Year 12 Media

Year Level: 12

Duration: All Year

Periods: 5

Subject Type: VCE

Unit 3 - Course Description

In this unit, students explore stories that circulate in society through a close analysis of a media narrative.

Narratives are defined as the depiction of a chain of events in a cause-and-effect relationship occurring in physical and/or virtual space and time in fictional and non-fictional media products. Students consider the use of codes and narrative conventions to structure meaning and explore the role these play in media narratives. Through the close analysis of a media narrative, students develop media language and terminology and a deeper understanding of how codes and narrative conventions are combined in a narrative. They study how social, historical, institutional, culture, economic and political contexts may influence the construction of media narratives and audience readings.

Through the study of a media narrative, students explore specific codes and narrative conventions and begin the process of research to support their understanding of how they can adopt and employ these techniques in their own works. They investigate a media form that aligns with their interests and intent, developing an understanding of the codes and narrative conventions appropriate to audience engagement, consumption and reception within the selected media form. Students use the pre-production stage of the media production process to design the production of a media product for a specified audience. They explore and experiment with media technologies to develop skills in their selected media form, and reflect on and document their progress. Students undertake pre-production planning appropriate to their selected media form and develop written and visual planning documents to support the production and post-production of a media product in Unit 4.

Area of Study 1 - Narrative and their Contexts

How does the context of a narrative influence its construction and audience readings?

Narratives are the product of creative and institutional practices that represent stories through codes and narrative conventions. The use of codes and narrative conventions influences audience engagement, consumption and reading of narratives. Students consider the use of codes and narrative conventions to structure meaning and explore how a media creator has used these tools to produce a media narrative.

Narratives are also a product of their context. In this area of study, students examine the role that context plays in the production, distribution and reading of media products. Social, historical, institutional, cultural, economic and political contexts are evident, explicitly or implicitly, through the views and values conveyed by media products. The context of a media product shapes its construction and is reflected in narratives and representations. Context also influences audience readings of media. By understanding the contextual lens through which audiences view and consume media texts, students are able to understand the contribution and role that the media has in shaping our views, values and opinions about our world.

Area of Study 2 - Research, Development & Experimentation

How are ideas, research, investigation and experimentation used in the development of media products?

Media production is an evolving practice. Media creators and producers frequently reference ideas and techniques that have been developed by others. Collecting, acknowledging and building upon ideas, structures, aesthetics and techniques informs the direction of media productions and an understanding of how audiences are engaged. Students investigate, research and experiment with a selected media form
to inform the development of their proposed production. This research contributes to the direction of their production planning.

Students investigate aspects of the media form in which they will make their productions, developing knowledge of narrative, genre, style, media codes and conventions and aspects of the works of media practitioners relevant to their proposed production. These investigations develop the student’s style as a media creator and inform the development of their individual media product. Students also experiment with media technologies and media production processes to inform and document the plan for a media production.

Students demonstrate a clear understanding of how to inform and document the plan for a media production. They develop production skills in pre-production to inform the development, planning and production of a media product. They record their learning in documented research, annotated production activities, experiments, exercises and reflections. Through the completion of two production experiments, students have the opportunity to test, develop and refine skills and techniques in their selected media form. These experiments will be accompanied by documentation of skill development.

Area of Study 3 - Pre-Production Planning

How do students refine their ideas and concepts to create media products?

Pre-production involves the development of written and visual planning documents for a proposed product. These documents reflect both creative vision and thorough planning. The media industry has specific methodologies, conventions and workflows for documenting media production in different media forms. These methods vary from form to form and within forms according to the style and/or genre of the proposed product.

Audience engagement, consumption and reception is at the heart of media production. A feature common to pre-production across media forms is a clear understanding of the proposed audiences. Audiences may be delineated by demographic or social factors, identified by their interests and experience in media products, forms, genres or styles, or created by media institutions or individual producers for a particular purpose. Detailed articulation of audiences and how they will be engaged underpins all aspects of pre-production planning.

Informed by their learning in Area of Study 2, students use industry specific planning, using both written and visual documentation, to complete a pre-production plan. The plan incorporates a clear fictional, non-fictional or fictional/non-fictional narrative for a specified audience in a selected media form as outlined below. Students consider the relevant media codes and conventions of the selected media form. The pre-production plan is developed for one of the following media forms:

· a video or film production of 3–10 minutes in length, including title and credit sequences

· an animated production of no more than 10 minutes in length, including title and credit sequences

· a radio or audio production of a minimum of 8 minutes in length, including title and credit sequences

· a digital or traditional print production of a minimum of 8 pages, produced and edited by the student

· a digital and/or an online production that demonstrates comparable complexity consistent with the other media forms

· a convergent or hybridised media production that incorporates aspects of a range of media forms and is consistent with product durations and the descriptors listed.

Unit 4: Media Production, Agency and Control in and of the Media

Who holds the power and influence – the media or audiences?

The relationship between the media and audiences has never been more complex. The contemporary media landscape poses issues and challenges for the way that academics and commentators have traditionally theorised the nature of communication. The media has always been considered to have the capacity to influence, but now the balance of power is changing and arguments around who influences whom have become highly contested. The media and its audiences are now both thought to exercise agency; the capacity to act and exert power.

Media platforms have led to new modes of production, distribution, consumption and reception that rely on sharing commercial and user-generated content. These platforms commodify personal data by harvesting information from social media engagement. The rise of social media and surveillance capitalism has raised questions about privacy.

Laws and policies of the Australian government and self-regulation by media institutions define and maintain standards through regulatory bodies and codes of conduct, but individual interaction with other media users, as in social networks, is not subject to these constraints. As the media increasingly crosses national borders, governments struggle to maintain control over the laws and policies created for their jurisdictions. These issues pose challenges for managing and regulating the use of the media by globalised media institutions, governments and the individual.

Area of Study 1 - Media Production

How do students realise their intention through their media productions?

The production, post-production and distribution stages of a media product are a natural progression from the pre-production stage of the media production process. Students move from production into post-production, where the manipulation, arrangement or layering of the ideas and material generated in pre-production and production leads to the realisation of their pre-production plans.

Media creators and producers reflect on and work with others to gain insight into whether their products communicate their planned intent, refining their products in the production and post-production stages. Students undertake personal reflection and seek feedback on their work, developing, refining and resolving their product as a result. They document iterations of their production after considering the factors that have influenced the development and refinement of materials, technologies and processes, the resolution of ideas and the effect these factors have had on the final product.

The creation and production of the media product is an individual undertaking. In some cases, the implementation of the production plans may require the student to work with others. Throughout both the production and post-production stages, the student should be the key principal in the production process. All work undertaken by any cast or crew, or external assistance, must be under the direction of the student and documented along with the pre-production plans.

Area of Study 2 - Agency and Control of the Media

Who holds the power and influence – the media or audiences?

The relationship between the media and audiences has never been more complex. The contemporary media landscape poses issues and challenges for the way that academics and commentators have traditionally theorised the nature of communication. The media has always been considered to have the capacity to influence, but now the balance of power is changing and arguments around who influences whom have become highly contested. The media and its audiences are now both thought to exercise agency; the capacity to act and exert power.

Media platforms have led to new modes of production, distribution, consumption and reception that rely on sharing commercial and user-generated content. These platforms commodify personal data by harvesting information from social media engagement. The rise of social media and surveillance capitalism has raised questions about privacy.

Laws and policies of the Australian government and self-regulation by media institutions define and maintain standards through regulatory bodies and codes of conduct, but individual interaction with other media users, as in social networks, is not subject to these constraints. As the media increasingly crosses national borders, governments struggle to maintain control over the laws and policies created for their jurisdictions. These issues pose challenges for managing and regulating the use of the media by globalised media institutions, governments and the individual.