Where’s Aaron: YEAR 2 - Media Arts - Explain2

The class is taking turns hosting ‘Aaron’ the class mascot, taking him on adventures. It is Little J’s turn, so Little J, Nanna, Big Cuz, and Old Dog take Aaron on Country to look for mica rock, and along the way they photograph the expedition. Distracted by the events of the day, Little J loses Aaron and the family enrols the help of Uncle Mick, a Search and Rescue officer, to return him.

Explain - Respond to media artworks and consider where and why people make media artworks, starting with media from Australia including media artworks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Theme - CHARACTER

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 8 ‘Where’s Aaron?’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of media genre. Also, where possible access the Little J & Big Cuz picture book and/or eBook for “Where’s Aaron?”.

Have students view the following clips:

Have students compare and explain what the difference is for the way each of the film clips are produced. Discuss that the clips represent distinctive styles or genres of film production. See if the students can guess which video clip belongs to which category.

  1. Animation
  2. Narrative
  3. Documentary
  4. Fictional drama (TV series)

Divide the class into groups and have each group re-watch a video clip and collaborate on the characteristics of the style or genre they are watching. Share these suggestions with the class and allow others to add to the list. Have the groups also suggest the purpose of, and the intended audience for, each of the genres.

Purposes:

  • Create entertaining representations of stories using comic personalities.
  • Tell a story about a subject that the narrator experienced.
  • Capture life as it happens with/about real people/stories.
  • Act out non-real stories using actors.

Audience:

  • Young children (0–6 yrs)
  • Children (6–12 yrs)
  • Adolescent (12–18 yrs)
  • Young adults (18–25 yrs)
  • Adults (25–60 yrs)
  • Mature adults (60+ yrs)

Ask students to keep a media diary (for a short period of time, if possible, a week), noting the

  1. time of watching a program, the
  2. title of the TV programs they watch at home
  3. name of the broadcaster or online production company (e.g. ABCME, SBS, NITV, CBeebies, etc.), the
  4. production genre/s
  5. intended audience for the programs.

Compile the class viewing trends from all students to collate which media productions are most commonly viewed, on which broadcast technology and when. Have students add to the list any additional genres, such as news, comedy, and advertisements he like and watch which are outside the viewing r collection time.