Name: Mrs. Tuccillo

Saugerties Central School Media Studies

Course Description:

Media Studies is a course designed to allow you, the students, to explore and study the most persuasive influence in our daily lives. The course will attempt to clarify how media works and how it forms our values and perceptions of ourselves and the world. Most importantly, the course will give you the opportunity to view media with a critical perspective.

In this course, students will acquire formal vocabularies and methods for the critical analysis of media of the moving image.

  • We will begin with a television unit focusing on television of the twentieth century which will provide our formal and historical baseline for approaching film and media studies more generally – including investigations of television and digital media.
  • Arguably, these more recent media are substantially different from the dominant cinematic forms of the twentieth century, and perhaps they even demand a very different set of concepts, theories, and critical perspectives for their analysis.

Upon completing a survey of television and how it is a reflection of values and the way Americans view different people, we will progress into the study of film.

  • A primary focus of our film unit will be on elements of cinematography, editing, sound, narration, and genre as they were articulated in independent and mainstream media of the twentieth century.
  • However, we will also look at experimental and non-fictional forms of filmmaking, and we will strive to be aware of the historical emergence and development of the formal techniques, cultural determinants, and social settings that have shaped experiences of the cinema and television throughout its early, classical, post-classical, and contemporary eras.

We will round out the semester with brief forays into and exploration advertising, techniques of advertising, and the creation of original advertisements/commercials.

  1. Over the course of the semester, students will continually practice applying the concepts they learn in briefwritten responses to the weekly readings and viewings.
  2. Thus, in addition to gaining knowledge about the history, theory, technology, and industrial practices of mass media, students will cultivate an ability to write close readings of media and to analyze the specific means by which they produce meaning.
  3. They will develop a greater sensitivity to their own experiences of cinema and other media, and they will learn to think about how their experiences might differ from those of viewers in different historical, socio-cultural, or material circumstances.
  4. Above all, students will learn to appreciate and critically analyze a wide range of phenomena in moving-image media that might otherwise go unnoticed, but that nevertheless have a profound impact on our individual and collective lives.

Course Requirements:

  1. You are required to have a binder or a folder designated solely for this subject. You will be receiving notes, articles, assignment sheets, et cetera, and I would like you to keep these for future reference. You need to bring it every day to class. Every single day. Without fail. If you can’t remember to bring it EVERY DAY, please go drop this class and take a different one.
  2. Each of you will be required to do a term project and an independent film critique, which will be discussed in a later unit.
  3. Please, oh please, bring a pen to class. If you don’t bring a pen every day to class, please refer to the last statement of Requirement #1. 
  4. You will be responsible for any work missed due to absence. Keep track of your missing days and come in for extra help if you would like to discuss any aspect of the work. I stay after school Mondays and Wednesdays. Or Tuesdays and Thursdays. Never Fridays. Never.

The following are some general guidelines I have developed to help make the class run smoothly. There will be additions to these rules as we continue to grow as a class.

  • Please arrive on time with all materials necessary for class Just don’t be late. Ever. It’s annoying and you will incur my wrath if you’re late.
  • Please leave all electronic devices IN YOUR LOCKER, IN YOUR SCHOOL BAG, AT HOME, OUT OF SIGHT, ANYWHERE I CANNOT HEAR OR SEE THEM!!!!!! Get a grip on life and put your phone in your bag for 42 minutes.
  • If you are absent from class, find out what you have missed. You will only have as many days as you were absent to make up any missed work.
  • “WHAT DID I MISS?” after the bell rings does not cut it, folks! Go to my website on the High School webpage. Everything we ever do in class will be posted there. Please see me after school if you need me to explain what you have missed.
  • By the way, if you don’t find out what you’ve missed, you are out of luck. I will not chase you down. Ever.
  • Homework will not be accepted more than one day late. This means, if you do not have your homework on the day it is due, it is late. If you do not have it the next day you are in class, it will not be accepted. If it is late, the highest grade you will receive is a 65%. Again, if you don’t hand it in, I’m not going to BEG you for it. You will be out of luck.
  • If I cannot read an assignment, or if it does not have your name and the assignment name on it, I WILL NOT ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT. Period. End of story.
  • Oh, by the way, blue or black ink. Only.
  • Please feel free to see me after school with any questions and/or concerns. I am available by appointment. If you feel you need extra help, please come and see me.
  • If you have issues, either with a grade or a particular assignment, make an appointment to speak to me after class. I WILL NOT discuss any issues during class time because it is not the right time to do so.
  • This class consists of many group projects and presentations. If you are due to present to the class a particular assignment, you must be in class or you will receive a ZERO – unless you have a DOCTOR’S NOTE – NO EXCEPTIONS!
  • And lastly, there will be more rules, as I cannot think of any more right now.

Name: ______Mrs. Tuccillo

Saugerties Central SchoolMedia Studies

1. Do you know how to use a computer? ______yes ______no

2. With which programs might you be familiar?

______

3. Do you have a computer at home? ______yes ______no

4. If yes, what kind? ______

5. Do you use computers at school? ______yes ______no

For what purpose(s)?

6. Have you had a computer or word processing class at school? ______yes ______no

Which class?

7. Do you have a TV? ______yes ______no

8. Where in your home is(are) your TV(s)

9. Do you have a video camera to which you have access? ______yes ______no

10. Do you have video editing equipment?______yes ______no

11. How much TV do you watch?

12. What is your favorite TV show?

Why?

13. What is your favorite genre of film to watch? ______

14. How many movies do you watch each month (in the theatre?)

15. How many movies do you rent each month?

16. What are your five favorite films?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

17. How many CDs do you purchase/songs do you download each month?

18. What are your favorite music groups/musicians? 1.

2.

3.

19. How much time do you spend listening to the radio/music?

If you listen to the radio, what station?

20. What concerts have you attended recently?

21. How do you obtain information about current events?

22.How often do you use the Internet?

For what purpose?

23. When you watch TV or look in magazines or newspapers, or browse your phone, does anything make you angry? Upset? Concerned?

24. Any addition comments or questions you might have about MEDIA? Please tell me what suggestions or interests you would like me to include in the course content?

25. Please compose two paragraphs about the following topics. One should be about something that you LIKE in the media and one should be about something you DISLIKE in the media. You may write these on this paper.