Curriculum links and activities: VCE Media Unit 1

Outcome 3 : Australian Stories

 
 
HSHS ? head.png

Suggested activities:

These activities could be completed as a class, and/or documented in an individual folio for submission. 

Before watching the documentary

  • Read the Synopsis and How the Film Came About chapters. Answer the questions related to each chapter and share with classmates.

  • Read about the filmmakers Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore and Michelle Grace Hunder and answer the stimulus questions.

  • Make a list with the class, (using a digital collaborative space such as a google doc, or a piece of paper), of a typical documentary structure, and the codes and conventions that you expect to see.

Watch the documentary

  • Expand on the media codes and conventions you guessed you would see, adding how they were used to engage audiences and communicate meaning.

After watching the documentary

  • Read the Documentary Style and Genre chapter and answer the stimulus questions.

  • Read the Production Process chapter and answer the stimulus questions. Explain the impact of institutional, economic, social constraints on the production and distribution of the documentary.

  • What is the documentary classified as/rated and how does this political constraint impact the distribution? Explain why you think the documentary is classified as M and discuss your views on the necessity of Australian classification.

  • Watch one of Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore’s Music Videos

    • Analyse the media codes and conventions used to engage audiences and communicate meaning

    • Identify similarities between the music video and the documentary and how these could indicate Sangiorgi Dalimore’s style

  • View one of Michelle Grace Hunder’s photography series

    • Analyse the media codes and conventions used to engage audiences and communicate meaning

  • Watch the original documentary Australia Women in Rock and Pop music used as archival footage. What similarities in non-fictional narrative structures are there? How has audience expectations and technology influenced the style of documentaries over time?

  • View an Australian fictional narrative and Explain similarities in themes and structures between this and the documentary. Suggest how these structures may have arisen from cultural histories and institutions. Suggested pairings:

    • photography series by Tracey Moffat

    • Australian television episode, such as Safe Harbour

    • an Australian film such as The Dressmaker (with ACMI resource here)

    • animation by Shaun Tan The Lost Thing

    • interactive graphic novel The Boat (SBS, Matt Huynh, 2015)

  • Present your investigations into Australian Stories as a magazine double page spread for a film magazine, such as Screen Education, Metro Magazine, Empire, or another of your choice. Use a program such as InDesign to develop a layout. Use screenshots from narratives you reference.

 
 

On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse how the structural features of Australian fictional and non-fictional narratives in two or more media forms engage, and are consumed and read by, audiences.

Key knowledge 

• the structure of Australian fictional and non-fictional media stories arising from cultural histories and institutions 

• media codes and conventions used to engage audiences and communicate meaning 

• the influence of the style of media creators and producers in the construction of fictional and non-fictional narratives 

• the impact of institutional, economic, social and political constraints on the production and distribution of fictional and non-fictional narratives 

• how audience engagement with and reception of narratives is affected by their expectation, consumption and prior reading of a range of fictional and non-fictional narratives in a range of contexts 

• media language. 

Key skills 

• analyse structures in Australian fictional and non-fictional media stories arising from cultural histories and institutions 

• analyse media codes and conventions used to engage audiences and communicate meaning 

• analyse the construction of narratives through the fictional and non-fictional style of media creators and producers 

• analyse the impact of institutional, economic, social and political constraints on the production and distribution of fictional and non-fictional narratives 

• discuss factors which impact on audience engagement and reception, such as consumption and prior reading of narratives in a range of contexts 

• use media language.

< Back to study guide quick-links index