would have clearer pathways of power to creating representations of different groups in society. The thinking about old media VS. new media, a media where now, many people can represent themselves, is an interesting one to think about and a great one to mention in your essays!
- brainstorm two potential exam questions (15 mins each) by creating an essay plan of what you'll include (think about film case studies, institution case studies, topics, NZ examples, global examples, terminology and theorists)
- write an opening paragraph that includes your position on the question and the topics you'll cover in each of the essays
- compare + contrast your brainstorm with a friend (for 5 mins)
- discuss in class
Questions
"The advancement of technology is having a significant impact on the film industry" To what extent do you believe this is true?
"It's all about the money" How is this true in the media area you have studied?
You are going to watch this clip and do a practise exam question on it;
Question;
Explain how meaning is created using the four technical elements in the following clip;
Remember to practise for exams by watching this through 4 times and give yourself 2 minutes in-between viewings for note-taking and then 45 minutes to write your essay. Also, note that the exam clip will be about 3 -4 minutes so not quite as long as this one.
Some new Key Words for your glossary;
STEREOTYPE
a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
ARCHETYPE:
a very typical example of a certain person or thing.
"he was the archetype of the old-style football club chairman"
JUXTAPOSITION
the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.
Comment after reading this article, about some of the ways streaming services are actually HELPING Indi filmmakers and arthouse cinema.
Task 4
Ancillary Rights
I want you to write some notes on ancillary rights. If a big conglomerate owns ancillary rights to films that have a good amount of spin-off, how does that continue to work in their favour?
- add this terminology into your notes for an essay on ownership/ technology or CMC+ synergy
In THIS LINK have a look at a slideshow which has a whole lot of notes for exam revision on Audiences and Institutions. The topics covered are ownership, cross media convergence & synergy, technicological developments etc.
- this is to give you an idea of how to write an essay with each different topic
- It shows you how to include facts, details and numbers of case studies
- use the information under the 'technological developments' section to make notes and craft your homework essay
“Digital technologies have transformed the way media produced and distributed.” Discuss with reference to the media area you have studied.
- Use your notes from the screening of Side by Side and write an essay answering the question above.
- You want to outline your main points in a short introduction
- Then go on to explain and providing DETAILS of quotes, statistics and facts from the documentary that make up a strong, robust argument.
- Remember, this question is asking you to comment on the PRODUCTION process so you can talk about pre-production, production and post production. What ways have technologies changed media production?
- You HAVE to include at least 3 of your case studies in comments on what technology they used
Monday/ Tuesday - watch this documentary by Keanuu Reeves (2012). He explores technological developments in the film world. Make lots of notes! You will need to be able to write an entire essay on this, at exam time and for homework, soon.
Use the following questions to gather the necessary information;
Questions should be filled out below:
1) Note down specific changes in technology below and films that have utilized this change in technology...
2) What has been the exclusive production, distribution and exhibition format for over 100 years?
3) What is going to replace 35mm film?
4) Note down key quotes from directors regarding digital and film production and exhibition:
5) How is digital processed?
6) How does the documentary discuss the production and post production process?
7) How is digital helping or hindering film production, post production and exhibition?
8) Note down key quotes from editors regarding digital post production:
9) What is the impact of digital technology and what does the future hold?
In the break, we are tackling an essay on OWNERSHIP.
I want you to answer the following essay question, using the points of interest below;
"To what extent does Media Ownership impact the success of a film." Please(!!!) plan your essay like we discussed, before attempting to write it.
In your plan:
write a killer, clear, easy to understand opening sentence that sums up your position on the question.
write 4 - 5 solid points that you will expand on in each paragraph
write bullet points for case studies / facts / figures / quotes that you have for each paragraph to back up your points
use case study and research ALL THE WAY THROUGH
use terminology from class notes / glossary ALL THE WAY THROUGH
In your essay, cover the following
BASIC IDEAS
1. Hollywood's DOMINANCE over media industry 2 NZ's film industry situation - NZFC (compare & contrast issues for NZ film production competing with Hollywood) 3. Piracy as an issue for all
how is media ownership structured (conglomerates / Hollywood big 5 - who are they? / subsidiaries / Disney case study - what does Disney own? What are they worth? how much of our media are they actually making? )
contrast Hollywood with NZ film (who are NZFC? What films have they made in last year? What are NZFC driven by (what is their end goal) / what types of films are being made and why? )
How does the $ of ownership influence cross-media convergence / synergy opportunities? Does it influence how successfully a film is marketed?? (CASE STUDIES to back this up / 'What we do in the shadows' / Hollywood Blockbuster case study marketing strategies / Dark Knight Why So Serious marketing campaign / Cases that contrast how indi films struggle or NZ funded films struggle in comparison? maybe they don'y struggle? Maybe the internet has levelled the playing field? / Horizontal Integration & Vertical Integration - how does this benefit a film's success and give examples of both types of integration
benefits of big $ to spend in ALL stages of production? (use your brainstorm from Monday - e.g. being able to hire big stars which also helps in promoting film (give EXAMPLES), benefits of technical equipment and bigger budgets for things like sounds / special effects etc
impact of a big company vs indi film in things like distribution - how does big $ make a difference in distribution process? Think integration of companies and how that may affect a film being distributed. How much harder is it for a small indi film to get distributed vS. your Hollywood blockbuster?
Impact of big conglomerate on the TYPES of movies being made. What are top grossing movies of last year? Who made them? What types of movies are being produced and re-produced because they're popular? What happens to the original storyteller and stories that need to be told? How does Hollywood's domination of the market affect independent films or international films who want to get work out there?
Piracy - how does this affect people who own the media? Use case study examples and research you've done to talk about this
This is a CRIME DRAMA, "Breaking Bad". You are going to write a representation essay on this clip, looking at the 4 technical areas and how meaning is created. Remember to use your glossary and plan your essay out like you have been taught.
THIS ESSAY IS DUE on the first day of Term 3
QUESTION
"Explain how the meaning is created using the four technical areas, in the following clip."
Today's research is going to be useful for any essay regarding ownership. We are going to look into the New Zealand Film Commission. I want you to open your case study blog post and do some research on the NZFC and answer the following questions;
1. Who are the NZFC and what is their primary purpose? 2. What films have they funded in the last 5 years that did really well internationally? 3. What films have they funded in the last 5 years that you have seen or that you know have been popular? 4. What services do the NZFC offer to help NZ filmmakers in the production process? www.nzfilm.co.nz/new-zealand
Now I want you to consider the following question on a brainstorming page that you will title, "INSTITUTIONS (OWNERSHIP)".
Flick though this slideshow and make some notes but keep in mind this is British and we are focusing on the NZFC so mainly take the generalised points about ownership and what affect it has on a film being made.
"How does the status of the institution impact on how they engage with the major stages of production?" (basically, how does it impact a film being made to have the backing of a massive conglomerate like Disney, as opposed to being a filmmaker from NZ wanting to make an indi film).
Write points for;
1. Production (getting funding / cast & crew / music for the film / technology & equipment) 2. Distribution / marketing ( actors promoting the film / vertical & horizontal integration / synergy & cross-media-convergence) 3. exhibition & exchange (the type of release you may have / the rights to the film / piracy)
Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.
Amateur content made this way has different values to professional media producers, in that it promotes a connection between other amateur producers – they both deeply care about the products they make and can help them work together.
When they work together in this way, audiences can make more content than producers – Wikipedia is a good example of this.
What is the advanced version?
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example, Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
3. Why is this a good example that illustrates how NZ film is used for a different purpose than the films created for the Big 5? Was this safety video purely for entertainment?
Ok we are going to look at 2 really interesting examples for marketing campaigns for films. One was a big budget, blockbuster film and one was an Indi, lower budget, crowd-funded movie.
Firstly, make a couple of important notes
- year film came out
- who directed it
- budget
Then watch this video + read the articles to learn more about the marketing campaigns they used. Make some notes;
Task 1: In preparation for this week's essay, I want you to watch this video and make some detailed notes (in your own words), explaining what synergy is.
You should also have some examples (like the Black panther examples) of how your case studies used examples of Synergy.
Task 2: Take a look at this slightly tedious but very informative video and make some notes on the difference between Cross-Media-Convergene and Synergy.
On your notes on ownership, make a list of issues outlined here that arise from Disney being so massive. Include any recent acquisitions and what this means for the film industry and audiences.
(I expect to see at least 2 Questions on your blog by Mon 20th June) :)
Remember
PRESENTATION is important (check you have pictures/ photos / colours and that the writing and placement of graphics or backgrounds isn't distracting)
BLOG TOOLS - each question needs a DIFFERENT blog tool EMBEDDED into blog
Question 1 How does your product USE or CHALLENGE conventions? How does it represent social groups / issues? (Think sound, lighting, narrative structure, editing, camera work, symbolism and iconography) - make a list of conventions used, are they conforming to the norm or challenging the normal thriller conventions? - This needs to be at least 5 slides with DETAILS and showing links to clips/ movies you used as inspiration. Do NOT just list things, EXPLAIN them, show photos of what you wanted to achieve as a convention and what you did achieve
Question 2 How does your product engage with audiences? How would you distribute it as a real media text? (What effect does it have on audiences? What emotions do you evoke in audience members?) - Think about and comment on the following; - Who is your target audience (use demographics research we did in class - GEN Z/ i-gen content. - Why would this appeal to this audience range? - How are you going to distribute this product BASED ON what you know about your target audience? (Do they go to the cinema? What sort of marketing would you use? What examples of viral marketing would you try and copy? What platforms would you make this available on and how?) - characters (what characters did you choose to use? Can audiences identify with any of them? Are they scary / mysterious? Is there a vulnerable character that the audience sympathises with? - narrative - what sort of story line does your film have? Think about narrative structure - are there certain aspects of the story that are revealed at the end? Is there enigma in your story? Is there a cliffhanger? - point of view - is your film made from a certain point of view? - How does the thriller genre in general 'hook' or engage audiences? (do a bit of research) - What editing/ music choices have you used to build suspense and engage audiences?
Question 3 How have your PRODUCTION skills developed throughout the project? (pre-production, production and post-production. What have you learnt to do? - comment on the learning process. What did you find hard? What did you enjoy doing? What was a challenge and - what were peer revision/ comments on your rough edit? What did they suggest you change? What did you end up changing? - what went well in the filming process that you'll do again? What will you do differently next time?
Question 4 - How did you integrate technologies into this project? (Software, hardware and online) - Photos! List photos, screenshots, videos and explanations of every website, software, Youtube tutorial, camera, sound gear/ microphone etc, you used to plan, write scripts, look up info on sound effects, convert Youtube music to MP3's, edit, after effects etc
EDITING!!! You are posting your rough edit and then working towards handing in your final edit on Friday next week.
Homework
You are going to need CASE STUDIES for your exam and for us to discuss in class. You are going to open a blog post and title it 'Case Study Research' where you will document your findings.
Case Study requirements;
- a NZ film (What we did in the Shadows)
- a Hollywood Blockbuster (your choice)
- an Indi-film (one not made/ funded by a big Hollywood production studio)
- A film that didn't do well (The Interview)
You need to know EVERYTHING about these films.
- date of release
- what their budget was
- what they made on opening weekend
- what gross earnings were for the film
- who directed it
- any A-list cast / actors?
- controversy or context around it - if any?
- who distributed the film?
- who funded the film (Indi - if so? How did they fund it? - crowd-funding etc)
- what did critics say about it? reviews and how it was received by the public
- how was it distributed? (DVD / streaming platform etc)?
- Marketing campaigns - what was marketing budget / what ways was it marketed?
Questions; 1. How many of the world's population are currently connected to the internet? (slide 6) 2. How many of the world's population are active social media users? (slide 6) 3. What are the top 5 social media sites used globally? (slide 10) 4. What two age-groups have the largest contingent of social media users? (slide 12) 5. What percentage of NZ's population are connected to the internet and what percentage have social media? (slide 15) 6. What are the top 3 devices used to consume media in NZ? (slide 18) 7. How many hours a day are NZ's watching/ streaming online TV services? (slide 19) 8. What percentage of internet users in NZ swatch videos online and what percentage stream content via the internet? (slide 28) 9. What are NZ's top 5 social media sites? (slide 33)
1. Who are considered 'i-gens' (page 3 ) 2. In what ways are i-gens connected and using digital technology? (pg 4) 3. How would you describe the relationship with i-gens with the content of the media they are consuming? (Summarise page 5) 4. In what way does social media play a part in influencing i-gens activity in whether they watch a film or not? (p7) 5. List the emotional motivations that drive i-gens to watch movies at the cinemas and what in general do they like about it? (p8 & 10) 6. Comment on why i-gens opt to watch movies online at home (p 9) 7. What do the i-gens say is negative about the cinema experience? (p11) 8. Use page 13 to write a few sentences about how i-gens should be marketed to if you are trying to get them to watch your film 9. Use pages 14 - 19 to write a few points about the way i-gens prefer to engage with media and what they want out of a media consumption experience
