Welcome to the History of the Media Study Site
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Course Aims: The course will focus on identifying technological developments as expressions of visionary individuals, and assessing their importance in constructing the media forms and values that we experience today.
Content: To identify the origins and conduct of the media; to organise data and test beliefs about it; to challenge assumptions about the worth of forms and values it espouses in democratic societies today.
Process: To practise research and reporting skills; to teach data analysis; to enhance oral and written skills.
Product: To construct defensible interpretations about the origins and present state of technology and the media; to create biographies on media pioneers; to write researched reviews of media history for its cultural impact on Western societies and explore its implications for democracy.
Environment: Students will take part in classes and workshops; students will spend class time in library searches; students will report on their findings via written research projects as negotiated. The course will require students to pace themselves so that excellent products emerge from a sustained commitment within our learning community environment.
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RESOURCES |
RADIO |
CINEMA |
TV/ VIDEO |
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The 100 most influential people in the history of the movies |
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History of Radio 1900-1999 mega links |
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1. Profile a media pioneer, assessing how her or his vision led to milestone technological changes, and assess their impact on the history of their chosen media, e.g., Charles Albert "Tod" Browning.
2. Report on the present state (form, conduct and values) of a media source by tracing its growth and impact on individuals and groups within the industry and those outside who are influenced by it.
3. Trace the history of a particular TV show or celebrity (e.g., Four Corners) to show how its content and presentation reflected its society at different times, and how and why it came to hold the popularity it generated.
4. Assess how well the media express public opinion. Consider why politicans' debates, TV ratings and polling, and the broadcasting of Parliament are contentious issues of the popular media today.
5. Recreate an era: describe how radio won World War II, how TV defeated the US in Vietnam, how the Western or disaster movie (viz., Towering Inferno) captured an era.
6. Critique an item from either radio, television or cinema archives. (Identify its intended purpose and real effects, and show how it embodies the values its era.
7. Negotiate a project with your seminar group and teacher.
8. Report on projects like VENEW or LOUD, or the indigenous cultural Network.
9. Report on and assess the etexts project.
10. Report on a famous cinema director or cinematographer
11. View the video, "Whisper in the Air", and assess the achievements of
G. Marconi as a landmark figure in the history of communications.
12. Design and construct a PowerPoint slide show integrating various media sources to show a significant development in the history of the media.
13. Report on and critique the OurQuestions internet project.
14. Report on the Jesuit Communication Project (Canada).
Martin Scorcese The Century of Cinema: A personal journey through Hollywood movies 791.430973 CEN (video)
Model introductions for the Year 12 History of the Media elective report. Due 2/8/99
You should indicate your focus, where you are going to go and what conclusions your Report reaches.
The history of modern mass communications would not be what they are without the work of Marconi inventing short wave radio broadcasts. This report aims to outline and assess the achievements of the great media pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. After an historical survey of his life, the writer will assess his impact on the industry and suggest that he justly deserves the eponymous title Father of Radio.
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Violence in the electronic media is a complex and contentious issue for it involves a wide range of consumers, of questions of defining it, and of regulation and censorship. This writer will limit discussion to its impact on young viewers, with special consideration of the tolerable limits already informally adopted by the industry itself. The report will conclude suggesting that parental guidance is the best regulator.
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Robert deNiro is a well known actor in the late twentieth century. His impact and achievements will be assessed in comparison with those of Charlie Chaplin also a star in his own era. This report will suggest that deNiro is worthy to be called a pioneer in film and television production.
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Baird to often touted as the father of television. But Philo Taylor Farnsworthís distinctive technical contribution in establishing the medium of modern television is less well remembered. This report will survey his role in that process and report on his impact as summarised in The Farnsworth Chronicles.
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Charlie Chaplin's central contribution to the entertainment industry is not often realised. He is a pioneer director as well as the famous actor who played his own invention, the bowler-hatted Tramp, in so many of his silent movies. This report will show what directing innovations Chaplin made to make his movies so successful, and will outline how his visual gags were a template for his successors.
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Devised by G. Smith 4 December 1998.
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