3. 15Important Reasons to Study the Media? By Chris Worsnop Like history, because the media interpret the past to us show us what has gone into making us the way we are. Like geography, because the media define for us our own place in the world. Like civics, because the media help us to understand the workings of our immediate world, and our individual places in it. Like literature, because the media are major sources of modern culture and entertainment. Like literature, because the media require us to learn and use critical thinking skills.
4. Like philosophy, because the media interpret our world, its values and ideas to us. Like psychology, because the media helps us (mis)understand ourselves and others. Like science, because the media explain to us how things work. Like industrial arts, because the media are carefully planned, designed and constructed products. Like the arts, because through the media we experience all the arts as no other age has ever done.
5. Like politics, because the media bring us political and ideological messages all the time - yes - all the time. Like rhetoric, because the media use special codes and conventions of their own languages that we need to understand. Like drama, because the media help us understand life by presenting it as larger-than-life, and compel us to think in terms of the audience. Like Everest, because they are there. BECAUSE THE MEDIA GO TO GREAT LENGTHS TO STUDY YOU!
6. Course Description This programme is going to be demanding and hopefully challenging to many of you. There is a good balance of theory and practice and the year will have a 100% focus on film theory and film production. The course involves 5 internal Achievement Standards and 2 external Achievement Standards. Three of the five internal standards are purely practical and will take a significant amount of home and class time. This year's course is designed to allow you to extend your analytical knowledge of film as a cultural product, to improve your practical skills and ability in film making, and to understand how the media affect New Zealand society.
7. What this means … You are going to examine what media is and work through developing ideas as to how you can interpret media by using a variety of theories on reading texts. You are also going to create a product in the form of a film and work through the various issues and processes as to how this is going to be made. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, you will be looking at how all of this relates back to you and New Zealand society as a whole.
8. Authenticity of student work Authenticity will be based on professional vigilance and intuition as well as a sound knowledge of the student. This will be coupled with knowledge of popular printed and electronic resources, gallery catalogues, resource statements and the student’s language ability. Suspicion will result in an interview with guilt resulting in appropriate disciplinary actions. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to consult with your instructor as they will be able to point you in the right direction.
9. Topics to Study Analytical Approaches: psychoanalytic, formalist, political, literary/humanist, auteur, historical, semiotic, and post-modern Genre Study: There are too many genres to be studied in film and the entire course could be spent going over them all, instead we will briefly look at a few and focus on the genre of Gangster/Mobster films. The Media's effect upon New Zealand: We will looking at the variety of media that New Zealand society is exposed to and how it affects our way of thinking. Film Production: This is going to be a big task and will make up the bulk of the internal credits you will earn this year. You will learn the various processes involved with formulating your ideas, choosing a target audience, the technical aspects involved with script writing, and you will be introduced to post-production techniques and software.
