A level Media Coursework Blog

Background and cultural contexts Read this Vox feature and podcast transcript on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road . Make sure you read the whole thing - including the podcast transcript - then answer the following questions: 1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre? The debate over whether “Old Town Road” should be classified as country music. Earlier this year, Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from its country chart, which boosted the rapper’s profile to a wider audience while fueling a debate about what defines country music and who gets to decide. But even before Billboard stepped in, Lil Nas X had found fans through his popular meme-filled Twitter presence and a fast-growing TikTok meme dubbed the “Yee Haw Challenge” that centered on the song. 2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript? Lil Nas X is a 20-year-old rapper from Atlanta, his birth name is Montero Hill, but he has been calling himself “Lil Nas X” f...

 This week's work requires Media Factsheet #69: Music Video . You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following 10 questions: 1) What is the purpose of a music video? The purpose of a music video is to sell products, the most obvious of which is the song featured in the video. However, other connected products are also marketed by a music video. However, music videos are an unusual form of marketing as they allow the audience full access to the product they are selling. When a music video is shown, the audience is able to hear the song the video is for so they are ‘getting’ the product that is being promoted. 2) How has the digital age changed the production and distribution of music videos? The development of new media technologies meant that music videos, and the songs along with them, were more widely available at any time. Videos could be uploaded to video hosting sites like YouTube and viewed usi...

  1) Introduction to TV Drama 2) Capital: CSP case study and analysis 3) Capital: Marxism and Hegemony 4) Deutschland 83: CSP case study and analysis 5) Postmodernism and Deutschland 83 6) TV: Industry contexts

 Independent: British viewers can't get enough of foreign-language dramas Read this Independent feature on foreign-language dramas. If the website is blocked or forcing you to register you can access the text of the article here. It features an in-depth interview with Walter Iuzzolino who curates Channel 4's Walter Presents programming. Answer the questions below: 1) What does the article suggest regarding the traditional audience for foreign-language subtitled media? Fifteen years ago, if you'd mentioned to a colleague that you'd spent Saturday night glued to a subtitled European drama, you'd have been quietly declared pretentious, dull and, possibly, a little odd. 2) What does Walter Iuzzolino suggest is the key appeal of his 'Walter Presents' shows? Walter Iuzzolino, Chief Creative Officer at Global Sales Network and the curator of Walter Presents, the new streaming service dedicated to foreign language TV, a partnership between Channel 4 and Global Sal...

Media Magazine - A Postmodern Reimagining of the Past Postmodernism: a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.  Postmodernism is characterised by the self-conscious use of historical styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, including the playful use of intertextuality, blending of fact, fiction and genre hybridisation, pastiche, parody and irony. So, for Media Studies students Deutschland 83 is a particularly good starting point for an analysis of postmodern treatments. Media Magazine 73 has a feature exploring Deutschland 83 as a postmodern media product. Read ‘Deutschland 83 - A Postmodern Reimagining of the Past’ in MM73  (p18) . You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need y...