Media Studies has been a steady learning curve since the beginning of the course. I've learnt about media terminology that was previously alien to me (Binary Opposition, anyone?) and I've understood the significance of the concept of genre and the various sub-genres/ hybridisations that all originate from genre. Moreover, I've practisced essay writing, from gender portrayal to binary opposition, and I genuinely feel more confident with my essay writing skills, developing my ideas and explaining myself in a more sophisticated, succint way. These skills tie into our cousework task, a task in which we ultimately have to create a two minute thriller opening. This task has covered the entire spectrum of the film-making process (research, planning, story-boarding, scriptwork, casting, the whole lot) and this task has put into practice the theory work we have been doing, analysing various clips with Mr. Michie, from Jane Eyre to Merlin. I suppose Media has given me a new perspective on the way film and television is produced; I'm now analysing the effects of editing, lighting, sound and mise-en-scene when I go to my local cinema, something that I never truely appreciated before. I've definitely improved, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the course, further developing my skills as I continue further into the world of Media Studies...
Genre is such a broad concept; within our first lessons we grasped a fundamental understanding of genre before delving deeper, exploring the numerous sub-genres and hybridisations. We discussed why genre codes and conventions define the genre of a media text as a whole, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of genre conventions: whilst conventions fulfill audience expectations and are easier to market, it's important to note the need to break away from cliched values and avoid the trap of following genre conventions to the extent where it becomes dull. We filmed this discussion within my coursework group. Also, I absorbed a lot of words I had previously never used (connoting, singnifies, the list goes on...) and from this I then found that I could use these words within the apprpriate context in my notes and essays. We also looked at thrillers and took the first steps towards creating our thriller films. The research was initially about looking other openings (and other clips) to thriller films. I was able to analyse a lot of these, including the unorthodox ending to Requiem for a Dream as well as the title sequences to political thriller Homeland and Casino Royale. I also evaluated the work of my peers, including Jacob's analysis of the opening of Taken as well as making a Vlog of my reaction to the opening of The Beach:
As well as this, we've been doing a lot of clip analysis to futher develop our exam-based skills. For instance, we worked within our class to look at various clips (Merlin, Doctor Who and Jane Eyre amongst others). We then took notes in relation to the question (the portrayal of gender, how editing/sound had been used). I took notes covering all bases including editing, sound, mise-en-scene and camera angles. These types of lessons helped me to understand the importance of all of these aspects and how they had been used to contribute to the sub-text of the clip, ie. the weakness of males within the Primeval clip. I then had to use this understanding to complete exam-style essay questions. This helped me to prepare myself for the 'real thing', using my notes as well as media terminology and the advice of my teachers to produce work that I was pleased with. Although I was pleased with my results (including a B in my 'Titanic Binary Opposition' essay) I acknowledge the targets that I was given and since then I've endeavoured to work on those targets to improve my essay-writing ability. By continuing to complete and practisce essay questions (which have been previously used in actual exams) I feel more hopeful for the written exam which once seemed a fairly daunting prospect.
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