Media Studies 200: Intro to Media Studies
Intended for 70 undergraduate students
Spring 2025 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: M and Th, 12-1pm, in CLE D331
Teaching assistant (marking): Maya Linsley (she / any)
Worksheet 2 covers all material from Module 2: Media. Your response is due via Brightspace by Thursday, February 13th, 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.
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. You should respond to four of them. If you respond to all five, then I will mark the first four.
Each response is worth 25 points for a total of 100 points.
Some prompts ask you to create media. Please attach your audio, image, or video files to your response in Brightspace. Do not use YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Google Drive, or any other non-Brightspace platform to submit files.
Prompt 1. Use terminology from the “Understanding Media,” “Images,” and “Comics” handouts to annotate one page of a comic of your choice. Fill the margins and gutters of the comic with descriptions of what you see. Then use no more than 350 words to 1) describe your annotations, 2) explain how you organized them on the page, and 3) tell me what you learned about comics and images from this exercise. You’re welcome to use software to annotate the page, or you can print it and annotate it manually. Just don’t forget to attach the annotations to your submission as an image file.
Stuck? Looking for ideas? Check out these examples from Nick Sousanis’s comics classes in 2015-18. Note how most of them are colour-coded, include a legend, and place the comic on a larger canvas or piece of paper for the sake of annotation.
You’re welcome to annotate a page of Adrian Tomine’s “Translated, From the Japanese” for this exercise. We studied it in class. You’re also welcome to annotate a spread (two pages) instead of a single page.
Prompt 2. Use your preferred 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 even Wikipedia to learn more about typefaces along the way.) Then use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Understanding Media” and “Text” handouts, to tell me 1) which typeface you selected, 2) why you chose that typeface to replace Monaco, 3) how the features of your new typeface alter the meaning of THE M00D’s story, and 4) what you learned about text and typefaces from this exercise. 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.
Please change the typeface only once across all three frames. Do not change the typeface in every frame.
Prompt 3. Watch this video about Joanna Fang’s Foley work for Sony. Then record a short video (no longer than a minute) of a scene from your everyday life. (It doesn’t have to include any people in it.) Now create and record two Foley sounds that could play at some point during your short video. Two rules: 1) you cannot use your mouth to make the sounds, and 2) you cannot produce footsteps Foley. Next, use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Understanding Media” and “Audio” handouts, to 1) describe your two Foley sounds, 2) explain how you made them, 3) provide timestamps for when they would play in your short video, and 4) tell me what you learned about audio from this exercise. Don’t forget to attach your two audio files and your video file to your submission.
Prompt 4. Watch Biidaaban a few times and take notes as you do. Now, review your notes and identify three important shots in the video. Then use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Understanding Media” and “Video” handouts, to 1) provide the following information for each shot: a) timestamp, b) shot type (e.g., ECU, MS, LS, or LA), c) brief shot description (the action and the shot’s content), and d) why you selected it, and 2) tell me what you learned about Biidaaban and video from this exercise. Try to cover a variety of shot types. The “Video” handout includes a list of them.
Prompt 5. Take a photo of a scene from your everyday life 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 350 words, including terminology from the “Understanding Media” and “Interfaces” handouts, to 1) describe your HUD, 2) identify its genre, 3) explain how you made it, and 4) tell me what you learned about interfaces from this exercise. 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 “Citing Your Sources”).
5 points will be deducted from the overall mark if the references at the end of the worksheet are not formatted according to an established citation style (see “Citing Your Sources”).
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 recommend using prose (paragraphs) rather than point form in your responses. Prose is more synthetic and will allow you to make connections.
You should also avoid repetition within responses and across them. I do not, for instance, recommend writing about the same topic or theme in every response (e.g., four responses about video games, TikTok, or a particular fandom).
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 files you were prompted to attach or embed.
A response to Worksheet 2 is due by 10am on Thursday, February 13th, but there is a grace period. I will deduct five points for every business day I receive Worksheet 2 after 10am on Tuesday, February 18th. I will close the submission portal for Worksheet 2 at 10am on Thursday, February 27th, and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed. I will not accept any submissions by email.