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Sunday, 19 April 2009

YEAR 10 MEDIA STUDIES: THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

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Following on from our last lesson on what makes a great album/single/MP3  cover; the examples of both good and terribly bad covers are now in the student shared area in the Media folder titled Year 10 Music Industry.  I know how much you enjoyed the bad covers so I thought I'd whet your appetite with samples of some of the ones we looked at.  Enjoy!





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FILM STUDIES TEST: PERIOD 5 THURSDAY

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There's really no need to scream but remember you have a test on Thursday.  You have been revising over the holidays and should feel very confident especially as I outlined what you will be examined on before we finished for Easter.

If you missed the lesson or unsure about the test please see me before Tuesday.

 This is a very important test because:

1.  It will help me know that you understand all the main ideas about films that we have been studying last term.

2.  You will know what your strengths and areas for improvement are, especially when analysing the micro features of a film sequence.  This will help you immensely as you complete your second and longest piece of coursework so far.

In brief the test will contain:

1.  A four minute film sequence (shown twice) that you will analyse and answer the questions set.  You will see the questions before you read the film sequence.

2.  A section on film genre including theory.

3.  A section on the history of film.

4.  A section on film terminology: you will need to identify the meanings of the words listed on the test paper.  You will need to place each word in a sentence of your own to show that you know how to use the word correctly.

Prizes for the best responses and also for people who show outstanding commitment to study include:

1.  DVD of Mama Mia
2.  DVD of Big Fish
3.  Alien Key Ring
4.  Planet of the Apes cut out
5.  Quantum of Solace Mouse mat
6.  Reservoir Dogs mouse mat
7.  Scarface mouse mat 
8.  Terminator poster
9.  Wolverine poster

Welcome the opportunity the test affords (offers) you to show how brilliant you are in this subject.  You don't have to convince me as I know how fantastic you are from all the contributions you give in lessons.  However, the examiner will not know this until you impress he or she with work of an extremely high standard.  Remember - it's time to transfer all your brilliant spoken suggestions onto paper.  Time to think in ink. 


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YEAR 10 MEDIA STUDIES: MUSIC QUIZ

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Following the interest shown by the track by the Reverend Horton Heat here's a couple more videos of the good o'l Rev in concert.  Although it is sometimes difficult and a little unwise to place music into neat compartments, what genre (loosely) is this?









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LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Låt den rätte komma in)

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Make sure you don't miss this film.  It's absolutely spell-binding and riviting throughout and a welcome antedote to the lightweight, if admittedly entertaining Twilight.  I've already ordered the Blu-ray version from America on the strength of it - remember this film was released in early 2008 but has only received a cinema release in the UK this year.  The fact that it is subtitled probably played a part in the late release as it is consigned to a "foreign" film  - of course films from the USA are never foreign!  What is great about the film is that it has been released in the multiplex mainstream  and not confined to the art-house circuit of cinemas.

For a full synopsis visit the imperious IMDB; all I would like to add is that the film works on so many levels: a fantastic mixture of social realism - set on a sink housing estate in Stockholm in the early 1980s and fantasy/horror. At its  heart it's a love story and an unconventional one at that.  Yet it isn't  your typical boy/girl falls for Vampire story. I've read the book the film is based on and I won't spoil it for you but there is a further dimension to Oskar and Eli's relationship.  This is subtly alluded to in the film but is explicit in the novel.

The relationship between Eli and Hakan is also fleshed out (pardon the pun!) in the book with the idea of the child grooming the adult extremely subversive.  There is enough subtlety and scope in both the book and the film to leave the reader/viewer wondering whether Eli's love for Oskar is as unconditional Oskar's is for her or does she merely need a replacement for Hakan to serve her until he too growns old and incompetent?  Even Hakan was young once...

Another side-product to reading the book was that it reminded me of the halcyonic days when Stephen King wrote great books.  Reading John Ajvide Lindqvist's  book took me back to those times. I've just bought his latest novel "Handling the Undead" and will just have to try and find sometime to read it!

Lindqvist also wrote the screenplay which also shows he has another string to his bow and succeeds where many film adaptations of Stephen King novels fail.  Special mention to Tomas Alfredson's excellent direction with his superb use of sound to create a tonal edginess throughout the film.  I particulalry like the subtedly of the scene where Eli and Oskar meet for the first time and she jumps from the top of a climbing frame at least two metres and lands with grace and agility.  It is all so understated and underplayed that you wonder whether you actually witnessed her doing it.

You'll probably already know that the title for the book and film comes from a Morrissy song.







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AQA ENGLISH GCSE AND ENGLISH LITERATURE GCSE: REVISION

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A very useful site to help you with your revision is Mr Luhr's English Online.  Click on the link below to take you there:

http://www.mrluhrs.co.uk/revision.html

There you will find an excellent explanation of the course details and information on what each Paper contains. There are also useful revision notes on how to approach each paper. I want you to visit this site by Wednesday and report back to me. I will be asking...




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