Happy Xmas!

From all in the Media Department...may 2008 be a prosperous year!

(And thanks to Mr Babu for his Photoshop skills with this card).

GHS in the News

Article from the Ealing Gazette (19-10-07)...













...and for the full story about this great event here, click on GHS Media Awards 2007.

And to see all the winning films, click on the links below, or go to GHS Student Videos on You Tube (where there's even more!)...

• Best Media Studies Production (Pride)
  
• Best Documentary (Dotcom)
  
• Ajay Davda Memorial Prize (ECMO)
  
• Best Trailer - Winner (Kabhi Socha Na Tha)
  
• Best Trailer - Runner Up (Final Beat)
  
• Best Trailer - Runner Up (Pulse of Darkness)
  
• Best Natural History Doc (Parklife)
  
• Best General Doc - Winner (Aerosoldiers)
  
• Best General Doc - Runner Up (House of Bhangra)
  
• Best Political Doc - Winner (Islamophobia)
  
• Best Political Doc - Runner Up (Kurdistan Unveiled)
  
• Best Social Issues Doc - Winner (It's a Woman's World)
  
• Best Social Issues Doc - Runner Up (Dying to be Thin)

Plus you can see introductions to all the nominated films at the Intro/Outro.

Best Media Studies Production

Best Documentary

Ajay Davda Memorial Prize

Best Trailer - Winner

Best Trailer - Runner Up

Best Trailer - Runner Up

Best Natural History Doc

Best General Doc - Winner

Best General Doc - Runner Up

Best Political Doc - Winner

Best Political Doc - Runner Up

Best Social Issue Doc - Winner

Best Social Issue Doc - Runner Up

Tickets Please!

Tickets for the big Media Awards event are now available! They are free of charge but you won't get in without one so it's essential you pick one up either Monday (15th) or Tuesday(16th).

Remember, it's compulsory for all Year 12 & 13 Media students to attend, and those in Years 10 & 11 are also strongly advised to come along. Non-Media students are also most welcome, as are ex-Media students...for the latter, just email Macguffin and get someone who's still at GHS to pick up your ticket.

You can get your ticket from any of the following people...Mr Bush, Ms Jones, Mrs Stevens (in their classrooms in D Block or the English/Media office there), and Angela and Sally (in the post-16 area).

And see page one of the special programme booklet below...

Student Vote

Obviously the winners of the various prizes will not be known until Tuesday but there is another special award that involves all of you...the Student Voice Vote whereby you decide which is the Best Media Production 2007. Will you agree with the judges? Last year this didn't happen but that's the beauty of it!

Voting closes next Sunday (21st) so tell us what you think right now! And leave comments below about who you reckon is going to be successful on the big night...

STOP PRESS: Final results are now posted below...

GHS Oscars V

We're holding the fifth Media Studies Awards Ceremony in the new school hall next week where we'll be showcasing some of the outstanding video production work completed by AS Media Studies students over the last year…don't forget it's compulsory to attend if you take Media in the sixth form and it's definitely advisable if you do GCSE too.

This is our annual opportunity to celebrate the superb efforts of the fifty or more Year 12 students whose films will be shown. If you're one of those starring directors or actors then make sure you spread the word about how entertaining it'll be and encourage all your friends to come along. As the first event of its kind in the new school it's set to be a special evening.

Those who do attend will be treated to a succession of clips and short films (both fiction and documentary) representing the very best achievements of 2007, and the winning efforts will receive trophies and certificates from our guest speaker from the BBC.

They include: hard-hitting pieces on eating disorders, domestic violence and Islamophobia; a number of thoughtful investigations into a wide range of topics from the dangers of befriending people over the internet, to political problems in Kurdisatan, to graffiti art; natural history documentary and Bollywood film trailers; and the real-life account of one of our student's near-death experience.

The event takes place in the school hall on Tuesday 16 ^th October from 6.15-8.45 pm.

Whoever you are – if you have an interest in film or the issues being addressed – then please come along. But make sure you get a ticket - before they all go - as you won't get in without one!

High School Reunion

Well done to all of those involved in the reunion of ex-pupils that we held at the end of April. It was a fantastic event as extracts from the following emails we received show...

"What a wonderful day [it] was yesterday! It was great to see the school...and to meet so many old friends. The welcome received from the current pupils was wonderful. I was so glad to see that the traditions of politeness and friendliness were being carried on." - John Anderson

"Please accept my grateful thanks for organising such a marvelous day yesterday. The opportunity for me to look round my old school which was my "home" for four years from 1944 to 1948 was absolutely marvelous. An absence of nearly 60 years, but the memories came flooding back. I particularly enjoyed the inclusiveness of it and again, very importantly, the attitude of today's pupils whom I had the pleasure of being in contact with." - Peter Newman

There are some stills below of the lunch (most shot by our very own Chintan Barot) and, naturally, we filmed several tapes of footage - with the expert help of Lindley and Jonny - that will be edited in time for the premiere of the school documentary at the new school's grand opening in March 2008.

High School Reunion Pics

Student Voice Winners

Congratulations to the team who put together our winning entry for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Student Voice competition. This includes JLT/Faculty Board members...

• Alex Baldwin

• Yuserah El Sockary

• Shaheen Mindhola (pictured below)
  

• Jourdan Powis

• Navjot Sawhney

...and the expert media team...

• Jatinder Kailey

• Jaskeerat Sehra

Together they produced a highly professional ten minute DVD showcasing some of the outstanding Student Voice work we do here at Greenford.

After being shortlisted from amongst entries from across the UK, the team had to go to Central London to deliver their presentation to a panel of judges...and they obviously impressed them!

The prize is a trip to Beijing, China, in September, to present the video again, but this time at an international conference for headteachers and leading educationalists, after which we hope to post the video up here for all of you to see.

Media Productions DVD

After many months of true dedication, the Year 12 Media Practical Productions are finally complete. And if you really can't believe what you're hearing then take a look alongside this posting to see page one of the menu screen of the finalized DVD...copies of which will be going to the examiner at the end of the week and to each Year 12 student, too.

AS students made more films, trailers and documentaries than ever before...a total of seventeen appear, reflecting all the extra work that Mr Babu and the media mentors - Jatinder, Jaskeerat, Ramneet and Bushara - had to put in, so well done and thanks to them.

But, crucially, the commitment amongst the Year 12s was higher than ever this year...work was undertaken with real passion and professionalism so that there's every reason to assume that we'll be awarding record numbers of top grades for their achievements. You can see for yourselves how focussed they were by checking out some of their Med 3 blogs in the side bar on the Year 12 Macguffin site.

Watch out, too, for the next Media Awards Evening (scheduled for when we move into the new school building) where you'll be able to see the very best ones on the big screen.

Leadership Training Weekend

Do you have excellent media production skills?

Fancy spending the weekend where the Queen will be?

Do you want to be involved in an exciting project that will really put our school on the map?

On the weekend of the 21st-22nd of April, the twelve members of the Junior Leadership Team are going on a training weekend at Windsor Castle, accompanied by the SLT and other teachers. We are hoping there will be a number of VIP speakers at this event who will share their experiences of life at the top. And you?


We also need four Media Studies students (from either Year 12 or 13) who will attend all weekend and film the whole event. If you are selected you will then be expected to edit the footage in June/July (after your exams) to create a promo video of the event that we can show to other schools at national conferences and post up online.

Everything will be paid for and it really will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you want to be part of the team then please email me this weekend with a brief outline (200 words maximum) of why you want to take part and what practical skills and personal qualities make you suitable.

For security purposes you also need to include the following: date of birth, nationality, home address, home telephone number, passport number, because if you are selected we will need to send this info to the castle on Monday morning. For those who aren't selected, I will delete this information. You will know on Monday who has been chosen. Good luck!!

More Self Evaluation

For Year 12s and 13s: To be completed by your first lesson next week (commencing Monday 19-03)...

Write an evaluation on your blogs (Module 3 for Year 12s, Module 5 for Year 13s) of your progress on the Media course since Christmas.

a. Comment on each of the following, giving yourself a grade with an explanation outlining why:

(Grading should be 1-5: 1 = excellent, 2 = v. good, 3 = good/average, 4 = poor, 5 = v. poor)

• Attainment
• Effort
• Punctuality
• Submission and quality of homework
• Ability to work independently
• Quality of writing
• Organisation of Media folder
• Oral contributions in class
• Quality of coursework
• Standard of Module 3 blog (Year 12s only)
• Standard of Module 5 blog (Year 13s only)
• Standard of Module 6 blog (Year 13s only)

b. Make a list of three targets/areas for improvement to be achieved before study leave.

Meet the Media Mentors

Congratulations to our four newly appointed Year 13 Media Mentors who were successful after a tough interview last week in front of a full panel comprising: Macguffin, Munro, Babu and also two Year 12 representatives - Rohini and Sonia (who, themselves, did a superb job and receive commendations for their efforts).

They will, between them, be covering the Media Suites every day between 8-9am and 3.30-5.30pm where their core tasks will be...

• Providing support to AS students with the use of Adobe Premiere Pro
  

• Offering feedback to students about the quality of their practical work

Even if a group isn't editing at school they can come in at the above times and show their work in progress to them (on DVD, for instance) and they will appraise it and give advice.

They will also be checking Year 12 blogs to keep an eye on progress, and contributing to their own Media Mentors' Blog each week which will give written feedback about the groups they've worked with.

So, without any further ado, let us introduce them...

Bushara

Hours: Thursday pm, Friday am

Year 12 Coursework Blog: Teenage Daze

Year 12 Practical Production

Year 13 Coursework Blog: What do representations of women from the past suggest about them and how do the representations of females in ‘Sex and the City’ differ?

Year 13 Issues & Debates Blog






Jaskeerat

Hours: Monday pm, Wednesday pm

Year 12 Coursework Blog: The Guilt

Year 12 Practical Production

Year 13 Coursework Blog: How does British zombie film ‘Shaun of the Dead’ follow the codes and conventions of the zombie genre?

Year 13 Issues & Debates Blog








Jatinder

Hours: Monday am, Tuesday am, Friday pm

Year 12 Coursework Blog: The Guilt

Year 12 Practical Production

Year 13 Coursework Blog: Is the “auteur theory” any longer significant in contemporary Hollywood, with a focus on Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ and his oeuvre?

Year 13 Issues & Debates Blog






Ramneet

Hours: Tuesday pm, Wednesday am, Thursday am

Year 12 Coursework Blog: Take it to the Floor

Year 12 Practical Production

Year 13 Coursework Blog: How has the stereotype of black males been reinforced or subverted in films such as “Get Rich Or Die Trying”?

Year 13 Issues & Debates Blog

Freshie Idol

Here's the trailer made by Year 12 students Hasnaa, Jalna, Jasmit and Gurpreet that was featured on national television last Saturday lunchtime...on Channel 4's new user-generated content show - 'Homemade TV'. It's a polished up version of their GCSE Practical Production that makes fun of reality TV programmes and was filmed at GHS and on Southall Broadway last December. The original was spotted by the C4 producers on the Macguffin YouTube site and you can see this here allowing you to compare it with the new one.

Well done girls! And the rest of you - consider sending your films direct to 'Homemade' or making stuff for them...you could be the next to feature on TV!