Y12MPA S2W1-8

Welcome to Semester Two of Year 12 Media Production and Analysis. This semester explores how media wields power — not just to inform or entertain, but to influence opinion, shape behaviour and promote ideologies. In this first week, the focus is on persuasion — how media texts are purposefully designed to convince audiences of particular messages or worldviews.

Begin with one of the most globally influential examples of persuasive media: KONY 2012. This viral campaign documentary isn’t just a media product — it’s a case study in emotional engagement, narrative strategy and digital activism. As you analyse the work, look closely at how persuasive techniques operate through media codes and conventions, and how the film attempts to construct and mobilise its audience.

Media Work

• KONY 2012 (Invisible Children, 2012) – Viral campaign documentary
  
  

This 30-minute video became a global phenomenon, reaching over 100 million views in under a week. Its goal was to make war criminal Joseph Kony "famous" to accelerate his arrest, but the campaign quickly drew criticism for its simplification of complex issues and Western-centric storytelling. Its power lies in the way it uses emotional storytelling, social media mechanics and audience identification to drive engagement.

Key Concepts

• Power and persuasion

• Audience construction and emotional response

• Representation of individuals and nations

• Narrative and documentary conventions

• Activist and viral media formats
  
  

Media Theory

These theoretical frameworks help to unpack how persuasive media influences audiences:

• Hypodermic Needle Theory – Presents the idea that media messages are directly injected into passive audiences.

• Agenda Setting – Suggests the media doesn’t tell people what to think, but what to think about.

• Two-Step Flow Theory – Highlights the role of influential figures in mediating media messages to wider audiences.

• Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory – Focuses on the active role of audiences in decoding messages based on cultural background, values and ideology.
  
  

Use these as analytical tools. They are not rules, but lenses through which to examine how KONY 2012 was produced, received and debated.

Viewing Focus

While watching KONY 2012, consider the following:

• Who is the intended audience, and how are they constructed?

• What narrative techniques are used to build emotional impact?

• How are the roles of “hero” and “villain” established?

• What representations of Uganda, Africa, and “the West” are being constructed?

• How are media codes (such as editing, sound and camera work) used to create urgency and a call to action?

• What is the role of the viewer in this campaign — passive witness, or active participant?
  
  

Document your observations using specific terminology from the course glossary.

Written Reflection

Write a 200–300 word journal entry responding to this prompt:

Identify one persuasive technique used in KONY 2012 that you found particularly effective or manipulative. Explain how it works and what values or emotions it appeals to. Support your response using media terminology and one of this week’s communication theories.

This is an informal task but should be written with clarity and insight — it will serve as the foundation for future responses.

Essay Practice Questions

Choose one or both to practise constructing an analytical paragraph. Use the TSIS templates to structure your thinking:

1. Discuss how persuasive techniques are used to engage global audiences in KONY 2012.

2. Analyse how a persuasive media text uses codes and conventions to target or position its audience.
   
   

Use direct examples and reference theory where appropriate. Practising now builds confidence and depth for the short answer task in Week 4.

Suggested useful AI prompts:
Prompt 1:

How does KONY 2012 use emotional storytelling and editing to construct a persuasive call to action? Include examples of how this aligns with communication theories like the Hypodermic Needle or Two-Step Flow.

Prompt 2:

Compare how different audiences might respond to the persuasive strategies in KONY 2012. How might a Ugandan audience interpret this text differently from a Western youth audience?

With KONY 2012, we explored how viral documentary can ignite global attention through emotional appeal and audience mobilisation. This week, shift focus to a different kind of persuasive media — one grounded in scientific authority, formal presentation, and institutional credibility.

An Inconvenient Truth is a powerful example of how documentary can be used to shape public discourse, influence government policy and provoke social action. While the techniques are different to KONY 2012, the intent is similar: to persuade. Comparing the two provides insight into how persuasive messaging can be constructed through contrasting methods — one urgent and emotionally charged, the other steady and informational.

Media Work

• An Inconvenient Truth (2006, Davis Guggenheim) – Feature documentary
  
  

This Academy Award-winning film follows former U.S. Vice President Al Gore as he presents a multimedia talk on the reality and consequences of climate change. Combining live lecture, graphical data, archival footage and personal narrative, the documentary presents itself as objective and rational — yet every moment is carefully constructed to persuade.

Key Concepts

• Power and persuasion in institutional media

• Documentary modes and credibility

• Ideological positioning through facts and visuals

• Audience trust and authority

• Representation of science, expertise and crisis
  
  

Media Theory

This week adds further layers to your theoretical toolkit:

• Uses and Gratifications Theory – Audiences actively seek media to satisfy particular needs (informational, personal identity, social integration, etc.).

• Reception Theory (Stuart Hall) – Revisited to explore preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings of environmental messaging.

• Framing Theory – Highlights how the media selects and presents information to guide audience interpretation.

• Political Economy – Introduced as a lens to explore how media ownership and institutional power shape media messages and their circulation.
  
  

Use theory to identify how power operates not just through what is said, but how it is said and who says it.

Viewing Focus

As you watch An Inconvenient Truth, pay attention to:

• How the documentary uses codes and conventions (voice-over, infographics, interviews, music) to construct authority.

• The role of Al Gore as narrator and symbol — how is his ethos used to gain audience trust?

• How facts and emotions are balanced — or deliberately combined — to provoke response.

• The documentary’s aesthetic choices: what colours, sounds and editing rhythms are used, and how do they support the film’s purpose?

• Representations of the climate crisis — are they hopeful, catastrophic, moralising, or urgent?
  
  

Compare the pace, tone and persuasive strategies to those used in KONY 2012. What feels different? What feels more credible — and why?

Written Reflection

Write a comparative reflection in your media journal:

Compare the persuasive techniques used in An Inconvenient Truth and KONY 2012. How does each construct authority and influence audiences? Consider tone, structure, evidence, and the emotional or logical appeals made.

Aim for 300–400 words. Focus on specific examples and reference theory to support your points.

Essay Practice Questions

Use these prompts to practise developing analytical paragraphs. You may choose one or work on both:

1. Compare the use of media codes and conventions in two persuasive documentaries you have studied.

2. Discuss how audience positioning and emotional appeal differ between KONY 2012 and An Inconvenient Truth.
   
   

Draw clear contrasts in tone, structure, intention and technique. Think critically about how different media producers persuade in different contexts — and why that matters.

Suggested Useful AI Prompts:
Prompt 1:

Analyse the persuasive techniques used in An Inconvenient Truth. How does Al Gore’s use of data, authority and media codes construct a sense of credibility and urgency?

Prompt 2:

Compare the persuasive styles of KONY 2012 and An Inconvenient Truth. How do their different approaches affect how audiences are constructed and positioned?

After analysing the persuasive power of factual documentary in An Inconvenient Truth, this week we turn to fiction — specifically, satirical fiction. Satire can be one of the most potent forms of persuasion, using irony, exaggeration and absurdity to expose and critique power structures. Our focus this week is Don’t Look Up, a film that parodies the media, politics and society’s collective failure to act in the face of crisis.

What makes Don’t Look Up so compelling is that it works on two levels: it entertains with its star-studded cast and dark comedy, but it also delivers a savage indictment of modern systems — from celebrity culture to scientific denialism to media spin. By the end of the week, we’ll be better equipped to understand how narrative and genre can function as persuasive tools, even when wrapped in fiction.

Media Work

• Don’t Look Up (2021, Adam McKay) – Satirical disaster film
  
  

This Netflix original follows two scientists who discover a planet-killing comet headed toward Earth, only to find that no one — not the government, not the media, not the public — seems to care. As the comet hurtles closer, the film becomes a hyper-stylised portrait of distraction, misinformation and societal collapse.

Key Concepts

• Persuasion through fiction and satire

• Narrative structure and ideology

• Representation of institutions and crisis

• Emotional disengagement and media spectacle

• Genre conventions: disaster, comedy, political satire
  
  

Media Theory

This week, we explore how fiction can still be politically and ideologically charged. These theories help unpack the deeper structures at work:

• Cultural Studies (Hall, Morley) – Media is not neutral; it is shaped by and reinforces power dynamics within culture.

• Reception Theory (Hall) – Different audience groups will decode Don’t Look Up in different ways — some might see it as warning, others as exaggeration, others as comedy.

• Political Economy – A useful framework for examining how platforms like Netflix support or dilute political critique for mass appeal.

• Framing Theory – Helps explain how narrative, character and tone frame issues like climate change or political apathy in specific ways.
  
  

Viewing Focus

As we view Don’t Look Up, look closely at the following elements:

• The construction of narrative: how is the story structured to highlight crisis, absurdity, and inaction?

• Representations of government, media and science — who is shown as competent or ridiculous, and why?

• Use of satire and exaggeration — which elements are overblown, and what purpose does that serve?

• The role of genre: how does the film merge disaster and comedy conventions to deliver its message?

• Soundtrack, editing, and cinematography — how do these enhance (or undermine) the persuasive intent?
  
  

Compare how the persuasive techniques here differ from those in KONY 2012 and An Inconvenient Truth. What happens when persuasion is cloaked in entertainment?

Written Reflection

This week’s reflection explores genre and tone:

How does Don’t Look Up use satire to deliver a persuasive message about institutional failure or public disengagement? Identify one or two techniques the film uses to make its critique persuasive, and explain their effect.

Aim for 300–400 words. Include references to media codes and conventions, and link your response to at least one media theory from this week.

Essay Practice Questions

Use these prompts to sharpen your analytical writing. Work through one fully, or brainstorm both:

1. Analyse the narrative and stylistic devices used to deliver persuasive commentary in Don’t Look Up.

2. Evaluate the effectiveness of satire as a form of persuasive media. Refer to at least one media work you have studied.
   
   

These questions prepare us for the comparative analysis in the Short Answer Task next week. Our goal is to connect form, technique and intent — whether the message is shouted, whispered, or hidden behind a punchline.

Next week is assessment time: we’ll tackle the Short Answer Response Task, choosing 2 of 6 questions based on everything we've studied so far. Now’s the time to review key media works, theory, and your written reflections — they’ve all been building toward this.

Suggested  Useful AI Prompts:
Prompt 1:

How does Don’t Look Up use genre conventions and satire to deliver a persuasive critique of institutional failure and media distraction?

Prompt 2:

Evaluate how different audiences might decode the message of Don’t Look Up. How would Reception Theory help explain the varied responses?

1. Discuss how persuasive techniques are used to engage audiences.

2. Analyse how a persuasive media text uses codes and conventions to target or position its audience.

3. Compare the use of media codes and conventions in persuasive documentaries.

4. Discuss how audience positioning and emotional appeal in a documentary.

5. Analyse the narrative and stylistic devices used to deliver persuasive commentary.

6. Evaluate the effectiveness of satire as a form of persuasive media. 

This week we move into the highly strategic and carefully manufactured world of political media. Here, persuasion isn’t just a tool — it’s the entire purpose. Political campaigns use media to construct identity, generate trust, and position ideas as values. The aim is to win elections, shift ideologies, or spark movements — and every slogan, image, and soundbite is designed to do just that.

We’ll study two of the most iconic campaign slogans of the 21st century — Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” and Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” — and look at how each was constructed, circulated and received. One speaks to hope, unity and progress. The other, to nostalgia, disruption and “common sense”. Both are persuasive — but in completely different ways.

Media Work

• Yes We Can – Barack Obama campaign music video (2008)

• Make America Great Again – Political campaign advertisements and Trump rallies (2015–2016)
  
  

These are short but dense media texts. What they lack in runtime, they make up for in rhetorical power. The Obama video adapts a campaign speech into a musical piece, backed by celebrities, edited like a montage of national aspiration. Trump’s campaign media uses simple slogans, visual repetition, and direct-to-camera populist rhetoric to cut through noise and position himself as anti-establishment.

Key Concepts

• Representation of nation, race, identity and class

• Political persuasion and emotional branding

• Audience values and ideological positioning

• Rhetoric, repetition and symbolism

• Cultural context and decoding
  
  

Media Theory

To make sense of political persuasion, we draw on:

• Framing Theory – Every political message frames reality. It chooses what to show and how to show it, emphasising some values while omitting others.

• Reception Theory (Hall) – Especially useful here. How different audiences receive the same message often comes down to social, cultural or ideological positioning.

• Propaganda Model (Chomsky) – A structural theory that helps explain how media messaging is shaped by institutional power and interests.

• Uses and Gratifications Theory – Political media often appeals to personal identity or social belonging — which need is being satisfied here?
  
  

Viewing Focus

Watch both campaign texts closely. Focus not just on what is said, but how it’s said — and who is being spoken to.

• What values are being reinforced?

• How are national identity, race or class being constructed or represented?

• What techniques are used to emotionally engage the viewer?

• Who is included — and who is excluded — from the narrative?

• Which persuasive codes and conventions are shared across both campaigns, and which are distinct?
  
  

Compare how Obama and Trump each construct their audience. One invites; the other declares. One aligns with the institution; the other challenges it. Both persuade.

Written Reflection

Write a short comparative analysis:

How do the Yes We Can and Make America Great Again campaigns construct different versions of America? What persuasive techniques are used to engage their intended audiences?

Aim for 300–400 words. Focus on representation, persuasive codes, and how values are encoded in slogan, sound and image. Draw on at least one theory from this week.

Essay Practice Questions

Use one or both prompts to practise structuring a comparative response:

1. Discuss how representation is used to construct ideology in two persuasive political media texts.

2. Analyse how media producers use rhetorical and visual strategies to appeal to specific audience values.
   
   

We’re now halfway through the persuasive media sequence — with activist documentary, satirical fiction and political branding in the mix. Over the next two weeks, we’ll bring institutional critique and audience participation into the picture before preparing for the extended response.

Suggested Useful AI Prompts:
Prompt 1:

How do the Yes We Can and Make America Great Again campaigns use representation and audience construction to reinforce political ideology?

Prompt 2:

Compare how rhetorical strategies and aesthetic choices are used to emotionally engage different political audiences in these two campaigns.

So far, we’ve looked at media texts that aim to persuade through language, narrative, imagery or performance. This week’s focus shifts toward a different kind of persuasion — one that happens beneath the surface, built into the very structure of the platforms we use. The Social Dilemma doesn’t just explain how media can persuade — it exposes how persuasion has become the product.

Through interviews with former tech insiders and stylised re-enactments, the film breaks down how social media platforms use algorithmic design, behavioural prediction and psychological profiling to influence everything from personal habits to political polarisation. This is not the kind of persuasion we’re always aware of — and that’s the point.

Media Work

• The Social Dilemma (2020, Netflix) – Docudrama/hybrid documentary
  
  

Directed by Jeff Orlowski, the film combines conventional interviews with dramatic sequences to show the consequences of persuasive technology. The hybrid format blurs fact and fiction, offering both expert commentary and a cautionary narrative about a teenage boy slowly manipulated by social media algorithms. The persuasive messaging here is built around fear, awareness and systems critique.

Key Concepts

• Institutional power and algorithmic control

• Audience construction through data

• Ethical design and persuasive interface

• Representation of the user as product

• Documentary codes: authority, fear, evidence, dramatization
  
  

Media Theory

To understand how this media work constructs its message, we draw on:

• Agenda Setting Theory – Not just about what issues are highlighted, but which ones are silently omitted from our feeds.

• Political Economy – Key this week. It helps explain how economic structures influence media content, access and distribution.

• Framing Theory – The documentary frames the platforms as dangerous by visualising abstract systems with real-world emotional consequences.

• Uses and Gratifications Theory – What “needs” are we satisfying by using these platforms — and what are we giving up in return?
  
  

These theories help unpick not just what the documentary says, but how it says it — and what institutional critique it’s building toward.

Viewing Focus

As we view The Social Dilemma, look for:

• How documentary codes (interviews, archive, graphics, dramatisation) are used to construct urgency and concern

• Representations of the tech industry — what roles are given to designers, engineers, families, and users?

• The use of metaphor (e.g. the three algorithm personas) to explain persuasive mechanics

• How the hybrid format supports or complicates the film’s persuasive power

• The way the film constructs the viewer — are we being empowered, manipulated, shamed, or warned?
  
  

Consider how this form of persuasion compares to what we’ve seen in campaign media and activist documentaries. Here, it’s systemic rather than individual.

Written Reflection

Write a 300–400 word reflection responding to this:

How does The Social Dilemma use documentary codes and conventions to critique the persuasive power of media platforms? Identify one key persuasive technique and explain how it constructs meaning for the audience.

Include references to media theory, specific examples from the film, and your interpretation of how effectively the documentary makes its argument.

Essay Practice Questions

Use these prompts to practise extended comparative thinking:

1. Analyse how institutional power is represented and critiqued in a persuasive media work you have studied.

2. Evaluate the use of hybrid documentary codes in constructing meaning and engaging audiences. Refer to at least one example.
   
   

Next week, we’ll broaden the lens again, examining how global media campaigns use cross-cultural persuasion strategies — and how audiences from different contexts may receive them in completely different ways.

Suggested Useful AI Prompts:
Prompt 1:

What persuasive strategies does The Social Dilemma use to critique social media platforms? How do the film’s documentary and dramatized elements shape audience reception?

Prompt 2:

Explore how The Social Dilemma reflects concerns from Political Economy theory. How does it portray institutions and the commodification of the audience?

So far, we’ve analysed persuasive media that informs, entertains, manipulates and warns. This week turns attention toward global campaigns and activist media — persuasive media made to inspire action across cultures and borders. These works aim to engage emotionally, challenge social norms, and invite participation. But when messages travel globally, they don’t always land the same way.

We’ll look at two very different campaign examples — UN Women’s #HeForShe and Greenpeace environmental videos — and consider how each uses aesthetics, symbolism and tone to speak to broad audiences. We’ll also explore how these works are decoded differently depending on cultural values, beliefs and ideologies.

Media Work

• #HeForShe Campaign Video (UN Women, 2014)

• Greenpeace "Everything is Connected" Video (or equivalent viral campaign short)
  
  

Both texts aim to persuade audiences to act — one around gender equity, the other around climate justice. Both combine emotive imagery, strong symbolism and direct address. And both raise the question: what happens when persuasive messaging crosses cultural lines?

Key Concepts

• Global media and activist persuasion

• Representation of identity, values and agency

• Audience reception and decoding

• Cultural specificity vs universality

• Participatory media and public action
  
  

Media Theory

This week calls for theories that explain audience difference and cultural variation:

• Reception Theory (Hall) – Crucial here. Audiences negotiate or oppose messages based on their own cultural frameworks.

• Cultural Studies (Morley, Ang) – Reminds us that audiences are not homogenous; how a message is received depends on location, values and lived experience.

• Framing Theory – What kind of “problem” is each campaign framing, and what kind of “solution” is being proposed?

• Uses and Gratifications Theory – What do audiences gain by participating in or supporting global campaigns?
  
  

Viewing Focus

As we analyse these campaigns, focus on:

• Who is represented — and how?

• What values are being reinforced, challenged or assumed?

• How do the campaigns construct the audience — as empowered, responsible, guilty, hopeful?

• What persuasive strategies are being used (visuals, soundtrack, narration, slogans)?

• Would different cultures read this message the same way?
  
  

Think about how the campaigns build collective identity, but also how they might alienate or oversimplify complex issues for global consumption.

Written Reflection

Write a 300–400 word response that explores:

How does persuasive media attempt to speak across cultural boundaries? Choose one campaign from this week and analyse how it uses representation, media codes and audience construction to deliver its message. Consider how this message might be received differently by different audiences.

Reference theory, specific media codes, and provide your own interpretation of the campaign’s effectiveness.

Essay Practice Questions

Use the following to prepare for next week’s extended response task:

1. Analyse how cultural values influence the reception of persuasive media. Refer to at least one media work you have studied.

2. Discuss how representation and audience construction work together to shape meaning in a global media campaign.
   
   

We now have a full spectrum of persuasive media — activist, institutional, political, fictional, viral and systemic.

Suggested Useful AI Prompts:
Prompt 1:

How do global campaigns like #HeForShe and Greenpeace videos construct persuasive messages across cultural boundaries? What media codes and conventions are used to create a sense of unity?

Prompt 2:

Choose one global campaign and analyse how Reception Theory explains differences in audience interpretation. How might viewers in different cultural contexts decode the message?