Good old fashioned textual analysis
For this task, you will be analysing a single scene from Humans series one episode one. The scene will be different for each class, and the resulting analysis will be posted on the blog for all to see.
About 60% of your exam grade will come from detailed, efficient, logical textual analysis, So, let's rip this scene apart and get back into the swing of things!
- Genre codes and conventions
- Genre theory
- Genre fluidity
- Camera work - framing and composition shot types, angle, position, movement
- Lighting and colour
- Editing – pace, type of edits, continuity
- Narrative construction, related to narrative theory
- Sound – dialogue, music
- Mise-en-scene – setting and location, props, costume/dress, hair/make-up
Sum up the following theoretical frameworks in ONE SENTENCE
Remember, theory should only be used to support your points. Never fall in to the trap of trying to cram every theory in to a response! However, even though you won't be using every theory, you still need to know all 19.
These are all the theories we have covered so far (minus a few that we need to look at in more detail later). In your groups, you must sum each one up in a single sentence.
LANGUAGE
1 - Semiotics - Roland Barthes
2 - Narratology - Tzvetan Todorov
3 - Genre theory - Steve Neale
4 - Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss
REPRESENTATION
6 - Theories of representation - Stuart Hall
7 - Theories of identity - David Gauntlett
8 - Feminist theory - Liesbet van Zoonen
9 - Feminist theory - bell hooks
MEDIA INDUSTRIES
12 - Power and media industries - Curran and Seaton
13 - Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
14 - Cultural industries - David Hesmondhalgh
AUDIENCES
16 - Cultivation theory - George Gerbner
17 - Reception theory - Stuart Hall
Science fiction conventions
Humans is science fiction. In some ways it is conventional. In some ways it is unconventional. But what makes a science fiction text conventional in the first place?
Watch the theme tune to any TV show that can be conceivably described as being sci-fi. Use the textual analysis toolkit to bullet point analyse it, listing it's generic conventions.