Dot 2

UK Cinema Exam

2010-06-09T23:59:00.002+04:30

Summer 2010: Faculty of World Studies - Department of UK Studies

Write an academic paper about one of the following films:

1. Chariots of Fire (1981) / Director: Hugh Hudson

2. Gandhi (1982) / Director: Richard Attenborough

3. The Queen (2006) / Director: Stephen Frears

- You need to think of an imaginative title. The title should give a very brief idea of the nature of the film or give an indication of whether the rest of your review will be positive or negative.

- Give a brief synopsis (summary) of the film.

- Go into detail about what you thought of the film. Examine the film more closely, try to go into detail about the ideas contained within the film.

- It is necessary to break the film down into separate parts that we discussed in class: Literary Aspects of Film, Dramatic Aspects of Film and Cinematic Aspects of Film [in the context of Social Realism].

- Do not forget that you have to consider all questions arising from all three levels

- Narrative, Setting, Theme, Signs, Genre, Acting, Costumes, Make-up, Camera angles, Sound and vision and Lighting and other things we discussed in class are your tools to have a good film review.

You have to mail me 10 days after the announced date of your exam *

UK Cultural Studies Exam

2010-06-09T23:57:00.001+04:30

Summer 2010 : Faculty of World Studies - Department of UK Studies

What are the origins, themes and approaches of cultural studies in UK?

The paper has to be based on a synthesis of the issues raised in class, focused on British Cultural Studies (Graeme Turner) and " Cultural Studies: AN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE" pamphlet.

Your paper has to cover just the following themes:

1. Main figures of UK cultural studies field [Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E. P. Thompson and Stuart Hall] (describe their main ideas, each figure in three paragraphs)

2. Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies

3. Comparison of Arnoldian conception of culture with that of Raymond Williams

*You have to mail me 10 days after the announced date of your exam

online journalism: charging for content

2010-03-27T21:36:00.000+04:30

Times and Sunday Times websites to start charging from JuneUsers to be charged £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription for access to both papers' websites. More

Mark Thompson on BBC cuts

2010-03-04T15:24:00.001+03:30

BBC 6 Music and Asian Network are facing closure, Mark Thompson, director general of the corporation, has said. Speaking to the BBC News Channel, Mr Thompson explained the reason behind the cuts. full interview

UK Cinema: The Hurt Locker Shuts Out Avatar At BAFTA Awards

2010-02-22T22:23:00.001+03:30

Kathryn Bigelow beats James Cameron and becomes first female Best Director. The Iraq war film won six of the eight categories in which it was nominated at Sunday night's British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. The Winners - Film Awards Highlights

UK Cinema: Full time courses

2010-02-20T20:52:00.000+03:30

There are a large number of organisations offering training in filmmaking and related areas in the UK. Apart from courses in full time education, many organisations offer professional, vocational training for freelance technicians and production crew. There are also a large number of courses aimed at producers and scriptwriters and some for directors. Full time courses

UK Cinema: About BUFVC

2010-02-20T20:42:00.000+03:30

The British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC) is a representative body which promotes the production, study and use of moving image, sound and related media in higher education and research. It was founded in 1948 as the British Universities Film Council and became the British Universities Film & Video Council in 1983. The Council is a related body of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and receives part funding as grant via the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). The BUFVC currently employs 13 core staff and additional contract project staff.

UK Cinema: About BECTU

2010-02-20T20:34:00.000+03:30

BECTU is the Union for UK-based people involved in broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment, leisure, interactive media and other related areas. It negotiates pay, conditions, safety and contracts on behalf of its members and offers advice and representation.

UK Cinema: About Skillset

2010-02-20T20:26:00.000+03:30

Skillset is the national training organisation for Broadcast, Film, Multimedia and New Media. The site includes careers advice for those wishing to get in to the industry and those already working. The site gives information about individual training courses and their scheme to fund 60 per cent of vocational training on certain other courses.
The UK Film Council gives training funds to organisations to run courses, including through Skillset but NOT to individuals needing funding

UK Media Course: what we covered

2010-02-19T21:12:00.004+03:30

This is a brief decription of what we covered during UK media Course:
By: Roushank Azemi
During the line of this semester we became familiar with various aspects of British society and culture. Some of our courses were simply pre-requisites such as ‘Principles of Politics’ or ‘Principles of Economics’. One of the most interesting, if not the most, courses we had to deal with was UK Media. This course encompassed a variety of subjects. We were given a ratified course list by the faculty, but our dear Dr. Shokrkhah had different plans for us. “Herculean tasks!”, he said to us on the first day! So, I will be giving a brief description of what we covered.

The first lesson we had to deal with was the Lasswell Formula. We had to learn this revolutionary formula to study various news outlets and newspapers. In brief the formula was presented to us as: Who says what to whom in which channel with what effect. With this formula we were able to dissect newspapers and radio and television channels.
We learned about the components of this formula and that ownership is a major section, the barons of this trade have a major influence on the corporations they run. Also mentioned was the GUMG, or the Glasgow University Media Group. This group researched different ideas and has published many books over the years such as “Bad News” and the sequel “Really Bad News”.
To see the big pictures, we had to get lost in the details. We established the fact that languages is composed of different rules and is made up of sound, syntax, and semantics. Semantic noise is the things that cause a misunderstanding of the message. Content analysis is a positive method and deregulation is equal to privatization. Also important is the property of lineal authority. The definition of this property is that the writer creates a message and the reader interprets it differently. Two types of audiences were introduced to us: passive and active.
The WHO of our formula was the media magnets, barons or owners. We were briefly introduced to Robert Murdock and realized that Media ownership in the UK is heavily regulated.
What is our message and it is the relationship between who which is important and there is content analysis to consider it. The channel is a way or carrier of communication.
Later we discovered that media systems which have four domains. The domains are: 1- components, 2- feature (or the natures and properties), 3- relationship between components (flat, natural, imposed, hierarchal), 4- environment (text in context).
Next are the different theories: 1-authoritarian, 2- libertarian, 3- soviet media system, 4- social responsibility. The first theory is believed not to exist. It is based on pre-publishing censorship and management of content. There is no freedom. For examples we have Salazar, Franco, Hitler, Espinoza, and Mussolini. The second model is the European model. Right of the private sector is recognized. Freedom of expression was first recognized in 1789. Next we have the third theory in which freedom in paper is freedom in reality and is against capitalism. Control exists and government has centralized control. Media systems are intellectual systems that belong to the working class. Journalists work in different limitations and don’t take part in the cultural industry. The fourth theory exists in America. It considers itself the best media system and is composed of three components: 1- objectivity, 2- neutrality, 3- independence from other estates responsible for our audience. It is against censorship. However, we can take a look at the New York Times’ logo which states: “All The News That Is Fit To Print” and realize that complete freedom of the press can never truly exist. Being “fit to print” shows a sense of subjectivity and that means that we can choose what we deem appropriate.
Then we were introduced to media studies in general. We were taught that refers to the different channels we use to communicate information in the everyday world. Then, that the features of media were threefold: First, the media mediates. The point of mediating thing is to communicate across space and time with as many people as possible. So the first thing to consider is that the media can reach vast numbers of people. Second, the massages nowadays are mediated by highly advanced technology and third, while there is the choice of making our own music or drawing our own cartoons, most of us opt to be consumers of the professional productions of relatively few corporations. These mega companies are pretty much closed and centralized, but the reception is public and dispersed. Next, the basic concepts of media studies were introduced to us. Media studies is an academic discipline that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular the ‘mass media'. The subject varies greatly in theoretical and methodological focus, but may be broadly divided into three interrelated areas: the critique of artistic styles and aesthetic forms (genre, narrative, and so on), the study of the production process (e.g. technologies and markets), and sociological analysis (of ideological effects, reception and consumption, etc). Media studies is not only a course which is studied in Britain or Iran. It is studied in Australia, Germany, India, and the USA.
The second presentation given to us was about UK Media Studies. This focused mostly on what we had to cover in our course this semester. In the UK, media studies developed in the 1960s from the academic study of English, and from literary criticism more broadly. The key date, according to Andrew Crisell, is 1959. When Joseph Trenaman left the BBC's Further Education Unit to become the first holder of the Granada Research Fellowship in Television at Leeds University. Soon after in 1966, the Centre for Mass Communication Research was founded at Leicester University, and degree programs in media studies began to sprout at polytechnics and other universities during the 1970s and 1980s. Media Studies is now taught all over the UK. The topics span from magazines to films. Several universities in the UK offer various curriculums covering Media Studies such as: Sussex University, Leicaster University, University of Stirling, University of Leeds, and University of Salford.
The third presentation given to us was about media landscapes. We were introduced to the European Journalism Centre or the EJC. The EJC is an Independent, non-profit institute, in Maastricht, Netherlands. Its director is Wilfried Ruetten, head of digital television, University of Applied Sciences ,Salzburg, Austria. Its aims are giving further training to mid-career journalists and media professionals. It is also a partner and organizer at European level for media companies, professional organizations, journalism schools and government bodies seeking to establish activities and projects. We were presented the details of the site with great information. On the home page we discovered that you can find the most recently updated materials of all other pages, for instance upcoming seminars, the latest featured resource, some new articles in newsroom, etc.
Next we were given an overview of the media landscape in the UK. The Media Landscape in the United Kingdom is large, complex and mature, arguably ranking second globally to that of USA. The English language is the primary natural language of production and content. UK media organizations have mutual relations with lots of countries all around the world in terms of participation. Since 1990s, Labor governments have attempted to elide the distinction between culture & commerce, leading to the adoption of the idea of “creative industries”; concerns about media quality. About the written press in the UK: The most distinguishing characteristic: large, national newspaper sector, which is divided into daily & Sunday titles. There are three various sectors in the newspapers: quality, middle market, red-top tabloid. Regional and local newspapers comprise 98% of titles in circulation. The entire national news press is owned by 8 companies (the largest two- News International and Daily Mail and General Trust - had 55% of market share in 2005) The magazine sector in the UK is large and expanding and there are 8,800-10,000 titles, two-third of which are ‘business and professional’ and the rest are ‘consumers’ magazines. Next we have the audio visual media composed of television, radio, digital services, and online media. Extremely interesting was the matter of watchdogs used for these so-called free press. Organizations seeking to explore media are: MediaWise Trust (ethics); Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom; Campaign for Freedom of Information; the Runnymede Trust (diversity), and the London International Research Exchange.
Then, we talked about the department for culture, media, and sport. This was an extremely broad subject and it was very difficult to understand each aspect so we studied several important topics in brief. The lecture covered architecture and design, creative industries, historic environment, broadcasting, media literacy, media regulation, media ownership, digital broadcasting (international broadcasting, sports broadcasting, etc), and civil renewal. There was a very useful internet website given to us to read more about the subjects covered that day which was: http://www.culture.gov.uk/.
So then we entered a more specific path. It was the path of newspapers and printed press in the UK. Because of the small geographical area of the UK, and the good travel infrastructure, there are many national newspapers. The main national papers are morning newspapers; indeed, there are no national evening titles. It was interesting to learn that size is a very important issues in newspaper printing. There are three main sizes: broadsheet, Berliner, and tabloid sized. The Daily Telegraph is the only remaining weekday broadsheet. It apparently gained from The Times when the latter switched to tabloid, and sees the broadsheet size as being a differentiator - some advertising has claimed that Telegraph readers have a 'broader view'. The Sunday Telegraph and most sections of The Sunday Times are also in broadsheet size. The Guardian, switched in September 2005 to a mid-size format between tabloid and broadsheet, known as the 'Berliner'. This is roughly the same width as a tabloid (thus easy to open using public transport), but taller, and therefore giving more flexibility in page design. In 2003 The Independent began producing what it preferred to call a compact edition- tabloid sized - along with the main broadsheet sized newspaper. This had a stunning effect on circulation - sales went up by 20% year-on-year - and The Times followed suit launching its own compact edition. Both newspapers are now exclusively available in compact form.
The quality papers - the 'broadsheets' are probably the most famous to readers overseas. The Times, the UK's oldest national newspaper, is not the most popular - that accolade falls to the Daily Telegraph. The Independent, The Guardian and the financial newspaper The Financial Times make up the rest of the so-called quality papers. UK television was also mentioned and we became more familiar with the famous BBC. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) broadcasts eight public service television channels in the UK. BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament. They are all available on every digital platform and free to air. Outside the UK, the BBC also broadcasts a growing number of commercial television services. BBC World, BBC Food and BBC Prime are available in many places around the world while channels like BBC America and BBC Japan are targeted at consumers in those particular countries. In Britain, the BBC holds a 50% interest in the commercial television provider UKTV which broadcasts ten channels on the UK digital platforms. All non-BBC television stations follow guidelines laid down by Ofcom, which oversees program content and quality, and makes sure that advertisers follow a specific and stringent code of conduct. The BBC is currently self-regulating, to a degree, although Ofcom's influence and power over the BBC is seen to be growing.
Radio in the UK is provided by the BBC and commercial radio companies, and is broadcast by AM and FM, and a variety of digital platforms. The past ten years have seen a significant growth in the number of radio stations in the UK, with over a hundred new analogue stations coming on air.
In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the cinema industry expanded rapidly and assumed a central place in British popular culture.
Next we had two different newspapers introduced to us: one was the Financial Times and The Times. The FT motto is “We Live in Financial Times”. FT advocates free markets and is in favor of globalization. The readership was originally the financial community of the City of London. Over the years, the newspaper grew in size, readership, and coverage. It established correspondents in cities around the world, reflecting early moves in the world economy towards globalization. FT was originally printed as a broadsheet, four-page journal. The paper turned a light salmon color to distinguish itself from the Financial News. The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785—the oldest in England. Traditionally the newspaper is a moderately centre-right newspaper and a supporter of the Conservatives. In 1997, Murdoch expressed support for Tony Blair labors, also supported the Labour Party in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.
The last session of our class was dedicated to the BBC. Dr. Shokrkhah covered a wide spectrum in just two short hours. We learned about the history of the BBC, ownership, BBC Trust and different BBC channels. The transcript of that session has been handed to the students and participants of the conference. This duel class-conference informed the students of the major news agency in the UK and helped us reach a better understanding of one of Britain’s historic cornerstones.
So in conclusion, we faced a lot of hard tasks during this course. But they were all worthwhile.
We reached a vast understanding of the media landscape in general and the BBC in particular. However, we only scratched the surface, next semester we will be following up on what we learned and hopefully putting that to use.

The Lasswell Formula

2010-02-19T17:46:00.000+03:30

This is for MA students of the Institute for North American & European Studies of the University of Tehran (INAES)(Department of British Studies)
You have here the mainpoints of what disscussed today in class.
Remember that the Lasswell Formula [1948] [Harold Lasswell] is typical of what communication scholars refer to as a transmission model of communication.
The Formula consists of five major components:
The sociologist, Harold Lasswell, tells us that in studying communication we should consider the elements in the graphic above. It is quite a useful model, whatever category of communication we are studying.
some questions under WHO part of the Formula:
who owns this newspaper?
what are their aims?
what are their political allegiances?
do they attempt to set the editorial policy?
does the fact that they are a republican account for the newspaper's repeated attacks on the Royal Family?
are they subject to any kind of legal constraints?
how does the editor decide what to put in the paper?
What are your questions about four other components, we will continue the debate on class.

The British media industry is here

2010-02-19T17:42:00.002+03:30

For MA students of the Institute for North American & European Studies of the University of Tehran (INAES)(Department of British Studies):
A media directory for the UK. Listing websites, addresses, telephone numbers, live links and more for all areas of the online media, it's your one-stop media portal: Media UK

The Spring 2008 issue of Global Media Journal

2010-02-19T17:40:00.000+03:30

The Spring 2008 issue of Global Media Journal-American Edition, contains invited papers and selected papers presented at the Global Fusion Conference, “Contested Intersections: Publics, Movements, Institutions,” Saint Louis, Missouri, September 7-9, 2007, including:

• Women Making News: Gender and Media in South Africa, Margaretha Geertsema, Butler University, USA

• Satellite Television and the Public Sphere in Egypt: Is There a Link? Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada, Cairo University and MSA University, Egypt.

• Communicating the Negative Impact of Pack Journalism to Media Reporters, Gerald-Mark Breen and Jonathon Matusitz, University of Central Florida, USA

• Global or Local Identity?: A Theoretical Analysis of the Role of Viacom on Identity Formation Among Children in an International Context, Kristin C. Moran and Leeva C. Chung, University of San Diego, USA

• And more…

The Political Economy of Media

2010-02-19T17:38:00.000+03:30

We have already discussed about the political economy of media in our class,now, Monthly Review Press has just published a new book: The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas.

The book includes Robert W. McChesney's latest thinking on journalism, the Internet, global political economy, and the burgeoning media reform movement. More

Media Landscape - United Kingdom

2010-02-19T17:37:00.000+03:30

For MA students of the Institute for North American & European Studies of the University of Tehran (INAES)(Department of British Studies)

According to the report: Media Landscape - United Kingdom It should be remembered that, while, in many respects, the UK media landscape is a single entity, there are distinctive English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh dimensions, reflecting the composition of the State itself, and heightened by devolution in the late 1990s.

About DCMS

2010-02-19T17:32:00.000+03:30

For UK media class
we talk about this in class. You can find further information about the work of DCMS here: DCMS

Uk Film Council

2009-10-25T23:26:00.005+03:30

UK cinema student: for more information. click here:
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/

About Ofcom

2007-04-19T21:26:00.003+03:30

It is useful for media studies students:
Ofcom (Office of Communications) is the organisation which regulates the UK’s broadcasting, telecommunications and wireless communications sectors. Ofcom also sets and enforces rules on fair competition between companies in these industries.
Ofcom's main legal duties, as set out in the UK Communications Act 2003, are to ensure:
• the UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed information services
• a wide range of high-quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests;
• television and radio services are provided by a range of different organisations;
• people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material;
• people are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded; and
• the radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms and boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcasters) is used in the most effective way.
I suggest one of the students of uk media course accept this topic as the his or her term project