Section B: lesson powerpoints

For Section B (cross-media study on music promotion), please find links to the lesson powerpoints below:

Intro to Section B

Section B: Media forms and media language

Section B: Representation

Section B: Audiences

Section B: Institutions

Working with your case study (+ early exam prep)

Section A: lesson powerpoints

Four key concepts in media: click on the links below for the relevant lesson powerpoints for each key concept:

Media audiences

Media representations

Media institutions

Media forms, platforms and conventions (also see semiology)

'Testing Your Case Study' grid

Link to the 'Testing your Case Study' grid - click here

Example blogs

These were whole coursework portfolios for the OCR exam board (we are doing AQA), but are useful in terms of how to analyse effectively, and for ideas on how to present your analysis on a blog. 

AS students did music magazines: http://tdsmusicmags.blogspot.ae/2016/05/g321-moderator-links-to-student-blogs.html 

A Level students did music promotion (music videos, magazine adverts and CD digipaks): http://tdsmedia.blogspot.ae/2015/06/g324-blogs-for-june-2016-entry.html 

MEST1 Section A practice: 'Meet the Superhumans' (June 2014 paper)

MEST1 Section B: Cross-media study checklist

MEST1: Section B Cross-media study
(Click here for link to Word document)

Purpose: to undertake an independent case study that will allow you to answer the Section B question in the examination.

Focus of case study: music promotion across media platforms (moving image, print and e-media)

Identify your media texts in this grid:

	Moving image texts: music videos	Print texts: music magazines	E-media texts: music websites
	e.g. Drake, ‘Hotline Bling’	e.g. Drake ‘Vibe’ front cover	e.g. www.drakeofficial.com
		e.g. album cover
		e.g. Kerrang
		e.g. The Wire

For each text, you need to complete the tasks below. Some of you might like to use the list below as a checklist to structure your case study, so these tasks have been presented as a table for that reason.

Analysing your texts	√
Identify your texts for each platform and note basic details- year of release/publication, the institution (record label, magazine publisher etc), YouTube views, average circulation (sales) for that magazine etc.
Research a basic history of the artist (how long have they been releasing music, signed to which labels etc). Mainstream or niche appeal?
Media forms, platforms and conventions:
Conduct a detailed media language analysis of each text, analysing how it promotes the artist and appeals to the target audience. (Fonts, colour, layout, camerawork, editing, sound, mise-en-scene etc).
Within that, you should identify how the narrative is constructed for the audience
… and also how they meet conventions of the particular music genre.
Institutions:
Synergy: For each artist, make links between the different platforms- look for examples of ‘synergy’ between the texts, repeated iconography (visual signs such as costumes, hair styles, poses etc). How does this synergy help to promote the artist?
Consider how the values and ideology of the institutions might be evident in the media text
Audiences:
Identify who the target audience is for each text and justify your ideas
Consider how the audience interacts with each text, and how technology has helped them to be more ‘active’ in their consumption of these texts.
Apply audience theories to the texts- what uses and gratifications does the text provide? What is the ‘dominant’ or preferred reading of the text?
Representation:
How is the artist represented in each text? Refer to stereotypes and media language in your analysis.

Links to MEST1 unseen texts

• January 2010 MEST1: Advertisement for Warner Brothers Blu-ray and HD DVDs distributed on Warner Home Video DVDs, sold and available for rent in 2008.
• Summer 2010 MEST1: Opening sequence to a 2009 ITV2 documentary Peter Andre Going it Alone: http://vimeo.com/41391219.
• January 2011 MEST1: Viral video Have you seen that? Released on YouTube in March 2009 to launch the new MINI Clubman car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9UlaKOIdZg.
• Summer 2011 MEST1: Television advert Never Knowingly Undersold for John Lewis, April 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYOsWWKHZVw.
• Summer 2012 MEST1: Title sequence for The Simpsons episode MoneyBART, C4 October 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo.
• January 2013 MEST1: A British Public information film, Embrace Life about seat belts launched online in January 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p916yeFa2Xk.
• June 2013 MEST1: 
• June 2014 MEST1: "Meet the Superhumans'- advert for Channel 4's coverage of the Paralympics in 2012.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuAPPeRg3Nw   
• June 2015 MEST1: 'Call of Duty: Ghosts' trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxnx3W-HA18 
• June 2016 MEST1:

Summer 2012 (Simpsons) exemplar answers

Example answers- C and A grade

Examples of students' media language analyses

The links below are excellent examples of students' media language analysis for both moving image and print products:

Analysis of music videos:

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

Analysis of album cover/digipak:

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

Analysis of magazine adverts:

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

DISCLAIMER: These blogs were for the A2 coursework for OCR; a different exam board to yours (AQA). However, the expectations of a media language analysis are always the same regardless of the exam board!

Section B past papers

AS Past papers overview- SECTION B (Choose 1 question from choice of 2)

Answer one question from this section using material from your cross-media study.

Exam season	Question 5	Question 6
Jan 2013	Evaluate how new technologies have been used in the products in your cross-media study. Support your answer with reference to a range of products from three media platforms.	Intertextuality describes the way in which media products make reference to other media products that producers assume audiences will recognise. Identify the ways intertextuality is used in your cross-media study. Support your answer with reference to a range of products from three media platforms.
June 2013	How far does the platform on which they are consumed determine the construction of media products in your cross-media study? Support your answer with reference to a range of products from three media platforms.	Explore how representations are constructed in media products from your cross-media study. Support your answer with reference to a range of products from three media platforms.
June 2014	‘Media institutions are essentially profit-driven.’ Evaluate how commercial pressures have had an impact on the products in your cross-media study. Support your answer with reference to a range of examples from three media platforms	‘When we engage with media we both act and are acted upon, use and are used.’ Consider how much control audiences have in relation to their use of media products from your cross-media study. Support your answer with reference to a range of examples from three media platforms.
June 2015	Convergence allows audiences to access media content from multiple platforms on one device. Assess the impact of convergence in your cross-media study. Support your answer with reference to a range of products from three media platforms.	How do institutions ensure the audience’s enjoyment of a media product’s narrative is extended across the platforms? Support your answer with reference to a range of products from three media platforms.

Section A past papers

AS Past papers overview- SECTION A

Exam season	Unseen media text	Additional info provided on paper	Question 1	Question 2	Question 3	Question 4
Jan 2013	Road safety advert	You are about to see Embrace Life, a British public information film made for the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership about the importance of wearing seat belts. The short film has become an international phenomenon, reaching 129 countries through social networking and video sharing sites, after it was launched on the internet in January 2010. Highly praised for its visual and emotional impact, the film has scooped a range of awards worldwide. By December 2011, the film had over 14 million views on YouTube and a Facebook group, ‘This Ad Should be on TV’, had been created. Executive Producer, Neil Hopkins, said that the film had originally been designed to be screened at local cinemas, on the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership website, and at local educational events. He added: ‘We never dreamed that the campaign would touch so many people.’	How does the institution take an original and positive approach to road safety advertising?	How does mise-en-scène contribute to the impact of the film?	How is family represented in the film?	Why does the film appeal to such a wide audience?
June 2013	Extract from the BBC’s ‘Frozen Planet’	You are about to see a short sequence from Frozen Planet, first broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD at 9.00pm on Wednesday 16 November 2011, and also made available to watch online via BBC iPlayer. As part of the most watched natural history series in the UK, this episode attracted over seven million viewers. Shot over four years in high definition at a cost of £16 million, the seven-part nature documentary series explored the Arctic and the Antarctic. The end of each episode contained an extra section called ‘Freeze Frame’, showing behind the scenes footage of the production team in action. Made in association with the Open University, the series was presented by Sir David Attenborough. Frozen Planet has been highly praised, particularly for upholding the public service values of the BBC: ‘to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.’	What is the BBC hoping to achieve by including behind the scenes footage?	How are editing and sound used in the sequence to structure the narrative?	How is the camera crew represented in the sequence?	Does the programme ‘inform, educate and entertain’ its audience?
June 2014	Advert for Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games; ‘Meet the Superhumans’	You are about to see the television trailer, ‘Meet the Superhumans’, produced to promote Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games. It was first broadcast in the UK at 9 pm on 17 July 2012, across 78 television channels, to an audience of approximately 10 million viewers. Securing the exclusive rights to broadcast the Paralympic Games was a major attempt by Channel 4 to reconnect with its core values of ‘Do it First, Make Trouble, Inspire Change’, as the public service broadcaster had faced criticism for becoming too reliant on reality TV shows such as Big Brother. The multi-million pound Paralympics advertising campaign was the biggest in Channel 4’s history. Featuring the Public Enemy track, ‘Harder than You Think’, the trailer was met with much critical acclaim. The director, Tom Tagholm of in-house agency 4Creative, said: “We knew we had to make some noise. We knew we had to add some edge and grit and attitude.” Tim Hollingsworth, head of the British Paralympic Association, who worked with Channel 4 to develop the trailer, stated: “We wanted to show that every Paralympic athlete has a story, but that it starts with the sport.”	How does the trailer promote Channel 4’s brand image?	How are viewers encouraged by the trailer to see disability?	Identify the key narrative techniques used in the trailer.	How are the Paralympic Games represented in the trailer as a much anticipated sporting event?
June 2015	Trailer for ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’	You are about to see the live-action trailer ‘Epic Night Out’ for ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’, globally released via a range of media platforms on 5 November 2013. Made to promote Activision’s tenth instalment of its first-person shooter game franchise, the trailer follows four friends who embark on an action-packed adventure through a decimated Las Vegas of the future. It features a cameo appearance by Hollywood star Megan Fox, as well as the song on the soundtrack ‘I’m Gonna Live Till I Die’ by the famous American singer Frank Sinatra. “Even people who will never buy our game, I want them talking about our advertising and our product,” said Tim Ellis, Activision’s Chief Marketing Officer. “That is the way you build a cultural juggernaut that sustains itself year after year.” To date, ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ is the most played next-generation console game on both Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. On the Xbox One alone, there have been over 1 billion multiplayer matches played since the game’s launch.	How is camerawork used in the trailer to show the excitement of playing ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’?	How are links with other brands and media products used in the trailer to promote ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’?	How does the trailer attempt to appeal to a male audience?	How is gun violence represented in the trailer?

AS Media Studies glossary

You should be completing this glossary as you go through the course

AS MEDIA STUDIES GLOSSARY

Terminology	Definition
Active consumption	An audience actively engages with a text- thinking and processing (and questioning) the messages contained within it.
Binary opposites
Brand image/identity
Codes and conventions
Concepts	Ideas that can be applied to a media text in order to understand it
Connotation
Convergence	The coming together of media technologies
Cross-media
Demographics
Denotation	The simplest and most obvious level of meaning from a sign (see also connotation)
Encoding/decoding
Enigma
Expectations and pleasures	Audiences understand genre through their familiarity with the codes and conventions used in the text. They expect and take pleasure in repetition and recognition of the generic elements.
Forms	The distinguishing characteristics of types of media products
Franchise
Genre
Globalisation	The way in which in contemporary society distant countries are inter-related and connected together by trade, communication and cultural experiences
Hegemony	The process in which a power relationship is accepted, consented to and seen as natural or ‘common sense’
House style
Hybrid genres
Iconic
Iconography	Particular signs we associate with particular genres
Ideology	The opinions, beliefs and ways of thinking characteristic of a particular person, group or nation
Institutions
Intertextuality	Within a text, visual or audio references are made to other texts. It is expected that audiences will recognise such references.
Mainstream
Mass audience
Mediation	The process by which an institution or individual or an technology comes between events that happen in the world and the audience who receive the representation
Mise-en-scene
Narrative
Niche audience
Oligopoly
Passive consumption
Platform
Pluralistic
Product
Psychographics
Readings
Representation
Semiology/semiotics
Socio-economic
Symbolic codes
Synergy
Technical codes
Text
User generated content	Contributions to media texts from audiences
USP (Unique selling point)
Viral marketing
Voyeurism	Gaining pleasure from watching, especially secretly, other people’s behaviour and bodies in sexual, intimate or emotional behaviour
Web 2.0	The term for the second wave of the internet which brought increased connectivity and active consumption- blogs, social media etc.