Media Studies 200: An Introduction to Media Studies
Intended for 72 undergraduate students
Spring 2024 at the University of Victoria
lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ territories
M and Th, 10 - 11:20am
Taught by Jentery Sayers (he / him)
Office hours: Th, 11:30am - 12:30pm, in CLE D331
jentery@uvic.ca
This worksheet covers material from Weeks 4, 5, and 6 of MDIA 200. Your response is due via Brightspace by Thursday, February 15th at 10am. (Note that there’s a grace period. See details under “When to Submit It.”)
The worksheet is open-book, meaning you are allowed to use assigned primary sources, handouts, the course website, my slides, your notes, the library, and the internet to address the prompts.
Please cite your source material.
Please download the worksheet (DOCX format) to complete it in a word processor such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or Pages for Mac.
This open-book worksheet contains five prompts totalling 100 points. Each response is worth 20 points. You are welcome to attach media (audio, image, or video files) to your response when prompted.
1. Learning the “codes” or terminology of Media Studies helps us to better understand the composition of images and the work that goes into them. Let’s test this idea by annotating a comic.
Use terminology from the “Images” and “Comics” handouts to annotate these two spreads from Adrian Tomine’s “Translated, From the Japanese.” Fill the margins and gutters of the spreads with descriptions of what you see. Then use no more than 250 words to tell me what you learned about images from this exercise. You’re welcome to use software to annotate the spreads, or you can print them and annotate them manually. Just don’t forget to attach the annotations to your submission as image files.
2. Typefaces shape the meaning of text. They make historical and cultural references, and they afford text with symbolic and iconic significance. Let’s test this idea by modifying the text of an animation.
Use your preferred word processor, text editor, or design software to transcribe the text of these three frames in THE M00D 0F THE M0MENT. As you transcribe them, please change the typeface from Monaco to a typeface of your choice, including any changes you wish to make to the font as well. (I recommend consulting Typewolf, Google Fonts, or Wikipedia to learn more about typefaces along the way.) Then use no more than 250 words, including terminology from the “Text” handout, to tell me how your changes to the typeface and font (if applicable) alter the significance of YHCHI’s original text. Don’t forget to include the modified source material in your response. You can either paste it into the worksheet as text or attach it to the submission as an image file.
3. What a sound means in audio may not correspond with what caused it. Let’s test this idea by creating Foley sounds for a dramatic podcast.
Watch this video about Joanna Fang’s Foley work for Sony and then listen to minutes 9:38 - 19:18 of Episode 1 in Season 1 (transcript) of Within the Wires. Then create two Foley sounds that could play at some point during those ~10 minutes of the episode. Two rules: you cannot 1) use your mouth to make the sounds or 2) produce footsteps Foley. Now use no more than 250 words, including terminology from the “Audio” handout, to describe your two Foley sounds, their contribution to Wires, and what you learned about audio from this exercise. Don’t forget to attach your two audio files to your submission.
4. Video combines image and audio, yet it may juxtapose them, too. Let’s test this idea by masking them to analyze an animation. (Michel Chion proposed the masking method in Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen.)
Engage minutes 14:00 - 16:35 of Biidaaban four times and take notes as you do. First, watch them as is. Second, watch them with the sound off. Third, listen to them with the screen off. And finally, re-watch them as is. Then use no more than 250 words, including terminology from the “Video” handout, to describe a “negative image” and “negative sound” evoked by the animation. The negative image asks, “What do you see of what you hear?” While the negative sound asks, “What do you hear of what you see?” (Chion 192).
5. An interface not only transforms input into output; it also functions as a point where two worlds meet. You could even say it joins or articulates two worlds. Let’s test this idea by converting a photograph into a screen cap of a hypothetical video game.
Take a photo and then use whichever technique you prefer to draw a heads-up display (HUD) over it. (I recommend consulting the Game UI Database or Interface in Game for ideas.) You are welcome to “stage” the photograph as if it’s a scene in a game and add images and other “assets” to it during the editing process. Then use no more than 250 words, including terminology from the “Interface” handout, to describe your HUD and the genre of game featured in your screen cap. How does the HUD help to establish the game’s genre? Don’t forget to attach your image file to your submission.
I will use the following rubric, based on UVic’s official grading system, to assess your responses.
1 point will be deducted for every 25 words over the prescribed word count.
10 points will be deducted from the overall mark if no references are included at the end of the worksheet (see details below).
The total of these points (0-100) will constitute 20% of your final mark in this course.
You do not need to meet the word count in each response to earn a high mark.
Please do not forget to cite any material from which you draw ideas or examples. This includes material from the course. Here are some sample references to get you started.
Please submit a DOCX, ODT, PAGES, or PDF file containing your answers and references along with any media you were prompted to attach or embed. You are welcome to use your preferred citation style (MLA, Chicago, or APA, e.g.). The examples above (“Citing Your Sources”) are in MLA format.
A response to Worksheet 2 is due by 10am on Thursday, February 15th.
I will deduct five points for every business day (excluding holidays and weekends) that I receive Worksheet 2 after Tuesday, February 20th at 10am. (The 19th is a statutory holiday in BC.) I will close the submission portal at 10am on Thursday, February 29th and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed. Thank you for understanding.