2. Personal Study Project
• You will need to produce
1. A research document
• Collection of quotes and summarised information
based around your topic
• This should include research from a wide variety of
sources (not just websites- this is critical to achieving
beyond a Pass)
• An alphabetised bibliography on the final slide
DEADLINE 03/11/22 in Personal Study Section of website
3. Deadlines
Date w/c Task[s]
Summer Choose your focus topic and basic research of theories
12/09 Research all 4 theories (4 sources minimum)
19/09 Research theory (2 sources minimum)
26/09 Research product/person/studio (secondary research) (3 sources minimum)
03/10 Research product/person/studio (secondary research) (3 sources minimum)
10/10 Analyse a product/scene/specific pages/photographs/levels etc.
17/10 Final additions and upload to PERSONAL STUDY area of website. Start essay.
Half term
6. Auteur Theory
Summary of Theory
• Auteur Theory is a way of looking at
films that state that the director is the
“author” of a film. The Auteur theory
argues that a film is a reflection of the
director’s artistic vision; so, a movie
directed by a given filmmaker will
have recognizable, recurring themes
and visual queues that inform
the audience who the director is
(think a Hitchcock or Tarantino film)
and shows a consistent artistic
identity throughout that director’s
filmography.
Quotes
• “In this theory it is postulated that the
relation between the image and
reality can only be described in terms
of a specific director individual
interpretation of reality: how this
individual discloses, describes,
experiences and ultimately visualises
reality in the image.”
Author Pieter Jacobus Fourie
Book Title Media studies: Content, Audiences, and
production
Page Reference(s) 214
7. Reception Theory
Summary of Theory
• A reception theory is a philosophy,
usually applied to literature, that
recognizes the audience as an
essential element to understanding
the work's larger meaning. A
reception theory is a philosophy,
usually applied to literature, that
recognizes the audience as an
essential element to understanding
the work's larger meaning.
Quotes
• “the concept of reception in media
audience studies indicates that we are
interested in the way reader interpret
media texts. In other words when we
use reception theory to investigate
readers, we investigate theoretically
and empirically the process of
interpretation (sense making).”
Author Pieter Jacobus Fourie
Book Title Media studies: Content, Audiences, and
production
Page Reference(s) 244
8. Hypodermic Needle Model
Summary of Theory
The view that the media has the ability
to mesmerise, influence and even control
its audience has its roots firmly in the
early 20th century. Then new
communication technology in the form
of moving pictures, the gramophone and
radio expanded the mass media
previously occupied by newspapers.
Quotes
• “In the 1930s and 1940s it was
generally accepted that the media
have a strong effect on the behaviour,
thinking and attitudes of media users.
Isolated research during this period
(mainly on radio) largely supported
this hypothesis. This Research and its
results are today known as the
hypodermic needle theory.
Author Pieter J Flourie
Book Title Media Studies: Institutions, theories, and
issues
Page Reference(s) 294
9. The Male Gaze
Summary of Theory
• In feminist theory, the male gaze is
the act of depicting women and the
world, in the visual arts and in
literature, from a masculine,
cisgendered, heterosexual perspective
that presents and represents women
as sexual objects for the pleasure of
the heterosexual male viewer.
Quotes
• “since the 1960s the phrase “the male
gaze” has migrated beyond academe
and become a commonplace in work
of fiction, art exhibits, and movie
reviews. “the male gaze” now
reverberates through cultural
conversations across disciplinary and
national boundaries.”
Author James D. Bloom
Book Title Reading the Male Gaze in Literature and
Culture
Page Reference(s) 1
11. Auteur Theory
Author
Book Title
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• "There are no good and bad movies,
only good and bad directors" ~
Francois Truffaut
• "I believe we have two ideas about
how movies are made in our heads.
Idealizations. Platonic ideals. One of
them is of a movie that is completely
uncontrolled, and another is a movie
that is completely controlled. The
auteur theory vs. cinéma vérité." ~
Errol Morris
Quotes
"Film’s thought of as a director’s medium
because the director creates the end
product that appears on the screen. It’s
that stupid auteur theory again, that the
director is the author of the film. But
what does the director shoot-the
telephone book? Writers became much
more important when sound came in,
but they’ve had to put up a valiant fight
to get the credit they deserve." ~ Billy
Wilder
12. Auteur Theory
Author
Book Title
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• “On auteur theory: never has a critical
movement so thoroughly ignored the
one-hit wonders of its artform.
Imagine music without these gems—
half of pop rock would be gone and
musicologists would have nothing to
dig up!”
― Anthony Marais
Quotes
• “No artist is ever happy with all the
work they produce, so why should
their critics be? Let artists be revered
for their best works of art—even if it
happens but once in a lifetime—and
forget about the rest. All too often art
is a wondrous accident, and it is folly
to seek genius in its maker.”
― Anthony Marais
14. Newton Thomas Sigel Research 1
Author Newton Thomas Sigel
Source https://www.newtonthomassigel.com
Page Reference(s)
Details about topic/Quotes
• Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC photographed Bohemian Rhapsody, the exquisite portrait of Freddie Mercury,
the rock band Queen, and their extraordinary appearance at the Live Aid concert of 1985.
• Sigel went on to earn a Best Cinematography nomination for his work on the film at the 2019 EE British
Academy Film Awards. Bohemian Rhapsody also took home the 2019 Golden Globe for Drama Motion
Picture, along with Rami Malek nabbing a multitude of accolades -- including an Academy Award -- for his
portrayal of Freddie.
• Since the early days of his career, Sigel has earned a powerful position amongst visual storytellers starting
with his work on cult classic The Usual Suspects for director Bryan Singer. The two went on to collaborate
on nine more films, including the X-Men movies, Superman Returns and Valkyrie.
• In 2010, he photographed Nicolas Winding Refn’s Hollywood debut, Drive, which won the Best Director
Award at Cannes and is universally praised for its dazzling look.
• Sigel is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, the Director’s Guild of America and the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is based in Los Angeles and is represented by UTA.
15. Topic Research 2
Details about topic/Quotes
Some articles I want to reference:
• Visual Storytelling — Cinematography Techniques from Newton Thomas Sigel (Drive, Bohemian Rhapsody)
– YouTube – talks about how to tell a story through cinematography techniques, using different lenses,
camera movements, aspect ratio etc.
• Newton Thomas Sigel — Drive Cinematography Breakdown (studiobinder.com) – Breaks down the
cinematography specifically in drive
• Clubhouse Conversations — Da 5 Bloods - The American Society of Cinematographers (ascmag.com) –
talks about telling a story powerfully about racial injustice and the Vietnam war.
• ‘Da 5 Bloods’ Cinematographer Tom Sigel Lenses Spike Lee’s Modern Epic – Awardsdaily – the different
lenses used in ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and what effect it has.
• ‘Cherry’ DP Newton Thomas Sigel Gives Visual Form To Psychic Wounds – Deadline – uses the camera as a
character inner monologue as well as creating an aesthetic.
• 'Cherry' Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel on ‘The Usual Suspects’, 'X-Men', and More — FilmSpeak
– his thoughts and feeling on each project, what he remembers, what he did to make an impact etc.
• Cherry Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel on the Film's Ambitious Visual Style (collider.com) – how
shooting cherry was different to all of his other projects
• How Cherry Artisans Tell a Sweeping Story From One Man's POV (Video) (moviemaker.com)
16. Topic Research 3
Author
Source
Page Reference(s)
Details about topic/Quotes
• “FILM IS DRAMA, AND DRAMA IS CREATED BY THE RELATIONSHIP OF
OPPOSITES: DARK AND BRIGHT, NIGHT AND DAY. I’M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR
WAYS TO EXPRESS THE DEGREE OF DRAMA IN ANY GIVEN SCENE.”
• “I’m always looking for ways to express the degree of drama in any given scene.
If you look at ‘Cherry’, what you see is a naive man who falls in love. When his
heart is broken, he goes off to war, gets PTSD, and when he comes back is unable
to fit into society. So you have a story where it begins with potential, with love,
and it goes from that quality to what eventually is a very colourless, dark colour
palette. The darkness starts to take over. That relationship between dark and
light is a direct outgrowth of what’s happening to your principal character
emotionally.”
17. Details about topic/Quotes
- “ I think I've evolved a lot in my relationship with directors. What I have really
learned is to sus out what they are struggling with. That’s really about listening
and perceiving where they are coming from. Your job is to help them get there.” –
studio binder, visual storytelling – cinematography techniques from Newton
Thomas Sigel.
- He shot “Superman Returns” and a small film called “Towelhead” digitally and
learned a lot about digital cinematography but then his next 4 films were all done
on film. He works in both however prefers to work with film as that is what he
grow up using. He saw Bob Richardson using The Alexia on “Hugo” and he just got
a movie called drive so he decided to take a look at it. He tested it and it blow him
away. He says “The Alexa was really the camera that made my firm commitment
to cellulite, this is a world I want to explore”
Topic Research 4
Author
Source
Page Reference(s)
18. Details about topic/Quotes
- “the visual of any given shot or scene is determined by three principle factors:
composition, lighting and camera movement. Lens choice impacts each one of
these.”
- “ I was enamored of the New Wave filmmakers - Godard, Resnais, Fellini,
Antonioni, and the like. Everything they did seemed so fresh and invigorating, so
unpredictable; they made me stop painting to focus on filmmaking.”
Topic Research 5
Author
Source
Page Reference(s)
19. Details about topic/Quotes
- He began his career in documentary and has been working for 40 years in
cinematography.
- Born August 1955 (age 67 years) Detroit Michigan, USA.
- He is Jewish and marries to Lisa Chang.
- He studied painting in New York City, becoming an artist in residence at the
Whitney Museum of American Art.
- He began his career working with experimental filmmaker Kenneth anger as a
camera operator. He then went on to do documentary work which he won awards
for, his photography also caught people attention and then went on to became
dop on his first feature film ‘latino’.
Topic Research 6
Author
Source
Page Reference(s)
20. Micro Analysis – CHERRY
Source The Cinematography of CHERRY – Jeremy Walton (YouTube)
Analysis
• Cherry is split up into 6 chapters. For each of the
chapters, Newton uses different lens, lighting,
camera movements and ratios to create
different looks. The chapters are Prologue, I saw
you, Basic, Cherry, Home and Dope life. The
Russo brothers focuses on cherry life off
decades so they tried to convey the story
cinematically.
• Newton says that “ we didn’t storyboard
anything really, we talked about each chapter,
we talked about the look of the film a fair
amount, and we shared images and references
that we came across, both thematically and
aesthetically. And I think that drove a lot of the
definition of the look of the film.”
Prologue
I saw you
Basic
Cherry
Home
Dope life
21. Micro Analysis – CHERRY
Source The Cinematography of CHERRY – Jeremy Walton (YouTube)
Analysis
• In the first chapter where you are introduced to
the characters, newton refers to the scene as
“magical realisms”
22. Personal Research Project
• You need to produce an exploration of an element of media that you are
passionate about and is directly linked to the style of media you will make
in your FMP.
• This could be centred around a specific director, product, specific genre or
a social/historical/cultural context.
• You will need to write a minimum of a 1500 word essay exploring the
topic.
• You will also need to complete a bibliography of sources directly used in
your essay.
• The final section of your essay will focus on how your findings link to your
own work and your intended outcomes on your FMP this year
23. Essay Title
• Person or Studio Focus
How is [THEORY] relevant when analysing
the work of [PERSON/STUDIO]?
• Specific Product Focus
How is [THEORY] relevant when analysing
[PRODUCT]?
• Choose your person, studio or product that you will
focus on related to what you will make as your FMP
• Choose one of the theories from the
24. Essay Plan
• Your study should be structured using the following
– Select a director/designer/producer/studio/etc
[dependent on your area of interest] that you consider a
strong influence on your work and that you can do the
necessary analysis and investigations into, both from a
technical focus and academic focus
– Undertake macro analysis, this would be looking at the
wider context of their work [this could be historical
backgrounds, the world they operate in, influences, where
their work is seen, etc]
– Undertake micro analysis, this would focusing on specific
films/scene/levels of a game/photos/graphic designs etc
– Link this investigation to your own work and your intended
outcomes on your FMP
25. Essay Plan
1. Introduction to your topic (~100 words)
– Who/What did you research? What do you plan to discover through your discussion? How will you go about
doing this (macro, micro and application of theory)?
2. Introduction to your theory (~100 words)
– Explain what your theory is and its origins. What are the main beliefs of the theory? What are the criticisms of
the theory?
3. Macro analysis (400+ words)
– Context of a person: Reference their history with media. What products have they made in the past? What is
their production signature? How are they critically regarded? Any criticisms of their work?
– CDiscuss the studio/company that made it and their history.ontext of a product: Reference the production
process. How is the work critically regarded? Any criticisms of the product?
4. Micro analysis (400+ words)
– Analyse the product/scene/specific pages/photographs/levels etc.
– Discuss the technical construction of what you are analysing (colour, composition, content etc etc) and reference
what impact each aspect discussed on the audience .
5. Application of Theory (400+ words)
– Apply your chosen theory to your chosen product/person/studio with frequent examples.
6. Your own work [~200 words]
– Talk about specific elements of the study that you will incorporate into your FMP this year;
– Link specific research outcomes to elements of your planned FMP, whether it be technical aspects, conceptual
elements or creative inspirations
– Be specific and aim to talk about 3-5 areas that you can link forward into the FMP
7. Conclusion (100 words)
– Reference general theory and your focus statement when making your concluding points
– What have you discovered from your study?
– Answer the question from your title
26. Academic Media Theories
• You should make specific reference to at least
one of the following media theories:
1. Auteur Theory
2. Reception Theory
3. The Hypodermic Needle Model
4. The Male Gaze
• You may find other relevant theories in your
investigations for your research document
29. Micro Analysis Checklist
• Mise en scene
• Colour, costume and props discussing their subtext/connotations
• Binary opposition where appropriate
• Camera
• Shot type (Extreme long shot, long shot, medium long shot etc)
• Angle (High angle, low angle, eye level etc)
• Movement (or lack of movement with a locked off shot)
• Focus (shallow or deep focus)
• Composition (who is higher in the frame, closer to the camera).
• Editing
• Compare a minimum of two shots and discuss their relationship (are the shots the same or different? Why?
• Pace (fast or slow paced shots edited together)
• Any specific editing techniques (match on action, jump cut, montage etc.).
• Sound
• Diegesis (Diegetic, Non-Diegetic)
• Location of sound (internal, external, simple, displaced)
• Visibility of the sound (synchronous, asynchronous)
• Music suitability (parallel, contrapuntal).
• Lighting
• Key (high key, low key)
• Colour/temperature (warm, cold)
• Harshness (soft light, hard light).
• Text/Font
• Serif/San Serif
• Colour
• Font style
• Hierarchy
• Text/Dialogue
• What is being said/written
30. Quotes/Sources
• Reference and foreground your focus
statement regularly.
• Include your sources regularly and throughout
– Quotes, statistics, analysis, film dialogue etc
• Include a referenced source directly in your
discussion every 250 words (as a minimum).
• Update your research document as you
include additional sources (if necessary).
31. Types of sources
• Chosen products (films, art, magazines, TV shows, games etc)
• Books (written by or about your director/theme) [Google Books]
• Academic articles (Google scholar)
• Interviews
• Documentaries
• DVD extras
• DVD commentaries
• Reviews/Popular Articles
• Journals
• Questionnaires (survey monkey/MS Forms)
• Focus groups
32. Bibliography STYLES FOR DIFFERENT SOURCES
1. Film Title (YEAR) Directed by DIRECTOR [film] Location of Distributor:
Distributor.
2. “Episode Title” (YEAR) SHOW NAME. Series and Episode numbers.
Channel. Day or broadcast.
3. Game Title (YEAR) Console [game] Studio. Studio Location.
4. Artist surname, artist first initial. (YEAR) Title [details of its materials]
Location where it is. City where it is
5. Artist surname, artist first initial. (YEAR) Title
6. Author surname, author first initial. (YEAR). Title. Publisher Location:
Publisher.
7. Author surname, author first initial. (YEAR). Title. Available:
WEBLINK. Last accessed DATE YOU LAST VISITED SITE.
8. Author surname, author first initial.(YEAR) “Article title”, Magazine
(Issue Number), PAGE REFERENCE
9. In writing
“QUOTE” (INTERVIEWEE cited in AUTHOR, YEAR, PAGE REFERENCE)
In Bibliography
Author. (YEAR) “Article title”, Magazine (Issue Number), PAGE
REFERENCE
10. Anon (n.d.) Title Available: WEBLINK. Last accessed DATE YOU LAST
VISITED SITE.
1. Film
2. TV show
3. Game
4. Art
5. Photography
6. Book
7. Website
8. Magazine article
9. Citation
10.Unknown
author/date
33. Bibliography STYLE EXAMPLES
1. Jaws (1975) Directed by Francois Truffaut [film] Universal City,
California: Universal Pictures
2. “Gone” (2001) Spaced. Series 2 Episode 5. Channel 4. 30th March
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) Nintendo Switch
[game] Nintendo. Kyoto.
4. Goya, F. (1819) Saturn Devouring His Son [mixed media mural
transferred to canvas] Museo del Prado. Madrid
5. McCurry, S. (1984) Afghan Girl
6. Greene, N (2007). The French New Wave - A New Look . London:
Wallflower Press.
7. Hitchman, S. (2008). A History of French New Wave Cinema .
Available: http://www.newwavefilm.com/about/history-of-french-
new-wave.shtml. Last accessed 11th Mar 2022.
8. Smith, J. (2014) “French New Wave Cinema”, Total Film (Issue 332),
p34-35
9. In writing
“QUOTE” (Truffaut cited in Smith, 1994, p25)
In Bibliography
Smith, J (1994) “Interview with Truffaut”, Sight and Sound (issue 67),
p24-25
10. Anon (n.d.) The French New Wave Available: www.realwebsite.com
Last accessed 11th Mar 2022.
1. Film
2. TV show
3. Game
4. Art
5. Photography
6. Book
7. Website
8. Magazine article
9. Citation
10.Unknown
author/date
35. Z Library
• https://z-lib.org/ is a really useful website to get
online PDFs of almost any book in existence.
• You can look up keywords and find quotes really
easily
36. York College Library
Access to
ebooks online
following links
on the Opac
Use the CLASS code to
find the physical book
in the library
https://elibrary.yorkcollege.
ac.uk/opac/opacreq.dll/ne
w
40. Zlibrary
Some will let you
access online, some
you may need to
download as a PDF
(you can get zlibrary to
send a copy to your
Kindle or ebook
reader)
Some features only
unlock if you have an
account. But its free.
https://cc1lib.club/
You can access both
books and journals.
44. Cite them right
You can find additional support on referencing on
https://www.citethemrightonline.com/
45. In text references
• Comes in 3 Flavours;
1. Regular
• Include a quote and then out the author’s surname and year of release
– Films such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), which employs the post-modern narrative focus
of an oppressed minority and applies modernistic Silver Age comics visual style through “Ben-Day Dots,
hard facial lines, and misaligned color palettes” (Cardenas, 2021),
2. Front-load it
• Mention the author, title of the book/article and year of publication before jumping into the quote
– Luke Turner authored the Metamodernist Manifesto in 2011, formalising his beliefs of the core
principals of the movement. Turner states metamodernity is “an oscillation between positions, with
diametrically opposed ideas operating like the pulsating polarities of a colossal electric machine,
propelling the world into action”.
3. Citation
• If someone was quoted in something else (like someone being interviewed in an article) you “cite”
them
– For it to have been universal across all homo sapien societies (as it is suggested) then “it must have a
social purpose” (de Waal cited in Ambrosino, 2019).
46. Including sources
• When including a source in your script include brief information from your
bibliography with a page reference where relevant.
Example
Truffaut uses long shot durations throughout the 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959).
Truffaut references this stating “It was an accident” (Truffaut in Smith, 1994,
p34).
12. Truffaut, F (1959) The 400 Blows
13. Truffaut, F cited in Smith J (1994) Interview with Truffaut (Sight and
Sound, issue 67)
