Lesson 1 - Introducing representations

1. BIG PICTURE
Overview of the unit – an
introduction to Representations
KEYWORDS
Representations – Analysis –
Messages and Values –
Semiotics – Denotation and
Connotation
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Develop a basic understanding of what we're
talking about when we talk about
Representations
SUCCESS CRITERIA
• Short answers to questions on
representation
• Work-through of exam paper
Take your seat. Bag under your desk.
Have your equipment and planner out.
Unit 1 - Representations
• What story does this
image tell?
• What does this image
mean?
• How has its meaning
changed since it was
first released?

2. TELL ME
STUFF!
TAKE ME
THROUGH
IT…
LET ME
HAVE A
GO…
DO I GET
IT?
1 2 3 4 5 6
SETTING THE
SCENE
JOINING UP
LEARNING
LINKS TO LAST
TIME
PASSING ON
KNOWLEDGE
GUIDED PRACTICE
& MODELLING
INDEPENDENT
PRACTICE –
APPLYING THE
SKILLS TO NEW
SITUATIONS
ASSESSMENT &
FEEDBACK
PULL IT TOGETHER
JOINING UP
LEARNING
LINKS TO NEXT
TIME

3. 1. This is an examination unit marked by the exam board
2. The exam is 2 hours long and you will sit it at the end of the year
3. We might decide it's worth sitting the paper in January 2020 as a first
attempt...
• AO1- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding
of media terminology, semiotics, theories,
concepts and messages
• AO2- Apply knowledge and understanding of
media concepts, semiotics, theories and formal
techniques to constructed representations
• AO3 - Analyse media texts to deconstruct
representations and decode messages and
evaluate their effectiveness and impact
• AO4 - Make connections between polysemic
messages underpinning media representations
and their related values and effects on wider
society
1. Semiotics – the study of signs and symbols and
of how things make meaning
2. Polysemic – poly = many and semic is from
semiotics = meaning – so Polysemic = many
meanings

4. Representations
Messages and Values
• A lot of the media work you do is about how a
text works – why that camera shot, why that
use of a song in the soundtrack, why those
colours...
• This is straightforward textual analysis, and
it's important and relevant and the first part
of this exam paper usually tests your ability to
do this
• But this unit goes beyond just 'textual
analysis' and provides a specific focus...
1. Representations, or Messages and Values
2. What does this media text have to say
about the world
3. What does this media text have to say
about
• Gender
• Race
• Disability
• Sexuality
• Age
• National Identity
• Places and Locations
• Social Groups

5. An Example – representations of gender in a film
extract – Desperately Seeking Susan (Seidelman,
USA, 1985)
1. Look at the first example on the blog
2. Two opening scenes from a film introducing the
two lead women characters in a film (which is
also directed and written by women)
3. I've worked through the way representations of
gender are created in the first scene, featuring
'Roberta' (played by Roseanna Arquette)
4. You need to work through the way
representations of gender are created in the
second scene, featuring 'Susan' (played by
Madonna).
• Don't just think about what happens – think
about how it's presented to you
• Focus always on gender
• Think about steroetypes - 'a widely held but
oversimplified image of a person, place or
thing'
• What sterotypes exist about women? About
femininity?
• How does the presentation of these characters,
and these scenes, meet or challenge those
stereotypes?

6. Now choose one of the other extracts to do this
on the page
1. Four Lions – a 2010 UK film
about people planning a terrorist
attack
2. Fargo – a 1996 US film about a
man who arranges for his wife to
be kidnapped so he can try to steal
the ransom money
Whatever extract you choose
• What are the significant issues of representation about in the extract? Race? Gender? Location?
Something else?
• What messages and values does the extract suggest to you?
• What cinematic techniques does it use to do this?

7. Look at the example exam paper – we'll read
through the paper and work on a few of the opening
questions
1. You will see the paper works through
short questions about the 'unseen'
media texts provided in the exam
before asking some longer questions
about bigger issues
You might be provided with, and asked
about...
• Film clips
• TV show extracts
• Video game clips
• Still images – posters or magazine
covers
• Photographs
• Images of web pages
• Audio extracts – from a radio show,
for example

8. BIG
PICTURE
MY
LEARNING
How did this
lesson fit into
your other
lessons?
What is my
top take- away
from the
lesson?
Have you contributed to the lesson? Will you be able to improve
next lesson? Do you know what you need to go away and do?
o Media Studies is very often
about analysing media texts
• That often means analysing
them with a particular focus...
• … Like representations of
gender, or race, or disability, or
sexuality...
• Your job as students is to focus
on what representations,
meanings, messages and
values are created by media
texts...
• And how they are created