Consortium for Media Literacy | Uniting for Development | Connections

Say the word “graffiti,” and most people think of young men tagging their territory in the middle of the night, and of thousands of dollars spent to cover the tags over.  Yet artists from Jean Michel Basquiat to Banksy (of the 2010 movie “Exit Through the Gift Shop”) practiced their craft on the street before their work was exhibited at any major museum.  “Street art” might best describe art that is painted in a public space rather than on a piece of canvas.  Moreover, a simple written message which appears in a public space (such as a stencil) might not always be considered graffiti.  

Here’s a good example:  http://boingboing.net/2010/08/26/snapshot-bike-lane-i.html 

Really, this is a piece of street art which delivers a message which nearly anyone in any community in the United States would be willing to rally around.   In this Media Lit Moment, your students will be challenged to re-think their conceptions of art which appears in public spaces, and they’ll also have the opportunity to work on the initial stages of a piece of street art which could grace the wall of their own school.   

Ask students to write or illustrate a concept for a piece of street art which delivers a public service message.

AHA!:  I can create art in public spaces that makes a positive difference in my community! 

Key Question #1 for Producers:  What am I authoring?

Core Concept #1:  All media messages are constructed.

Key Question #4 for Producers:  Have I clearly and consistently framed values, lifestyles and points of view in my content?

Core Concept #4:  Media have embedded values and points of view         

Grade Level:  7-9

Materials:  pencil, paper, imagination 

Activity:  Start a discussion with students about the differences between tagging and street art.  As you do so, you may want to share additional examples:   A mural with a message in Milwaukee:http://scaryideas.com/content/9108

A somewhat more traditional mural in a New York City middle school:http://www.groundswellmural.org/Public_Art_Projects/2008/2008_Nonviolence.html

After you finish this discussion, ask students to write a creative concept for a piece of street art which is also conceived of as a service to the public.  This could be as simple as coming up with some creative lettering for a message, or it could involve sketching out a piece of representational art (like a mural).   Also, their concepts don’t necessarily have to call for the use of permanent materials.   Chalk art on a playground with an anti-bullying message could also fit the bill.   

 The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework.  Used with permission, © 2002-2011, Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.com

In the realm of literature, alluding to other stories within the main story is a sign of the author’s virtuosity and skill.  In the world of popular media, telling several stories within a single story is a means for multiplying the potential appeal of a media product to audiences.   But it doesn’t just end there. Music, games, and toys can all be linked together within the same story to attract audiences.  The formal term for this is “trans-media narration.”  In other words, media producers tell stories across multiple formats and genres to sell their product.     

In this MediaLit Moment, your students will learn to recognize this storytelling technique in popular media, and explore the ways in which these techniques attract and hold their attention.  Ask students to list and discuss all the stories, products and characters which are alluded to in a movie trailer. 

AHA!:  The producer tried to grab my attention with this trailer by throwing in everything viewers my age like!   

Key Question #2:  What techniques are used to attract my attention?

Core Concept #2: Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules 

Key Question #5:  Why is this message being sent?

Core Concept #5:  Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power 

Grade Level:  10-12 

Materials:  Computer, data projector, projection screen, high speed internet connection  

Activity:  Ask students to tell you what they know about toys and games that have been ‘turned into’ movies.  Next load and play the trailer for “Battleship,” a movie based on the Hasbro game of the same name, available at www.battleshipmovie.com   Please note: this movie was unrated at the time of publication. Prior review recommended.  

Ask, what do they like about turning this game into a movie?  You may want to discuss references to the game within the trailer (e.g., a patrol boat, one of the five types of ships in the game, is sent out to investigate the unknown vessel; at the end of the trailer, someone asks “which weapons” should be fired).  The Hasbro game is no longer just a board game, but is available online, and as a smartphone game application, so students are likely to have some familiarity with the game concept.  

For a little more background on the film, you may want to read this Yahoo blog post.  It’s short enough for you to share with your students as well:http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/battleship-changes-game-first-trailer-premiere-162012802.html 

Play the trailer two or three more times, and ask students to write down any movies, TV shows, and even toys or other products that the trailer might remind them of.  Here are some possible leads:   Who is the actor playing Alex Hopper, the main character, and what kind of character has he played before? (Taylor Kitsch, who played ‘bad boy’ Tim Riggins on “Friday Night Lights”) Does the alien ship remind you of anything else you’ve seen?  (It moves like it’s jumping out of the water, and could be a reference to the Transformers, another Hasbro product, but that’s not certain). Does the global view of the action, in which a white light shoots up and creates a bubble around the battle scene, remind you of anything else you’ve seen?  What does it seem to be telling the audience?  (global threat, aliens vs humanity, etc.)      

As you discuss the references that students came up with, ask them why those references might attract them to the film.  Continue to review Key Questions 2 and 5 with students.  

The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework.  Used with permission, © 2002-2011, Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.com

Causal loop diagrams, like those used by the Systems Thinking in Schools Project (see our main research article in July newsletter) can help students more readily grasp the dynamics of complex relationships, such as the relationships between audiences, producers, and media texts.  In this MediaLit Moment, your students will work with a causal loop diagram to learn how the act of consuming advertising involves them in the system of media production.  

Ask students to describe and analyze the relationships between video game producers, advertisers and themselves. 

AHA!:  My interest in video games sets everything else in motion! 

Key Question #5:  Why is this message being sent?

Core Concept #5:  Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power

Grade Level:  5-8

Materials:  Computer, data projector, projection screen, high speed internet connection (optional)

Activity:  Begin by asking students what they like about their favorite video games.  Next, show them the box art or the game trailer for Outland, a sword and fantasy game released last year.  Links are given below:  

Outland box art  http://www.agreenmushroom.com/2011/06/outland-impressions.html 

Outland game trailer  http://www.gametrailers.com/video/rogue-launch-outland/713337 

Ask, does the box art or trailer make them want to buy the game?  Why or why not?   Next, draw a circle or a triangle on the board (or interactive white board, if you have one).  Mark three points on the figure, and add the following labels:  Advertisements produced, You, and Video Games sold.   

Now ask students to come up with some educated guesses about the relationship between themselves (You) and Video games sold and Advertisements produced.  You might want to ask them what they do when an advertisement begins to interest them in a game. 

Complete the causal loop diagram with your students by adding arrows to connect the three points and explain that Video game producers create ambitious ad campaigns for new products.  The advertisements catch the eye of new potential buyers like themselves.  Their interest eventually leads to increased video game sales, increased sales of the product lead to more advertisements for the game, and the advertisements attempt to keep them “hooked” on the game and attract more potential buyers (especially their friends!) to the game.  In finishing this activity, remind students how essential they are to all these relationships.  

The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework.  Used with permission, © 2002-2011, Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.com   

Tweens and teens often know the words to popular songs, but don’t always think about them.  Wordles, also known as word clouds, make the familiar unfamiliar by scrambling the words in a text.  They also magnify the size of words which appear most frequently, which provides the audience with clues for interpreting significant themes or ideas in the original text.  In this MediaLit Moment, your students will have the chance to examine song lyrics from a different perspective, and use powerful new media tools to help them identify the values, lifestyles and points of view embedded within them.  

Have students use “word clouds” to analyze the lyrics of popular songs.

AHA!:  Songs use the same words over and over to emphasize values and points of view!

Key Question #4:  What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?

Core Concept #4:  Media have embedded values and points of view

Grade Level:  5-8

Materials:  Computer with high speed internet connection, projection screen; documents containing song lyrics which can be copied and pasted to a Wordle document window (which can be accessed at:  http://www.wordle.net)

Activity:  You may wish to break this activity into two parts.  On the day before the lesson, you can ask students to write down the name and artist of their favorite songs and submit their selections to you.  With this option, you’ll need to spend a few minutes selecting from among student choices, as well as finding the lyrics online and copying and pasting the lyrics into a document.  Or you can choose one or more of the songs listed below, which were among the 20 most popular songs in 2010 or 2011 (and are free of profanity or abusive language):  

Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream”

B.O.B., “Nothin’ On You”

Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”

Train, “Hey, Soul Sister” 

Many websites provide lyrics to pop songs, but A to Z Lyrics is among the best.  Their selection is extensive, the copy isn’t cluttered by advertisements or pop-up windows, and the service offers options for printing and e-mailing lyrics.  You can listen to audio tracks and and/or purchase mp3 downloads as well.  The URL for A to Z is http://www.azlyrics.com

On the day of the lesson, set up your equipment, display the Wordle site, and explain how wordles work.  You may also want to withhold the name of the songs that you “wordle process” in class, and ask students to guess the song as each word cloud is generated.  Display or distribute copies of the complete lyrics for each song as well.  Play the audio track if you wish.     With each word cloud, ask students, what is this song about?  What do the big words in the cloud tell you about the song?  Direct the attention of students to Key Question #4 and ask, what can the larger words tell them about the ideas or values in the song?      

The Five Core Concepts and Five Key Questions of media literacy were developed as part of the Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit™ and Questions/TIPS (Q/TIPS)™ framework.  Used with permission, © 2002-2011, Center for Media Literacy, http://www.medialit.com