This course is a combination of Media Studies and English - you can mix and match pretty a range of assessments from these subjects to best suit your program. A list of Media Studies standards can be found here and English standards here - come and see Richard for some suggestions of which standards work well together if you wish!
Each term, we'll focus on a text study (short stories, poetry, short films, long films, novels), and then students will be invited to complete an assessment based on that study. The class in Term One decided to focus on Fairy Tale by Stephen King as their chosen text - anyone wishing to join the class for term two should already have a copy of it, and have read at least a third of the way through the text (otherwise you'll just be really, really lost with everything we discuss in class).
Usually, students will lean towards completing these standards:
- Script Writing (Med 2.8/3.8), which can then go towards a writing folio!
- Writing Folio (Eng 2.4/3.4)
- Designing/Making a Short Film (Med 2.5/3.5, Med 2.6/3.6) (which can be based on the script you wrote)
- Creating a Visual Text (Eng 2.6/3.6) (which could be some of the materials in the film design)
- Analysing Film Techniques (Med 2.2/3.2, Eng 2.10/3.9)
Some things to note:
- We’ll study texts together, then choose an assessment to do based on that text. Not everyone in the class will choose the same assessment. You might be the only one in the room completing a visual text!
- Therefore, you really should have your head around the various NCEA standards before entering this class! This approach is not recommended for those students who require a lot of additional classroom support, but this approach does tend to work well for self-directed students.
- Picking up these assessments at Level 2 is not easy if you haven't done the corresponding assessment at an earlier level! If you don't yet have a foundation in Level 1 English/Media Studies yet, there's a level one-focused class in Yellow, which you could check out instead.
- Lastly, this is a senior course, so expect mature themes and content! For instance, the class might elect to study an R16 film later in the year: if you were not yet at the appropriate age, you'd have to find another program in this block.
- The focus of the course will be on internal assessments - students will be welcome to enter Eng 2.1, 2.2, 3.1 or 3.2, but we won't necessarily be spending that much time in class on essay writing techniques. For that reason, I'd recommend using an external study guide to prepare adequately for those assessments.