Q1b: Posts on Representations

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


Representations is fairly tightly interlinked with Audience + Genre (tho Narrative conventions can also drive rep'ns too).

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; 

Representation theory; some of the links were for the previous A2 exam topic, but includes useful material on David Chandler in particular

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?; 

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic.

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board
Hammer horror; any aspect of your work in this classic British tradition? (including the blatant sexism?!)
British horror + budgets; bright future?;

Being Human: Auds, Repns, Dig.Tech;

Inbred - Yorkshire mayor angry; Thirsk's mayor gets mad at movie set there carrying the title Inbred - how do your rep'ns of Ilkley compare? Should film/videomakers care about such issues?

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers? Did you employ any countertypes or stick to typical male killer with sexual issues?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way? 

 

 

Q1b: Posts on Genre

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision; (not JUST about his visual style: his groundbreaking use of looooong takes; prediction of today's we-media [everyone will have their 15 mins of fame]; pertinent to working within a group, his concept of factory production by a team but bearing one artist's [auteur...] name: is a genre text little more than factory production?)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?; 

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre; (snippet: 'The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity"')

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions: are you virtually forced to surrender to market/audience/genre demands for fast pace?)

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; 

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic.

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?)

Micro-budget films +DCRUP;  espec relevant for vids + slasher/horror

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. How distinct are UK genre egs from US? (Link to cultural imperialism, see above)
Hammer horror; any aspect of your work in this classic British tradition? Or more influenced by the US films that saw Hammer go from 50s/60s world-leader to bust in the 70s?
Horror Games: 13 most atmospheric; any intertextual influence from these (which also show wider appeal of genre to multiple audiences)?
British horror + budgets; bright future?;
The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories

Zombies for charity...; how horror memes have entered wider society

BBC snotty about horror/fantasy/sci-fi?; how a BBC book list seemed to reflect anti-popular culture bias or snobbery

Researching recent genre egs + presenting this in vid;

Being Human: Auds, Repns, Dig.Tech;

Scream 4 + genre/METZ; the classic pomo slasher franchise + Metz's theory of genre cycles
Peeping Tom 50yrs on; one of two British proto-slashers from 1960 that set out key aspects that Halloween would later reintroduce to a global audience, this one largely disappeared while Psycho was hailed as a huge influence, but today is rightly seen as a masterpiece, and has a sharp commentary on audience pleasures with the killing weapon actually mounted onto the camera itself, giving us an early example of the audience sharing the killer's POV
80s Madman Reborn on web; how an 80s 'video nasty' continues to make money [long tail theory...] through multiple digital platforms, raising its profile + creating talk of a remake
Colin, the £45 film; this made it to the cinema despite being really rather poor, not least the lack of shot variety and excessively long takes - clever exploitation of marketing, not least online, helped the case and it continues to make decent money from DVD sales

Box Office(Mojo) by Genre; this eg is for slasher but you can click through for others too. Persistently successful: tease out the factors behind this.

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way?  

BellaOnlone on Popularity of Horror Films; analysis by a woman's website 

    

Q1b: Posts on Narrative

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


This links well into audience (expectations, and concepts such as Uses + Gratifications) and genre. For the slasher genre, you can find fantastic analysis in the book Blood Money (don't have it on me at time of writing, but if you are prepping this one on AS ask me for a photocopy of the key section from it).

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; 

Creativity, Narrative: Coens;

Representation theory; some of the links were for the previous A2 exam topic, but includes useful material on David Chandler in particular + The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality.

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?). By following narrative codes set down in Hollywood/US vids have you lost your UK voice?

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?;

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Extend this and consider the Proppian roles in your work and how women fare.
The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. Are there recognisable 'national' traits within narrative conventions? (basically: yes - think of the US insistence on upbeat endings). You could link this to the cultural imperialism issue above

The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers? Did you seek to confuse or mislead the audience over the killer's identity, exploiting common expectations?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way? 

Q1b: Posts on Audience

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


There is a subtext here, partially linking back to Q1a, of how digisation/web 2.0 has fostered convergence, and fractured the once seemingly clear lines between audience and producer.

Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

DIGITISATION: self-published short film; (further eg on how web 2.0 functions + how YOUR work isn't mere abstract academic exercise)

DIGITISATION: book industry; (has web 2.0 made publishers obsolete?)

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision; (not JUST about his visual style: his groundbreaking use of looooong takes; prediction of today's we-media [everyone will have their 15 mins of fame] is where this becomes potentially useful on audience; pertinent to working within a group, his concept of factory production by a team but bearing one artist's [auteur...] name)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?; 

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions: are you virtually forced to surrender to market/audience/genre demands for fast pace?)

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; if the scream queen (and attendant nudity) is a key element for male aud, then this is key for the female aud which the film biz goes all out to attract to this supposedly male-skewed genre - the book Blood Money is very good on this point

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic.

Applying U+G theory; there's really no excuse for not applying this key active audience theory, which gives you plenty to write about!

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?)

Micro-budget films +DCRUP;  digitisation expanding access to wider aud for micro-budget productions?

Creativity: Gauntlett + Csikszentmihalyi; snippet: 'Some writers on creativity, such as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, even suggest that creativity is a phenomenon which only occurs in a social context and cannot be understood, or even recognised, in isolation'

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. Did you try to emphasize or disguise 'Britishness' for audience factors? (see cultural imperialism post) 
Horror Games: 13 most atmospheric; any intertextual influence from these (which also show wider appeal of genre to multiple audiences)?
The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories
Zombies for charity...; how horror memes have entered wider society  

Being Human: Auds, Repns, Dig.Tech;

Scream 4 + genre/METZ; the classic pomo slasher franchise + Metz's theory of genre cycles

Peeping Tom 50yrs on; one of two British proto-slashers from 1960 that set out key aspects that Halloween would later reintroduce to a global audience, this one largely disappeared while Psycho was hailed as a huge influence, but today is rightly seen as a masterpiece, and has a sharp commentary on audience pleasures with the killing weapon actually mounted onto the camera itself, giving us an early example of the audience sharing the killer's POV 

Box Office(Mojo) by Genre; this eg is for slasher but you can click through for others too. Persistently successful: tease out the factors behind this.

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way? 

http://www.slideshare.net/classof09/choosing-audience: eg of prior aud research

BellaOnlone on Popularity of Horror Films; analysis by a woman's website

     

Q1b: Posts on Media Lang

All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


Every MANGeR topic is potentially linked into MLang; any work on Use of Conventions... from 1a could also be useful here.

Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

PoMo by louderthanwar blog; (accessible guide to this very key concept)

POMO Slasher sitcom Holliston @ FearNet.com;

POMO/NARRATIVE: HI v POP Cul: Austen v TOWIE!; (neat comparison of TOWIE + Jane Austen)

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision; (not JUST about his visual style: his groundbreaking use of looooong takes; prediction of today's we-media [everyone will have their 15 mins of fame]; pertinent to working within a group, his concept of factory production by a team but bearing one artist's [auteur...] name)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?; 

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre; (snippet: 'The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity"')

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions: are you virtually forced to surrender to market/audience/genre demands for fast pace?)

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; key point here is how you signify such archetypal characters through MLang/mise-en-scene

Creativity, Narrative: Coens;

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?)

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic.

Slideshow on media terms;

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. How does nationality impact on MLang?
Hammer horror; any aspect of your work in this classic British tradition? Note the slower-paced editing style for older horror, and use of stagey sets
Zombie flicks - low budget, inferior to your productions?;
Horror Games: 13 most atmospheric; any intertextual influence from these (which also show wider appeal of genre to multiple audiences)?
The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories
Fan trailers of movies they WANT made!; this isn't just fan-made material like the trailers cut to a favourite music track, but rather franchise fans trying to influence studio decisions about sequels/prequels/remakes
Scream 4 + genre/METZ; the classic pomo slasher franchise + Metz's theory of genre cycles  

Peeping Tom 50yrs on; one of two British proto-slashers from 1960 that set out key aspects that Halloween would later reintroduce to a global audience, this one largely disappeared while Psycho was hailed as a huge influence, but today is rightly seen as a masterpiece, and has a sharp commentary on audience pleasures with the killing weapon actually mounted onto the camera itself, giving us an early example of the audience sharing the killer's POV

Colin, the £45 film; this made it to the cinema despite being really rather poor, not least the lack of shot variety and excessively long takes - clever exploitation of marketing, not least online, helped the case and it continues to make decent money from DVD sales

Horror music copies animals?; use of music/soundtrack from AS is worth considering, and this helps

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way? 

Q1a: Posts on Post-Production

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


The link to Digital technology is obvious, but also consider Creativity (how editing + gathering feedback on drafts using new media changed original ideas), and Use of Conventions/R+P (what observable editing conventions/FX were you seeking to employ?). 

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

DIGITISATION: self-published short film; (further eg on how web 2.0 functions + how YOUR work isn't mere abstract academic exercise)

DIGITISATION: book industry; (has web 2.0 made publishers obsolete?)

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions)

TT3D as eg of A2-level filmmaking in real world; feature film made using same equipment as you guys

Creativity and R+P: Monsters; here's an $800k debut feature by a director who struggled to get financing because he didn't have a full script - like Loach. Leigh etc Gareth Edwards wanted to organically develop his script with his cast during the shoot. Indeed, he hired non-actors as he travelled (entire crew in ONE car!) on location... Editing was done as they went: digital tech means footage can be quickly + cheaply checked out (it doesn't need to expensively developed like 35mm film)

Micro-budget films +DCRUP; expanding opportunities for distribution of micro-/zero-budget productions? 

Coens on using Final Cut for Oscar-nommed True Grit; consider their editing style
British horror + budgets; bright future?;

Q1a: Posts on Use of Conventions

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


This topic is particularly tightly linked to the issues of creativity and R+P (in turn, R+P and Uses... are tied to digital technologies: how you uncovered/researched conventions).

Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

PoMo by louderthanwar blog; (accessible guide to this very key concept)

POMO Slasher sitcom Holliston @ FearNet.com;

POMO/NARRATIVE: HI v POP Cul: Austen v TOWIE!; (neat comparison of TOWIE + Jane Austen)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?; you can't avoid the issue of whether there's any possibility today of originality

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision; (not JUST about his visual style: his groundbreaking use of looooong takes; prediction of today's we-media [everyone will have their 15 mins of fame]; pertinent to working within a group, his concept of factory production by a team but bearing one artist's [auteur...] name)

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre; (snippet: 'The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity"')

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions: are you virtually forced to surrender to market/audience/genre demands for fast pace?)

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; 

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic. To what extent are the conventions you've used sourced from male practitioners? Sexist? Or does post-feminist thinking end such debates?

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?). Have you managed a distinctive UK/Northern/Yorkshire/Ilkley 'voice' or have you overwhelmingly followed patterns laid down by US + London producers?

Coens on using Final Cut for Oscar-nommed True Grit; 

Slideshow on media terms;

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. Are there distinctly UK conventions?
Hammer horror; any aspect of your work in this classic British tradition? 
British horror + budgets; bright future?;
The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories   

Researching recent genre egs + presenting this in vid;

Scream 4 + genre/METZ; the classic pomo slasher franchise + Metz's theory of genre cycles
Peeping Tom 50yrs on; one of two British proto-slashers from 1960 that set out key aspects that Halloween would later reintroduce to a global audience, this one largely disappeared while Psycho was hailed as a huge influence, but today is rightly seen as a masterpiece, and has a sharp commentary on audience pleasures with the killing weapon actually mounted onto the camera itself, giving us an early example of the audience sharing the killer's POV

Colin, the £45 film; this made it to the cinema despite being really rather poor, not least the lack of shot variety and excessively long takes - clever exploitation of marketing, not least online, helped the case and it continues to make decent money from DVD sales. Maybe worth contrasting your superior use of MLang

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way? 

Horror music copies animals?; use of music/soundtrack from AS is worth considering, and this helps 

Q1a: Posts on Rsch + Planning

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.


Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre; (snippet: 'The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity"')

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; what such books/articles did YOU use?

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic. To what extent are the conventions you've used sourced from male practitioners? Sexist? Or does post-feminist thinking end such debates?

Creativity and R+P: Monsters; here's an $800k debut feature by a director who struggled to get financing because he didn't have a full script - like Loach. Leigh etc Gareth Edwards wanted to organically develop his script with his cast during the shoot. Indeed, he hired non-actors as he travelled (entire crew in ONE car!) on location...

Micro-budget films +DCRUP;

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?). What proportion of the texts you examined were specifically British ... or even non-London-based for that matter?

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. As above, how British-based was your research?

Coens on using Final Cut for Oscar-nommed True Grit;

Researching recent genre egs + presenting this in vid;
Box Office(Mojo) by Genre; this eg is for slasher but you can click through for others too. Persistently successful: tease out the factors behind this.

Times Top 20 Villains; a poorly thought out list but nonetheless highlights the central narrative + marketing role of an identifiable killer, and the curious audience response (delighting in the killing and enjoying killers' quips [eg NoESt's Freddie Krueger]); did you attempt any intertextuality with existing killers?

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way? 

http://www.slideshare.net/classof09/choosing-audience: eg of prior aud research

 

Q1a: Posts on Creativity

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.

The main post on Q1a Creativity stresses the overlap with all 4 other DCRUP areas, and the need to consider this one in relation to each of these in turn. Therefore several of the posts listed below may appear to be primarily centred on R+P etc, but I'm including them as a pointer to think of the interaction between this and Creativity.

Characteristics of a Music Video; (bite-sized chunks of theory!)

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

PoMo by louderthanwar blog; (accessible guide to this very key concept)

POMO Slasher sitcom Holliston @ FearNet.com;

POMO/NARRATIVE: HI v POP Cul: Austen v TOWIE!; (neat comparison of TOWIE + Jane Austen)

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision; (not JUST about his visual style: his groundbreaking use of looooong takes; prediction of today's we-media [everyone will have their 15 mins of fame]; pertinent to working within a group, his concept of factory production by a team but bearing one artist's [auteur...] name)

Creativity + MANGeR: Everything is a Remix?;

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre; (snippet: 'The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity"')

Does slow pace = boring?; (pace was an issue for you all at AS and A2, linked to aud feedback + genre conventions: are you virtually forced to surrender to market/audience/genre demands for fast pace?)

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film; feminist Carole 'final girl' Clover's 1987 journal article

Final Girl: Carole Clover and critiques; can you be creative in recycling such archetypes yet again?

Creativity sans la femme + Bechdel Test; feminist Bechdel flags up the tawdry way women are used in film, but also consider the wider lack of women in prominent positions: were you influenced by any female directors, for example, of film/video? Feminism is a theory you should address for this topic. To what extent are the conventions you've used sourced from male practitioners? Sexist? Or does post-feminist thinking end such debates? Has gender effected your approach (useful also to consider if you worked within a mix gender group)?

Creativity, Narrative: Coens; 

Coens on using Final Cut for Oscar-nommed True Grit;

Creativity and R+P: Monsters; here's an $800k debut feature by a director who struggled to get financing because he didn't have a full script - like Loach. Leigh etc Gareth Edwards wanted to organically develop his script with his cast during the shoot. Indeed, he hired non-actors as he travelled (entire crew in ONE car!) on location...

Cultural Imperialism; this was tied to a previous exam topic but can still be used to explore how Britishness is subsumed by dominant American tropes - or even how S.Eng rep'ns overwhelmingly dominate UK media output; are your text/s normative or perhaps counter-hegemonic (challenging these normative representations, challenging whats seen as common sense and above questioning?). Have you managed a distinctive UK/Northern/Yorkshire/Ilkley 'voice' or have you overwhelmingly followed patterns laid down by US + London producers?

The 'Britishness' of your work; rom-com eg but can be applied across the board. How does your nationality come through in your work - or is it simply 'globalised' (perhaps even Americanised? see above post)
Hammer horror; any aspect of your work in this classic British tradition? 

Creativity: Gauntlett + Csikszentmihalyi; snippet: 'Some writers on creativity, such as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, even suggest that creativity is a phenomenon which only occurs in a social context and cannot be understood, or even recognised, in isolation'
Horror Games: 13 most atmospheric; any intertextual influence from these (which also show wider appeal of genre to multiple audiences)?
British horror + budgets; bright future?;
The false scare; common slasher narrative device, links into concepts of audience pleasure + genre theories

Scream 4 + genre/METZ; the classic pomo slasher franchise + Metz's theory of genre cycles

Audience Expectations in the ‘Slasher’ Formula; did you venture outside the typical expectations in any way?

Q1a: Posts on Digital technology

THIS POST LAST UPDATED JUNE 8TH 2012
All of the 'Posts on...' series primarily gather together existing posts from this blog relevant to the particular 1a/1b topic, BUT may also feature below this list further 'wider reading' links following these posts, and possibly copied-in links lists from this blog. In some cases I've added further links from further DB blogs too. Ultimately, these are 30min questions so the important thing is you pick out some ideas/theories/examples you're comfortable with and know you can apply specific examples from AS and/or A2 to. Some of the posts are brief, others much longer; its well worth skimming through as many as possible though and looking for ideas that click with you.

Web 2.0 + Fan-made vids: Applying YOUR work; (any Q1a answer should cite web 2.0)

DIGITISATION: self-published short film; (further eg on how web 2.0 functions + how YOUR work isn't mere abstract academic exercise)

DIGITISATION: book industry; (has web 2.0 made publishers obsolete?)

Newspaper asks for applications via tweets; (eg of how far convergence has gone: social media being used to get work in 'old media')

TT3D as eg of A2-level filmmaking in real world; feature film made using same equipment as you guys

Creativity and R+P: Monsters; here's an $800k debut feature by a director who struggled to get financing because he didn't have a full script - like Loach. Leigh etc Gareth Edwards wanted to organically develop his script with his cast during the shoot. Indeed, he hired non-actors as he travelled (entire crew in ONE car!) on location... Editing was done as they went: digital tech means footage can be quickly + cheaply checked out (it doesn't need to expensively developed like 35mm film)  

Coens on using Final Cut for Oscar-nommed True Grit; 

Micro-budget films +DCRUP; 
Zombie flicks - low budget, inferior to your productions?;

Rotting Hill - 4min zombie short; another eg of we-media/UGC

British horror + budgets; bright future?;

Using YouTube video to pitch for $45k horror; 

Fan trailers of movies they WANT made!; this isn't just fan-made material like the trailers cut to a favourite music track, but rather franchise fans trying to influence studio decisions about sequels/prequels/remakes

Researching recent genre egs + presenting this in vid;

Being Human: Auds, Repns, Dig.Tech;

80s Madman Reborn on web; how an 80s 'video nasty' continues to make money [long tail theory...] through multiple digital platforms, raising its profile + creating talk of a remake

Colin, the £45 film; this made it to the cinema despite being really rather poor, not least the lack of shot variety and excessively long takes - clever exploitation of marketing, not least online, helped the case and it continues to make decent money from DVD sales

 

 

DIGITISATION: self-published short film

Across these blogs I'll keep returning to the concept of digitisation, the ongoing process of change and transformation of our media, a key element of which is the opening up of opportunities for micro-budget media producers to (occasionally!) attract large audiences and even make some money...
We mustn't forget that giant global conglomerates remain utterly dominant, but the possibilities for someone with a digital camera and a Mac are infinitely higher now than 10, 20 years ago. There have always been amateur/debut film-makers somehow bringing together feature films on infinitesimally small budgets, from Wes Craven's Last House on the Left and John Carpenter's Halloween, through Alex Cox's Repo Man (see his superb book X Films: True Confessions of a Radical Filmmaker, there's a copy in Lib/F6), Kevin Smith's Clerks and closer to home the rather more dubious Colin!
Here's an interesting example of a horror buff with her own successful blog, Final Girl, who made a short film ... and monetised it through this blog, charging $5 for a DVD of the 10min short film! The short is a postmodern lesbian vampire skit using knock-off Barbie dolls, reflecting the filmmaker's feminist sensibilities. If you do watch it, remember its NOT a feature film - shorts can be rather quirkier. It is, whatever you make of the film itself (the sound is nicely done and the mise-en-scene well handled given the size of the characters!), a great example of how digitisation has expanded the possibilities for enthusiastic amateur filmmakers and media producers generally to go ahead and create, distribute and exhibit work without having to sign deals with larger media firms.

Taste of Flesh, Taste of Fear - watch more funny videos     

'Final Girl' runs a monthly slasher film club; check it out and if you blog on it she may add a link to your blog on hers!

There is of course another example of a self-publishing filmmaker closer to home, and we will be looking at a trailer for his latest production in Friday's lessons, and with a bit of luck hearing a little from the filmmaker himself on how he went about it, and his plans for this new opus...
We'll also have a look at the film Monsters, a good example of how digitisation has opened up possibilities for filmmakers to produce slick work on very limited money and with a crew barely bigger than a Media coursework group; I have previously blogged on this and various other examples of digitisation, plus analyses, in a wide range of posts you should be looking over whether for AS/A2 exam or AS/A2 coursework (especially Evaluation)... 

DIGITISATION: book industry

I'll cross-post this on MusiVidz/BritCinema/ProdEval; relevant to all
Digitisation is perhaps the single most important concept you'll look at in AS/A2 Media. Its influence spans every industry, and renders what you're doing as A-Level students in producing practical work as industry-level, not simply an academic learning exercise. If you don't get this, you don't get Media Studies.
So here's another example: the book industry.
Big-name author Anthony Horowitz writes with some disdain about the all-powerful book publishers ... and how digitisation (he doesn't use the term; he doesn't need to) has opened up all sorts of self-publishing and online tie-ins (with the likes of Amazon). Writers just don't need the publishers anymore, he argues. Their response? You do need us, especially for promotion.
He dismisses that ... but they're right, at this point anyway. There is scope for self-promotion of course, and you've all being doing this with blogs, twitter, facebook ... But, that isn't always as effective as buying ads on TV/press/online/billboards/radio/cinema, a similar argument that can be rightly made with the film and music industries (look at Avatar and the huge promo campaign that underpinned it, partially reliant on the vertical and horizontal integration of News Corp, and the cross-promotion/synergies that enabled).


See http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/feb/27/anthony-horowitz-do-we-still-need-publishers

Anthony Horowitz: Do we still need publishers?

At an event hosted by children's booksellers The Book People last week, the author gave a talk questioning the role of the publisher in today's literary world. This is an edited version

Anthony Horowitz. Photograph: Andy Paradise / Rex Features

The title of this talk is, "Do We Need Publishers Any More?". I was going to call it "Thank Christ We Don't Need Bloody Publishers Any More" – but I felt that sounded too partisan.
Relationships between writers and publishers are of course very strange and change all the time, rather like a see-saw.
I remember my first meeting at Walker Books. The first question they asked me – and I swear this is true – was what mug would I like my tea in: the one with the teddy bear, the tennis racket or the pink one with the flower? And when I left the building, they asked me if I'd be OK taking the tube on my own. I was 33. I was married with a child. But they clearly saw me as some sort of demented child myself.
Cut forward 20 years: I've grown up, and they're nervous of me. There's Alex Rider. I've created a brand. Walker also resent me ever so slightly because now I'm the one with the SMA powder and the changing table. To a certain extent, they need me and that's probably tricky for a publisher who might find life so much easier without writers.
Meanwhile, across the river, I have my adult publisher, Orion – and they also have problems with me. Relations between us have been strained ever since they published my Sherlock Holmes novel, The Mouse of Slick, with no fewer than 35 proof-reading errors. Their proof-reader tried to kill herself. She shot herself with a gnu. Even so, we're doing another book together … a story of murder, suspicion and revenge.
But the truth is, I have other options.

POMO/CREATIVITY: Warhol's impact and vision

Nice article from The Guardian:

Andy Warhol's legacy lives on in the factory of fame

15 minutes of fame? The artist whose radical ideas galvanised the 1960s art world continues to dominate the market and permeate popular culture – 25 years after his death 

Alex Needham guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 February 2012 10.24 GMT

People are reflected on a portrait of US artist Andy Warhol by Timm Rautert. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

On 22 February 1987, Andy Warhol died unexpectedly in a New York hospital after a routine operation on his gallbladder. Yet 25 years on, the artist described by Truman Capote, quoting Wilde, as "a sphinx without a secret" has never gone away. Not only does Warhol dominate the art market, with his work accounting for one-sixth of contemporary art sales, his influence permeates both high art and popular culture.
Warhol's work is rarely out of circulation in galleries. A show at the De La Warr Pavilion in east Sussex closes this week, but another, of his portfolio prints, starts at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London this summer. The artists he influenced are even more visible. Next month, artist Gillian Wearing, who once photographed herself dressed as Warhol, will show a retrospective of her work at the Whitechapel, while Jeremy Deller, who hung out at Warhol's studio, the Factory, in the summer of 1986, is just about to launch a retrospective at London's Hayward.

Andy Warhol lines up a shot during the filming of Taylor Mead's Ass at his studio, The Factory, New York, 1964. Photograph: Fred W McDarrah/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

"I think Warhol changed film and documentary forever," says Wearing. "He was completely seminal in that area. His extremely long takes, his exploration of improvisation between fiction and reality came about through his playful and irreverent manner, and gave the world new ways of looking."

Andy Warhol's Marilyns, from the 2002 exhibition at Tate Modern, London. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Warhol's radical idea that the stuff of modern life could be art, from Campbell's soup cans to washing-powder boxes, galvanised the art world in the 60s. "I went to see his 1989 retrospective at Moma," remembers cultural historian Jon Savage. "You walked into the 60s rooms and there it all was – America. Money, sex, fame, death. Warhol summed, up, defined and in many ways embodied the world in which we now live. Everyone thinks he's emotionless and soulless, but the cumulative effect of seeing all the Marilyns and Orange Disasters is extremely powerful – it's not just a mirror," he says, referring to the verdict of art critic Robert Hughes.

CREATIVITY: Tyranny of Genre

Tyranny of genre

The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity" (Coe 188). If genre functions as a taxonomic classification system, it could constrain individual creativity, since "the presence of many of the conventional features of a genre will allow a strong genre identification; the presence of fewer features, or the presence of features of other genres, will result in a weak or ambiguous genre identification" (Schauber 403). Under the classification-system concept of genre, placing a text into a genre is vital, since "every text is read according to a genre which governs its interpretation" (Schauber 401). The classification-system concept results in a polarization of responses to texts that do not fit neatly into a genre or exhibit features of multiple genres: "The status of genres as discursive institutions does create constraints that may make a text that combines or mixes genres appear to be a cultural monstrosity. Such a text may be attacked or even made a scapegoat by some as well as be defended by others" (LaCapra 220).
Under the more modern understanding of the concept of genre as "social action" à la Miller (Miller 152), a more situational approach to genre is enabled. This situational approach frees genre from the classification system, genre's "tyranny of genre". Relying on the importance of the rhetorical situation in the concept of genre results in an exponential expansion of genre study, which benefits literary analysis. One literature professor writes, "The use of the contemporary, revised genre idea [as social action] is a breath of fresh air, and it has opened important doors in language and literature pedagogy" (Bleich 130). Instead of a codified classification as the pragmatic application of genre, the new genre idea insists that "human agents not only have the creative capacities to reproduce past action, such as action embedded in genres, but also can respond to changes in their environment, and in turn change that environment, to produce under-determined and possibly unprecedented action, such as by modifying genres" (Killoran 72).

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genres)

Newspaper asks for applications via tweets

This is a good example to highlight how deeply the influence of new media goes - a newspaper insisted all job applications for a journalism post came via twitter, not the usual posted CVs/letters!

SOURCE: Roy Greenslade, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/sep/12/northcliffe-media-twitter 12.9.11

Want a reporting job? Then get tweeting...

If you want a job with one of Northcliffe Media's papers in the south east you'll need to get tweeting.
Alan Geere, one of the publisher's executives, posted an advert for reporters this morning in which he stated that applicants must reply via Twitter.
Geere, editor-in-chief of the Essex Chronicle group and editorial director of Northcliffe's south east division, explains why in his blog:

"I'm fed up wading through turgid 'letters of application' and monstrous CVs outlining an early career in retail handling and a flirtation with the upper slopes of the Andes.
I want reporters who can find stories that no-one else has got and write them quickly and accurately.
That's why in my latest recruitment ad potential recruits have to respond via Twitter. They've got 140 characters to tell me what they can do and why I should consider them."

So people eager to join one of his papers - whether at trainee or senior level, full time or part time (see list of papers) - have a week to craft a 140-character application.
Geere writes waspishly: "I keep getting told there is an over-supply of qualified people wanting to do journalism. Well, maybe there is but there's definitely not an over-supply of people who are any good."
Now that's what I call a challenge.
Source: Private communication