FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE 59 POST-TRUTH RESEARCHING THE PAST BARBIE BAKE-OFF AND RISK OR ROLE THE APPRENTICE MODEL? DOCUMENTARY POKÉMON GO SHORTS MM59_cover_4_feb.indd 1 06/02/2017 14:00 Contents 04 Making the Most of MediaMag MediaMagazine is published by the English and Media 06 What’s the Truth in a Centre, a non-profit making Post-fact World? organisation. The Centre Nick Lacey explores the role publishes a wide range of of misinformation in recent classroom materials and electoral campaigns, and runs courses for teachers. asks who is responsible for If you’re studying English 06 gate-keeping online news. at A Level, look out for emagazine, also published 10 NW and the Image by the Centre. System at Work in the World Andrew McCallum explores the complexities of image and identify in the BBC television 30 16 adaptation of Zadie Smith’s acclaimed novel, NW. 16 Operation Julie: Researching the Past Screenwriter Mike Hobbs describes the challenges of researching a script for a sensational crime story forty years after the event. 20 20 Bun Fight: How The BBC The English and Media Centre 18 Compton Terrace Lost Bake Off to Channel 4 London N1 2UN and Why it Matters Telephone: 020 7359 8080 Jonathan Nunns examines Fax: 020 7354 0133 why the acquisition of Bake Email for subscription enquiries: Off may be less than a bun [email protected] in the oven for Channel 4. 25 Mirror, Mirror, on the Editor: Jenny Grahame Wall… Mark Ramey introduces Copy-editing: some of the big questions we Andrew McCallum should be asking about the Subscriptions manager: nature of documentary film Bev St Hill 10 and its relationship to reality. Design: Sam Sullivan Newington Design Print: This magazine is not photocopiable. Why not subscribe to our web package S&G Group which includes a downloadable and printable PDF of the current issue? Cover: Public domain Tel 020 7359 8080 for details. 2 MM59_6 Feb 2017.indd 2 06/02/2017 14:08 Contents 30 Pokémon Go and the Future of Augmented Reality Sam Vydulinska explores the massive global phenomenon that is Pokémon Go. 34 Game-changing Shorts That Every Film Student Should See Michael Ewins introduces some of the strangest and 34 most iconic short films in the history of cinema. 38 Cartoon by Goom Who 54 Eye in the Sky: are you calling an audience? Drones, Strikes, and the Representation of Conflict 40 ‘You’re Fired’: a Marxist Maggie Miranda challenges Critique of The Apprentice the representations of A Level Media student Axel both terrorists and militia, Metz explores the capitalist and debates the moral responsibilities of modern ideology of The Apprentice. 40 43 warfare on screen. 43 Leicester: My City in the Spotlight 58 Why I Love... The Grand Harry Cunningham Budapest Hotel explores how his home Neil Paddison urges you city became a focal point to study Wes Anderson’s for the world’s media. very postmodern The Grand Budapest Hotel – and 46 John Williams: The Man introduces a whole new Who Orchestrated Our cinematographic Cinematic Lives… terminology. Part 2 of Will Rimmer’s tribute to the 62 Barbie – Risk or Role- celebrated film composer. model? A MediaMag article on 50 The Dark Cave of the Barbie? Really? Absolutely, 58 Silver Screen as a case study in Mark Ramey considers the representation, media experience of cinema-going, effects and audiences. and the history of the cinema itself – essential background 66 The MediaMag reading for Film students. Production Competition Details and deadlines for the production and writing competitions. 54 62 3 MM59_6 Feb 2017.indd 3 06/02/2017 14:08 Making the Most of MediaMag Mirror, Mirror on the Wall In the past, documentary film has often been described as either ‘a 62 window on the world’, or ‘a mirror of our world’. Yet this article argues that, as Reframing all good media students Barbie are aware, ‘there is no one Have you ever tried stop-frame animation way to represent the real’. 25 with Lego, Playmobile or other objects? Or In your group, ever seen the great Adam and Joe’s Toy Stories, use the points where the narratives of Friends, Trainspotting raised in Mark Ramey’s article to make a list or Titanic (aka ‘Furends’, ‘American Beautoy’ or of the various techniques and styles used by ‘Toytanic’) are enacted by cuddly animals? (http:// documentarists to construct their own versions chocolateismyprozac.blogspot.co.uk/2007/02/ of ‘real life’. You should be able to come up my-top-10-adam-and-joe-toy-stories.html) If with further style examples of your own. so, you’ll know how much fun you can have • Choose from the following well-known film-making with toys – and Barbie is the go-to documentary titles amongst your group, so inspiration for postmodern parody and pastiche. each of you takes one title to research: • Collect a range of Barbies (and Kens, – Planet Earth 2 (BBC1/Attenborough/2016) Midges, and other friends) in as many different styles and eras as possible, – First Dates (Channel4/2013 -) from charity shops, younger siblings – The Secret Life of 4/5/6-Year and nurseries – and have some fun. Olds (Channel4/2016 -) • Personalise them – create alternative identities – He Named Me Malala (Guggenheim/2015) for them, make outfits and accessories, design – Night Mail (Wright, Watt/1936) ‘looks’ or poses which challenge the ways Barbie is usually sold. For example: punk – CitizenFour (Poitras/2014) Barbie, Bashment Barbie, Goth Barbie, – Biggie and Tupac (Broomfield/2002) • Use them as the subjects of music – Don’t Look Back (Pennebaker/1965 videos – to tell a story, challenge a • Individually, research your chosen title, lyric, parody a genre, make a point. checking out YouTube for clips, and following • Remake a classic movie scene as an animated any Wikipedia links to fill any gaps in your Barbie storyboard, keeping as close to the knowledge. Prepare a 2-minute presentation original shots and angles, creating a mise-en- on your chosen doc, explaining to the rest scène, adding your own soundtrack and so on of your group its content, style and purpose, • Use Barbie as the starting point for a 60-second with a focus on the ways it ‘represents the video presentation on body image. real’ and what it expects from its audiences. • Create a Barbie history documentary, • Listen to and discuss each other’s presentations. demonstrating her influence and As a group, use what you have learned from the changing representation over time. research presentations to plan an essay entitled: • Develop and present a pitch for a new ‘There is no one way to represent the real. Discuss.’ Barbie movie, re-positioning her for the next generation ... the possibilities are endless! 4 MM59_6 Feb 2017.indd 4 06/02/2017 14:08 Operation Julie: Researching the Past – a Practical Exercise UKTV is commissioning for a new historical 16 documentary series for its 30 Yesterday Channel. Each episode of the show will be set in a different geographical location, Pokémon and focus on a local family or dynasty which has Go influenced the area in the past – for example, by providing employment or local industry, The Wikipedia page for Pokémon Go provides a mine charitable works, patronage of the arts, or of information about its development, technical involvement in local politics or education – or issues, global availability, revenue and cultural impact. even by generating a scandal. The aim is to Use this material, further online research, and your uncover the ‘hidden’ faces behind the local area own experiences of Pokémon Go, to make notes for and introduce them to a new generation. an essay arguing one of the following topics: You are a hungry young production company • Pokémon Go represents a real risk to individual privacy determined to get a foot in the door and • Pokémon Go is a truly global phenomenon which pitch for the show. Your task is to devise a has changed gaming forever worldwide pilot for the show, based on a historic family • Pokémon Go is good for young people in your local area. Most of your research will • Pokémon Go desperately needs regulation. necessarily have to be historical, based on secondary sources, or interviews with those Bun Fight – who knew the family in their lifetime. • Prepare a research report indicating your ideas How the BBC Lost Bake-Off for the pilot programme. You will need to: Brainstorm as many TV programmes as you can think – Identify the family at the centre of your of which have migrated from one channel to another show, and explain what contribution (excluding BBC shows which move from one BBC platform to they have made to the local area and another). Big Brother (from C4 to C5) and The Voice (from BBC why they will make good television. to ITV) are two recent examples, but there are many more. – Decide on a format for your show – will • Pick two such shows which you think have taken it be a conventional documentary, very different paths, and compare and contrast with voiceover, archive footage, etc, them. For each show, consider how the branding and or can you come up with a different USP of the show have changed in line with its new format, such as drama-documentary channel identity, the advantages and losses both for with reconstructions, or an investigative the broadcasters/channels, and for the production approach in which a local celebrity sets out companies which make the programmes, and the to discover the answers to a problem? impact of the switch on the experiences of audiences. – Make a list of the sources of information you expect to explore – for example, local libraries, Town Hall Records Office, websites and online archives, reference works, local newspapers, and people you might interview with memories of the family members.