Conference

Chewing Gum For The Brain? Why Do People Talk Such Rubbish About Media Studies?

Homer Simpson - "Angry parents accuse school of 'dumbing down' English by showing The Simpsons in class". - Daily  Mail

"Tories to tackle Media Studies menace" - The Independent

"Worthless qualifications give false hope to state pupils says Harrow Head" - Barnaby Leman - The Guardian

"entry rates for Media A-Level in 10 years have increased by 160%" - Micheal Gove - The Guardian

"A Mickey Mouse subject" - 'Dons despair as students spurn science in favour of "media studies' - Martin Baker

"It wont get you a job!" - 'Students "misled" over jobs in the media' - 'Media Graduates finish up as clerks and cooks' 

Matthew Arnold - book on working class threats

Literature against Pop Culture - book - Frank & Queenie Leavis

"Saving innocent kids from violence. tobacco, alcohol, sex and obestiy. - Caused by the media

Online Media, Cleggmania and the Cowell Factor.

How do online media and convergence impact on the ways audiences and producers use and create media?

Convergence - "We're talking about a converged interaactive media industry. There's an increasin interplay between gaming, online, TV and films - its all coming together". - Jon Kingsbury - NESTA 

Media 2,0 - allows democracy to flow - interactivity with audiences around the world. UGC - allows people to express their own opinion and produce their own content.

"Only Democracy gives us that right" - Tony Benn 

Dan Gillmore - Book "We The Media"

People To Read;

• David Gauntlett
• Sonia Livingstone
• David Buckingham
• Annette Hill
• Michael Wesch
• Dan Gillmore
• Graeme Turner

Perfecting Your Production Work

Research 

• really look at examples
• keep evidence of all your research
• research every angle
• conventions, audiences, institutions

Planning

• plan for all eventualities - what could possibly go wrong?
• record all your planning
• show the process of your 'journey'

Blogging

• a blog allows you to link examples, ideas and inspiration
• keeps a record of the process of your project's journey

Evidence

• storyboards, animatics, recce photos
• flatplans, all your original images
• screengrabs of your manipulation of material - digital editing, photoshop etc.

Ideas

• keep ideas simple
• have a workable concept
• try the '25 word pitch' or the 'lift pitch'

Get Feedback

• at all stages from peers, teachers and others
• keep records of all stages
• take notice of it and respond to it

Logistics

• people, places, props, costumes
• get it done early - you may need to do it all again
• rehearse and prepare
• share contact details of all involved

Equipment

• practice on it
• prepare it, get to know it
• make the most of it
• are all the parts there before you use it?

Production

• always shoot extra for coverage
• organise your material before editing
• organise with the big picture
• fine tune the detail later

Questions on Case Study

What group of people or place will you be studying the representation of, and on which platform?

I will be studying the representation of celebrities and the platform that I will be studying them on is print.

Why have you chosen this topic and why do you think it will be a rich area of study?

I chose this topic because most of the media revolves around celebrities and their lives. Also, there is a lot of gossip magazines and newspapers, so it will help me with my research on this topic. 

Identify at least 3 media texts that you will use as your primary sources.

Media texts that I will be using as part of my research include;

• The Sun
• OK!
• HEAT

List the theorists that are relevant for your study.

• Gaye Tuchman
• Marshall McLuhan
• Anthony Giddens

What have your chosen theorists written about your topic? 


Gaye Tuchman - 'Tuchman stated that when females have roles, they are mostly shown as being negative roles.' - These can be seen in print magazines and newspapers e.g. The sun - page three - this is where there are topless women and therefore negative representations of women in The Sun of women who are models.
Marshall McLuhan - 'McLuhan's insight was that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. McLuhan pointed to the light bulb as a clear demonstration of this concept. A light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness.' - This links to my topic as the celebrities will be in the newspapers/magazines so, by the newspapers showing them in a certain way whether it be positive or 'negative' it will influence society as McLuhan says.
Anthony Giddens - 'Giddens's theory of structuration explores the question of whether it is individuals or social forces that shape our social reality.' - "social structures are both constituted by human agency, and yet at the same time are the very medium of this constitution." - This links to my topic, as the way celebrities are represented could influence younger children, as younger children consider some celebrities as their role models e.g. Wayne Rooney, Lady GaGa etc. 

Guardian 100

What is the Guardian 100 and who are the panellists that create it?


The Guardian 100 is the Guardians guide to the most powerful people in the industry. Candidates are judged on three things; their cultural, economic and political influence in the UK. The list was takes in all sectors of the media, including broadcasting, publishing, new media, advertising, marketing and PR. The candidates are judged by ten panellists, they consist of:

Peter Barron

Peter Bennett-Jones

Brent Hoberman

Tessa Jowell

Siobhan Kenny

Andrew Neil

Trevor Phillips

Chris Powell

Janine Gibson

Jane Martinson

How many women are in the top 100?

The amount of women in the Guardian 100 is very small compared to the amount of men. Their are 84 men in the top 100 and their are 16 women.

What companies do these women work for and in what roles?

The companies that these women work for consist of; BBC, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Grazia, Vogue, Kudos Productions, Sunday Telegraph, Shine, Pearson, ITV, Trinity Mirror, Channel Five, The Sun.

The jobs that these women possess consist of; Advertising; Chief executive; Chairman; Director; Controller publishing; Controller of Film & Drama; Editor- publishing; Head of E4, Commissioning Editor Responsible for Big Brother; Corporate Marketing Director and Head of Marketing.

What percentage of the 100 is women?

There are 16% of women in the top 100.

How would you assess the balance of power in this list and why do you think it is this way?

The balance of power shown in this list, is that men are still in the bigger jobs, as they are chairman's and owners of their associations. Moreover, this connotes that today, even though, women are considered equal to men, we may be in a patriarchal society, due to the amount of men being in higher jobs and women being in less bigger jobs.