exam tips

1. Don't bother writing out the question
2. Don't bother writing long introductions to your essays
3. Get stuck into using MICRO language
4. Cover ALL of the MICRO features
5. State that the MICRO features such as mise-en-scene, sound, editing, camera work COMBINE to construct characters. Nothing in TV Drama is left to chance. Set designs, costumes, hair make-up, all combine to tell the audience something about the character. It is your job to state what that something is.
6. Don't forget MIGRAIN. the key concepts are still relevant
7. Must state that the MICRO features combine to give a representation of gender, class etc...
8. Must then argue whether the representations in the extract are fair and accurate or stereotypical, offensive, unfair...

exam feedback

MICRO elements - mise-en-scene (costume etc..)

- camera work (mid-close-up, tracking shot/reverse shot

- diagetic - natural (if the character can hear it it is still diagetic)

- non diagetic (not natural)

- editing - fast paced, jump cut



CLASS - the characters are not real! they are construction or a representation

Are the representions fair and accurate?

Essay writing

basically - how do videogames target audiences.



film to games - representation of the film accurately into the game, would attract a viewer audience. issues of copyright and mis-representation would be raised.

violence, high levels of violence attract young male players, raises the issues of social effects of videogames - gta series has raised numerous issues in cases of violence in the real world

advertising, the correct advertising can be used to target different audiences. the issue might be of stereotypical effects of women in the industry or for issues of ethnicity and disability - gta 'cherry' m ade by rockstar.

role models, if a role model character is used in a game people may wish to play it. the issue is finding a role model that is morally right in the socail world but still entertaining. - lara croft - made by core design

high action would attract an audience. the issue

the content of the game could attract different people e.g different game play - racing, shooting, action, if all included would attract a wider audience of players, the issue may be of people not liking the majority of the game if it is different from example the shooting fanatics May not like the racing segments of the game.

the story line is essential to attracting audiences but cut scenes or un realisticity may be the issue for some gamers if it is too real or not enough escapism



discuss MIGRAIN at the begining.

BBFC - certficate rating institution.

department of culture, media and sport, DCMS, publishes reports - read the first two paragraphs to get the summary.

game designers, - issues ; demographics (age, gender, social habbits)

distributers,

console developers,

explain how to launch a new game? - advertising campaings - online, press, TV, what images are they going to protray. slogos

issues of videogames:

sex

violence

bad language,





how do people play the game - online, multiplayer, solo, what technologies are they comfortable with.

issue - what console is the game going to be released on? will it be cross platforms? registration

fees
marketing campaign
is there an online gaming community set up or encourages by the publishers to download cheats, hints, tips or downloadable content., like a forum for players to feed into to or off of.
addiction - influence is another issue

media terms

sandboxgames - free-roaming games like GTA 4; second life; sandbox gaes effectively never end and therfore encourage immersion / flow.

goal-orientated narratve - most games have some goal; it may be to earn money, save the princess or compkete various levels/miossions. it is the completion of of these goals that motivates the gamer
GTA 4 is goal orientated narrative - missions also is a sandbox game with 'sub-mission' so you can decide on the goals

Immersion - the state when the gamer is immersed within the game; the gamer is totally absorbed by the game.

Flow - links with immersion; the flow of the game is not interupted in sandbox games which encourages immersion.

Cutscenes - the film-like bits of a game that set the scene at the begining and introduce new missions or tasks. cut scenes can really anoy gamers as they interupt immersion and flow.

Important industry stuff:
The big players in the video games industry:

• Rockstar games - GTA series
• Electronic Arts (EA) - Sports games and others
• Bungie - lara croft
• Microsfoft - X-BOX
• Sony - Playstation
• Nintendo - WII

the development of videogames:

MMORPG - massively multiplayer online role-playing game,

this is a very popular game trend at the moment, it allows gamers to interasct with other game players around the world, and with the rise of social web users on sites such as facebook, bebo and myspace the gameing designers must take note of the current social trend.

generated content - adding game content by users, posts on blogs, online forums etc...

should game companies be sued for promoting violence?

what do the BBFC do?

BBFC - the independent regulator of the film and video industry in the UK. classifications

should they have more/greater powers.