Creating a YouTube channel for A-level media studies is something I have been interested in for a while.
A few other media teachers have taken the plunge and have created video content on YouTube to present video resources for A-level media studies. I personally would like to do something a little different. For example, there's the excellent Mrs Fisher, who presents detailed analysis of the set texts for A-level and GCSE media. I would like to do something similar, probably with less graphics, and a more loose approach to the subject, focussing not only on the set texts, but also other important examples. I would like to do something similar to our very own Bryn Jones, whose economics lectures have been very popular. Very little editing, nothing fancy. These are not likely to go viral. But they could be more helpful as a result.
Ultimately, the target audience for these videos will be you. I would like them to be wider reading to support the notes you have made in lessons. So these would NOT be an alternative to turning up to lessons... But if you have any suggestions about length, style, content or whatever, please let your teacher know!
Here's a whole bunch of examples of the stuff I would like to cover. There's a lot! So no guarantees about if/when I'll get to them...
Set texts/case studies
Rather than just doing one show about each set text, I would be much more interested in focusing on a particular aspect. For example 'patriarchal hegemony and the Tide advert, the history of the videogames industry, postcolonialism and WaterAid, or hyperreality and Humans.
- Tide print advert
- Wateraid audiovisual spot advert
- Kiss of the Vampire theatrical poster
- Formation, Beyonce (2016)
- Riptide, Vance Joy (2013)
- The Daily Mirror
- The Times
- Straight 'Outta' Compton (2015)
- I, Daniel Blake (2016)
- Black Panther (2018)
- Late Night Woman's Hour
- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
- Humans (2015)
- Les Revenants (2012)
- Woman (1964)
- Adbusters (2016)
- Zoella
- Attitude Online
Key theories
1 - SEMIOTICS - ROLAND BARTHES
2 - NARRATOLOGY - TZVETAN TODOROV
3 - GENRE THEORY - STEVE NEALE
4 - STRUCTURALISM - CLAUDE LÉVI-STRAUSS
5 - POSTMODERNISM - JEAN BAUDRILLARD
6 - THEORIES OF REPRESENTATION - STUART HALL
7 - THEORIES OF IDENTITY - DAVID GAUNTLETT
8 - FEMINIST THEORY - LIESBET VAN ZOONEN
9 - FEMINIST THEORY - BELL HOOKS
10 - THEORIES OF GENDER PERFORMATIVITY - JUDITH BUTLER
11 - THEORIES AROUND ETHNICITY AND POSTCOLONIAL THEORY - PAUL GILROY
12 - POWER AND MEDIA INDUSTRIES - CURRAN AND SEATON
13 - REGULATION - SONIA LIVINGSTONE AND PETER LUNT
14 - CULTURAL INDUSTRIES - DAVID HESMONDHALGH MEDIA AUDIENCES
15 - MEDIA EFFECTS - ALBERT BANDURA
16 - CULTIVATION THEORY - GEORGE GERBNER
17 - RECEPTION THEORY - STUART HALL
18 - FANDOM - HENRY JENKINS
19 - ‘END OF AUDIENCE’ THEORIES - CLAY SHIRKY
Bonus theories
B1 - Pierre Bourdieu - Cultural capital
B2 - Dick Hebdige - Subcultures
B3 - Richard Dyer - The utopian solution
B4 - Susan Sontag - Against interpretation
B5 - Vladimir Propp - The morphology of folklore
B6 - Theodor Adorno - The culture industries
B7 - Barbara Creed - The monstrous feminine
B8 - Donna Haraway - A cyborg manifesto
B9 - Georges Bataille - Literature and evil
B10 - Sigmund Freud - The Madonna and the whore
B11 - Richard Dyer - The functions of stereotypes
B12 - Elihu Katz and Jay G. Blumler - Uses and gratifications theory
B13 - Karl Marx - Marxist theory
B14 - Antonio Gramsci – Hegemony
B15 - Tzvetan Todorov - Classical
B16 - Naomi Wolf - The beauty myth
B17 - Laura Mulvey - The male gaze
B18 - Manuel Alvarado - Racial stereotypes
B19 - John Berger - Ways of Seeing
B20 - Ariel Levy - Female chauvinist pigs
B21 - George Gerbner - Symbolic annihilation
B22 – Valerie Solanas – the SCUM Manifesto
B23 - Adam Curtis - HyperNormalisation
Exam structure and tips
- Planning
- Paragraph structure
- How to read a question (and answer it)
- Coping with anxiety
- Revision techniques
The theoretical framework
These could be videos that don't fit anywhere else. Remember the Superbowl advert? The Blue Story 'machete riot? How Dark Souls III cultivates a cult audience? The sexual revolution of the 1960's?These videos could allow students to explore these subjects in much greater detail.
- Media language and textual analysis
- Representational issues
- Media industries
- Audience debates
Film studies
I love film studies as much as I love media studies! Lots of media students also take film studies, and even if you don't, a lot of the theory and practice is pretty much the same. I would probably focus on individual films, mainly directly related to the spec.
- L'age d'or
- Un Chien Andalou
- City Of God
- La Haine
- Godzilla
- Tokyo Drifter
- Tokyo Story
- The Descent
- Fight Club
- etc
Practical skills
These may of course also be relevant to film and media diploma students. However, there are resources and videos already available on the media diploma blog. So it may be overkill.
- Pre-production
- Editing techniques
- Sound design
Finally, some questions for you, the people who might actually find this useful:
Would you watch Michael talking about media studies?
Would you prefer a podcast to a series of videos?
Would you prefer there to be more focus? If so, what should the focus be on?
Please let us know.