BBC School Report 2014

To view our videos from BBC School Report 2014 and our updates of the day.  Click here.

Photography competition - deadline to Mrs Lory is Wednesday 28th January 2015

Hello,

Here is a national photography brief.  The deadline is on 30th January and you would need to get submissions to Mrs Lory by Wednesday. Email to l.lory@stbons.org with your name, date of birth and form class.  Good luck.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BRIEF or read below.

A good podcast from The Guardian on gender representation

Listen to this podcast from The Guardian and answer the following questions.  

To go to the original article - click here: 

The Guardian, Tech Weekly special: women in games – breaking the boys' club

Inspired by the recent GDC in San Francisco, we discuss the depiction of gender in video games with three industry insiders

 Start listening at 11mins 30.  You can download the podcast to your phone/ipod or stream online.

Answer all the questions 1-11 and if you want to stretch yourself (A/B) answer 12-14 as well.   Answers can be typed up or hand-written and most only need to be a couple of sentences.

1)  What does the interviewee mean when she says game developers gets to define what ‘normal’ is (with regard to representation)?  (11 mins)

2) What is the relationship between marketing/advertising companies and the mainstream audience of teenage and young adult male audiences?   (13 mins)

3)    Why was ‘Mass Effect’ a good idea for representation, even if it didn’t work fully?  (15 mins)

4)    They comment on the idea that triple A games are made for a global audience (i.e. to be sold around the world).  Why do they think British games often didn’t get commissioned (made)?  Link to who is represented in the games.  (20 mins)

5)    Summarise a couple of points made about Lara Croft and people’s feelings towards her.  (22 mins)

6)    Do you think there is a problem with the new Lara Croft game trailer making it appear that she she is vulnerable and needs protecting -  this includes an inferred sexual attack.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkLAVSA_Wgc

7)    Bioshock Infinite – why is it a good game in terms of content and themes?  What is a problem with the female representation?  (appearance, playability, damsel in distress)  (27 mins)

8)    Do you believe the media needs to have more positive role models (characters) in it & why?  Try to link to female representation.

9)    What do they mean by the idea that female characters don’t have enough agency in a game?  Give an example to support your point. 

10) (At 39 mins) What percentage of women work in the games industry?  What impact do you think this has on the diversity/variety of characters being developed?

11) How much less money do women earn in the industry?

12) HOTs - What do they mean when they refer to the ‘machismo’ work culture of the gaming industry?

13) HOTs - How can games change?  Anna Anthropy has written a book called ‘The rise of video game Zinesters’, what does it recommend should happen/could change?

14) HOTs – a couple of summarising points.  (from 47.00) 

Early games that push gender boundaries

Read this great blog that details a variety of games that started to push gender boundaries back in the 80s... or did they?  Click on the Ms. Pac-Man image to go to the blog.

Calling all BBC school reporters!

Journalism competition

We'd love to hear from you - have a go!

Graphic design competition

We are making a series of posters for the school to form an anti-bullying campaign.  We would like to use mainly graphic images for these (not photos).  They will have a house style by using a similar colour palette across all the designs (see below).  

Bring your own ideas on Tuesday lunchtime where we can have a look at some early drafts and discuss some future designs.   We would like to get these finished by the end of January so they can go up around the school.   Good luck and get involved!

Inspirational print adverts

Click on the advert to see 100 inspirational print advertising campaigns.

Who made Adweek's list of top print adverts from 2013-4?

Click on the image below to see Adweek's top print adverts of 2013-4.
What makes them so good?

Road Safey advert in China.

M&C Saatchi have long been a leading light in the advertising world.  Click on the picture below to review some of their latest work.

We were lucky to have a visit from David Kershaw, the CEO of M&C Saatchi.  Here were his top 6 questions to consider when working on your advertising pitch:

1.Who are we selling to?

2.What do we want them to do?

3.What should we say?

4.How should we say it?

5.Where shall we say it?

6.  How will we know if it works?

Why might advertising agencies get left behind?

The world is changing incredibly quickly, read this article to find out what is making advertising executives concerned about their futures.

Who made Forbes' top adverts of 2013?

Forbes magazine is a leading source for reliable business news and financial information. Click on the image below to view their top adverts of 2013.  Do you agree?

The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising)

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising is where you can find all sorts of information about the Advertising Awards, different advertising agencies, the latest advertising ideas etc.  Click on the logo below to visit their webpage.

The Guardian advertising page

The Guardian is an excellent newspaper when it comes to media.  They have a whole webpage devoted to the latest advertising news.  Click on the image to see the page - maybe set up a twitter feed to keep up to date with advertising news.

Yr11 Advertising

Welcome to your advertising page!  You'll find some useful videos, articles and resources that help raise your awareness of the industry and some of the key debates.

Emma Watson makes a direct plea to achieve gender equality in society

Emma Watson (Hermione) spoke this year at the United Nations conference about the topic of feminism.  Have a watch of her speech or read the transcript here.

Introducing Anita Sarkeesian - an expert on gender representation in gaming

Listen to the 5 minute interview with Anita Sarkeesian on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) on issues of gender representation in the gaming industry.

She has an educational blog with lots of useful videos and blog posts on gender representation in the gaming industry.  Click on the image to go to the site.  She believes the tide is already turning in the representation itself but shines a light on the issues facing women who give voice to their experiences of misogyny (look it up!) from the players.

Why does sexism persist in the video games industry?

Read this BBC article to find out why sexism was a hot topic at 2014's E3.... Click here

Do female game characters really require more work to make?  

What evidence in the article suggests that gender representation is not getting any better?

"Are women not playing hardcore games because they don't like them? Or because they feel alienated?" summarises Prof Williams.

Where are female gamers to be found?

Check out this short video from the BBC on what is happening to the number of female gamers.

Why has the number of female gamers gone up?

What are the main consoles they are playing on?

What are the main genres they are playing?

What impact might this have on the representation of gender in games?

Welcome!

Year 10 - this page has some helpful links, videos and resources to enhance your knowledge of gender representation.  In your own time, feel free to read through these - add to your notes and learn more about the topic.