Media Studies 200: Intro to Media Studies
Intended for 60 undergraduate students
Fall 2025 at the University of Victoria
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 (marking): Maya Wei Yan Linsley (she | any)
Worksheet 2 covers all material from Module 2: Media. Your response is due via Brightspace by Thursday, October 16th 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, including any media you discuss in your responses.
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 or spread 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) say why you selected the comic, 2) share some decisions you made while annotating it, 3) explain how you organized the annotations, and 4) tell us what you learned about the medium of images from this exercise. You’re welcome to use software to annotate the page or spread, or you can print it and annotate it manually. Don’t forget to attach the annotations to your submission as an image file.
I recommend consulting these examples of how to annotate a comic. 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.
If you’re new to comics and don’t know where to begin, then you’re welcome to annotate a page or spread of Adrian Tomine’s “Translated, From the Japanese” for this exercise.
Prompt 2. Identify some signage on campus or somewhere in Greater Victoria that uses text in a memorable way. Photograph the sign and attach that photo to your submission. Now identify a typographical change you could make to the sign that would subtly adjust or refine its style and material connotation without dramatically altering its verbal and functional communication. You should thus avoid typographical modifications (like Wingdings) that would change the sign’s language. Next, use your preferred software to 1) transcribe the sign’s text (all of its alphanumeric characters), 2) change its typeface and font, 3) export your new version of the sign as an image or text file, and 4) attach that file to your submission. For your final step, use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Understanding Media” and “Text” handouts, to tell us 1) which typeface you selected for the sign, 2) why you selected that typeface to replace the original one, 3) how the features of your new typeface subtly adjust or refine the sign’s style and material connotation, 4) how those features avoid introducing any dramatic alterations to the sign’s verbal and functional communication, and 5) what you learned about the medium of text from this exercise. Don’t forget to include a photograph of the original sign and your modified version of it in your response.
I recommend consulting Typewolf, Google Fonts, or even Wikipedia to learn more about typefaces during this exercise.
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 us what you learned about the medium of audio from this exercise. Don’t forget to attach your two audio files and your video file to your submission.
You are welcome to edit your short video to include your Foley sounds (rather than using timestamps and attaching the audio separately), but video editing is not an expectation of this prompt and will not shape our assessment of your response.
Prompt 4. Watch Biidaaban a few times and take notes as you do. Now, review your notes and identify three different types of camera shots in the video. Then use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Understanding Media” and “Video” handouts, to 1) include still images documenting each of the three camera shots you identified, 2) provide the following information for each camera shot: a) timestamp, b) shot type, c) brief shot description (the action and the shot’s content), and d) why you selected it, and 3) tell us what you learned about Biidaaban and the medium of video from this exercise. Don’t forget to attach three image files (one per type of camera shot) to your submission.
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. 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) explain how you made it, 3) identify its genre, and 4) tell us what you learned about the medium of interfaces from this exercise. You are welcome to use software (electronic, digital means) or paper (print, analog means) to make your HUD. Don’t forget to attach your image file to your submission.
I recommend consulting the Game UI Database or Interface in Game for ideas during this exercise.
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 recommend writing about the same topic or theme in every response (e.g., four responses about video games, TikTok, or a particular fandom).
I do not recommend relying on generative AI or other AI tools to write your responses to this assignment. AI-generated responses tend to be generic, and they lack self-reflection, which is an element of every prompt in this worksheet. AI results can also be biased and inaccurate. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you use from AI is accurate. You should also pay attention to the privacy of your data. Many AI tools will incorporate and use any content you share, so be careful not to unintentionally share copyrighted materials, original work, or personal information. In short, relying on AI could create more work for you in the end.
All sources, including AI tools, must be properly cited. (Language for this policy was drawn from language used at the University of Washington.)
Please do not forget to cite any material from which you draw ideas or examples. This includes course handouts but also any AI tools if you use them. 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 Monday, October 20th. This is an extension (from the date originally posted here), and thus there is no grace period. I will close the submission portal for Worksheet 2 at 10am on Thursday, October 30th, and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed. I will not accept any submissions by email.