MEDIA EXAM PREPARATION

T HE MEDIA EXAM Duration: 2 hours Made up of three parts: Narrative organisation in fictional media texts Media texts and Society’s Values Nature and extent of Media Influence Weighting: 45% of your final score Made up of long and short answer questions May include diagrams, illustrations, poster, still, etc. (This is stimulus material, you will need to have evidence from the texts we studied this year, ie. American Beauty, Run Lola Run, To Kill a mockingbird, District 9, Bowling for Columbine.

A LL EXAMS WILL BE MARKED USING THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA Understanding and appropriate use of media terms and vocabulary Knowledge of the nature and function of production and/or story elements in fictional media texts. Analysis of narrative organisation in fictional media texts. Understanding of the relationship between society’s values and media texts. Understanding of theories of media influence. Evaluation of the nature and extent of media influence, and arguments surrounding this.

N ARRATIVE – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Understanding of production and story elements. Know how production and story elements work together in creating the organisation of the narrative. Understanding of how these elements engage the audience, assist them in following the narrative, why they were applied this way, how the ideas are communicated with the audience. Understanding and analysing the structure of the narrative and using key terminology is essential. Reception context and genre. Know the opening sequence of the films Know the development of the films Know the closing sequence of the films Choose a scene from the opening, a scene from the development and a scene from closure of the film that you know really well and can recall.

S TORY ELEMENTS Narrative progression Narrative possibilities Character development Structuring of time Cause and effect Setting Point of view

P RODUCTION ELEMENTS Film format Camera angles Camera shot types Camera movement Lighting Sound Editing Mise en scene Acting

A MERICAN BEAUTY KEY SCENES

T HE DARK KNIGHT KEY SCENES

NARRATIVE TERMINOLOGY

S UMMARY OF NARRATIVE A sound understanding of narrative is a key skill to have in the study of media. Understanding the concept of audience is a key element in the study of media. Audiences bring expectations and responses are often dependent upon the audience's understanding of genre and an understanding of cross textual references. Story elements are fundamental building blocks in narrative. They engage the audience, structure the narrative and establish a relationship between characters and the audience. Production elements are the technical elements of filmmaking. Story and production elements combine to affect audience responses and reactions to media texts, and to create meaning within the text.

T IPS IN ANSWERING EXAM QUESTIONS Look at the question and work out what the central focus of the question is. Define the element Provide a very brief intro or sentence about the storyline of the text (this is more for you, don’t retell the narrative as the examiners are looking for your knowledge of prod/story elements and engaging an audience, they know the narrative!) Describe the type of narrative structure used in your chosen text. Is it linear (American Beauty), non linear (Run Lola Run) Explain the element and consequently how the narrative structure engages and inform the audience. Use examples from the narrative and refer to how the audience is kept engaged. Refer to characters, ideas and themes. Make sure you refer to audience.

E XAM PREPARATION QUESTIONS FOR NARRATIVE 1. Explain the story element ‘point of view’ in relation to how a narrative is presented and describe how one production element (e.g. camera techniques, lighting, sound, editing, mise- en-scene, acting) conveys ‘point of view’ in a fictional film narrative that you have studied this year. Use examples to illustrate your answer. 2. With reference to a fictional film narrative that you have studied this year (not the text you discussed in Question 1), discuss how cause and effect contributes to the organisation of the narrative. 3. Choose a scene from a fictional film narrative that you have studied this year and discuss how the sound contributes to engaging the audience in the narrative. 4. With reference to a fictional film narrative that you have studied this year, provide one example of how editing is used to develop structuring of time.

E XAM PREPARATION QUESTIONS FOR NARRATIVE 5. Choose one story element and one production element and explain how each is used in combination to engage the audience in a fictional film narrative. Use examples to illustrate your answer. Story elements Narrative progression Narrative possibilities Character development Cause and effect Setting Structuring of time Point of view Production elements Film format Camera techniques Lighting Sound Editing Mise-en-scene acting

E XAM PREPARATION QUESTIONS FOR NARRATIVE 6. Discuss how story and production elements combine to engage the audience in a fictional film narrative that you have studied this year. You should discuss at least three production and three story elements. Use textual examples to illustrate your discussion.

M EDIA TEXT ’ S AND SOCIETY ’ S VALUES Know what a social issue, social value, and a discourse are. Understand how the construction and representation in media texts reflect values in society. Know the differences between dominant, oppositional, emerging values and understand the relationship between them. Describe a social issue or discourse that is represented in the texts you studied, Identify, compare and contrast representations in the media texts Know the films, District 9, To Kill a Mockingbird.

M EDIA TEXT ’ S AND SOCIETY ’ S VALUES TERMINOLOGY Production context Discourse Social issue Social value Dominant Emerging Oppositional Values at time of production period

DISTRICT 9 Made in What was going on Social values reflected: Dominant, oppositional, emerging?

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Made in What was going on? Social values reflected: Dominant, oppositional, emerging?

E XAM PREP QUESTION FOR SOCIETY ’ S VALUES 1. Using the text you have studied, explain how social values shaped and are seen in the text. Do these social values support or challenge social values of the time. 2. ‘Films reflect the times in which they are constructed.’ Discuss the statement using the text that you have studied, including reference to dominant and oppositional social values. 3. Social values exist in the representations we see in a text. Discuss how social values come to be in a text and how can they be seen in at least two representations in the text you have studied. Explain whether these representations support or challenge some of the dominant social values of the time.

M EDIA INFLUENCE Know communication theories and models and their application to media forms and texts Political economy model, cultural effects models (does to audiences), reception studies models (does with audiences) Know audiences relationship with theories and models. Passive/Active audience Know arguments and evidence surrounding media influence – the nature and extent of influence Know research methods – qualitative and quantitative Know arguments surrounding media regulation

A UDIENCE Passive audience: accepts all media without question, absorbs like sponge, suggest that the media has significant power over audience and audience. Active audience: active in choosing media to consume, according to many factors, suggest that media has little power over audience.

C OMMUNICATION MODELS Political economy model: agenda setting function theory, cultivation, reinforcement Cultural studies (does with audiences) model: uses and gratifications, reinforcement, cultivation, two step flow, semiotics Effects model (does to audience): hypodermic needle theory, agenda setting,

R ESEARCH METHODS Laboratory Longitudinal Qualitative Quantitative Ethnographic Meta analysis Moral panic Correlational

M EDIA REGULATION Government Regulation – ACMA, Australian Classifications Board, Advertising Standards Bureau Self-Regulated REASONS FOR REGULATION Protecting vulnerable individuals (children) Ensuring diversity of content and ownership Prevent content that encourages racial, religious and sexual discrimination.

S UMMARY MEDIA INFLUENCE Communication theories are used to explain the complex relationship between the media and audiences. The theories assist in evaluating examples, research and case studies where the media is said to have influence over an audience. At the core of the communication theory is the role of the audience. Over time, audiences have been described as either passive or active. Some theorists believe audiences create individual meaning from texts, rather than reacting en masse to media messages. There are many different issues in assessing the influence of the media on audiences. It is important to consider how gender, age, socio-economic status, political and cultural backgrounds contribute to an audience’s susceptibility to media influence. It is difficult to be certain of the extent of media influence on audiences, as this depends on individual interpretation.

Research into the influence of the media can take may forms, and it is necessary to be critically aware of the ways in which research has been conducted. Some methods include laboratory studies, longitudinal studies, quantitative, qualitative and ethnographical research, as well as less highly regarded anecdotal examples and case studies. The Australian government supports diversity of content in the media, but the industry also operates within strict guidelines or ‘codes of practice’. Australia’s media is regulated for the purpose of protecting certain audiences from harmful and offensive content. Despite all the evidence from research, studies and examples to suggest that the media has a n influence on audiences, the debate concerning the extent of the media’s influence remains inconclusive.

E XAM PREP FOR MEDIA INFLUENCE 1. Using any two communication theories and/or models that you have studied this year, compare and contrast how these theories and/or models assess the relationship between the media and the audience. 2. The relationship between the media and the audience is complex. Using two communication theories that are different to the theories you have explored in question 1, explain how this relationship exists via a range of media forms and texts. 3. What are the key arguments about media influence? Discuss at least two viewpoints about the influence the media is believed to have on audience, using research to support each viewpoint.

4. Over time, expert opinion has changed about how audiences are said to the respond to the media. Using one particular audience demographic (e.g. children, teenagers etc.) discuss the relationship between the audience and the media. Use media effects/theories and/or models, research and examples to support your response. 5. Discuss the arguments for and against the regulation of any two media forms you have studied this year. You should use research and evidence to support your response.