16+ Media Studies Conference

Wednesday 19 - Thursday 20 October 2005

National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford

For the fifth year the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television and the bfi were pleased to offer 16+ Media and Film Studies teachers the opportunity to discover new teaching approaches, to quiz media professionals, to locate resources and above all, to have the chance to meet one another. The programme was designed to be flexible and allowed the construction of individual routes through the two days depending on level of knowledge, expertise and needs.

Plenary sessions

There were two plenary presentations. On Wednesday morning Dr. Karen Boyle from the University of Glasgow looked at how violence is constructed and consumed in her presentation on 'Copycats, Effects and Screen Violence'. On Thursday Dr. Andy Willis discussed 'Film Stars: Hollywood and Beyond'.

Conference Strands

In addition to the two plenaries, there were four Conference strands:

• A Practical Production Strand in which Beth Hewitt, Deputy Head of Learning Development at NMPFT, offered a session on Digital Video Editing using the Museum's iMacs; and John McCormack offered an entry-level TV studio workshop.
• Teacher-led Workshops, in which experienced teachers presented their approaches to a particular topic or area of the curriculum. These were relatively informal sessions, supported with examples of work and resource packs, including worksheets, bibliographies, resource information, useful contacts etc.
• How to Teach... approaches to teaching the key conceptual areas.
• Inside Industry slots in which media professionals talked informally about their working practices; for example, teachers had the chance to quiz practitioners about the process of producing a Coronation Street script, an advertisement and the minutiae of day-to-day decision-making involved in running a television indie.