Research investigation feedback

Here is a list of feedback objectives to help you put the finishing touches to your research investigation. Your teacher will give you a series of letters, so simply match the letters given to you with the goals below. 

Once your investigation is completely finished, there's plenty to be getting on with with preproduction for your music video, so please make sure to speak to your teacher!

A - When redrafting, ensure that your investigation consistently refers back to your title. You will be focussing on either genre, representation, narrative, or a combination

B - Make sure your primary research makes detailed use of textual analysis, including a range of terms from the textual analysis toolkit

C - Find and cite three new sources, all of which have to be from textbooks, journals, essays, or respected academic websites

D - Remove all references to Wikipedia, Slideshare and Prezzi from your investigation, and replace them with examples from textbooks, journals, essays, or respected academic websites

E - Apply your secondary research when analysing your primary research to support your conclusions

F - End your essay with a clear and explicit conclusion that you can work in to your production

G - Your essay focusses too much on the historical and needs more focus on the textual analysis. Try to trim some of the history/background and replace it with a more detailed textual analysis

H - You do not have enough references. Find some more, cite them and include them in your bibliography!

I - Your analysis is too descriptive. Swap it out for explicit textual analysis. How does the music video you are analysing

J - Include a range (or a wider range) of visually engaging screenshots that emphasise your textual analysis

K - Include a range of subheadings that breaks down your essay in to specific, easily identifiable points

L - Your essay needs extensive proof reading. Please read your essay aloud, all the way through, and correct grammar and punctuation as needed

M - There are a number of spelling mistakes. Run the spell check!

Moving to A2: Summer reading

The A2 year is a lot more straightforward that the AS year, as we only look in specific detail at three industries;

• the film industry,
• the music industry and
• the television industry

However, we explore all three of these industries in far more detail than anything we studied last year. Your own contextual knowledge of similar films, bands and TV shows becomes essential for the exam, as you will need to demonstrate a wide range of critical debates in order to justify the highest marks.

If you are aiming to get a B or an A grade in your Media A-level, the following task will help you to do so. Simply choose an industry, watch the suggested texts, and read the suggested readings which accompany them.

Each text here is closely related to key texts you will study for MS4.

The film industry

Suggested films

Goldfinger (1964)

A View To A Kill (1985)

Goldeneye (1995)

Casino Royale (2006)

The Selfish Giant (2012)

Kes (1969)

Sweet Sixteen (2002)

Cinderella (1950)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Suggested readings

'Live and Let Die' and the Birth of the Classic Bond Narrative

Umberto Eco - Narrative Structures in Fleming - the definitive essay on narrative and the Bond film. A .PDF file can be downloaded here.

The music industry

Suggested music videos

Bjork - 'All Is Full Of Love' (Cunningham, 1999)

Fatboy Slim - 'Weapon of Choice' (Jonze, 2001)

Girl's Generation - 'Lion Heart' (S.M Entertainment, 2005)

My Bloody Valentine - 'To Here Knows When (Creation, 1992)

Pulp - 'Babies' (Island Universal, 1993)

Suggested readings

Theodor Adorno - On Popular Music - Excellent essay from the grumpiest man who ever lived 

What Makes a Text Postmodern? - primer on postmodernism from this very blog!

Walter Benjamin - The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction - Michael's favourite essay ever(!)

The television industry

Suggested television programmes

Game of Thrones (2011)

Silicon Valley (2014)

Westworld (2016)

Snog, Marry, Avoid? (2008)

Love Island  (2015)

The Blue Planet (2001)

Life on Earth (1979)

Research investigation - deadlines and last minute tips

Deadlines

Your deadline depends on which block you are in. Your essay needs to be handed in at the end of your last Media lesson of the year. Just as a quick reminder, this works out as:

P block - Friday 14th July at 12:20pm (end of lesson)

R block - Thursday 13th July at 10:30am (end of lesson)

U block - Thursday 13th July at 12:20am (end of lesson)

Last minute tips

In order to get the highest grade, your investigation needs to demonstrate the following:

"Research will be excellent, covering a wide range of sources. These will be analysed and applied in a sophisticated way and presented a logical and coherent manner, supported by a range of sophisticated points. Quality of written communication will be sophisticated. A high degree of accuracy. Sophisticated ability to structure ideas effectively."

What the translates to is

• Research
• Lots of research
• Lots of different research
• Great points
• Looks good and makes sense

Therefore, if you want to maximise your grade, you must prioritise research above all else. You can find excellent sources online, on Google Books, or the LRC.

If you do not have at least 15 correctly cited sources, this should be completed right now, before your final session. If you need help on formatting, you'll find loads of links and tips here.

Remember, your research investigation is 22.5% of your A2 grade, and 45% of your second year coursework. So make sure you submit something of the highest possible quality before the end of the year!

Textual analysis toolkit

The following list outlines the essential media language that you must use when discussing the following media forms. Media language must be used when textually analysing media products for component 1, section A and component 2. 

Semiotic language

The following language should be used in textual analysis tasks where appropriate. In general, you should always avoid simple statements like 'this shows that' or 'it draws the audience in', and use the following terms instead. Definitions for all terms can be found here.

• Connotes
• Signifies
• Constructs
• Designates
• Anchors
• Constructs a myth
• Encodes
• Narrative code
• Visual code
• Technical code
• Gesture code
• Genre code
• Symbolic code
• Proairetic code
• Hermenutic code
• Cultural code
• Referential code/intertextual reference
• Naturalises
• Cultivates
• Message reduction
• Meaning implosion - 
• Paradigmatic feature 
• Structures
• Fetishises
• Mode of address (formal, informal, direct, uncomfortable etc)
• Diegetically situates
• Positions
• Aligns
• Deconstruct

Advertising

Print

• Codes and conventions
• Layout and design
• Composition
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour 
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• Graphics, logos etc.
• Language – slogan/tagline and copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

Moving image

• Codes and conventions
• Camera work – framing, shot types, angle, position, movement
• Editing – pace, type of edits, continuity/montage Structure/narrative
• Sound – music/dialogue/voiceover 
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 

Music video

• Codes and conventions – performance/narrative/experimental features
• Camera work (framing – shot types, angle, position, movement)
• Editing – beat-matched?
• Elements of continuity/montage
• How does the video interpret the music and/or lyrics?
• Structure/narrative
• Intertextuality
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 

Newspapers

• Point of view and ideology 
• Codes and conventions of news products/newspapers/type of newspaper
• Layout and design 
• Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up
• Graphics, logos 
• Language – headline, sub-headings, captions
• Copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

Television 

• 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 

Magazines

• Codes and conventions – changes over time? 
• Layout and design
• Composition - positioning of masthead/headlines, cover lines, images, columns 
• Font size, type, colour 
• Images/photographs - shot type, angle, focus
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• Graphics, logos 
• Language – headline, sub-headings, captions – mode of address
• Copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

Online media

• Homepage and other pages
• Codes and conventions
• Layout and design
• Composition
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour 
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Mise-en-scene – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• Graphics, logos
• Language - formal/informal mode of address?
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative/structure around the site
• Interactive features
• Menu bar and navigation – structure and design of the site
• Navbar
• Hyperlink
• Hypermodality
• Web 2.0
• Thumbnail/preview image

Research investigation - constructing an excellent essay

Congratulations, first years: you are now second years! From this week, you will start the A2 course, which begins with the longest extended writing piece set so far: the research investigation.

It is best to think of the research investigation as not an A-level essay, but a first year undergraduate degree essay. It's a big step up in difficulty, and you will be expected to read a number of sources in order to expand your knowledge of your chosen subject.

However, the plus side is that you can pretty much choose any music related topic you want to study for the next half term. Your teacher will help you narrow your research interest down, so start off by choosing your favourite band, solo artist, genre or music video, and then working from there.

Skoob Books in Kings Cross: one of the best second-hand academic bookshops in the UK! You too will need to hit the books to get the highest possible grade in this assignment.

What is the research investigation?

• 1,800 words (+/- 10%)
• Research essay, making reference to 15 sources
• The main body of text cites sources
• The bibliography lists sources
• Students create an individual question related to the music industry, and based around either/or genre, representation and narrative
• Fully illustrated essay with a range of images

Structuring the research investigation

Actually starting the research investigation is probably the hardest bit: even after your excellent research interest has been given the thumbs up by your teacher. Therefore you're going to need a solid plan.

Check your email for a template that you should follow to the letter, at least until you get the first five or six-hundred words sorted.

This blog post gives you some more tips on how to structure your research investigation.

Getting your head round the Harvard referencing system

At Long Road, we require you to use the Harvard referencing system when citing your research and presenting a bibliography. There's lots of examples of how to do this in the template that has been emailed to each and every one of you.

Here's a more in-depth article on the Harvard referencing system, with lots of specific examples.

Reading academic essays

For this essay, you're going to have to get your hands dirty and actually read some theory! This is going to be a big step up for a lot of you, but although things seem tricky at first, it's actually easier than you may imagine.

We recommend heading down to the library in your next free period, and checking out the film and media sections for a wealth of information on our subject.

This series of tips on how to read academic essays should set you up nicely.

Reading exemplar research investigations

There have been many excellent research investigations written by Long Road students in the past few years, and you will have access to printed copies. These are great for inspiration, and can help you to structure and pan your investigation.

You can also check out this excellent, A grade response hosted on the blog.

Deadlines

Please note that deadlines may be subject to slight changes, and there may be slight differences between classes. Click image to see in full resolution