Media Arts literacy: putting it together

It is imperative to the subject of Media Arts that students can undertake written analytical and interpretation commentary of existing and original media artworks. As with all arts, an opinion in Media Arts is largely subjective, and thus it is advantageous for students to justify their commentary and critique of media artworks through clear and effective reasoning and vocabulary to convince others that their analyses have been effectively considered (Caldwell, 2011).

Teachers can guide students' written analysis of media artworks using a response taxonomy, which allows students to write their thoughts in an ordered manner, showing their knowledge towards some, or all, of the command terms below (HITS Strategy 10).

• Identify a component of a media artwork that might be discussed
• For example, a technical or symbolic element, code, convention of story principle

• Describe the use of components within a media artwork
• Students use denotation and media arts terminology or recount an aspect or moment within a media artwork.

• Explain and the intended meaning and analyse the intended purpose/effect.
• Students use connotation and media arts terminology to discuss the link between the component, how the creator has used the component and its intended effect.

• Evaluate the degree to which the creator or media artwork achieved his/her/their intention and/or affected the audience.
• For example, students may qualify what made a media artwork engaging, or propose why the audience might have responded to it in a way.

  (adapted from Macken- Horarik, Love, Sandiford & Unsworth, 2018, p. 15)

Explicit instruction about what and how students should be writing in each section is fundamental to foster abilities to undertake discussion and show knowledge across the response taxonomy (Bruce, 2008).

Written analysis of media artworks

Suggested techniques for each section are outlined below (HITS Strategy 3). For this example, the following prompt is used to show the development of a student's response to a higher-order command term across the taxonomy. 

Evaluate the manipulation of technical codes and how these were harnessed to develop audience engagement in a media artwork you have studied.

The student responses are for the short film, Screambeard (2015).

Identify

The aim of the identify stage is for students to recognise what is being asked of them, what Media Arts terminology they might use in their response, and examples from the Media artwork being studied that are relevant.

In their topic sentence, students show their understanding of the command term and media arts terminology within the question. Students can achieve this by repurposing media arts terminology in the question in their responses. In the sample below, repurposed terms have been highlighted green.

Describe

The aim of the describe stage is for students to use evaluative language to express positive and/or negative appreciation of the features of specific examples. This is sometimes referred to as creating a word picture from the media artwork, which encourages students to use illustrative language in their explanation of Media artworks.

Students write a description which includes:

• Media Arts terminology, and
• a viewpoint of the chosen example using evaluative word choices (e.g. evaluative nouns ‘desperation,' evaluative verbs ‘enhance').

 The evaluative words might be intensified or softened

• e.g. through repetition ‘again and again,'
• intensified adjectives ‘growing desperation' or
• adverbs ‘further enhance,' ‘increasingly.'

The following paragraph is constructed to describe or recall a moment being discussed:

The scene begins with the character, Ben (played by Lachlan Kelaher) attempting to shave. As the scene progresses, Ben's beard is seen to reappear again and again. This is achieved using editing codes: cuts and montage. Kelaher's use of facial expression further enhances the comedic mood of this moment, showing Ben's growing desperation as he tries increasingly more and more extreme ways to rid himself of his beard.

Explain and analyse

The aim of explanations and analyses are for students to outline how their description (e.g. the use of technical codes) connotes meaning, linking technical and symbolic elements to their intended effect on the audience. In other words, students should:

• explain what they have viewed as an audience
• offer an interpretation (analysis) of what they perceive the creator's goal was.

After identifying the technical code, students explain how meaning is connoted. Students identify the verbs used to explain their connotations, and then use them to offer an interpretation of how the media elements or conventions embed meaning.  The following two paragraphs show the student's explanation and analysis of two elements of the film.

Editing and Kelaher's acting are used to infer the magic quality of Ben's beard and give agency to the character's experience. This is achieved because the shots of Kelaher with his beard intact were filmed before the shots of Kelaher as clean-shaven and appearing confident. These shots were then reordered using editing. This creates a jump cut effect so that Ben's beard reappears as he looks in the mirror, and are further enhanced through Kelaher's shocked facial expression.

The creator of "Scrambeard" effectively harnesses the comedic potential of this scene by developing and then confirming the Audience expectation that Ben's beard will continue to regenerate. The creator uses jump cuts to engage the audience in the comedic nature of Ben's reactions, harnessing repetition in the editing structure to achieve this.

Evaluate

Evaluation allows students to offer judgement or interpretation about the Media Artwork they are analysing. To do this effectively, students must combine and use the discussion points they have used across the response taxonomy to justify their answer.

It is helpful in the evaluation stage to foster student critique. However, teaching students to evaluate Media artworks positively has the potential to develop students' critical appraisal more effectively, rather than negative criticism. The following paragraph shows a student's positive evaluation of a Media Artwork.

The comedic mood is successfully created in this scene because the audience is engaged in the dramatic irony of the situation. Their expectations are confirmed, and they can therefore enjoy Kelaher's portrayal of Ben's reactions, as he continues to attempt the removal of his beard, which the audience knows is impossible.

Review

As a whole class activity, the teacher may encourage students to deconstruct their responses as a means of critically analysing the effectiveness of their discussion and use of Media Arts terminology across the response taxonomy. This exercise may assist student understanding of interpretation and analytical writing. They may also keep their annotated response as an example for future review (HITS Strategies 6 and 9).

The student example below has been deconstructed and highlighted according to the following:

Curriculum links for the above example: VCAMAR038, VCAMAR039, VCAMAR045, VCAMAR046

Learning sequence

The learning sequence for Levels 9 and 10 in Media Arts, demonstrates how literacy teaching strategies can be used in a sequence. 

A learning sequence tool is also available to assist in the planning of Media Arts and Literacy across a series of lessons.

References

Bruce, D. L. (2008). Visualizing literacy: Building bridges with Media. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 24(3), 264-282.

Caldwell, T. (2011). Film analysis handbook: Essential guide to understanding, analysing, and writing on film. Insight Publications.

Macken-Horarik, M., Love, K., Sandiford, C. & Unsworth, L. (2018). Functional Grammatics. Re-conceptualizing Knowledge about Language and Image for School English. Routledge: London and New York.