Media Studies 200: Intro to Media Studies
Intended for 80 undergraduate students
Fall 2024 at the University of Victoria
lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ territories
M and Th, 10 - 11:20am | 1.5 units | prereq: AWR
Taught by Jentery Sayers (he / him) | jentery@uvic.ca
Office hours: Th, 12-1pm, in CLE D331
Teaching assistant: Maya Linsley (she / any)
This worksheet covers material from Module 3: Approaches. Your response is due via Brightspace by Thursday, November 14th at 10am.
The worksheet is open-book, meaning you are allowed to use handouts, the course website, my slides, your notes, recordings of class sessions, the library, and the internet to address the prompts.
Please cite your source material.
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. You should respond to four of them. I will mark the first four if you respond to all five.
Each response is worth 25 points for a total of 100 points.
Most of the prompts ask you to create media. Please attach your audio, image, and video files to your response in Brightspace. Do not use YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Google Drive, or any other non-Brightspace platform to submit files.
1. Select a trend that gained traction in the content industry between 2020 and 2024. Now, find some content that represents it best. Copy the URL for that content and paste it into your response. That way, I can access it.
Use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Effects” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to: 1) describe the trend’s approach to media and communication, 2) explain the trend as a a) direct effect, b) minimal effect, and c) third-person effect, and 3) use an effects theory (page 3 of the “Effects” handout) to explain the trend.
Do not select any trends we discussed in class. Thank you.
2. Identify a subculture that you care about and then capture it in a representative photo or video. Include that photo or video in your response.
Use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Culture” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to: 1) explain why you care about this subculture, 2) describe its style, values, and public impression, 3) explain how it expresses its style and values through media, and 4) tell me what’s subcultural about its habits and content.
Do not select a subculture we discussed in class. Thank you.
3. Think of a creative or business project you’d like to launch one day and imagine an aesthetic for it. Now use that aesthetic to create three of the following media for the project: image, audio, text, video, and interface. Attach these three media to your response and then use 350 words, including terminology from the “Aesthetics” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to 1) share the title of the project, 2) describe its approach to composition, interaction, and experience, 3) identify the primary audience and explain how the project might resonate with them, and 4) give the project’s aesthetic a name or existing label.
Examples of existing labels include “punk,” “goth,” “minimalist,” “maximalist,” “realist,” and “speculative” aesthetics.
4. Imagine you work for a game company. Your boss asks you to make a puzzle for a cooperative mystery game that people could play at home or in an escape room. The puzzle should be set in a crime scene, and its solution should also solve the crime (“whodunnit”). Players will assume the role of amateur sleuths. You should use media of your choice to produce however many clues you wish according to two constraints: 1) your clues should include an icon, an index, and a symbol, and 2) at least two clues should be “true,” and at least one should be a “red herring.” Then use 350 words, including terminology from the “Meaning” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to 1) describe the puzzle, crime scene, and your clues, 2) share the solution to your puzzle and the crime, and 3) explain what you anticipate players would do to decode the clues and solve the crime. You are welcome to add any other elements you wish as long as you include all the elements above. You are also welcome to collaborate with one or two other people in class. If you do collaborate, then please include the names of your collaborators in your response. Each of you will get the same mark, and your responses should be more or less identical. Regardless of whether you collaborate, please attach all the media for your clues to your response.
A true clue helps players solve a puzzle. A red herring misleads or distracts them from solving the puzzle.
5. Identify a UVic program or community where you’d like to see change. Now, combine text with video, audio, or images to appeal for that change in a format of your choice. Then use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Persuasion” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to describe: 1) the program or community to whom you’re appealing, 2) the type(s) of rhetorical appeal(s) you’re making for change, 3) the problem motivating the change you wish to see, 4) who would be affected most by the change, and 5) what you think it would take to convince the program or community to make the change. Don’t forget to attach your media to your response. Thanks!
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. I do, however, recommend using prose rather than point form in your responses. It’s more synthetic and will allow you to make connections.
Please do not forget to cite any material from which you draw ideas or examples. This includes course handouts. You are welcome to use your preferred citation style (MLA, Chicago, or APA, e.g.).
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.
A response to Worksheet 3 is due by 10am on Thursday, November 14th, but there’s a two-day grace period. I will deduct five points for every business day I receive Worksheet 3 after 10am on Monday, November 18th. I will close the submission portal at 10am on Thursday, November 28th and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed.