The Avengers: Must See TV

Use the questions below to help structure your notes.

1. Which company broadcast the show?
2. What impact did the female character have on gender equality?
3. Why was the programme so popular according to this documentary?
4. What kind of plots were used?
5. What do you think it shows about the 1960s?

Avengers social contexts from Mrs Downie

The Avengers Revision

The Avengers Revise by Mrs Downie on Scribd

Analyse how far the extract depicts the police's point of view rather than the criminals' point of view.

To gain a good mark you must make judgements and reach conclusions about how far the extract constructs the police’s point of view. It is not enough to simply label the techniques being used in the clip.

Responses may analyse the extract in terms of media language:

• how choice of elements of media language influences meaning, including to create narratives, to portray aspects of reality, to construct points of view, and to represent the world in ways that convey messages and values.

And/or

Responses may analyse the extract in terms of representation:

• the choices media producers make about how to represent particular events, social groups and ideas
• the different functions and uses of stereotypes
• the ways aspects of reality may be represented differently depending on the purposes of the producers.

Task: Read the student's full-mark answer and consider why it is so successful. Once you have done this, re-write your own answer as a DIRT activity in your books.

In the opening sequence, the audience is immediately positioned alongside the police in the clip. As the ariel shot of Brighton tracks across the pier and beach, setting the location, the sound bridge is of the police radio linking the audience directly to the experience of the officers working in the city. 
It is important that the producers establish a link between the police characters and the audience to make the programme successful. The audience need to invest in the characters success to want to watch the television crime drama series. The police are shown in close up more than the stereotypical drunken stag party characters and the director uses over the shoulder shots to show the officer responding to the disturbances on the nudist beach. The audience know they are walking behind the police officer as if they are part of the force or experiencing things from his point of view. 
The narrative mostly follows the world of the police throughout the initial opening sequence clearly positioning the audience with the police's point of view. The director uses cross-cutting editing to link the police officers on the beat with what is happening back at the station. It is ironic that the sound of the chief constable's speech using dialogue about the valued position of the police in the local community. The nudist man who called the police for help responds to the officer in a critical way showing this lack of respect for what he tried to do. We do not however sympathise with the nudist man as he appears ridiculous speaking in an aggressive style to the officer when he is naked and lacking in basic kindness by not checking he is unhurt. He is portrayed as a stereotypical middle-aged man who is complaining but not willing to support the police himself.
When the officer is punched by the stag party leader, the sound of the contact is emphasised using special effects in post editing. this focuses us on the challenges he faces. Editing is also used adding slow motion footage to emphasise the danger of potential violence in challenging a large group of men on his own. There is also a close up insert shot of the policeman's hat on the sand. These shots help use to sympathise with the officer and question the public's opinion of the role of law enforcement in the UK in contrast with the representation of the reality of such a challenging occupation. 


To gain full marks you need to meet this criteria:

Level 3 (7–10 marks)
An excellent analysis of media language and/or representation.

AO2(1a) A sophisticated, perceptive and accurate analysis of relevant aspects of the extract supported by two or more examples

AO2(1b) Clear judgements and conclusions are reached and are fully supported by the analysis.

Excellent responses in the top mark band will typically explore how point of view is created using two or more well-chosen examples described accurately using Media Studies terminology.
Clear judgements may be evident throughout the analysis or in a conclusion.

TV Drama: Textual Analysis clip

Watch the opening sequence of the TV crime drama Cuffs. The extract lasts until 3.29 mins and you should make notes on a textual analysis grid looking at:

• Camera
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene

Task: Answer this exam-style question in your book. 

The question is worth 10 marks and so you will need to write just over a side in your book. Deal with each bullet point in turn and remember to use media terminology to describe the examples from the extract in your answer.

Analyse how far the extract depicts the police's point of view rather than the criminal point of view. In your answer you must:

• analyse aspects of the extract using examples to support your analysis
• judge how far these aspects depict the police's point of view.

Section B Promoting Media: The Lego Movie Video Game

Task: In today's lesson, read through the exam advice below. Look at how to gain the marks and read the exemplar student answers.

Self assess your Q2 and Q3, answers making sure you add www and EBI target. In green pen, make changes to these two answers or re-draft your answers before handing in your books. 

1. Identify the organisation that 'age rates' video games in the UK. (1 mark)

Games Rating Authority or The Video Standards Council

2. Explain two reasons why a film company would release a video game linked to a film. (4 marks)

Two marks for each explanation of why a film company would release a video game linked to a film. You should have focused on three main reasons:

• marketing
• profit
• diversification

Mark scheme:

4 marks  Two clearly explained reasons why a film company would release a video game linked to a film.  3 marks  One clearly explained and one stated reason why a film company would release a video game linked to a film.  2 marks  One clearly explained reason or two stated reasons why a film company would release a video game linked to a film.  1 mark  One stated reason why a film company would release a video game linked to a film.

Q2 Student exemplar:

A conglomerate film company will focus on profits and could use the cross-media platform of gaming and film to strengthen the brand image of the film and its franchise. If audiences develop greater brand awareness of the film and any sequences it follows that box office profits will be larger. Also, this kind of diversification means a media conglomerate is less dependent on one media form for its revenue and therefore more protected from fluctuations in one part of the media market.

This is a good answer because the student has clearly explained two reasons why a film company would release a video game linked to a film. It would gain 4 marks.

3. Explain at least two uses and gratifications of video games using Blumler and Katz's theory. Refer to the Lego Movie Video Game to support your answer. (10 marks)

You need to show an understanding of media audiences in this answer. You should comment on:

• the social, cultural and political significance of media products, including the themes or issues they address, the fulfilment of needs and desires, and the functions they serve in everyday life and society
• the ways in which people's media practices are connected to their identity, including the sense of actual and desired self
• Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications

Mark Scheme Level 3 (7–10 marks)  Excellent knowledge and understanding of the uses and gratifications offered by video games with reference to The Lego Movie Game.  A clear demonstration of knowledge of uses and gratifications theory  A clear demonstration of understanding of the uses and gratifications offered by video games  Excellent use of the set product to support the answer.  Excellent responses in the top mark band will typically explain two or more uses and gratifications of video games, showing clear, detailed understanding of the theory in its relevant application, and choosing relevant examples of how The Lego Movie Game offers these uses and gratifications.

Q3 Student exemplar:

Audiences who have seen the Lego Movie would enjoy identifying with the well-known established characters in a first-person video game. This identification is a key gratification, as outlined by Blumler and Katz's theory, for audiences who may identify with values, such as the comedic tone from the film, the excitement in games that take the audience into forbidden worlds, or the simple value of good defeating evil in The Lego Movie Game.

Gamers may enjoy games which offer suspense, mystery or problem-solving, action or spectacle that the game provides. They may also enjoy the self-enclosed fictional world offering escape from everyday life in which they develop a sense of expertise positioning them as powerful and successful, with rewards as they rise through the levels in the game.

Finally, players may play with a world-wide player community and an immersive and difficult game offers social interaction or the exact opposite where games isolate themselves in a self-enclosed world of established characters as in the Lego Movie Game.

This is a good answer because the student has explained two or more uses and gratifications showing detailed understanding of the theory.

Task 2: Next, copy this image of the Lego Movie film poster onto a Word document. Label it with all of the genre conventions of Action Adventure film and explain their appeal to the film's target audience.

EXT Task: Do the same for the Lego Movie Video Game cover. Label it with all the genre conventions of a video game and explain its appeal to the target audience. 

The Lego Movie Game

 

 

Task 2: Look at the WB Games website above and watch the trailer for the Video Game. Consider the audience appeal of the Lego Movie game by answering the questions below:

1. How is this an example of a cross-media product?

2. Who is the target audience for this game?

3. Can you select some of the persuasive language and techniques in the website text?

4. Can you select some of the persuasive language and techniques in the trailer text?

Task:

1. Identify the organisation that 'age rates' video games in the UK. (1mark)
2. Why would a film company release a video game linked to a film? (4marks)
3. Explain at least two uses and gratifications of video games using Blumler and Katz's theory. Refer to the Lego Movie Video Game to support your answer. (10marks)