The document provides instructions for a personal study project on creative media production. It outlines requirements to produce a research document with collected quotes and summarized information from various sources on the chosen topic. The research document must include an alphabetized bibliography. Deadlines are provided for choosing a focus topic, researching theories and examples, analyzing specific works, and uploading the final project. The chosen topic section discusses researching the treatment of visual effects artists in the film industry, with details and quotes provided from several sources on working conditions at Marvel Studios. Micro analyses of specific Marvel films are also included to highlight issues seen in the visual effects work.

1. Personal Study
Project
Unit 12 Specialist study in creative media production

2. Personal Study Project
• You will need to produce
1. A research document
• Collection of quotes and summarised information
based around your topic
• This should include research from a wide variety of
sources (not just websites- this is critical to achieving
beyond a Pass)
• An alphabetised bibliography on the final slide
DEADLINE 03/11/22 in Personal Study Section of website

3. Deadlines
Date w/c Task[s]
Summer Choose your focus topic and basic research of theories
12/09 Research all 4 theories (4 sources minimum)
19/09 Research theory (2 sources minimum)
26/09 Research product/person/studio (secondary research) (3 sources minimum)
03/10 Research product/person/studio (secondary research) (3 sources minimum)
10/10 Analyse a product/scene/specific pages/photographs/levels etc.
17/10 Final additions and upload to PERSONAL STUDY area of website. Start essay.
Half term

4. CHOSEN TOPIC

5. Theories

6. Auteur Theory
Author Robert Conley
Book Title The Auteur Theory: Tarantino’s Blood
Page Reference(s) 77
Summary of Theory
• This theory is about how specific
people within the creation of a
project have a noticeable impact on
the outcome/style of the project, such
as a director, having a specific
style/trademark that can be seen
throughout the majority of their work.
Quotes
• “Basically it’s the highest praise any
filmmaker could receive, saying that
the director is the “author” of their
films, more or less that the director is
the only real factor behind their films’
success.”

7. Reception Theory
Author Start Hall
Book Title Reception Theory
Page Reference(s) 1
Summary of Theory
• How a specific person responds and
interprets what they're
reading/watching/part of an audience
for.
• The producer encodes messages and
values into their media which are
then decoded by the audience.
However, different audience members
will decode the media in different
ways and possibly not in the way the
producer originally intended.
Quotes
• “It is unnecessary that the audience
will decode the message encoded by
the author just the same”. – Stuart
Hall

8. Hypodermic Needle Model
Author Brett Lamb
Book Title The Hypodermic Needle Theory
Page Reference(s) 1
Summary of Theory
• This theory is the idea that a passive
audience will take on the film's ideas
and ideologies without even realising,
resulting in a vast audience/group
residing with the same opinion/point
of view on a specific topic/idea.
Quotes
• “From a propaganda point of view it
was a matchless performance, for
Wilson brewed the subtle poison,
which industrious men injected into
the veins of a staggering people, until
the smashing powers of the Allied
armies knocked them into
submission.”

9. The Male Gaze
Author Laura Mulvey
Book Title Visual and other pleasures
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• This theory refers to the idea that
some women in media are seen as
almost objects as they're over
sexualised by heterosexual men.
Quotes
• “In a world ordered by sexual
imbalance, pleasure in looking has been
split between active/male and
passive/female. The determining male
gaze projects its phantasy on to the
female form which is styled accordingly.
In their traditional exhibitionist role
women are simultaneously looked at
and displayed, with their appearance
coded for strong visual and erotic
impact so that they can be said to
connote to-be-looked-at-ness.”

10. CHOSEN THEORY
Auteur Theory

11. Auteur Theory
Author
Book Title
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• The Auteur theory is all about how specific
people within the creation of media have a
noticeable impact on the outcome/style of the
project. This could be people such as directors,
cinematographers for example, who could then
leave their mark on the film they're working on,
but this theory mainly relates to directors in film.
This could then be recognised throughout the
majority of their previous and current work. Of
course, there are people who disagree with this
theory and believe that the director has all the
influence on the outcome of the movie and can
add and cut parts from the film as and when they
see fit, causing people to believe that the
director is the only person who can have an
impact on the outcome of the film.
Quotes
• “Basically it’s the highest praise any filmmaker
could receive, saying that the director is the
“author” of their films, more or less that the
director is the only real factor behind their
films’ success.”
• "I always argued against the auteur theory; films
are a collaborative art form. I've had some
fantastically good people help me make the
movies." - Alan Parker
• "There are no good and bad movies, only good
and bad directors" - Francois Truffaut

12. Auteur Theory
Author
Book Title
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• Early filmmakers showed the world that a movie
director could be an artist. But not every movie
director. Because part of auteur theory is
knowing how to define auteur directors. Before
auteur theory, Directors were important, but the
other factors were still more significant. Stars.
Studios. Producers. For example, Quentin
Tarantino is extremely well known for his over
exaggerated use of blood in his films as well as
his iconic trunk shot. He is also extremely well
known for his unique dialogue used in his films
and books which is very naturalistic and
conversational, this type of dialogue is almost
named after him because of his persistent use of
it.
Quotes
• "A director is the captain of the ship; he gets the
vision of the film much before anyone else can."
• "A good director creates an environment, which
gives the actor the encouragement to fly."

13. TOPIC

14. Topic Research 1
Details about topic/Quotes
• I will be researching the treatment of visual effects artists within the film industry. I have decided to
research this topic as this is the career that I want to enter after finishing college and university so it's very
important to me and for me to understand. Recently, quite a lot of artists that have worked for Marvel in
the past or are currently working for/with Marvel, have come out to bring some light to the treatment of
themselves and their peers whilst working under this huge company. Marvel is a huge company that
started by creating comic books about characters and superheroes under the name of Marvel Comics
which was Marvel's first producing company created in 1939 by Martin Goodman. Marvel Comics was
home to one of the Marvel Fanbase's most beloved writers: Stan Lee. Stan Lee was an American comic
book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called
Timely Publications which would later become Marvel Comics. Over time, after creating hundreds of
different comic books and seeing a large amount of success and growth, the film industry started to form
causing Marvel to create Marvel Studio's in 1993 which was Marvel's television company. This company
oversaw producing films based on famous characters from Marvel's comic books that had seen great
success over the years. It wasn’t until 2008 when Marvel Studio's final released their first film "Iron Man"
which was an instant success and has kick started the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is now known
worldwide.

15. Topic Research 2
Author Chris Lee
Source A VFX Artist Explains What It’s Like
Working for Marvel (vulture.com)
Details about topic/Quotes
• Alongside the massive success of the Marvel films and its characters universe, the studio itself has gotten
much larger as budgets have expanded. Most recognisably in recent years, visual effects within the film
industry has had a much higher demand in big budget films as it helps blend fiction into reality helping
directors create the movie that they want to create within the fictional Marvel Cinematic Universe. As
Marvels visual effects team has grown and expanded over the last few years at an accelerating rate, films
have been able to be completed in a much shorter time frame, providing the audience and fans with more
frequent content and further boosting Marvel's success. However, this is partially the issue. Because of
this high demand of visual effects artists in recent years and the much smaller time frames for films to be
completed to such a high standard that Marvel possesses, many visual effects artists at Marvel have come
out over the last few years to shed light on the conditions at Marvel as a VFX artist. "Some of the
problems I mentioned are universal to every show and project. But not every client has the bullying
power of Marvel". This comes from a visual effects artist at Marvel and describes the micromanagement
issues that visual effects artists their often encounter as producers and supervisors at Marvel constantly
push artist to work in such a limited amount of time to produce something that feels almost impossible.

16. Topic Research 3
Author Chris Lee
Source A VFX Artist Explains What It’s Like
Working for Marvel (vulture.com)
Details about topic/Quotes
• “To get work, the houses bid on a project; they are all trying to come in right under one another’s bids.
With Marvel, the bids will typically come in quite a bit under, and Marvel is happy with that
relationship, because it saves it money. But what ends up happening is that all Marvel projects tend to
be understaffed. Where I would usually have a team of ten VFX artists on a non-Marvel movie, on one
Marvel movie, I got two including myself. So every person is doing more work than they need to.” This
in my eyes is one of the main causes of the issue at Marvel Studios regarding their relationship with VFX
houses. This relationship uses Marvel’s fame and success in order to exploit VFX artists and get the work
they need for a much lower cost. This has an extremely negative effect on individuals in the VFX
community working under Marvel as well as the VFX houses as a whole. Individuals are over worked and
under paid and the VFX houses are being paid less for a high quality project, as well as competing against
other VFX houses to get the work, creating a hostile relationship.

17. Topic Research 4
Author Jennifer Bisset
Source Marvel's VFX Artists Are Suffering -- and
Starting to Speak Out - CNET
Details about topic/Quotes
• "Working on Marvel projects ends up being incredibly stressful, and this is a widely known issue
throughout the VFX industry, it's not specific to any one VFX house,” This shows again that Marvel’s VFX
workforce is being overworked and that’s it’s a commonly well known issue within the VFX community.
This to me, makes me feel that Marvel is purely getting artists due to their desire to make it big within the
industry and Marvel’s fame and success seems like a pathway to that goal for many VFX artists. "I have
worked on several projects for Marvel and other tentpole films, for many years, I did work long hours,
mostly unpaid.” This further shows how poor Marvel’s Visual Effects artists are treated and paid. Artists
are coming forward and bringing light to how little they get paid for their work and as a matter of fact, a
lot of the time, they're not even being paid at all. Marvel are also treating their long time staff within the
VFX department the same way, the artist that came forward, providing this quote stated that they have
worked at Marvel “for many years” and were still being underpaid.

18. Topic Research 5
Author Matt Roembke
Source Marvel Studios Takes Action Following VFX
Work Controversy (thedirect.com)
Details about topic/Quotes
• “It’s famously the third act in most Marvel movies. If you have the third act, you are in for the most
pain. Everything will change in a very drastic way, which means the most amount of work. And if one
studio had more than just the third act, you’re in for it.“ This highlights one of the main issues at Marvel
for the Visual Effects artists. It is stated that the 3rd act is something the producers and directors at Marvel
want to have perfect, this causes a lot of revisions and starting from scratch for a lot of artists to produce
the exact vision that management has for the shot. In addition to this, houses bid on these shots and
those within the 3rd act are often the highest bid meaning that more work is needed as Marvel provides
more shots to these VFX houses. “Now, it seems like they’ve kind of split things up in a more logical
way… Divvying up the work that way gives people a better chance to succeed. That’s one thing that’s
been positive.“ Marvel has finally taken action regarding the statements coming out from their artists, it
seems that they have tried to split up the third act much more, having more artists working on this part of
a project, meaning less work is needed by each individual artist, splitting up the work.

19. Topic Research 6
Author Logan Plant
Source Pressure, Crunch, Blacklist Fears: The
MCU's Visual Effects Artists Speak Out -
IGN
Details about topic/Quotes
• "I am quite frankly sick and tired of working on Marvel shows. Marvel has probably the worst
methodology of production and VFX management out there.” This shows where the issues lie within
Marvel regarding their Visual Effects pipeline. The management’s way of thinking. Marvel’s management
seems to show no regard for the well-being of the visual effects staff at Marvel and don’t care about
overworking them. "It's pretty common to have people break down from the pressure of these shows.
Even like the calmest people, I've had them call me on the phone just having full-on anxiety attacks
because it's not work they can finish, and they don't know how to get over that hump… It's not a fun
thing to be at work at night and having to console people.“ Completely disregarding all the lack of
physical rewards for their hard work on Marvel projects, the visual effects artists also take a massive tole
on their mental health whilst working on these projects as many artists state it feels almost impossible to
finish requests from the client on time.

20. Micro Analysis
Source Marvel’s ‘She Hulk: Attorney at Law’
Analysis
• Recently there was a pretty big controversy
regarding Marvel’s VFX which highlights the
issues there that have previously been brought
to the spotlight by anonymous artists. The first
image on the left shows Marvels first trailer for
their new TV show project, titled ‘She Hulk:
Attorney at Law’. Upon release, there was huge
disappointment from the Marvel fanbase
regarding the CGI of the main character from this
new show. Complaints claimed that the
character doesn’t look real and that the skin
looks too smooth. The second image shows the
same frame from a later trailer. This just goes to
show how little time Marvel’s management is
providing the VFX team as all complaints from
the first trailer were fixed by the VFX team
provided more time to work on the character.
Picture/Screenshots

21. Micro Analysis
Source Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’
Analysis
• Another well known issue within Marvel’s VFX
that can be seen within completed projects is the
final fight scene in Black Panther. This goes back
to the anonymous artist commenting that
management teams at Marvel put a lot pressure
on the final act and often request last minute
changes a long with unrealistic and unfair
expectations for the VFX teams. Complaints for
this scene were that the characters felt
completely animated without any actors
performance and therefor felt as if forces that
make things feel realistic just weren’t there as
the characters seemed to be flying through the
air. This is likely down to last minute changes
from Marvels Production management and the
VFX team having to make the best of the
situation.
Picture/Screenshots

22. Micro Analysis
Source Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’
Analysis
• I believe this is one of the most noticeable CGI
issue in any of the Marvel Projects. I believe this
issue comes from Marvel’s management team
changing plans towards the end of a project
meaning footage was adapted to a new purpose
than it was shot for. Because of this, the VFX
team had to use and alter the footage they had
already been given and use it for the new shot
that the management team wanted. Because of
this, things were rushed towards the end of the
production stage and caused a weirdly obvious
green screen effect that was picked up by many
unhappy fans.
Picture/Screenshots

23. Personal Research Project
• You need to produce an exploration of an element of media that you are
passionate about and is directly linked to the style of media you will make
in your FMP.
• This could be centred around a specific director, product, specific genre or
a social/historical/cultural context.
• You will need to write a minimum of a 1500 word essay exploring the
topic.
• You will also need to complete a bibliography of sources directly used in
your essay.
• The final section of your essay will focus on how your findings link to your
own work and your intended outcomes on your FMP this year

24. Essay Title
• Person or Studio Focus
How is [THEORY] relevant when analysing
the work of [PERSON/STUDIO]?
• Specific Product Focus
How is [THEORY] relevant when analysing
[PRODUCT]?
• Choose your person, studio or product that you will
focus on related to what you will make as your FMP
• Choose one of the theories from the

25. Essay Plan
• Your study should be structured using the following
– Select a director/designer/producer/studio/etc
[dependent on your area of interest] that you consider a
strong influence on your work and that you can do the
necessary analysis and investigations into, both from a
technical focus and academic focus
– Undertake macro analysis, this would be looking at the
wider context of their work [this could be historical
backgrounds, the world they operate in, influences, where
their work is seen, etc]
– Undertake micro analysis, this would focusing on specific
films/scene/levels of a game/photos/graphic designs etc
– Link this investigation to your own work and your intended
outcomes on your FMP

26. Essay Plan
1. Introduction to your topic (~100 words)
– Who/What did you research? What do you plan to discover through your discussion? How will you go about
doing this (macro, micro and application of theory)?
2. Introduction to your theory (~100 words)
– Explain what your theory is and its origins. What are the main beliefs of the theory? What are the criticisms of
the theory?
3. Macro analysis (400+ words)
– Context of a person: Reference their history with media. What products have they made in the past? What is
their production signature? How are they critically regarded? Any criticisms of their work?
– Context of a product: Reference the production process. Discuss the studio/company that made it and their
history. How is the work critically regarded? Any criticisms of the product?
4. Micro analysis (400+ words)
– Analyse the product/scene/specific pages/photographs/levels etc.
– Discuss the technical construction of what you are analysing (colour, composition, content etc etc) and reference
what impact each aspect discussed on the audience .
5. Application of Theory (400+ words)
– Apply your chosen theory to your chosen product/person/studio with frequent examples.
6. Your own work [~200 words]
– Talk about specific elements of the study that you will incorporate into your FMP this year;
– Link specific research outcomes to elements of your planned FMP, whether it be technical aspects, conceptual
elements or creative inspirations
– Be specific and aim to talk about 3-5 areas that you can link forward into the FMP
7. Conclusion (100 words)
– Reference general theory and your focus statement when making your concluding points
– What have you discovered from your study?
– Answer the question from your title

27. Academic Media Theories
• You should make specific reference to at least
one of the following media theories:
1. Auteur Theory
2. Reception Theory
3. The Hypodermic Needle Model
4. The Male Gaze
• You may find other relevant theories in your
investigations for your research document

28. Learning Criteria
Task 2
Essay
Task 1
Research
Document
Task 2
Essay

29. SUPPORT & GUIDANCE SLIDES

30. Micro Analysis Checklist
• Mise en scene
• Colour, costume and props discussing their subtext/connotations
• Binary opposition where appropriate
• Camera
• Shot type (Extreme long shot, long shot, medium long shot etc)
• Angle (High angle, low angle, eye level etc)
• Movement (or lack of movement with a locked off shot)
• Focus (shallow or deep focus)
• Composition (who is higher in the frame, closer to the camera).
• Editing
• Compare a minimum of two shots and discuss their relationship (are the shots the same or different? Why?
• Pace (fast or slow paced shots edited together)
• Any specific editing techniques (match on action, jump cut, montage etc.).
• Sound
• Diegesis (Diegetic, Non-Diegetic)
• Location of sound (internal, external, simple, displaced)
• Visibility of the sound (synchronous, asynchronous)
• Music suitability (parallel, contrapuntal).
• Lighting
• Key (high key, low key)
• Colour/temperature (warm, cold)
• Harshness (soft light, hard light).
• Text/Font
• Serif/San Serif
• Colour
• Font style
• Hierarchy
• Text/Dialogue
• What is being said/written

31. Quotes/Sources
• Reference and foreground your focus
statement regularly.
• Include your sources regularly and throughout
– Quotes, statistics, analysis, film dialogue etc
• Include a referenced source directly in your
discussion every 250 words (as a minimum).
• Update your research document as you
include additional sources (if necessary).

32. Types of sources
• Chosen products (films, art, magazines, TV shows, games etc)
• Books (written by or about your director/theme) [Google Books]
• Academic articles (Google scholar)
• Interviews
• Documentaries
• DVD extras
• DVD commentaries
• Reviews/Popular Articles
• Journals
• Questionnaires (survey monkey/MS Forms)
• Focus groups

33. Bibliography STYLES FOR DIFFERENT SOURCES
1. Film Title (YEAR) Directed by DIRECTOR [film] Location of Distributor:
Distributor.
2. “Episode Title” (YEAR) SHOW NAME. Series and Episode numbers.
Channel. Day or broadcast.
3. Game Title (YEAR) Console [game] Studio. Studio Location.
4. Artist surname, artist first initial. (YEAR) Title [details of its materials]
Location where it is. City where it is
5. Artist surname, artist first initial. (YEAR) Title
6. Author surname, author first initial. (YEAR). Title. Publisher Location:
Publisher.
7. Author surname, author first initial. (YEAR). Title. Available:
WEBLINK. Last accessed DATE YOU LAST VISITED SITE.
8. Author surname, author first initial.(YEAR) “Article title”, Magazine
(Issue Number), PAGE REFERENCE
9. In writing
“QUOTE” (INTERVIEWEE cited in AUTHOR, YEAR, PAGE REFERENCE)
In Bibliography
Author. (YEAR) “Article title”, Magazine (Issue Number), PAGE
REFERENCE
10. Anon (n.d.) Title Available: WEBLINK. Last accessed DATE YOU LAST
VISITED SITE.
1. Film
2. TV show
3. Game
4. Art
5. Photography
6. Book
7. Website
8. Magazine article
9. Citation
10.Unknown
author/date

34. Bibliography STYLE EXAMPLES
1. Jaws (1975) Directed by Francois Truffaut [film] Universal City,
California: Universal Pictures
2. “Gone” (2001) Spaced. Series 2 Episode 5. Channel 4. 30th March
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) Nintendo Switch
[game] Nintendo. Kyoto.
4. Goya, F. (1819) Saturn Devouring His Son [mixed media mural
transferred to canvas] Museo del Prado. Madrid
5. McCurry, S. (1984) Afghan Girl
6. Greene, N (2007). The French New Wave - A New Look . London:
Wallflower Press.
7. Hitchman, S. (2008). A History of French New Wave Cinema .
Available: http://www.newwavefilm.com/about/history-of-french-
new-wave.shtml. Last accessed 11th Mar 2022.
8. Smith, J. (2014) “French New Wave Cinema”, Total Film (Issue 332),
p34-35
9. In writing
“QUOTE” (Truffaut cited in Smith, 1994, p25)
In Bibliography
Smith, J (1994) “Interview with Truffaut”, Sight and Sound (issue 67),
p24-25
10. Anon (n.d.) The French New Wave Available: www.realwebsite.com
Last accessed 11th Mar 2022.
1. Film
2. TV show
3. Game
4. Art
5. Photography
6. Book
7. Website
8. Magazine article
9. Citation
10.Unknown
author/date

35. • When
writing your
bibliography
you need to
alphabetise
the sources
• Ensure you
prioritise
books and
articles over
websites.
Bibliography

36. Z Library
• https://z-lib.org/ is a really useful website to get
online PDFs of almost any book in existence.
• You can look up keywords and find quotes really
easily

37. York College Library
Access to
ebooks online
following links
on the Opac
Use the CLASS code to
find the physical book
in the library
https://elibrary.yorkcollege.
ac.uk/opac/opacreq.dll/ne
w

38. Google Books
https://books.google.co.uk
/
Look for ones that
have a preview

39. Amazon
Can’t find the publisher information? Use Amazon as they list
everything you need for a bibliography beneath the listing.

40. Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/
Similar to google
books but includes
journals, academic
papers and articles

41. Zlibrary
Some will let you
access online, some
you may need to
download as a PDF
(you can get zlibrary to
send a copy to your
Kindle or ebook
reader)
Some features only
unlock if you have an
account. But its free.
https://cc1lib.club/
You can access both
books and journals.

42. YouTube TRANSCRIPTS
Access
transcripts by
clicking here
You can copy and
paste the transcript
into a word doc for
ease.
This will need
proof reading as
occasionally it gets
things wrong.

43. MyBib
https://www.mybib.com
/
Stores your
bibliography online
for you to copy and
paste off when your
ready.
Generates a
bibliography from a
URL- no effort
required
You will probably
need to refine this a
bit as author names
don’t always seem to
come across.

44. Neil’s Toolbox
http://www.neilstoolbox.com/
bibliography-
creator/reference-book.htm
Fill in the required
boxes and it will
generate the source
for you.
Different tabs for
different types of
sources
If you don’t want to
include page
numbers- just put a .
and delete once
generated.

45. Cite them right
You can find additional support on referencing on
https://www.citethemrightonline.com/

46. In text references
• Comes in 3 Flavours;
1. Regular
• Include a quote and then out the author’s surname and year of release
– Films such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), which employs the post-modern narrative focus
of an oppressed minority and applies modernistic Silver Age comics visual style through “Ben-Day Dots,
hard facial lines, and misaligned color palettes” (Cardenas, 2021),
2. Front-load it
• Mention the author, title of the book/article and year of publication before jumping into the quote
– Luke Turner authored the Metamodernist Manifesto in 2011, formalising his beliefs of the core
principals of the movement. Turner states metamodernity is “an oscillation between positions, with
diametrically opposed ideas operating like the pulsating polarities of a colossal electric machine,
propelling the world into action”.
3. Citation
• If someone was quoted in something else (like someone being interviewed in an article) you “cite”
them
– For it to have been universal across all homo sapien societies (as it is suggested) then “it must have a
social purpose” (de Waal cited in Ambrosino, 2019).

47. Including sources
• When including a source in your script include brief information from your
bibliography with a page reference where relevant.
Example
Truffaut uses long shot durations throughout the 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959).
Truffaut references this stating “It was an accident” (Truffaut in Smith, 1994,
p34).
12. Truffaut, F (1959) The 400 Blows
13. Truffaut, F cited in Smith J (1994) Interview with Truffaut (Sight and
Sound, issue 67)

48. Examples for including sources