Coursework: Pre-production

Pre-production tasks are vital - this is where you plan all the key details that make your coursework successful.

Over the next two weeks we will be both finalising our pre-production and creating our actual productions.

Note: this is the point we will be making our decision of which aspect of the brief to complete - two video adverts OR three print adverts.

Video adverts pre-production: blog tasks

Watch this great video on low-budget filmmaking from our friend D4Darius on YouTube - it's more aimed at narrative filmmaking but we can still learn from these tips for filming an advert:

Create a blogpost called 'Video adverts pre-production'. You may want to look over the original AQA brief here to check the minimum requirements. 

Work through the following four tasks:

1) Create TWO scripts for your two different adverts

You need to write two complete scripts for your adverts and format it like a real TV script (see picture on the right).

There is lots of help out there for top-quality script writing. A good place to start is the BBC Writers' Room which has top tips, a whole script library of real examples (like the Doctor Who script pictured). Although these are TV dramas and not adverts it is still very useful to learn how to write a good script.

Make sure you include both stage directions and dialogue - and as you can see from the example, often the stage directions are much more detailed than the dialogue. Try and make your script look like a professional example in terms of layout - either in your blogpost or on a linked Google Doc. 

2) Shot list

Once you have two full scripts you are happy with, you can turn them into a shot list (or shot lists) containing EVERY shot you plan to film for your adverts AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. You'll know from your preliminary exercise that missing a shot, continuity errors or not having enough material makes editing much more difficult. A good shot list will help you avoid this. In particular, make sure you plan lots of extra shots that you may not need but can help you with editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. In particular, make sure you get lots of additional shots of the product as these will be vital in your adverts. 

I advise using a simple table on Google Docs to set out your shot list - you can find an example here for a student film shot list. It makes sense to write your shot list by scene or location (like in the example linked) rather than a huge list of every shot in the adverts in chronological order. 

3) Mise-en-scene

What iconography or mise-en-scene are you including to ensure your audience understands your adverts and the message you are communicating? Plan your cast, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. This can be simply completed using your blog or on a Google Doc - the key aspect is to have planned all the critical details. Remember the mise-en-scene mnemonic: CLAMPS. 

Costume:

Lighting / time of day:

Actors - casting, placement, movement: 

Make-up and hair: 

Props:

Setting: 

4) Shooting schedule 

Plan a shooting schedule for your filming over the next week. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Again, this can be on Google Docs or Sheets or you could simply use your blog. The most important thing is that you've planned it!

Print advert pre-production: blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Print adverts pre-production'. You may want to look over the original AQA brief here to check the minimum requirements. 

Work through the following four tasks:

1) Plan your advertising campaign

Plan out your THREE adverts in the same way you did for your summer project. Plan the following:

1) What brand of health drink are you going to use? You can use an existing drink.

2) New slogan for the health drink (MUST be original - cannot be existing slogan): 

3) Main character(s) that will appear in your adverts: 

4) Main image 1: What will your first advert look like? 

5) Main image 2: What will your second advert look like? 

6) Main image 3: What will your third advert look like? Remember, they all need to be different images but part of the same campaign for the same health drink.

7) What will you use for the secondary image in each advert? This may be a product shot or similar. Remember, this needs to be three different images just like the main images. 

8) Who will be in your adverts?

9) Write the 70 words that will appear on each advert - this may be information about the product or the benefits that it will bring to the audience.

10) How will your adverts appeal to your 15-30 year old target audience? 

 

2) Sketch out your THREE adverts

Draw THREE sketches on plain A4 paper. Make sure you include all the minimum requirements of the brief - e.g. two images, 70 words of text etc.

 

3) Plan your photoshoot and mise-en-scene

What iconography or mise-en-scene are you including to ensure your audience understands your advert and the message you are trying to communicate? Plan your model, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. Will you take your photos in class using a studio set up (lighting and backdrop) or use a location outside of school?

This can be simply completed using your blog or Microsoft Word - the key aspect is to have planned all the critical details. Remember the mise-en-scene mnemonic: CLAMPS.

4) Write your shooting schedule 

Plan a shooting schedule for your photos and advert design over the next two weeks. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Again, this can be on Word or Excel or you could simply use your blog. The most important thing is that you've planned it!

Deadline: on Google Classroom

Coursework: Preliminary exercise 2024

The first aspect of your GCSE Media Studies coursework is a preliminary exercise that introduces the basics of filming and editing.

This is a brilliant opportunity to get to know the technical skills you will need to excel in your coursework. You may even film a production that you can end up using as part of your actual coursework!

Preliminary exercise: Health drink advert

Your preliminary exercise involves filming and editing a 30-40 second health drink advert - similar to your coursework. The advert needs to be appropriate to the advertising brief we have been given in terms of content and target audience. 

The advert must include the product (a 'pack shot' or the product being consumed), a main character, match-on-action editing and at least three different shot types (e.g. establishing shot, close-up, over-the-shoulder shot) and two types of camera movement (e.g. pan, handheld camera etc.) It also must include a logo and slogan at the end of the advert.

Key filming and editing skills

Watch this great introduction to filmmaking - it covers the basics of the creative process:



Match-on-action

Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot showing the same action of the subject in the first shot.

This creates the impression of continuity - the action creates a 'visual bridge' which is easy for the audience to follow.

Look at this YouTube clip for a basic match on action example: 

Health drink advert examples

Here's a reminder of some health drink adverts you can use as inspiration for your preliminary exercise:

Lucozade (this is an energy drink not a health drink but the advert is great):

 

Boost energy (note: this is another energy drink, not a health drink, but it's a great, well-edited advert): 

Vitamin Water: 

Huel: 

Preliminary exercise tasks: Health drink advert

Task: Create a a 30-40 second health drink advert - similar to your coursework. The advert needs to be appropriate to the advertising brief we have been given in terms of content and target audience. 

Length: approximately 30-40 seconds.

Equipment: Smart phone or a school camcorder (limited numbers available). Note: you may need to bring in the cable to capture the videos from your phone or use data to upload to Google Drive / iCloud.

Groups: None. You MUST work individually. However, other people can act in your scene or operate equipment (e.g. camera, sound) as long as they are directed by the candidate submitting the work. You may want to get into groups of two or three to help each other complete this task.

What your TV advert needs to include

Content: The advert must include the product (a 'pack shot' or the product being consumed), a main character, match-on-action editing and at least three different shot types (e.g. establishing shot, close-up, over-the-shoulder shot) and two types of camera movement (e.g. pan, handheld camera etc.) It also must include a logo and slogan at the end of the advert.

Camerawork: You must include at least three different shot types but you will hopefully include much more (e.g. long shot, medium shot, close-up, extreme close-up, over-the-shoulder shot and either a high or low angle shot. You also must include both fixed camera shots and camera movement (e.g. handheld, tracking, pan etc.)

Editing: You must include match-on-action continuity editing and edit to clearly communicate the meaning of your advert.

Sound: You must include diegetic sound (from within the world of the TV advert) which will be dialogue and any background sound. You also need to include non-diegetic sound (e.g. music or voiceover) to help communicate your key messages about the product. 

Deadlines

Planning and filming: This week's lessons.

Editing and final deadline: Next week.

Specific deadlines: see Google Classroom.


Initial tasks: planning

Before creating anything in Media you need to plan out exactly what you are going to do. You need to complete the following planning tasks on your blog before you can film anything:

Create a blogpost called 'Coursework preliminary exercise' and produce the following.

1) Write a 100 word statement of intent explaining what you are going to make for your preliminary exercise.

Statement of intent: 100 words explaining what you plan to make.

Example statement of intent [147 words]: 

I plan to make a 30 second advert about a student struggling in school due to tiredness and behaviour issues who is helped by their rehydrating health drink. The beginning of the advert will have a montage editing sequence of different issues that the student is having with a soundtrack that fits a negative overall mood. My character will be in school uniform that is deliberately messed up to help communicate the struggles the student is experiencing.

The middle of the advert will involve the character discovering the product with close-up shots of the product (pack shot) and also the character drinking the product. The advert will then end with the character alert, in perfect uniform and answering a question in class and being successful. The final seconds will have a logo and slogan of the health drink with a voiceover saying the product name and slogan. [147 words]

2) Write a script for your preliminary exercise on your blog. This needs to include stage directions AND dialogue. To see how a TV drama script is presented, and to look at professional examples, check out the BBC Writers' Room and click on Script Library. These will not be advert scripts but the layout will be the same.

3) Casting: Who will be in your preliminary exercise advert?

4) Plan your locations: Where you will film your preliminary exercise? (You can film off-site if you wish to do this for homework - this is what we would strongly recommend). Important note: You CANNOT take any students out of any other lessons OR disturb any other lessons in the school. If you wish to film in-school then you will need to film with Mr Ray supervising or after school with a Media teacher present. 

5) Write your shot list: every shot you plan to film. This needs to be far MORE shots than you will actually use in the final edited version - plan extra angles, close-ups, long shots and more. You can find an example shot list here. This is for a narrative film but the layout will be the same. 

Extension task - Storyboard: Draw a 5-frame storyboard mapping out your key shots. Storyboard sheets are available in DF07.

Your planning needs to be completed this week. Good luck! 

Re-cap: Summer Project 2024 tasks

The summer project is a fantastic opportunity to start planning your Media Studies coursework.

Coursework is 30% of your overall GCSE so it can make a huge difference to your final grade. It's also a chance for us to develop and demonstrate our creativity and technical ability. 

Your summer project contains compulsory and optional elements; everybody will be researching TV adverts, choosing a health drink and coming up with a concept for their adverts and then writing a Statement of Intent first draft. However, if you wish to plan and film your production over the summer while you have time available we would fully support you in this approach.

You can find your coursework brief for 2025 here. 

Summer project tasks

Complete the following tasks on a blogpost on your Media blog called 'Summer Project: coursework planning':

1) Research: health drink TV adverts

Watch the following adverts and answer the questions below.

Innocent Drinks

Watch the following adverts for Innocent drinks (these are from different campaigns).

Innocent example 1: 

Innocent example 2:

Innocent example 3: 

Answer the following questions:

1) What is the unique selling point of the product? 

2) What audience do you think this is aimed at? Add as much detail as possible (e.g. demographics, psychographics) and explain why.

3) What do you notice about the technical construction of the advert? Pick out one thing you like about the advert from camerawork, editing, sound or mise-en-scene. You may want to focus on TV advert conventions such as voiceover for example. 

4) What representations can you find in the advert? This may be representations of people or groups or perhaps the brand itself.

Extension: What narrative is offered by the adverts? Try and apply narrative theory here.

Lucozade

Note: Lucozade isn't a health drink so we can't use it as our chosen brand but is a great example of drink advertising to our target audience of 15-30 year olds. Lucozade adverts are also great for lifestyle elements.

Lucozade example 1: 

Lucozade example 2:

 

Answer the following questions:

1) What is the unique selling point of the product? 

2) What audience do you think this is aimed at? Add as much detail as possible (e.g. demographics, psychographics) and explain why.

3) What do you notice about the technical construction of the advert? Pick out one thing you like about the advert from camerawork, editing, sound or mise-en-scene. You may want to focus on TV advert conventions such as voiceover for example. 

4) What representations can you find in the advert? This may be representations of people or groups or perhaps the brand itself.

Extension: What narrative is offered by the adverts? Try and apply narrative theory here.

Other health drink adverts

Watch these additional health drink adverts and see which will inspire your coursework idea.

Boost energy (note: this is another energy drink, not a health drink, but it's a great, well-edited advert): 

Vitamin Water: 

Huel: 

O'cean one8 Active Water: 

Choose one of the above adverts and answer the following questions: 

1) What is the unique selling point of the product? 

2) What audience do you think this is aimed at? Add as much detail as possible (e.g. demographics, psychographics) and explain why.

3) What do you notice about the technical construction of the advert? Pick out one thing you like about the advert from camerawork, editing, sound or mise-en-scene. You may want to focus on TV advert conventions such as voiceover for example. 

4) What representations can you find in the advert? This may be representations of people or groups or perhaps the brand itself.

Extension: What narrative is offered by the adverts? Try and apply narrative theory here.

Additional research: optional extension
Depending on your coursework plan and the type of advert you wish to create, you may want to research additional TV adverts (either for health drinks or more generally). You may want to simply research particularly creative adverts - this article on the best adverts of all time could be useful. 

Whatever you watch, make sure you write some additional notes or bullet points about these adverts on your blog so you are documenting your research.


2) TV advert planning 

Plan out the brand of health drink you are going to use along with the narrative and character for your two adverts. You also need to plan elements like the slogan, settings, music and more.

Answer the following TV advert pitch questions with your original idea for health drink TV adverts aimed at teenagers and young adults:

1) What brand of health drink are you going to use? You can use an existing drink.

2) New slogan for the health drink (MUST be original - cannot be existing slogan): 

3) Main character(s) that will appear in your adverts: 

4) Narrative: What will happen in your first advert? 

5) Narrative: What will happen in your second advert? 

6) Where will you film your adverts? You need a different location for each advert.

7) Who will be in your adverts? 

8) What music will you use for your adverts? What voiceover will you use and who will you use to record the voiceover? Note: for music you can use existing music tracks.

9) How will your adverts appeal to your 15-30 year old target audience? 

10) What TV channel and programme would your advert appear during and why? Remember the brief states a mainstream TV channel or streaming service. 

3) Statement of Intent

On the same Summer Project blogpost, write the rough first draft of your genuine 300-word Statement of Intent for the adverts you plan to create. The final draft of this document will be submitted to the exam board alongside your TV adverts and is worth 10 marks of the overall 60 marks available.

Guidance is provided by AQA in their NEA Student Booklet. 

We have also produced a Statement of Intent suggested content document to help you too. You'll need your Greenford Google login to open these documents. 


Summer project deadline: all tasks above due in the second lesson back in September.


Summer project: optional extensions

Pre-production tasks
Some students have already expressed an interest in filming their TV adverts over the summer break. This makes a huge amount of sense - far more availability of actors, much more time to schedule filming etc. However, if you want to do this, you need to complete the following aspects of pre-production and make sure you have parental permission to do this:

Script
Write scripts for your TV adverts. You can find guidance on writing an advert script here. You can also find guidance and professional examples of what TV scripts look like on the BBC Writers' Room website but note this focuses more on film or TV drama. 

Shot list
Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film for the adverts AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. I advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word to set out your shot list - you can find an example here for a student film shot list. It makes sense to write your shot list by scene or location rather than a huge list of every shot in chronological order. 

Mise-en-scene
What iconography or mise-en-scene are you including to ensure your audience understands the message of your adverts? Plan your cast, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. This can be simply completed using your blog or Microsoft Word - the key aspect is to have planned all the critical details. 

Shooting schedule 
Plan a shooting schedule for your filming over the summer. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Again, this can be on Google Docs / Word or Excel or you could simply use your blog. The most important thing is that you've planned it!

Non-assessed participants
You will need to provide a written record of all non-assessed participants in your production work. Keep a record of everyone involved - actors, camerawork, sound etc. You will also need a keep a record of any non-original sound you used and note it on the Candidate Record Form. Keep these on your blog for easy reference when submitting your work later this year.

Production: Filming 
Once you have completed your pre-production tasks, you can film as planned. If you are unable to film over the summer, we will have time to film this production in September.

Good luck!

Welcome to GCSE Media Year 2!

This is your new blog home for Year 2 of GCSE Media Studies - welcome!

This is where you'll find everything you need for coursework and exam preparation for this crucial second year of the GCSE Media course.

Good luck and let's earn those top grades! 

Media Awards 2024: The Nominations

The nominations are in for the Media Awards 2024!

We now have a date for the ceremony: Tuesday 17 September 2024. We've had an incredibly difficult job finalising the nominations - the quality level at both GCSE and A Level is excellent and there has been a lot of good work that hasn't made the cut.

If you haven't been before, the Media Awards is our Oscars-style ceremony where we award trophies for the best Media coursework at GCSE and A Level. It's a major event in the Greenford calendar and tickets have completely sold out whenever we have run the event in the past. The details for this year's awards:

Date: Tuesday 17 September
Time: 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Tickets: £5

Tickets will go on sale when we're back at school after the summer break - keep an eye for on-sale dates then. There will be an exclusive pre-sale window for Media students before general sale to any Greenford student in Year 10 or above.

Year 13 students who are leaving Greenford will be on the guest list and can buy additional tickets for friends by emailing Mr Halsey and arranging a time to pop in and buy them.

Remember - you need to be quick. The event has sold out in just a few days in previous years!

A Level nominations

BEST A LEVEL SOUND DESIGN

Bradley - Shadowed Intentions

Shreyam - Silent Vengeance 

Arkin - In Lines Of Lament

BEST A LEVEL CINEMATOGRAPHY

Omari - Urban Shadows 

Leila - The Lurking Crow

Amari - Stitches Of Deceit

BEST A LEVEL PRODUCTION DESIGN

Seerat - The Killer Beside Me 

Lara - Money Motivated

Sopiga - Intuition

BEST A LEVEL EDITING

Enzo – Hip Hop Heist 

Julia - Family Lines 

Tanish – Mercenary 

BEST A LEVEL TV DRAMA SCREENPLAY 

Viraj – Intentions 

Laith - The Vigilante

Kaya - King Of The 6 

BEST A LEVEL TV DRAMA ORIGINAL CONCEPT 

Riya - Without A Trace

Frankly – Diamond Is Unbreakable

Tanisha – Drown The Past

GCSE nominations

BEST GCSE TV DRAMA CINEMATOGRAPHY

Steven - Competence

Janice-Cianna - Cacophony

Dyari - Like a Paladin

Huda - The Murderous Ink 

BEST GCSE TV DRAMA ORIGINAL CONCEPT

Tulika - Bloom

Jessica – Heard 

Wajiha - The Debt of Time

Cyrine - Foresight

BEST GCSE TV DRAMA EDITING

Raagni - Manipulating Time

Remy - Dark Deception

Sanila - Wanted

Sunmeet - Into the Abyss  

Best Actress and Actor

MEDIA AWARDS BEST ACTOR 2024

Remy

Frankly

Enzo

Dyari

MEDIA AWARDS BEST ACTRESS 2024

Riya 

Sanila 

Julia 

Huda

Congratulations to all our nominees and we look forward to seeing you at the Media Awards on Tuesday 17 September! 

Videogames & OSP - CSP 2: Kim Kardashian Hollywood

Our second Videogames & OSP Close-Study Product is another phone/tablet game: Kim Kardashian Hollywood - plus the way she used social media to promote her brand.

Again, this is an in-depth topic so we need to make sure we have studied this product across media language, audience, industry and representation. 

Kim Kardashian Hollywood: notes

Language

Gameplay

The gameplay for Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is explained in detail in the app store or Google Play store:

Join KIM KARDASHIAN on a red carpet adventure in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood! Create your own aspiring celebrity and rise to fame and fortune! 

CREATE YOUR OWN STAR and customize your look with hundreds of style options, including Kim Kardashian’s personal picks!

⋆ STAR in a huge interactive adventure as you encounter other celebs, dedicated fans, persistent paparazzi… and even hang out with Kim herself!

⋆ RULE THE RED CARPET as an A-list movie actor, cover model, fashion designer and more – what you do is up to you!

⋆ TAKE OVER L.A. in a virtual world complete with exclusive clubs, upscale boutiques, and luxury homes! Travel to New York City and Miami!

⋆ DATE AND DUMP CELEBS at the best parties and hottest clubs! Flirt and become the next huge celebrity power-couple!

⋆ BRING YOUR FRIENDS ALONG FOR THE RIDE using Game Center and Facebook – help each other rise to fame, compare styles, send gifts, and see who can be the biggest star!

Game trailer:



Gameplay example:



Kim Kardashian: Hollywood - Narrative and objectives

The aim of Kim Kardashian Hollywood is to work your way  up the celebrity scale from Z-List to A-List.  As you play you will interact with a range of real and fictional characters in the United States and around many of the world’s most glamourous and famous locations.  As you progress, there are collectibles and missions that will allow you to develop the status of your customisable character. Your ranking is determined by your position on the Top Stars list in Hollywood. They are sorted into six different lists, Unlisted being the lowest rank to the A-list being the highest rank. You rise up in ranks by gaining fans. The goal of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is to gain as many fans as possible by doing well on projects, getting attention from Starnews, and dating to get to the A-list.

Characters

Characters are NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) that appear in goals or locations and the storyline as you progress in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. These exclude NPCs you meet in the game that you can date or network with. These types of contacts are randomly generated according to each individual game.

The characters in Kim Kardashian Hollywood are a mixture of real VIP characters and fictional characters. There are 100s – you can see a few opposite.

In your pursuit of celebrity some of the fictional characters work with you and some actively try to ruin your journey by beating you to A-List.

Settings

There are a range of locations in the game that try to mirror the stereotype of the celebrity lifestyle of an A-lister:

Narrative: special events

Special Events are temporary goal arcs that are available only during Weekend Events in the game. By completing them, players can not only earn Cash Cash, XP XP, Energy Energy and Star Stars, but also Special Event stars.  These regularly happen and keep the game fresh.  It also means established players keep coming back to the game to see what the latest updated events are.

By collecting Special Event stars, players can unlock exclusive rewards and Kustomize items. The Kustomize screen, also known as your wardrobe, is the screen where you can customize your character to your liking. You can purchase tops, dresses, pants, skirts, shoes, hairstyles, facial features, nail colours and fashion accessories like bags, jewellery, and tattoos.

You can change your look whenever you like. The game encourages players to "keep on top of current fashion to maximise your fans!"

Representation

There are some key questions we need to consider regarding representation in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood:

• How are women represented?
• How is celebrity represented?
• How is race/ethnicity represented?

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood contains quite controversial representations of women, celebrity and race/ethnicity.

It has been criticised for offering a representation of women focusing on appearance, modelling and dating as a way to be successful. Similarly, celebrity is represented as something to aspire to even without an obvious talent or ability.

On a more positive note, the game has been praised for its representation of race, ethnicity and sexuality – with the game offering a diverse range of characters.

Audience

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is incredibly popular. It has been  downloaded over 50 million times and generated $200 million plus.

Why do audiences like it?

One way of understanding why audiences choose certain media texts is Blumler & Katz's Uses and Gratification Theory.

Uses and Gratification Theory states that audiences consume media products/texts for at least one of the following reasons:

1. Diversion, escapism or entertainment – escaping from normal life.
2. Personal relationships – fulfils their need for companionship. This is particularly true of social media products, online gaming and online communities. It can also apply to audiences developing an affection for certain stars or characters.  
3. Personal identity - seeing your own lifestyle, interests or ambitions reflected in a media product; reinforcing your own identity.
4. Surveillance – using media to find out about the world around them.

Which of these apply to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood?

Watch this video of Buzzfeed staff trying to play the game:

Industries

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was developed by Glu Mobile, a highly successful mobile game developer and publisher. It was released in June 2014 and was marketed heavily using the Kim Kardashian brand.

With social media promotion, the game quickly shot to the top of download lists and iTunes app store charts.

Media convergence

The game design means that there is a great deal of media convergence.  Media convergence is the merging of different media texts. How does Kim Kardashian Hollywood involve media convergence?

The game: TV Show and social media channels are referenced in game.  Player encouraged to engage online and gain bonus items for sharing on Facebook etc.

Social media: Game appears on Kim’s actual social media platforms. Also, need to tweet in game.

TV Show: Game appears on Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes.  TV Show is also referenced in game.

Marketing and promotion

Watch this TV advert for the game:



Glu: monetising Kim Kardashian: Hollywood

The game is free to download but makes huge amounts of money from in-app purchases and subscriptions. Players need to buy energy to complete tasks (or wait 30 minutes for energy to replenish). They can also buy subscriptions:

• Gold: 49.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)
• Silver: 19.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)
• Bronze: 4.99 USD / month (or local equivalent)

Small print

Due to the addictive nature of the game and the potential to spend huge amounts of money on in-app purchases, the developers place warnings in the app store before purchase:

PLEASE NOTE: - This game is free to play, but you can choose to pay real money for some extra items, which will charge your iTunes account. You can disable in-app purchasing by adjusting your device settings. - This game is not intended for children. - Please buy carefully. - Advertising appears in this game. - This game may permit users to interact with one another (e.g., chat rooms, player to player chat, messaging) depending on the availability of these features. Linking to social networking sites are not intended for persons in violation of the applicable rules of such social networking sites.

Videogames case study 2 - Kim Kardashian: Hollywood blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Kim Kardashian Hollywood CSP case study' and complete all the following questions under the subheadings Language, Representation, Industries and Audience.

Language

1) What is the objective when playing the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game?

2) What is an A-list celebrity? Why is it important in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood?

3) What is the narrative or storyline of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? Where is it set?

4) What characters can you play as? What characters appear in the game?

5) What activities does your character get up to in the game? 

Representations

1) What representations of women can be found in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood?

2) What representations of race, ethnicity or sexuality can be found in the game?

3) How does the game both reinforce and subvert stereotypes in the media?

4) What does the game suggest regarding modern perceptions of celebrity and how to get famous?

5) How might someone criticise the representation of celebrity in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood?

Audience

1) Who is the intended audience for the Kim Kardashian Hollywood game? Why do you think this?

2) What audience pleasures are provided by the game? Use Blumler & Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory.

3) Why is the game so addictive for audiences?

Read this article from Forbes on why the Kim Kardashian game is so successful. If the website is blocked in school, you can access the text of the article here.

4) Why does James Liu think Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is so successful?

5) What does James Liu suggest is the reason players keep coming back to the game?


Industries

1) How much does Kim Kardashian: Hollywood cost?

2) How does the game make money?

3) What subscriptions are available to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood?

4) How was Kim Kardashian: Hollywood marketed and promoted?

5) How does Kim Kardashian: Hollywood use media convergence to cross-promote the game and the Kardashian brand?


Grade 8/9 extension tasks: reading and response

Read this Independent article on the Kardashians and celebrity culture. Why does the academic Dr Meredith Jones think the Kardashians are important to study?

Read this Stylecaster article on 5 things we learned playing Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. How does the game encourage players so spend real money on in-app purchases?

Read this article on Glu Mobile, the game developer behind Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. What does the article say about targeting female gamers and using celebrity to sell the game?

Read this Guardian article on a Kardashian controversy regarding promoting products on Instagram. Why do some people regard Kardashian as a "toxic influence"? 

Complete for homework: due date on Google Classroom.

Videogames CSP 1: Lara Croft Go

Our first videogames Close-Study Product is phone/tablet game Lara Croft Go.

This is an in-depth topic so we need to make sure we have studied this product across media language, audience, industry and representation.

Lara Croft Go: notes

Lara Croft: history

Lara Croft first appeared in 1996 Eidos Playstation game Tomb Raider and was the first computer game to feature a female character as the protagonist rather than a supporting role or a secondary character.

The narrative of Tomb Raider was influenced by Indiana Jones and featured the daughter of a Lord (later a famous archaeologist), called Lara Croft on various missions through settings such as jungles, tombs and jungles. The genre is action-adventure and involves many conventions of this genre such as fighting villains using weaponry.

Evolution of Tomb Raider:




Lara Croft: beyond a videogame character

Lara Croft has featured in films (the first starring Angelina Jolie; 2018 version rebooted the character). She has appeared on magazine covers more times than any supermodel.

There have been advertising tie-ins, merchandise, comic books and  spin-offs featuring the character. The franchise has had numerous incarnations before Lara Croft Go in 2015. 

Lara Croft has been credited with bringing success on the Play Station for the games’ creators (selling 7 million copies world wide) and launching the female protagonist in games. She has also been widely thought of as a sex symbol. 

Lara Croft Go 

Lara Croft Go explores the ruins of an ancient civilization in the Amazon Jungle while fighting menacing enemies, overcome dangerous obstacles and traps, and ultimately, uncover the myth of the Queen of Venom.  There is no specific timescale – but is modern-day in Lara’s weaponry.

This concept of action adventure exploring and uncovering relics from ancient civilisations is not new and there is some intertextuality here with the Indiana Jones movies, original Tomb Raider games, Tomb Raider films and more.

Watch this online review of Lara Croft Go:



What are the features of the Lara Croft Go game?

In many ways, there are traditional Action Adventure elements to this game (she moves, she shoots, she avoids hazards).  However, this game is a ‘turn-based puzzle’ which involves by-passing enemies and unlocking paths in a sequential manner which suits the ‘short timespan’ that people can sometimes commit to mobile gaming. It faithfully preserves element of original Tomb Raider game and brings the original adventure up to date. 

The game also involves collecting items that unlock special powers and tools that help your progress through the game.  On the image to the left you can see many of the opponents that Lara comes across (Lizards, Snakes, Spiders) and some of the collectables. There are not many different enemies as memory is key.  

The three-act narrative structure proceeds from an orientation stage through various complications and blockages to a simple resolution.

Evolution of the character of Lara Croft

• Lara is depicted as athletic with brown eyes and hair, frequently tied back in a plait or ponytail.
• Her costume is usually a blue tank top, light brown shorts, calf high boots and long socks. 
• Accessories / Props include gloves, a backpack, a utility belt with holsters and two pistols. 
• Her original back story was that she was the daughter of an aristocrat who had a plane crash in the Himalayas, causing her to re-evaluate her life and seek adventure, leading her to become a thief and mercenary, living outside the law. The second era changed the narrative to her father being an archaeologist and her wanting to discover the reason for her mother’s disappearance. A third era focused more on both her parents being archaeologists and her mother disappearing and her father dying.
• All three narratives feature her transition from a vulnerable girl to an independent, fierce adventurer (hero).
• Most stories feature her being stranded on a mysterious, far away island although the location of this changes. 

Representations

Does Lara Croft reinforce female stereotypes in the media?

Yes (reinforces traditional stereotype):

• Object of sexual desire. Her body features were particularly exaggerated in early versions of games.
• Scantily-clad designed for male audience. Would a male character be designed like this?  
• Is Lara Croft is designed to be attractive to the male audience as she basically acquires all the features that some men would describe as perfect.

 No (subverts female stereotype):

• She is an action hero – traditionally a male stereotype in gaming.
• She is empowered female heroine – rare in gaming industry at the time.  “The heroine, Lara Croft, is an intelligent, butt-kicking, gun-wielding, sexpot, ready to take on whatever comes her way.” Katherine Walker, Portrayal of Women in Media (Video Games)

This video from Feminist Frequency (videogame blogger Anita Sarkeesian) highlights the way male and female characters are constructed in videogames:

 

Industries

We need to learn about two distinct areas for the industries key concept:

• Videogame regulation
• The companies/franchises behind the game

Regulation: PEGI

PEGI stands for Pan European Game Information and is a European video game rating system established to help consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descriptors.


PEGI was set up by the ISFE* – an independent group that represents European software companies. Important: this is an example of self-regulation, not government.

Lara Croft Go: companies and franchises

Lara Croft Go is the combination of two successful franchises – Lara Croft Tomb Raider and the Hitman Go mobile game.

Tomb Raider is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, it is now controlled by Square Enix after their acquisition of Eidos in 2009. 

Square Enix developed Hitman Go in 2014 based on the successful Hitman game franchise.

Audience

We need to think about the following for the audience key concept:

• Audience pleasures
• Target audience for Lara Croft Go – and whether videogame audiences are changing

What is the appeal of Lara Croft Go?

“Acrobatics and platforming are key features of a Tomb Raider adventure, and we quickly realized that Lara had to be fully animated. Our animator did an amazing job of quickly producing a first batch of short animations for Lara, and immediately everything felt better. Again, we looked back at Lara’s classic animations from the first Tomb Raider and they fit right in with our turn-based game.”

– Square Enix

Audience pleasures: Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications Theory

Remember that audiences consume media products for a variety of reasons (from Blumler and Katz: Uses and Gratification Theory)

1. The need to be INFORMED and EDUCATED about the world in which we live (Surveillance) 
2. The need to IDENTIFY personally with characters and situations in order to learn more about themselves (Personal Identity)
3. The need to be ENTERTAINED (Diversion) and escape daily life. 
4. The need for SOCIAL INTERACTION (Personal Relationships)

Which of these apply to Lara Croft Go?

Target audience

Who is the target audience for Tomb Raider / Lara Croft games?  They fall into various groups and may be a mixture of all three:

1. Those interested in the quality of the innovative gameplay.
2. Those with brand loyalty to the Hitman Go series.
3. Those with brand loyalty based on the feminine empowerment displayed.
4. Those with brand loyalty based on nostalgia or even the sexualisation of Lara Croft (especially if they played older Croft games when at a formative age)

Videogames: Lara Croft Go blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Lara Croft Go CSP blog tasks' and complete all the following questions under the subheadings Language, Representation, Industries and Audience. 

Language

1) When did Lara Croft first appear in a videogame?

2) What classic films influenced the creation of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider games?

3) How has Lara Croft and Tomb Raider moved beyond just being a videogame?

4) What devices can you play Lara Croft Go on?

5) What type of game is Lara Croft Go?

6) How does Lara Croft Go use narrative (storyline) to make the game enjoyable for the audience?

7) What iconography can be found in Lara Croft Go? How does this help communicate the genre of the game? Think about mise-en-scene and setting here.

8) What other characters or enemies feature in the game?

9) What is the setting for Lara Croft Go? How does this compare to previous Lara Croft or Tomb Raider games?

10) Read this BBC article on the history of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. How has the character of Lara Croft evolved over the last 25 years?


Representations

1) How are women usually represented in videogames?

2) How does the character of Lara Croft reinforce female stereotypes in the media?

3) How does the character of Lara Croft subvert female stereotypes in the media?

4) Why do some people believe the videogames industry is sexist and needs to change?

5) Do you think Lara Croft is an empowering feminist icon or just another objectified woman designed to appeal to male gamers?



Industries

1) What does PEGI stand for?

2) What is PEGI's job?

3) Which company created Lara Croft Go?

4) What two popular videogame franchises were combined to create Lara Croft Go?

5) What else is part of the Lara Croft/Tomb Raider franchise?


Audience

1) Why might an audience enjoy playing Lara Croft Go?

2) Where and when might an audience play a game like Lara Croft Go? Think about the device it is played on and the times of the day someone might want to play the game.

3) How did Square Enix design Lara Croft to make it appealing to an audience?

4) Which of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory might apply to Lara Croft Go?

5) Who is the target audience for Lara Croft Go? How does brand loyalty contribute to this target audience?


Exam practice optional extension task:

“Videogames are increasingly played and enjoyed by a wider and more diverse audience." 

Does your study of Lara Croft Go support this view?

Write a detailed three-paragraph answer to this question using the information you have learned in this case study.

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Language
1) Watch some Lara Croft Go gameplay online or, even better, play the game yourself. How is the game constructed to attract and maintain the engagement of an audience?

2) How is narrative, character, iconography and setting used to create intertextuality? (Links to other genres and media texts)

Representations
1) Read this NME feature on the history of the Lara Croft character. Do you agree that she is now a 'feminist icon' rather than a 'trapezoid-boobed pinup'? What do these terms mean?

2) Have later versions of the Tomb Raider/Lara Croft franchise featured a less-sexualised version of the character? Does this suggest society is changing in its attitude towards women?

Industries
1) Why do videogame producers prefer the self-regulation of PEGI to government regulation? Why is videogame regulation increasingly important in the 21st century?

2) Watch the full lecture embedded above: Distilling a franchise - the making of Lara Croft Go. How did the designers make conscious decisions based on previous franchises to create a successful game?

Audience
1) How has the marketing of Lara Croft/Tomb Raider franchise changed over the last 20 years and how might an audience respond to this? Think about reception theory - preferred and oppositional readings. 

2) Does Lara Croft Go target a female audience? Why do you think female gamers dominate the phone/tablet market?

There is a lot of work here - you will need to spend 2-3 hours on this between lesson time and homework. Due date on Google Classroom.