websites

Links

General

http://www.imdb.com/ - The essential film reference source on the internet.
http://www.imsdb.com/ - A film script database.
http://www.sbbfc.co.uk/ - The British Board of Film Classification’s student site.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/ - The British Film Institute.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ - A useful film review site.
http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk/ - The place to find all things new and exciting. You’ll have to register but it’s free.
The University of Wales, Aberystwyth (Media Department) - Hundreds of links, undergraduate essays and generally useful items. Be sure to look at the
‘Semiotics for Beginners’ section.
www.filmeducation.org/filmlibrary.html - If you look carefully there are many useful items here on all aspects of Media Studies.
http://www.theory.org.uk/ - Leeds University’s site on media theory.
http://www.rajar.co.uk/ - Radio audience figures.
http://www.barb.co.uk/ - Broadcasters Audience Research Board. Useful for audience analysis.
http://www.asa.org.uk/ - The Advertising Standards Authority
http://community.ocr.org.uk/community/mediastudies-a/home - Resources directly from the exam board OCR (for AS/A2). Here you’ll find sample answers, amongst other things.
Other media teachers’ and schools’ websites
The A Level Media Studies Page - A site made by a teacher. There are lots of useful items on this site. It can be a little slow owing to the overuse of graphical elements, though.
http://www.studymedia.co.uk/ - Although not all aimed at exam boards we teach, there’s lots of use here.
http://www.longroadmedia.com/ - Long Road College in Cambridge
mediaschool.blogspot.com - The thoroughly insightful blog by Steve Connolly.

Gender & TV Sitcom

www.guardian.co.uk/gender/story/0,11812,670775,00.html - What are men today? A long article on how men are presented and targetted by the media, with some useful material on sitcoms.
www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/mcclpapa/research/jmumr/tzioumakis.html - An analysis of Friends in terms of traditional family structures.
www.guardian.co.uk/tv_and_radio/story/0,3604,525140,00.html - The ‘problem’ with Will’s homosexuality in Will and Grace.
New Media Technologies
www.wired.com/wired - How enlightened: a technology magazine that puts its entire contents online about a month after publication. Fully searchable and highly recommended.
http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk/ - You will need to register but it’s free. The ‘new media’ section is particularly useful.
http://www.rssmediastudies.co.uk/www.webopedia.com - Stuck with the new technologies jargon? Type the word or acronym in the search box to find true knowledge (or a complicated definition that confuses you even more; results can be variable).
bbc.co.uk/news/technology - Passages for the comprehension part of the exam have been taken from here, so it will pay to keep up with developments.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ - If you like taking things apart to see how they work you’ll love this site. If you don’t it’s still useful (eg how does a steadycam work?)

Film Genre

www.bfi.org.uk/collections/release/mildred/index.html - The BFI have been busy writing about Mildred Pierce: handy!
www.filmsite.org/doub.html - Lots on Double Indemnity
www.moderntimes.com/bab/di.htm - Double Indemnity - More useful material.
www.imagesjournal.com/issue02/infocus/double.htm - Double Indemnity anyone?
www.culturecourt.com/F/Noir/DIndemnity.htm- And another Double Indemnity site…
http://film.guardian.co.uk/Century_Of_Films/Story/0,4135,91758,00.html - An article on Double Indemnity and more links.
www.germanhollywood.com/noir.html- There’s a useful checklist of the conventions of film noir here.

Production Work

http://www.filmmaking.com/ - A very comprehensive resource covering many aspects of your production work. Also useful if you want information about potential backers for your next film …
http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/index.html - The Eejit’s Guide to Filmmaking. As you can guess from the title, this site has tips and guidance on constructing your production.
http://www.imperica.com/index.php?option=articles&task=viewarticle&artid=55&Itemid=3 - A useful site which has plenty of information on the technicalities of filming such as the 180 degree rule etc.
http://www.asa.org.uk/ - The Advertising Standards Authority. This will be useful if you are doing the charity adverts/campaign production option.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/creative/ads/0,1033,533544,00.html - A chance to study recent adverts and their makers.
www.adassoc.org.uk/inform/content.html - A very full guide to what advertising agencies do and lots more. (Produced by the Advertising Association)
www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/advertising/advintro.html - A very good introduction to advertising.
www.tbwa.co.uk/ - The website of the advertising agency TBWA. See examples of their adverts for customers including FCUK and John Smith’s. Each has a short explanation of the thinking behind the work.
http://www.3dtext.com/ - Make titles for your magazine pages (or anything else!) - much better than WordArt.
http://www.cooltext.com/ - Another very good site for creating titles.
http://www.1001fonts.com/ - Although you can’t install fonts at school, the preview is a good way of generating a title. Use Photoshop or GIMP to alter the colour of the background and the text to suit your production.
http://www.cdcovers.cc/ - High quality scans of CD and DVD covers.
http://docs.gimp.org/en/ - The ‘User Manual’ for GIMP. Use it before asking!

Critical Research: Women & Film

www.bfi.org.uk/nationallibrary/collections/16+/ - An index of the bfi’s study guides, including two on ‘Strong Women’. Lots of case study material.
New York Women in Film & Television - Lots of useful things here. For example you can get statistics about women in the film industry.
http://www.wmm.com/ - ‘Women Make Movies’ site.
Representation of Youth in An Angel at My Table - A page from the Film Education site.
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~pm9k/libsci/womFilm.html - ‘Women in Cinema: A Reference Guide’. Possibly the most compendious listing of resources ever. Now you have no excuses…
http://markov.utstat.toronto.edu/mfulford/quizzes.html - Quiz your knowledge of women in film!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2420713.stm - An article entitled ‘Women Directors Fight Back’.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3006943.stm - An article entitled ‘Boost for women film-makers’.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2098046.stm - An article entitled ‘Female film-makers ‘face struggle'’.

Radio & Television News

www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,31300-1010414,00.html - Sky’s student pages, with material aimed at all ages up to undergraduate level.
http://www.rajar.co.uk/ - Radio audience figures.
http://www.barb.co.uk/ - Broadcasters Audience Research Board. Useful for audience analysis.
http://www.pcc.org.uk/ - The Press Complaints Commission.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/ Ofcom are the regulator of the communications industry.
www.channel4.com/breakingthenews Learn about the process of constructing news sequences and have a go yourself!