MEDI@CHS
media stuff for sixth formers…and some English stuff too
FILMCLUB
Jan 17th
FILMCLUB SCREENINGS IN THE MULTI-MEDIA ROOM
Tuesday 17th January – Shutter Island
Wednesday 25th January – Where the Wild Things Are
Tuesday 31st January – 500 Days of Summer
Wednesday 8th February – Kick-Ass
Echo Beach Links
Jan 16th
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/25/itv.television1/print
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv-entertainment/tv/
http://wwwk/culture/garethmcleanblog/2008/jan/11/astveatsitselfisindigesti
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2008/jan/06/featuresreview.review1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2008/jan/10/watchwithavaguesensationo/print
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/jan/11/lastnightstvmovingwallpape/print
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2008/03/10072-smallscreen/
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/review-who-knew-postmodern-telly-could-be-such-fun-769813.html#
Moving Wallpaper /Echo Beach 1
Moving Wallpaper /Echo Beach 2
Neville Brody on what makes a good film font:
Jan 3rd
“Fonts convey an emotion without actually having to say the words.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jun/27/neville-brodys-fave-film-fonts-openings
U62 HOLIDAY VIEWING
Dec 20th
Over the holidays, watch at least two of these films and write a page on each. You should identify postmodern features and can do this in full paragraphs or in bullet points. Please upload to Google Docs before first lesson back.If you come across something else made in the last 5 years that works bettter, feel free to use that. Happy Christmas.
I have seen these films and they definitely have some postmodern features:
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, 2006), 15
Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino, 2007), 18.
I’m Still Here (Casey Affleck, 2010) 15. (A terrible film)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), 18.
Kick-Ass (Matthew Vaughn, 2010), 15.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Edgar Wright, 2010), 12.
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010), 15 ( a good film but not much for us to get our teeth into in terms of postmodernism)
Stranger than Fiction (Marc Forster, 2006), 12.
Synecdoche: New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008) 15
Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, 2008)
I haven’t seen these films but they are apparently quite interesting for us…
500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009), 12.
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010), 15.
Bruno (Larry Charles, 2009). 18.
Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010), 12.
Paul (Greg Mottola, 2011), 15.
Scream 4 (Wes Craven, 2011), 15
Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, 2009), PG.
Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, 2009), 15
Upper Sixth ‘Handheld Horror’ Trailers
Dec 7th
Those of you that are doing a horror trailer along the lines of the Blair Witch Project should be researching this ‘handheld horror’ genre. http://www.good.is/post/matt_barone_on_handheld_horror_movies/
Is as good a place to start as any.
OR YOU COULD GOOGLE ‘HANDHELD HORROR FILMS’ FOR YOUR OWN RESEARCH
Also CLOVERFIELD is an example of how successful and important this genre has become.
U62 Postmodernism: Media Magazine Articles
Dec 4th
Here are the links. You need to access these using the corrrect password. I will send an email about this. You should read this and then do any other additional reading/research to follow up some of the key ideas. YOu might, for example, try to find relevant clips on youtube. You need to be ready to present this to the class on Wednesday 14th.
Emily M: What can philosophy teach us about reality TV?
Amy J – Scream, scream, scream again
Tanya Mc D Ha ha ha ha – can postmodernism make us laugh? Tanya Mcd
Emma S Postmodernism – the Mighty Boosh
Jess D Reject false icons – the gorillaz and postmodernism
Ryan G Ironic or what? Five ways to spot a Postmodern film Ryan G
Mason M Dead Set
Jamie S: Capture the Objective: Postmodernism, Creativity and Call of Duty p47
Lauren K Glee – A Postmodern Approach p58
Jonah H: Mock Docs That Shock: From Ali G to Borat to Bruno – The Shock Tactics of Sacha Baron-Cohen p40
Telling Tales Portmanteau Style
May the power(mop) be with you -Postmodernism and TV advertising
Growing on you? – Using the darkness to explain postmodernismReality TV
Watching you, watching me: breaking cinema’s 4th wall
Xtreme Reality – A Sadistic Future?
Is this real? The horror mockumentary
Hyper-reality and the Digital Renaissance
Faking it: a guide to the American simulacrum
Goody and Boyle: a tale of two (real) women
Backwards and Flash Forwards; The Power of Time p60
Royal with Cheese: Quentin Tarrantino & The Blood-letting of culture p48
Eternal Sunshine of the Creative Mind: The Creativity of Charlie Kaufman p57
Hyper-reality: A Rough Guide p8
Playing with Personas: Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix & ‘Real’ Life p14
U62 Postmodernism Essay
Dec 4th
TITLE: With reference to Film, TV (and possibly other media) discuss the key features of postmodernism.
- INTRO try to start by saying what it is. An idea? A theory? A set of principles? Don’t go into any detail about its main features in the introduction.
- Try to outline the various different characteristics of postmodern texts. You should have a separate paragraph for each of these key features. Try to use as wide a range of examples as possible. At the moment these are likely to be predominantly from film but try to add some from TV. You don’t need to do these ‘key features’ in the order that they are presented here and indeed, for some of them, you may not have any available examples. Try to come up with a structure where the points follow on from each other as logically as possible.
| Bricolage: the process of assembling artefacts from bits and pieces of other things
- Genre Cross-Over - recycling old forms - mixing high and low culture (kitsch) |
| Intertextuality: the multiple ways in which a text is entangled with or contains references to other texts |
| Pastiche (copying in tribute) and Parody (copying in jest) |
| Style over content; the image and visual excitement over narrative coherence |
| Confusions over time and space; the subversion of classical cinematic conventions; fragmented narratives; time-bending. |
| Self-reflexiveness / self-referentiality: texts that openly reflect upon their own processes of artful composition.
Metafiction: fiction that deals, often playfully and self-referentially, with fiction and its conventions |
| Flattening of Affect: Technology, violence, drugs and the media lead to detached, emotionless lives |
| Hyperreality: Technologically created realities are often more authentic or desirable than the real world |
| Altered States: Drugs and technology provide a darker, sometimes psychedelic, gateway to new internal realities |
| More Human than Human: Artificial intelligence, robotics and cybernetics seek to enhance or replace humanity |
Try to write a short conclusion in which you summarise the key features in a few sentences.
Please do this on Google Docs. Over time, I will ask you to re-write this and add more ideas on the past-present-future of postmodernism and will also get you to add more TV and contemporary examples. Using Google Docs is perfect for this sort of re-working. You should upload the essay by Midnight on Tuesday 13th December.
L63 HWK
Dec 4th
By midnight on Wednesday 7th, please upload (to GoogleDocs a response to the Hawking clip that we have been studying in class. The title is:
How do Camerawork/Sound/Editing/Mise-en-scene contribute to the representation of physical disability (illness) in this clip.
Missing lessons is no excuse and you can see the clip on youtube (below). The timings for our clip are 00.40-05:21
This weeks lessons – where we should be at.
Nov 30th
Media students, particularly Mr Taylors Lower Sixth Group.
By Thursday’s (1st Dec) Lesson you should all have logged on to and looked at Media Magazine using the username and password I sent you via email. Look at issue 33 in particular for articles on Magazine Covers and Film Making.
By end of lesson on thursday you should have completed and analysed your cover and begun your contents page using the same technique as you did for your cover. Copy any existing professional contents page design you like. You should also be trying out alternative versions of your school magazine such as a Christmas Special or other themed issue basing this around your original design.
1st Cover and Contents page must be finished by end of this Friday 3rd December.
You all need to be thinking about, and gathering ideas and images for your Music Magazine design. Create a mood board of the type of images, music and style you want to use for your music magazine and post it before Saturday 10th Dec so I can look at it before our next set of lessons.
Thanks
Mr Taylor
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