Media Studies (A Level)

You will be assessed in three ways in the second year of the course:

Component 1 Media Products, Industries and Audiences This is a written exam split into two sections of equal value, lasting 2 hours 15 minutes, which counts for 35% of your final grade.

• Section A: Analysing Media Language and Representation
• Section B: Understanding Media Industries and Audiences
• Component 2: Media Forms and Products in Depth

This is a written exam split into three sections of equal value, lasting 2 hours 30 minutes, which counts for 35% of your final grade.

• Section A: Television in the Global Age
• Section B: Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative Media
• Section C: Media in the Online Age
• Component 3: Cross Media Production

An independent cross-media production made over sixteen weeks in response to a choice of set briefs applying knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework and digital convergence. This counts for 30% of your final grade.

The course will cover the following themes:

Media Forms and Products

You will study advertising and marketing, film (Straight Outta Compton, I, Daniel Blake), magazines (Vogue, Big Issue) music video (Beyonce, Dizzee Rascal, Vance Joy), newspapers, online media (Zoella, DesiMag), radio, television (Life on Mars, Humans, No Burqas Behind Bars) and video games (Assassin's Creed III: Liberation).

Theoretical Framework

You will learn the tools to develop a critical understanding and appreciation of the media. The framework consists of four inter-related areas:

• Media language: how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings
• Representation: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups
• Media industries: how the media industries' processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms
• Audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to

Contexts of Media

You will develop knowledge and understanding of media products in relation to relevant key social, cultural, economic, political and historical contexts.

• Media Concepts: forms, representations, institutions and audiences
• Media Platforms: broadcasting; digital/web-based media (e-media) and print
• Media Debates: reality TV, news values and moral panics
• Media Theories: gender & ethnicity, consumption and production and genre theories