Research/ Essay Writing Tutorial:

-What was the intention?

-Who's interest does the media product serve?

-Who benefits from it being made and does its production support an ideological position.

-Is it/ was it part of a propaganda campaign- pro something? (May be subtle)

Meaning and Semiotics:

-What meanings are generated by the adaption or news piece?

-What are the social & cultural mechanisms of communication (symbolic/ visual/ formal/ textual/ textural/ auditory/ verbal)

-What are the connotations and meanings being formed- are these 're imagined'- intended or not...

-CONTEXT- Consider reviews/ papers or re-readings of meaning after time has evolved or after other cultural or global changes: political for example.

-Consider also the inter textual relationship that exists now between all media products in culture- books, gaming, cinema, small screen, online etc.

Reading to expand knowledge and power to interpret/ self analyse:

- Undertake reading to clarify and expand your knowledge to answer these types of questions.

- This will help you to develop rich case studies and select relevant and interesting examples of creative output to elaborate around and theorise around.

Critical Writing:

-A clear and confident refusal to accept the conclusions of other writers without evaluating.

-A balanced presentation of reasons why the conclusions of other writers may be accepted or may need to be treated with caution;

-A clear presentation of your own evidence.

Descriptive writing- Not developing argument; merely setting the background within each argument can be developed. As it stands. AVOID OVER-USE (WON'T BE MARKED)

Referencing sources:

-Paraphrasing, Summarising, Quoting- Requires Citation (Author, Initial, Book, Page).

Initial Critical Perspective Essay Ideas: Question 1

Discuss and critically analyse the view that 'with a successful adaption, the original work is transformed into something new and different, although retaining many traces of what was formally' with reference to at least one text adaption for broadcast.

Potential Adaptions:

-A Song of Ice and Fire
-Fargo
-It
-Gotham
-From Dusk Till Dawn
-Sherlock

Successful?- Subjective Term. -Terms of Reference.
-Box office/ Barb
-Recommissioned.
-Frequently Adapted
-Critical Reception
-Journalism/ News

Traces/ What Was It Formally?:
-Plot
-Characters
-Tone
-New and Different/ Modernised.

Critical Perspectives:

-Essay writing and structuring
-Time management

New Skills:
-developing your research and critical writing skills.
-Independent research

Aims:
-Promote deeper critical understanding of audio visual output together with related ethical and ideological concerns.

120- Scheduled Study
180- Independent Study

Assessment:
Written assessment-
-Essay- 50%
-Dissertation Proposal- 50%

Essay 50%

1, Discuss and critically analyse the view that 'with a successful adaption, the original work is transformed into something new and different, although retaining many traces of what was formally' with reference to at least one text adaption for broadcast.

2, Analyse the implications of outline journalism and the extent to which 'we are all journalists now', making reference to examples of both traditional broadcast journalism and citizen journalism.

Project submission:
-10th November 1500 to 1600 hrs-- Draft submission of essay. hard copy on paper, properly formatted using Havard.

-15th December 1000 to 1100 hrs-- Final submission, hard copy-submission through 'Turnitin'.

Question 1:
-What is this question asking you to consider?
-What television broadcasts could you consider referencing as case studies?
-How viable is this as a choice?
-What are the challenges in answering this option and using your chosen case study?

Research: Top Gear

Probably the most famous show which focuses of motoring in the UK is Top Gear. Originally presented by Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, the show mostly consisted of the three presenters talking about the latest cars. There is a sense of fun and charisma presented by the three presenters.

The music in particular is a main point of interest as I will be creating the soundtrack for our news piece. I noticed that there was a lot of bass prominent throughout the music featured when they were driving around in their cars. The pieces also appeared to have a moderate pace to them.

I feel that this sort of style will work well with how our style should be and shall try to adapt the music to sound like this. The main complication I would have would be trying to find the balance between the professionalism of the BBC News and the more fun feel of Top Gear

Test Filming a News Story:

Today, we had a workshop which allowed us to have a go at filming a news report. we were allowed the opportunity to use a green screen and even an autocue to allow to get used to how we would film the studio side of the news report.

Previously, we were given the task of creating a script based on a news story that our groups were given. our group was given a story about the increasing number of strikes on the London railway and the disruptions caused by this.

Here is the final script that we managed to devise over Skype:





As I have already been allocated as the studio presenter for our final group project, I stood up to the task of studio presenting this story.

At first, I found that reading from the autocue was quite difficult. However, we were able to increase the size of the font, making less words per line, therefore making it easier to read. We also had to speed up the autocue as the larger lettering meant that there was more space between each paragraph. This caused me to take long pauses between each paragraph which would have looked strange in the final edit of the news report.

After these problems were fixed, I felt comfortable reading from the autocue and was able to give a good natural performance, minus the few stutters and mis-interpretations of punctuation (of which I sloppily wrote myself)

Electric Car Dealerships

We also decided that we should go and follow up on some car dealerships that had been contacted by others in the group in regards to possibly borrowing an electric car to test drive and use for the shoot.
We made our way to the car dealership garages located in Maidstone so we could go and ask the staff there in person in regards to test driving one of their electric cars.

At first, we tried the Renault garage. They immediately said no, stating that they don't personally do that sort of thing. At this point we started to get a bit nervous, thinking that all of the car dealerships would give us the same answer.

The next garage we tried was Nissan. We had a little more luck with them, as the staff member we spoke to went to speak to management. He came back soon after and gave us a different contact number to get in touch with someone who could help us with our request.

Lastly, we tried the Mercedes Benz garage, specifically the Smart Car display. Here we were able to meet with a previous contact we had acquired before who was able to take one of our phone numbers (after checking that at least one of us was over 21 and had a drivers license) and said that they would pass our request onto management.

Hopefully this follows through so can have the opportunity to properly display our subject matter by filming the electric car in action.

28th September: More Location Scouting

Just like before, our group decided that we should arrive at the studios for 10 o'clock so we could scout out some more locations to film the electric car in motion. I managed to find a location that was only roughly eight minutes away from the Maidstone Studios itself.

The road is Lidsing Road, Boxley, Maidstone. the good thing about this road is, while the main stretch of the road is a little bit busy, it leads off onto a smaller road. this is hop farm road, a narrow road surrounded by high hedges and large fields beyond that. This is a great shooting location as it offers some interesting scenery throughout its entire length. Also, we encountered no other vehicles in the time we were there.

This road also leads into an even smaller road, Bell Lane. This road was quite muddy, though, so we didn't venture too far onto it. From the brief look we did have, however, it looked like it would be an enclosed enough space where we would have no disturbances from other road users.