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Well, hello again Edutistas
How are we all? Your favourite AQA GCSE Media blogger is back. And it’s ALWAYS party time here! (Except when we are following the rules mandated by our overlords.)
Topics under our metaphorical surgical knife today (as long as they haven’t been delayed by staffing shortages) are:
GET BACK BOJO
Apologies for the delay, I’ve been refitting my capacious garden/home office/party space with room for 40 of my writing team to be able to bring you the most insightful and meaningful views on our beloved exam content. And also watching that mad Beatles thing on Disney. George casually leaves The Beatles with less histrionics than me when I stormed out of the tea club in 2018 (What do you mean, Half-Spoon’s too expensive?)
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Planning for the term ahead – refreshing the modules for the new cohorts in year 10 and year 11; refining last year’s modules to build in support the for the new year 11 or new year 13 and their now known individual strengths and weaknesses – but in looking back at the summer’s set of exam results and evaluating my own and my team’s performance; what did we get right, where did we stray off course?
Although the 2020 and 2021 A Level examination have been displaced, the next ‘for real’ terminal assessments now being the Summer 2022 series, there is – as they say – no time like the present for making a start on embedding in working practices the key skills for ensuring examination success.
A long line of previous closures/move to digital of similar products over the past 12 months creates good learning opportunities to investigate the shifts in audience needs/demands for the print product, especially the women’s lifestyle magazines that are now following the earlier seismic culling of titles in the male lifestyle magazine market. In short, this is a good chance to introduce/review how Hesmondhalgh, Curran and Seaton and Shirky might be applied to real world media industry changes.
To what extent are The Times and The Daily Mirror representative of differing political, social and cultural viewpoints? How does ownership contribute to this concept? A HUGE EXTENT. *drops pen* But sadly that won’t suffice for 6 lovely AQA marks so let’s dive as deep as Jerry’s Hall’s interior shame reflex and see what we can come up with.
What's assessed Section A will focus on Media Language and Media Representations.Questions in this section can test the poor little lambs on any two of the following forms:• magazines• advertising and marketing• newspapers• online, social and participatory media and video games
What Did Aqa Say Were The Weak Spots In 2019?Well the key point regarding this is that the unseen task is HERE TO STAY and AQA are entirely transparent in recommending that centres spend a bit more time in practising the dark art of connotation.This is the crucial area you will need to focus on with those pupils who are less confident in trying to extrapolate meaning from new material.AQA said that, at the bottom end of the mark range, responses were basic and tended towards feature spotting or a generic overview of what was on the front cover or what they remembered of magazine features, focusing simply on the very obvious elements present.
NEA Let’s Get Down to The Briefs (Ah I Did Have One More)It’s more than reasonable to say, at this point, that individual teachers and centres have real responsibility when it comes to unpacking the core elements of the briefs the candidates can choose from.Warning Signs Part 1One Shot OnlyAs a prime marker this year, it was fairly obvious that a number of schools did not take enough time to systematically work through each of the opportunities on offer. At the most extreme end of this continuum were the centres who contrived to do completely the wrong brief.
Well hello, again pop pickers. I hope all is well and you’re all enjoying this delightful first half-term return to school, and are reading this, kicking back with a glass of Oranjeboom, some slices of Crackerbarrel and have just dropped a bit of Ted Sheeran on the radiogram.
It’s quite clear, looking at the new set of AQA briefs, that they are considerably more prescriptive and far less generic than the first tranche of five were.That is to be expected in Year 2. It’s essential therefore that teachers make sure they scrutinise BOTH the essential elements (left hand side) AND the equally crucial minimum requirements (right hand side).And not just scrutinise them but sit and THRASH OUT AND DECODE THE REQUIREMENTS with the pupils so they have a crystal clear vision of the focus for their upcoming months of work.
Clearly this topic springs straight from the pupils’ study of I Daniel Blake. If your pupils didn’t take the opportunity to watch IDB the first time round during the CSP prep, then now is definitely the time to do so for those considering this NEA.
This is a task that may seem reasonably straightforward at the beginning but is actually marbled with some quite challenging features...so pay attention!The Deetsone webpage/homepage must be new band/solo artist one linked page 30-second video teaser for upcoming single original logo one original image on each page
What Would Be UsefulDon’t make it abrasively weird. For odd perfume, adverts check out Natasha Lyonne’s Kenzo Winter-Fall 2017 brilliant but madcap offering. The ad, to successfully engage with the target audience, must speak to that 14-18 demographic (Tough ask that by the way). Break that down. What is going to appeal? Mise-en-Scene and detail will be key. It won’t be in the grand gestures because that would be unrealistic. What can students do to create an aspirational characterisation? What would suggest that about somebody? Don’t forget dialogue! A great way to try and present a sense of atmosphere and flesh out a characterisation. Get the mood right. Always have the key ideas of aspiration and successful lifestyle in their minds each time a shot is created.I’m off to meet Jesse Birdsall for a pint. Adios EduSprayers.
