PQD Revised Slides

Just a quick update for you…

Here is a revised and updated set of slides giving an overview of PQD. In particular, I’ve added an expanded slide on the GENRE conventions of the road movie which is recommended for revision.

As we discussed this morning, it’s important you remember the Society side of PQD… consider what came before it (Mad Max/Crocodile Dundee), and how it may have been received. (It is Media in Context, after all!)

Finally, it’s a PDF, so you should be able to click on the URLs to see the clips. 🙂

Go on… click it! You know you want to! 😉

Protected: Specimen Paper 4 U

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Easter Revision 03 – Narrative

[Version 1]

A handful of files for you today…

Click on the images to download the three files. The ‘green’ one you should already have as a printout… and also the booklet Narrative one as well.

As you read through them, always be thinking about PQD, and also whether the narratives of any music videos you see fit them as well (I’ll give you a clue, they probably do!)

Be on the look out for examples to illustrate the concepts and theories… and keep your eyes peeled for a wee update on what you need to remember for the exam itself. 🙂

As ever, I am indebted to the work of Messrs Pikavance, Jewell and Instrell for the originals… My revamps are mainly so I can run them on my Mac!

Easter Revision 02 – Language

[Version 2]*

Next up is LANGUAGE. (Click the PDF icon to download)

Essentially, language looks at the techniques used in a medium (print, television, film, radio, internet,…) to create meaning.

This is Part 1 — UPDATE: Part 2 is further down the page. As you go through the slides, remember the discussions and work we did in class on this, and apply it to PQD (or any other text you read).

UPDATE – New Slides For You

Here are the slides covering camera angles, movement, framing, costume, lighting, and several other important concepts. As you go through them, remember I used a LOT of examples in class to illustrate them. I’ve left some of the grabs from them to remind you, but will be happy to go through them all again after the break.

What I would suggest is that you make sure you have examples of them that you can quote in your answer to Q1 (where relevant!). They are worth mentioning if they have been used by Stephan Elliott to help him convey his message. Anyway, here they are (you do know to click on the picture that follows, don’t you?)

As ever, I am indebted to the work of Messrs Pikavance, Jewell and Instrell for the originals… My revamps are mainly so I can run them on my Mac!

*Version 1a – Added tags/categories!
*Version 2 – Added Slides on camera work.

Easter Revision Intro

Hi everybody!

I’m going to start posting revision guides shortly  — as in, when I finish the revised first set of slides. I thought it probably a good idea to explain what’ll be happening.

As each post is uploaded, take the time to read through what I say, and watch out for wee mini-tasks. These will ask you to carry out a quick ‘thinking’ exercise to help you focus on the topic in hand. By all means, write down your thoughts (thus increasing your retention of the information), or even better, bite the bullet and leave a comment! I will reply… or maybe if you’re lucky, someone else from the class will do so!

Something else for you to be aware of is that I will, in all likelihood, be carrying out regular updates to the posts… so don’t assume that when a post is up, it is perfect. What I will do is tell you in the first line of each post whether it has been updated. 🙂

Anyway… the schedule of posts for the first week will be:

1. Categories
2. Language
3. Narrative
4. Representation
5. Audience
6. Institution
7. Society

And yes, these are the Key Aspects of Understanding Media in Context (aka Question 1) that you need to show you know and understand in May. Now go away and let me finish the slides so I can get started!

Bye everybody!

Prelim Prep 01

Here’s the first revision aid for you…

It’s a mind map (well, duh!) of what the SQA are looking for in Question 1. What you should be able to do is extend each of the outer shapes by referring to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (dir. Stephan Elliott, Aus, 1994) [PQD, for short]. For example, what could you say about representation in PQD? And what quotations from the film would you use to illustrate what you are saying? And what would be your evaluation/opinion of the representation?

And then do the same for every other outer shape. With maybe more than one illustration/example/quotation for each. And then be ready to use that information to answer a question… 😉

(On a more practical level… if you can’t extend any of the shapes, you know what you need to revise!)

And remember, this is revision and prep, so bullet points/notes are fine!

What The Marker Is Looking For

Thought it might be useful to remind you what the Marker is looking for in your responses.

You are capable of making intelligent and evidence based points on all of the following (I know, I’ve seen your notes!), so just bear these in mind.

The first two (Content-based key aspect analysis and Context-based analysis) are directly addressed when you are answering Question 1 about The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (dir: Stephan Elliott, Australia, 1994) (PQD), while the third one is (obviously) addressed in the Role of Media question, Q2.

From the SQA Marking Guidelines:

Content-based key aspect analysis

1. Categories: genre, purpose, tone, style
2. 
Language: medium/form-specific technical codes, cultural codes, anchorage
3. Narrative: structures, codes, conventions
4. Representation: representations, selection and portrayal, ideological discourses

Context-based analysis

1. 
Audience: target audience, preferred reading, differential decoding, mode of address
2. 
Institution: internal controls and constraints, external controls and constraints
3. Society: time, place


Role of media analysis

1. Meeting needs: entertain, educate, inform
2. 
Influencing attitudes and behaviours: intentional, unintentional
3. Meeting particular purposes: profit, promotion, public service 


Feel free to ask for reminders about any of these. 🙂

Priscilla Revision Part 2

Here is my take on the revision questions I posted yesterday. I’ve filled in some ideas thoughts in the 4th column that should help you and point you in the right direction for adding more.

What I would highly recommend (i.e.: DO IT!) is picking specific scenes/sequences/shots to illustrate the various points made. Yes, it’ll mean a fair amount of work, but it’s what you are meant to do!

Enjoy… and here’s the file:

Click the icon to download!

 

Priscilla Revision and Prompts

Here’s a quick Priscilla revision prompt sheet. (Click to Download – PDF). There are three columns to cover: Key Aspect, Sub-Elements, and a wee explanation.

What I recommend you attempt is to take the third column as a series of revision prompts. What would you say about each one with regards PQD? In order to help you with this, I’ve also included a Word version (Click Here to download – Priscilla Revision) with a fourth column that you can fill in. (It should open in Open Office/Pages/Sun Office/whatever you have… if not, leave a comment and I’ll sort something out)

I’ll leave it with you to work on for now.

I’ll be busy this afternoon, but will post more this evening all going well. 🙂

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