This document provides instructions and guidance for a personal study project on creative media production. It outlines the requirements, which include producing a research document with 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 topic, researching theories and products/people/studios related to the topic. Guidelines are given for micro and macro analysis of researched topics. Theories that could be applied include the Auteur Theory, Reception Theory, Hypodermic Needle Model, and Male Gaze. An essay exploring how one of these theories is relevant to the chosen topic is required, with a structure outlined including introduction, analysis sections, application of theory

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 Masterclass
Book Title Film 101: What Is an Auteur?
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• The French word auteur translates to
the English word author. This word
within the film industry is used to
describe directors who have a high
level of control throughout all aspects
of a film. Francois Truffaut developed
the concept of the auteur in his 1954
essay “Une certaine tendance du
cinéma français”. Truffaut argued that
the filmmakers who made the best
films were those who wrote and
directed their own films and who had
a unique, personal vision.
Quotes
• “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
• “As a loyal believer in the Auteur Theory I
first felt editing was but the logical
consequence of the way in which one
shoots. But, what I learned is that it is
actually another writing.” – Bernardo
Bertolucci

7. Reception Theory
Author ANON
Book Title Communication theory
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• Stuart hall developed the reception
theory in 1973. The reception theory
concept points out that a film, book
or game has some kind of inherent
meaning. The audience experiences
this creative work and perceives it in a
similar or different meaning. The
meaning of the message can change
in the way they see fit depending on
the social context.
Quotes
• “He sometimes believed that the compulsion to
make fiction was no more than a bulwark against
confusion, maybe even insanity. It was a
desperate imposition of order by people able to
find that precious stuff only in their minds ...
never in their hearts.” - Stephen King
• “We protect the past. And the way I see it, that
means we need to understand it.” - Victoria
Schwab
• “France has usually been governed by
prostitutes.” - Mark Twain

8. Hypodermic Needle Model
Author Jason Gordon
Book Title Hypodermic Needle Theory - Explained
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• The hypodermic needle model is a
model of communication suggesting
that an intended message is directly
received and fully accepted by the
receiver. More specifically the theory
posits that the messages are able to
hit the individuals directly and
personally.
Quotes
• “Whenever a theory appears to you as the only
possible one, take this as a sign that you have
neither understood the theory nor the problem
which it was intended to solve.” - Karl popper
• “A man who cannot work without his hypodermic
needle is a poor doctor. The amount of narcotic
you use is inversely proportional to your skill.” –
Martin H Fischer
• “People shouldn't expect the mass media to do
investigative stories. That job belongs to the
'fringe' media.” – Ted Koppel.

9. The Male Gaze
Author ANON
Book Title Explainer: what does the ‘male gaze’
mean, and what about a female gaze?
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• The ‘gaze’ is a term that describes
how viewers engage with visual
media. The ‘male gaze’ invokes the
sexual politics of the gaze and
suggests a sexualised way of looking
that empowers men and objectifies
women. In the male gaze, a woman is
visually positioned as an ‘object’ of
male desire.
Quotes
• “There are plenty of images of women in
science fiction. There are hardly any
women.” – Joanna Russ
• “I wish men would decide if women are
heavenly angels on high, or earthbound
sculptures for their gardens. But either
way, we're beauty for consumption.” – Joy
Mccullough
• “There is no need for arms, physical violence, material
constraints. Just a gaze. An inspecting gaze, a gaze that
each individual under its weight will end by [internalising]
to the point that they are their own overseer, each
individual thus exercising surveillance over, and against
themself.” – Michel Foucault

10. CHOSEN THEORY
Auteur Theory

11. Auteur Theory
Auteur theory is a way of looking at films that state that the director is the
author of a film. The auteur theory argues that a film is a reflection of the
directors artistic vision; so a move directed by a given filmmaker will have
recognizable and recurring themes that inform the audience who the director
is and shows a consistent artistic identity throughout the directors
filmography. For example director Alfred Hitchcock had certain ideas and
images that pop up again and again these things led to the term ‘Hitchcock
blonde’. The creator of this theory Francois Truffaut wrote about the films of
several new French filmmakers who he termed auteurs. He drew contrasts
between auteurs and directors of mainstream studio movies. When Truffaut
argued that the filmmakers who made the best films were the ones that wrote
and directed them themselves, Truffaut called that approach la politique des
auteurs which translates to ‘the policy of the authors’.

12. Auteur Theory
The influence of the Auteur Theory on world cinema
In France Truffaut's ideas gave rise to the French new wave cinema.
• Jean-luc Godard (Breathless, 1980)
• Agnes Varda (Cleo de 5 a 7, 1962)
In the US, the theory spawned a new generation of filmmakers to explore
stories and direct films in the mold of the French cinema.
• Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde, 1967)
• Mike Nichols (The Graduate, 1968)
• Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke, 1967)
These young American directors were part of what would come to be known as
the New Hollywood.

13. TOPIC

14. Topic Research 1
Details about topic/Quotes
Wes Anderson
Born: 1st May 1969, Houston, Texas
• Known for distinctive visual
aesthetic of his quirky
comedies.
• Very known for his
collaboration with
screenwriter and actor Owen
Wilson.

15. Topic Research 2
Details about topic/Quotes
Highest Grossing Films
The Grand
Budapest
Hotel -
$172,940,180
The Royal
Tenenbaums
- $71,441,250
Isle of Dogs -
$64,241,499
Moonrise Kingdom -
$68,263,166
Fantastic Mr. Fox - $46,472,606

16. Topic research
Wes Anderson uses colour to influence the
mood and create an atmosphere within films.
Red is seen as an emotionally intense colour
and Anderson frequently employs it to
represent grief. Some of these scenes I have
chosen represent the idea of grief through
the colour of red. In the first picture Steve
Zissou and his crew are seen wearing red
knitted beanie hats as Zissou lost his best
friend Esteban to a shark attack. The second
picture represents grief through the red taxi
as the three brothers just lost their father.
The third picture we can see the film the royal
Tenenbaums where Chas is seen wearing a
red tracksuits which conveys the pain he
carries over the lack of relationship he has
with his father and the loss of his wife.

17. 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

18. 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

19. Bibliography
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. (2005). [Film]. Burbank, California: Touchstone Pictures.
• Patrick Hayes. (2022). Wes Anderson Movies Ranked From Flop to Highest Grossing. [Online]. MovieWeb. Available
at: https://movieweb.com/highest-grossing-wes-anderson-films/ [Accessed 2 November 2022]

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

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

24. SUPPORT & GUIDANCE SLIDES

25. 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

26. 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).

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

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

31. 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

32. 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

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

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

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

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. 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.

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

41. 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).

42. 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)

43. Examples for including sources