Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818 — who is he? what does he see? the enigma code at work

Lesson 07: Reading Systematically Toward the Blog Mid-Point

Media Studies · Unit 3 · Lesson 07 of 16 · ← L06 | L08 →

At a glance

Days	5 — Fri single, Mon, Tue, Wed double (CS5), Fri single
Dates	Fri 2026-10-16 · Mon 10-19 · Tue 10-20 · Wed 10-21 · Fri 10-23
Band/Unit	U3 Macro and Textual Analysis (S1 Unit 3)
AO focus	AO3 (CS5)
Deliverable	CS5 peer blog audit against the mid-point checklist; an A2-ready blog by Monday
Feeds	A2
Homework	Blog completion: posts 1–7 to standard by Mon 10-26

Overview

Five days that turn analytical instinct into analytical method. Barthes adds one more instrument — what a text withholds and promises. The systematic reading order and the PEEM paragraph give you the discipline. Wednesday’s double is the hinge: every blog is audited by a peer against the same checklist A2 will be marked with, three teaching days before the deadline, while there is still time to act on what the audit finds.

How it runs

D1 — Fri 10-16: Barthes — the question and the promise

• The instrument (15 min) — Barthes’s enigma code (the question a text plants and refuses to answer yet) and action code (the promise that something will happen, and soon). A figure on a rock, back turned: who is he? what does he see? — that lean toward the screen is the enigma code working.
• On a cold open (25 min) — one TV cold open screened twice: first pass, list every question the text plants; second, every promise it makes. Openings are engineered to owe you answers.
• Close (5 min) — theory card: Barthes (anchorage, myth-adjacent connotation, now enigma; one theorist, many tools). A1 scripts return this weekend with full margin review.

D2 — Mon 10-19: the reading order

• A1 margins (10 min) — scripts back; two minutes silent reading of margin notes, then one written action each. The commonest gap is coverage: whole code families left unvisited.
• The order modeled (15 min) — the fix is procedural, not talent: the systematic reading order — same order, every extract, every time (framing → camera → light → mise-en-scène → sound → edit → narrative codes) — modeled once on screen, out loud.
• Silent run (15 min) — a new still, the order run silently, notes in order, no wandering. The discipline is the exercise.
• Close (5 min) — copy the order onto your personal code checklist.

D3 — Tue 10-20: PEEM

• The anatomy (10 min) — Point, Evidence, Effect, Meaning — the paragraph that proves instead of asserts. An anonymized assertive paragraph from A1 on screen.
• Rebuild (25 min) — pairs rebuild it: claim kept, evidence pinned to a signifier, effect on the viewer stated, meaning tied to the concept. Then each of you rebuilds one of your own A1 paragraphs the same way.
• Close (10 min) — the pairing-sentence drill (WS 4.5 pattern): one sentence fusing technique + content, five times, speed over polish.

D4 — Wed 10-21 (double): CS5 — the audit

• The checklist (10 min) — the mid-point checklist on the board, post by post: brief and group; research; audience profile; pitch; planning suite; production log; early evidence — every post dated, contributions labeled, no gaps. It mirrors the A2 register entry exactly: the audit is A2’s marking preview.
• Paired audit (45 min) — blogs swapped, audited post by post, protocol describe → question → suggest; write findings as actions, not comments (“post 3 has no audience data — add the survey screenshot” beats “more detail”).

Frances Benjamin Johnston, Geography — Studying the Seasons, Hampton Institute, 1899 — work checked together, in the room

• Fixes begin (20 min) — start your own action list in the room.
• Close (5 min) — three teaching days to Monday. CS5 logged.

D5 — Fri 10-23: the shape of an answer

• Architecture (20 min) — Section A response architecture: intro that names the argument, one paragraph per code family in the reading order, a conclusion that answers the prompt’s verb. Skeleton first, prose second — the plan is where marks are won.
• From memory (20 min) — storyboard an answer skeleton for the A1 extract from memory: what would each paragraph have claimed? Comparing skeletons shows what a plan buys.
• Close (5 min) — blogs to standard by Monday; A2 is submitted work, not a sitting.

Assessment

Item	Date	What	AO
CS5	Wed 2026-10-21	Peer blog audit against the mid-point checklist — the same checklist A2 is marked with	AO3

A2 is due the Monday after this lesson ends, inside L08 day 1. See the full register.