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Media Department

We live in a world where the media permeates every level of our lives and it is almost impossible to remain untouched by its influence.  We spend an increasing amount of time engaging with the media: watching film and television; listening to the radio; reading newspapers and magazines; surfing the internet; playing video games.  Media texts have the opportunity to have enormous impact on our everyday lives and it essential that we develop the skills to consider them critically, developing an understanding of not only the message that they intend to communicate but how the message is constructed.

GCSE

Areas of Study:

Key concepts:

• Media institutions and audiences, media language and genre.
• Topics: Advertising, Television industry, genre, action adventure films and television comedy.

Media helps to develop key communication skills: exploring and discussing a range of viewpoints; explaining your own ideas using appropriate terminology; taking part in collaborative group work. 

ICT is a key part of the course with students developing skills of photography and image manipulation using Adobe Photoshop, video editing using Adobe Premiere and constructing print texts on Publisher, as well as practising word processing skills through written assignments.

Assessment Details:

• Individual Media Studies Portfolio: containing a written assignment and a practical production piece on at least two media texts. Film genre. (Controlled Assessment: 30%)

• Textual Analysis: -

  - First section: analysis and response to a short, previously unseen action adventure extract to demonstrate understanding of key media concepts. (Examination: 20%)

  - Second section: based on television comedy, this tests students’ understanding of institutions and audiences. (Examination: 20%)

• Production Portfolio in Media Studies: A major practical production project to design a product and its accompanying advertising campaign.  (Controlled Assessment: 30%)

BTEC Creative Media Production

This course allows students to explore the world of the media through a more vocational route, with an emphasis on practical production skills. Students get the opportunity to develop their own film right from the initial planning and research stage through to production, editing and completion of the product.They will draw up their own name, logo and identity as a film production studio and will work under this name for the duration of the course.

Unit 1: Research for Creative Media Production
- Students learn the different types of research and experiment with different techniques to conduct research for their own productions.

Unit 2: Video Production
- Students create an opening sequence to a new crime drama, taking on all the roles of a professional film crew, including director, producer, cameraman and sound engineer. Students are responsible for completing detailed and thorough research and planning, conducting a professional-style film shoot, and finally using professional post-production software to finish the film.

Key skills developed: research skills, team work, presenting skills, self-motivation, organisation, independence, IT skills, communication and confidence!

Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level

Course Aims

Media Studies explores the fundamental processes of communication at the heart of modern life; it develops analytical and investigative skills as students uncover the workings of the media industries, investigate the impact of communication technology and study how audiences interact with different media. Through the varied units in this course, it enhances media literacy as students learn how different forms of mediated communication are constructed, thus giving them the ability to decode media texts and their often less than obvious meanings. Students also acquire the technical and creative skills in order to creater their own media products.

Entry Requirements

A GCSE in English Grade C or above. Students should be able to demonstrate some practical or critical awareness of the mass media.

Course Content

At AS level,

• students will look at the music industry press, including how media language creates meaning in the products, how specific audiences are targeted through visual codes and conventions, and also acquire the skills for using a variety of software.
• In unit 2, the focus of study is the use of technical aspects of the moving image medium (namely Television Drama) to create meaning for an audience, focussing on the creation of representations of specific social types, groups, events or places.
• Unit 3 focuses on the business side of the Film Industry, with students developing an understanding of contemporary institutional processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange/exhibition at a local, national or international level as well as British audiences’ reception and consumption.

At A level

• coursework - students develop a promotion package for a new film, including a trailer, poster and magazine front cover, which requires an understanding of the marketing techniques within the industry.
• Finally, for Unit 5, students explore a contemporary media issue in depth, including an understanding of the relevant audiences and institutions. There is an emphasis on the historical, the contemporary and the future in relation to the chosen topic, with most attention on the present. Example issues are; Contemporary Media Regulation, Global Media, Media and Collective Identity, Media in the Online Age, Post-modern Media, or ‘We Media’ and Democracy.

Course Structure

AS Level

Unit 1: The Music Press (coursework assignment)
Unit 2: Textual Analysis and Representation (1 hour written examination)
Unit 3: Audiences and Institutions (1 hour written examination)

A Level

Unit 4: Marketing and Media (coursework assignment)
Unit 5: Critical Perspectives in Media (2 hour written examination)

Career and Higher Education Opportunities

Students wishing to study media studies further can take it to degree level at university or pursue it as a career within marketing, journalism or advertising.