Have a great summer!

To all A-level media students: well done for completing your first year. You are the first students to be taught the new specification and yes, it is harder than ever before (though not as hard as we thought).

Despite all this, you have exceeded expectations in every way. So have an amazing summer, do something ridiculous that you can only get away with when you're young, and when you get bored, relax and complete the summer work!

If you get really bored, check out the first draft of the super exclusive Media revision guide. This is going to be a big fixture next year...

Just one final, extremely important point:

DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING RELATED TO YOUR MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT, INCLUDING FROM YOUR OWN BACK-UPS AND ESPECIALLY NOT FROM GOOGLE DRIVE!

Take it easy!

A-level revision guide - beta version

I've been working on a comprehensive revision guide for media studies. At the moment it's still in beta (first draft), but if you were feeling helpful, I would very much appreciate your opinions. After all, it is going to be you using it!

And if you want to submit pictures to illustrate key theories and concepts, then you will be credited!

A-level media revision guide - beta version - Word 

A-level media revision guide - beta version - PDF

Moving to second year - summer work

Next year in media studies you'll be exploring an exciting range of subjects. If you haven't done so already make sure you read this post for a quick heads up on what's in store. However, there's lots you can do to make sure you're fully prepared.

Media is a subject where the more diverse the media products you are exposed to, the more nuanced your responses will be. This obviously will lead to higher grades, but ultimately it will lead to you becoming a more urbane and well rounded person. We are not being factitious when we say media, be it videogames, TV, online media or any other product, will lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of life.

For the upcoming summer holiday, we would like you to broaden your horizons, by watching as many films, TV shows, playing as many videogames, and visiting as many websites as possible. Below is a list to get you started. Some of these products are technically not appropriate for under 18's, so let's see if various regulations actually stop you.

TV

Watch a Korean drama (for example on Netflix). Examples include: 

Oh, My Ghost!
Hello My Twenties 
Strong Girl Bong-Hoon

Watch a French TV show. Examples include:

Call My Agent
Deep
The Break
The Returned
The Frozen Dead

Here are a few other examples of TV shows that are generically, representationally and/or/culturally relevant: 

Atlanta 
Love Island
The Handmaid's tale
Altered Carbon
Westworld 

Jack's top five favourite TV shows

The Sopranos
Atlanta
The Bridge
Deutschland '83
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Michael's top five favourite TV shows

The Wire
Preacher
Misfits
Äkta Människor (Humans)
The Kingdom

Videogames

Play an independently developed and published videogame. Examples include:

Undertale
Localhost
The Stanley Parable
Hatoful Boyfriend
Cave Story
Doki Doki Literature club

Play a videogame made before 1995. Maybe ask your parents or teachers for help with this one!

Michael's top five favourite videogames

Umihara Kawase

Nier Automata

Killer 7

The Silver Case: The 25th Ward

Danganronpa

Radio

Listen to the radio for an evening. That's it! How does this differ from watching TV or surfing the internet? 

Online media

Register and post on an online forum for something you are interested in, for example a specific genre of videogames or a cult TV show like Dr Who. 

Check out these vloggers to get a good idea what it's all about:

Tanya Burr
KSI
Patricia Bright
ThatcherJoe
Ingrid Nilsen
PewDiePie

Film

We don't cover textual analysis of film in media studies, but independently we recommend that you watch as many films as possible. Here are a few easily available examples:

Annihilation
Gods Own Country
Okja
Loveless
Hereditary 
A Ghost Story

Jack's top five favourite films:

Adam and Paul (2004)
There Will Be Blood (2008)
Mad Max Fury Road (2015)
E.T (1982)
A Prophet (2011)

Michael's top five favourite films:

Persona (1966)
Enter the Void (2009)

Tokyo Drifter (1966)

Late Spring (1949)

Tetsuo The Iron Man (1989)

The First Annual A-level Film and Media Studies Awards

Thanks to everyone who turned up to 'The First Annual A-level Film and Media Studies Awards' today, and commiserations to those that didn't. This was the first year we've ran a simultaneous film and media coursework screening, and it worked pretty well. Technical issues are part and parcel of media production, but still we thank you for waiting a whole hour before being allowed in the theatre!

We won't comment on the films, though suffice to say they were of an excellent standard. But we would like to once again stress that the selection process for the music videos this year. After arguing and bickering for ages, Jack and I managed to get the list down to sixteen, and from there the process got even harder to choose just eight videos.

We had to compromise, and many truly excellent, future A-grade videos were left on the 'cutting room floor'. So congrats to Clemmie and Jordan and Frankie and Alex and Eirin and Noura and Sophie and Kristina. And of course congrats to Clemmie for winning the coveted Golden Microphone and Jordan for bagging both the Jury (AKA the Sam the Technician Award) and the audience vote! But most of all, thank you to every student who completed, independently and with very little experience, an excellent and generically appropriate music video.

Final week - Picturehouse screening and Aims and Intentions

It's almost time to sigh with relief, take a big stretch and be done with college for six weeks. But not quite.

There are two BIG things happening in the last week of the year. Luckily for you, both are straightforward.

The Film and Media Studies A-level Showcase

First, the Picturehouse trip is on Monday 9th July. Please make sure to turn up at 09:30. This will not be an issue if you set off early enough. Remember, central Cambridge can be absolutely crazy first thing in the morning, so give yourself plenty of time. If you haven't given in a slip yet, please bring it on the day (this is really important).

The showcase is a big deal. Aside from the grand prizes and trophies, it's a chance to celebrate the excellent A-level film and media students at, and the ridiculous amount of hard work you've put in. It's free, and the department have put a lot of time and effort in to it, so we're looking forward to seeing every one of you on Monday morning. 

Aims and Intentions

The next piece of coursework is a short (500 word) essay and you've already completed a first draft of it. So why is it such a big deal? Because it's worth ten marks out of the total sixty assigned to coursework! This is MORE than a grade boundary! So there's a lot riding on something so small.

The aims and intentions essay must be completed and submitted before the end of term (Friday 13th July 2018).  Please submit to the 'Aims and Intentions' folder in 'Submissions/Component three'. Please submit as a WORD DOCUMENT with your name in the title. 

If you are in U block you will only have one lesson next week due to taster day and the half day on Friday, so it's especially important to attend your other lessons.

In fact, let's make this clear:

College is not over, we are still completing work in lessons, and you will lose marks if you fail to attend. 

Exporting your music video

Follow this guide step-by-step in order to export a high quality version of your music video, as well as a high quality 20 second excerpt for the Picturehouse screening. Please do not miss out any steps, or you'll likely run in to frustration later on. Of course, if you have any issues, just talk to your teacher or grab Sam the technician.

1) Mark your footage by right clocking just above the timeline and selecting an 'in' and an 'out'.

2) Click 'sequence', then 'render in to out'. This should be done automatically when you export, but it makes sense to trial it now.

3) Make absolutely sure you are happy with your footage.

4) Click 'file' then select 'export' then 'media'. If it's greyed out, you need to select your sequence.

5) On the window that pops up, click the blue bit and if necessary rename your project to "[YOUR FULL NAME] music video". Also make sure you are exporting the file to a proper folder and not just into the trash or something.

6) Under the 'format' drip down, click 'H.264'.

7) Then under 'preset' click 'YouTube 1080p HD'

8) Now just click 'export' and wait for it to finish. This could take a while.

9) Next, go back to your timeline, and select the best 20 seconds of footage. This is for the montage, and it needs to be EXACTLY 20 seconds. maybe not to a fraction of a second, but definitely within .5 of a second.

10) Mark this new 20 seconds.

11) Now re-follow steps 4-8, but this time, call your export "[YOUR FULL NAME] music video 20 second version"

12) Export. It'll be quicker this time.

13) Now you need to submit the footage. Use the submissions folder, which you can find by searching your email. You'll need to be logged in to your Google account also.

14) Now make sure your teacher has your Picturehouse trip letter filled out by your parent or guardian. It's going to be great!