REVISION SESSIONS

WE meet on Thursdays period 5 for dedicated revision sessions.

Thursday 29 September
  1. Looking at the Chief Examiner's report; where to find it on our blog
  2. Looking at previous students' scripts

Thursday 6 October
  1. A good extract to discuss representation of social class in TV drama:tensions between social groups via
  2. Torchwood offers representations of ethnicity and gender for OCR TV drama analysis:  via 
Thursday 13 October
Handout: Electronic copy of all presentations at the Film Education Conference 2011
Lesson: 
  1. A general introduction to film distribution by Mark Batey, Chief Executive, Film Distributors’ Association Ltd.
Thursday 20 October
Handout: Representations in TV drama
  1. The historical complexity of TV representations: social class, regional identity, race and ethnicity, disability / ability, gender and sex by Stephen Hill
  2. Bringing Sherlock Holmes to a new generation a presentation on distribution by Josh Berger
Thursday 11 October
  1. Discussion: O2 video directors masterclasses with Adam Nelson
  2. Analysis of representations of gender. Extract: Extras Rick Gervais and Orlando Bloom 
  3. Prep: do written analysis of this extract.
 Thursday 10 November
  1. Discussion about the video director masterclass at the British Music Experience at the O2. Suggestion to attend the next and final class on Thursday 17 November at 7.30 pm given by Trudy Bellinger "Pop Palette"
  2. Textual analysis of representation of gender in TV drama: extract from Rick Gervais's TV drama Extras in which Orlando Bloom features as lawyer, screen idol and pompous celebrity, Karen as unimpressed extra immune to Bloom's inflated egotistical charms and Gervais is represented as frustrated and disillusioned would-be sitcom writer.
  3. PREP: you write up the analysis that we did in class.
 Thursday 17 November
  1. Discus the way in which the representation of class and status are constructed in the clip from Waterloo Road.  
  • We practise picking the key moments: the couple quarrel, the boy shoots dead his girlfriend, the bereft mother challenges the headteacher who is also her boss.
  • We practise formulating the topic sentence that identifies the main issue and that introduces that paragraph
  • We offer the evidence
  • We explore how cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and sound construct the representation
  1. Textual analysis of representation of ethnicity, social class and gender in TV drama: extract from Death In Paradise BBC1 Episode 4
TUESDAY 9 JANUARY

RECEPTION THEORY

Today we discussed how audiences receive texts: preferred reading, negociated reading and oppositional reading. We related this framework to two areas of representation: sexuality and race.

We used several case studies:
  • My Beautiful Laundrette (dir. Stephen Frears 1985): an ambitious Asian Briton and his white lover strive for success and hope, when they open up a glamorous laundromat.
  • Little Britain (BBC with David Walliams and Mat Lucas): exaggerated and stereotypical representations for comic effect. Audiences are expected to share the comic values.
  • Billy Elliot (dir.Stephen Daldry 2002): representations of unconventional hetereosexuality with Billy choosing ballet not boxing as his aggressively masculine father and brother prefer; representation of cross-dressing young male who is treated sympathetically but keeps his desires secret
  • Bend It Like Beckham (dir,Gurinder Chadha 2002): representations of conventional feminity in the character of Jess within the traditionally masculine sphere of football; the comic treatment of lesbian issues within the relationship between Jess and , which evades discussion of serious isues such as gay relationships; and the homosexuality of Jess's friend, which is side-stepped altogether.
  • Four Weddings and a Funeral (dir.Newell 1994): Exaggerated if sympathetic representation of gay male ending in death; low profile gay, even rather secret.
  • We discussed historical attitudes to gender roles, starting with what you knew about female authors :Jane Austen and female social expectations ('It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife'; George Elliot, the Bronte sisters, who had to adopt masculine pseudonyms); 'the love that dare not speak its name' and the trial of Oscar Wilde.
We talked about Roland Barthes The Death Of The Author.
 
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