Homework: Wednesday, September 24th

Hi,

This is probably the best homework you'll ever have, because it basically involves watching some films, OR playing some video games, OR watching some music videos!

For your controlled assessment, which we will start work on in a few weeks' time, you will need to analyse the representation of gender in the media. You will need to watch two movies OR play two video games OR watch two music videos and write an essay in which you compare the representation of gender in each one. 

For this homework, all you need to do, is choose two movies, OR two video games, OR two music videos which portray gender stereotypes and tell me what they are. You do not need to write anything down. You cannot mix and match, in other words, you can't choose one movie and one video game, or one music video and one movie, etc. The two examples need to be quite different, i.e. one should be very sexist, and the other one should portray females and males as equals. 

If you are stuck for ideas, have a look at the following list:

Movies:

Lara Croft Tomb Raider
Any of the James Bond films
The Expendables
Hunger Games


Video games:

Call of Duty
Tomb Raider
Portal 
The Last of Us
Bioshock


Music videos:

I don't watch a lot of music videos, so this one is up to you!


Due: Wednesday, October 1st. 

Homework: 17th September

At the moment in Media Studies we are watching the film Sherlock Holmes, with a particular focus on gender representation. 

I would like you to find two examples of stereotypical representations of males in films, for example James Bond (but you can't use that one, because it's mine!) and write down the name of the character, the name of the actor who plays the character, a brief description of the character and, if possible, include a picture. 

Then do the same with two stereotypical female characters. We are looking for very cheesy cliches here, so don't try and be clever!

Here is an example of the kind of thing I want you to write:


Name of character: James Bond

Name of actor who plays character: Daniel Craig

Description of character: He is around six foot tall, about 35 years old and in very good shape. He attractive to women and always dresses well. He is a spy who goes on missions to save the world and usually ends up rescuing a female and engaging in romantic liaisons with her. He is not in it for the money, just the sense of duty he feels towards his country. He is not afraid to kill people, so long as it is in the line of duty. He is equally as skilled with a weapon as he is with his fists. 

Due: Friday

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!

I will be posting homework assignments here every week, but will also be keeping you up to date on everything we are covering in lessons.

This term, we will start work on the first piece of controlled assessment, during which time all the key terms and concepts relevant to the course will be introduced. 

For more details on the course as a whole, please see the information below:

GCSE Media Studies overview

The exam board we use for this course is OCR. You can visit the Media Studies section of their website using the following link:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-media-studies-j526-from-2012/

The course is divided into three sections:

1.   B321 (which, for the sake of clarity, we’ll call controlled assessment part 1). This will involve watching two films and writing an essay comparing the representation of gender in each one, then creating two film posters for a film made up by the pupils themselves. Finally, they will write an evaluation of the whole process.

2.   B324 (which, for the sake of clarity, we’ll call controlled assessment part 2). This will involve producing either the first three minutes of a film, a music video or several pages from a magazine (the pupils will choose for themselves which of these to do). They will have to show evidence of planning and research and will have to evaluate the whole process.

3.   B323 (which, for the sake of clarity, we’ll call the exam paper). This will be sat at the end of the course and will consist of two sections: A and B. Section A will involve watching a three or four minute clip from an action adventure film chosen by the exam board four times and commenting on various aspects of it. Section B will involve writing about two television comedy programmes, which the pupils can choose ahead of time.

The majority of the controlled assessment work will take place in school, although the pupils are permitted to complete certain aspects of it, such as filming and photography, outside school.  

That's it for now; just make sure you check back every week for homework. 

See you soon!

Mr Quillfeldt