Media Studies Conference 2006
Wednesday 5 - Friday 7 July
The National Film Theatre, South Bank, London
This Conference offered all media and film teachers in the 16-19 sector an opportunity to discover new approaches, to find essential resources through a variety of workshops, seminars and presentations, and best of all perhaps it offered teachers the chance to meet one another. The programme was designed for maximum flexibility to enable each participant to construct their own route through the event, taking into account particular needs, knowledge gaps, level of professional experience and the demands of the specification taught.
* indicates change of speaker
Plenary sessions
This year there were four plenary sessions (PDF, 28kb). Cary Bazalgette, Head of bfi Education UK-wide, opened the Conference with a Keynote speech reviewing the changing landscape of 14-19 media learning. On Thursday morning there was a Q&A with Saul Dibb, a surprise speaker from the world of film-making and director of Bullet Boy, while in the afternoon Linda Ruth Williams considered female stars in contemporary Hollywood. On Friday Dawn Airey, Managing Director of Sky, talked about television in the 21st century.
Conference strands
In addition to the four plenaries, there were five conference strands:
- Teacher-led sessions (PDF, 93kb): Experienced teachers shared their approaches to teaching a particular topic or area of the curriculum. These were informal sessions, supported with documentation, including worksheets, bibliographies and resources information.
- How to Teach (PDF, 45kb): These sessions introduced the key critical concepts of Narrative, Genre, Institution, Audience and Representation. Designed for those new or newish to the field of Film and Media Studies, these sessions also offerec a useful refresher opportunity to the not-so-new teacher.
- Inside Industry (PDF, 51kb): Practitioners from a range of media industries talked about their work, giving a view from the inside of, for instance, television drama, film and television editing or film production. After a brief introduction from the speaker there was time for questions and discussion.
- Strand Four (PDF, 56kb): An opportunity to catch up on some recent research in film and television in a seminar context. This year the selection on offer included Free Cinema, audience and Hindi films, podcasting, screen advertising and television comedy.
- The Fifth Element (PDF, 35kb): These sessions enabled conference participants to catch up with some recent initiatives, for example, The Young Film-maker's Network; the Creative Archive; the Digital Screen Network, the bfi's Mediatheque, the Skillset Screen Academy Network and the BBFC's new student websites.
The programme wais designed flexibly to enable each participant to construct their own route through the event, taking into account particular needs, knowledge gaps, level of professional experience and the demands of the specification taught.
You can look at the programme (PDF, 35kb) here, or to order a hard copy please contact bfi Education.
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