ENG3UMedia Scrapbook

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Your Task:Choose a specific issue that is important to you or interests you(violence, sexuality, power, identity, body image, hope, consumerism, heroes, athletics, the modern family, diversity, etc). Then narrow it down and try to be as specific as possible in your focus. For example, instead of just “violence” you could focus on “male violence as a source of power” or instead of “the modern family” you could focus on “same-sex parents as the modern family.”

Then you will look for and select three (3) different types of media (website, television show or commercial, feature film, album, music video, documentary, podcast, social network, newspaper/magazine article, newspaper/magazine advertisement, etc.),completing a graphic organizer analyzing 1specifictextual example of each.

For example, if your issue is adolescent girls’body image, you might choose:

Type of Media Specific Texts

1)TVGlee (choose a specific episode or the whole series)

2)Feature filmPrecious

3)Print AdDove Real Beauty Campaign ad

PART A: MEDIA SCRAPBOOK

What to Do:

  1. Introduction to Media Scrapbook. Youmust include a short statement (approx. 100-150 words) at the beginning of your scrapbook that clearly identifies your topic, purpose, and point of view on your topic. For example, if you choose the issue of violence, what is it that you want to show/say about this topic? For example:

Violence is everywhere in the media. More specifically, the media portrays an abundance of images that implicitly suggest the idea of violence against women. Being bombarded with these images in the media leads society, unconsciously, to accept this behaviour as normal and become desensitized to the images and the issue. This is something that needs to be addressed and eradicated, specifically in children, to end the preconceived notions that violence is cool, or earns one respect or power.

  1. Introduction to Three Specific Texts. In a short paragraph, introduce each of your three specific texts andexplain how each relates to your chosen issue. Include your own ideas and opinions. Also, include a link to or an image of your media text.
  1. Critical Analysis of Three Specific Texts (EightKey Concepts). Using the graphic organizer as a guide, thoroughly analyse each of your three texts using three (3)of the Eight Key Media Concepts for each.Explainthree differentmedia concepts for each different media text so that all eight key concepts will have been addressed.

PART B: THE COMMONS

What to Do:

1. Post your media scrapbook to the blog that you created on HWDSB Commons. You will need to organize your blog with categories (see videos). One of these categories will showcase your media scrapbook.

2. You must comment on threeother classmates’ blogs. View threeother media scrapbooks and write a different type ofcomment for each. Comments should reflect your thinking and understanding of media and must:

a) Demonstrate your understanding of media forms, conventions and techniques.

OR

b) Be a deep inquiry question (see handout for criteria)

OR

c) Make an appropriate and rich connection between a text in the media scrapbook and your own personal knowledge, experience, and insights; other texts; or the world around you.

3. You must respond appropriately to each of the three comments.

Due Dates:

Media Scrapbook posted to The Commons ______

Comments on Classmate’s Blogs ______

Responses to Comments ______

Website Addresses for Three Classmates Blogs:

Name / HWDSB Commons Site

Example

Introduction to first Media Text: Mean Girls (film)

Mean Girls is a comedy film written in 2004 by former SNL head writer and comedian actress Tina Fey. The film follows Cady Herron as she transfers from a rural school in Africa to a wealthy, suburban school which is dominated by resident mean girls the ‘Plastics’. Cady meets two clever, witty outsiders, Janis and Damien, but is quickly won over by the popularity and access to boys that being a part of the Plastics offers.

Body image is a prominent theme in this film because the girls have such high expectations of one another staying in peak physical shape and the lead Plastic, Regina, is tricked into gaining weight as punishment for her cruelty, as if gaining a couple of pounds (taking someone from a size 2 to a very normal and healthy size 6-8) is the worst form of punishment to inflict on someone. Even the name of the popular group, The Plastics, implies that being fake is preferred to being anything less than perfect. The ‘Burn Book’ also contains many cruel low blows to various girls’ physical appearances and body shapes and sizes.

ENG3U Key Media ConceptsAnalysisName:

Specific Media Text: ______

Media Convention / Analysis/Explanation
All media are constructions
This media text is a carefully crafted construction that reflects many decisions and results from many determining factors, including... / -
-
The media construct reality
Describe at least two of thepre-constructed messages and attitudes, interpretations and conclusions built in to this particular media text. / -
-
Audiences negotiate meaning in the media
Explain how this particular media text (and its implicit and explicit messages) will be interpreted by different audiences (consider the dominant, oppositional, and negotiated meanings and who might hold each). / Dominant-
Oppositional-
Negotiated-
Media have commercial implications
Find two specific commercial considerations related to this particular media text (product placement, branding, logos, soundtrack, network, advertisements, celebrity endorsements, etc.) / -
-
Media contain ideological and value messages
Find at least two of the explicitand/or implicit messages about philosophical/moral beliefs (ideologies) as the virtues of consumerism, the role of women,the acceptance of authority, etc. / -
-
Media have social and political implications
Name at least two specific social and/or political implications this particular media source has (i.e. its message about gay marriage, the War in Afghanistan, a woman’s right to choose, etc.) / -
-
Form and content are closely related in the media
Different media will report the same event, but create different impressions and messages(“The medium is the message”). Explain how the form of this particular text (whether it’s a TV show, radio ad, internet pop-up, etc.) helps determine/affects the content.
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form
For example, print ads have a logo, a slogan, an image, a larger title, a product description, etc.
Medium: ______ / At least three conventions of this medium:
-
-
-

ENG3U Key Media ConceptsEXAMPLEName:

______

Specific Media Text: Mean Girls

Media Convention / Analysis/Explanation
All media are constructions
This media text is a carefully crafted construction that reflects many decisions and results from many determining factors, including... / -the characters’ dialogue and witty one-liners in the film is written by comedy writer Tina Fey and produced by Lorne Michaels, of SNL
-the costume and wardrobe department dressed the characters in brand name clothing, choosing pink for ‘The Plastics’ and black for the ‘goths’
The media construct reality
Describe at least two of thepre-constructed messages and attitudes, interpretations and conclusions built in to this particular media text. / -all popular people are pretty and thin and wear brand name clothing
-teenagers segregate themselves based on arbitrary factors such as appearance, race, and socioeconomic status
Audiences negotiate meaning in the media
Explain how this particular media text (and its implicit and explicit messages) will be interpreted by different audiences (consider the dominant, oppositional, and negotiated meanings and who might hold each). / Dominant: laugh at the witty jokes and physical humour and enjoy thedeserved suffering of Regina George
Oppositional: oppose the fact that the film glorifies turning the tables on a bully by socially ostracizing Regina George and implying that the bus accident was somehow deserved
Negotiated: the movie may have some negative factors but it also contains some important feminist issues about positive self-image, female bonding and forgiveness
Media have commercial implications
Find two specific commercial considerations related to this particular media text (product placement, branding, logos, soundtrack, network, advertisements, celebrity endorsements, etc.) / Product Placement: Gretchen says her dad invented Toaster Strudel, which made her family rich
Celebrity Endorsements: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Tina Fey all appeared on late-night talk shows promoting the film
Soundtrack:contemporary songs, such as “Milkshake” byKelis and “God is a DJ” by Pink, are in the soundtrack
Media contain ideological and value messages
Find at least two of the explicitand/or implicit messages about philosophical/moral beliefs (ideologies) as the virtues of consumerism, the role of women, the acceptance of authority, etc. / -one value message is that young women should be more supportive of one another and less aggressive, competitive and hateful especially when it comes to body image and physical appearance
-another value message is that consumerism rules the school. For example, Gretchen tries to make the word “fetch” become a trend, like advertisers do, and another girl admits that when she sees a Plastic wear army pants and flip flops, that she bought the same—it’s all about a carefully constructed image
Media have social and political implications
Name at least two specific social and/or political implications this particular media source has (i.e. its message about gay marriage, the War in Afghanistan, a woman’s right to choose, etc.) / -Janis and Damien are best friends, and although Damien is openly gay, Janis has been bullied and called gay in the Burn Book despite her heterosexuality; this obviously has an anti-homophobia message
-Tina Fey’s character, Ms. Norbury, has overt feminist and left-leaning political views when she says things like “You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores.”
Form and content are closely related in the media
Different media will report the same event, but create different impressions and messages(“The medium is the message”). Explain how the form of this particular text (whether it’s a TV show, radio ad, internet pop-up, etc.) helps determine/affects the content. / -Tina Fey read the nonfiction parental-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes and thought it was “funny”—though it wasn’t supposed to be. Parents read the book for advice on how to deal with raising a teenage daughter, but the film was targeted to young adults, particularly young women, to simply laugh at the follies of the clueless cliques who may rule the high school but won’t be able to function in the real world afterwards.
-So although the content of the book and film are quite similar, the book was meant to be an informative and academic sociological study, whereas the film was meant to be entertainment that also sold products and made money.
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form
For example, print ads have a logo, a slogan, an image, a larger title, a product description, etc.
Medium:Feature Film / At least three conventions of this medium:
-feature films have soundtracks that are sold simultaneously with DVD sales, and the songs (often including mainstream new releases) are played in the films’ trailers to help catch viewers’ attention and interest
-feature films also have credits at the beginning and end of the film, listing cast often in order of level of fame, then crew
-feature films are edited so that much of what was originally filmed ends up as “extras” and deleted scenes on the DVD versions of the film