Media Studies

This course can be combined with others and goes well with Film Studies, English, History, Sociology, Art, Photography and Graphics.

Media Studies is an engaging and diverse A Level which offers you the opportunity to combine examination assessment with practical coursework.

You will study a range of media texts and formats including: television, print media, advertising, blogging, film, computer games and music videos. You will be encouraged to ask critical questions about how and why media products are constructed, how they represent particular versions of reality and how they influence us, our culture and our lives.

You will study an AS Level in the first year of this course.

In the first year you are introduced to key concepts, theories and texts that are explored further in the second year. You will sit two written exams at the end of each year and submit practical coursework chosen from a brief. This could be print based or audio-visual, such as film marketing materials or a music video. Lessons will be varied and fast paced as you may have to complete your own research on the media industry, analyse a range of seen and unseen texts and discuss ideas in groups.

What topics will I study?

The EDUQAS syllabus involves the study of current and historical texts from various areas of the Media. This means you will consider how adverts from the 60s represented society, how these representations have changed and why. You’ll also think about film genre and how audience expectations change to reflect key issues such as gender and ethnicity.

In the exams (70%), you will be required to demonstrate skills of textual analysis from an unseen moving image and/or print extract; to analyse how people and issues are represented in the media and to explore the values, attitudes and beliefs that underpin them; to think about how texts are targeted at different audiences, to analyse the pleasures of the text and to examine how different people may respond to the same text in different ways.

For coursework (30%) you will produce a print or audio-visual text at AS and a cross-platform media production at A Level, so for example you could produce a music video and then a website to promote the band, or a range of film posters and a podcast, interviewing the Director.

You will:

• Study a range of TV series, advertising, magazines, video games and radio texts, both old and new
• Learn production skills to make a music video, magazine or a TV extract
• Apply analytical and critical skills in discussion and essays
• Consider how different audiences interpret media texts in different ways
• Explore how different groups are represented in the media
• Consider how historical and social contexts impact on both texts and their audiences

Assessment is by coursework and examination. There are two written examinations both worth 35% each of the overall mark and coursework is 30% of the overall mark and learners create a practical production.

This course is ideal if you enjoy exploring issues and current debates that impact on the media.

What can I study alongside this course?

This course can be combined with other courses to make a full programme, such as Film Studies, English Language or Sociology.

Future Steps: You could progress on to university level study. Past students work in TV, comedy production, marketing, public relations and teaching.

You will need eight GCSEs at grade 4 or above (including English Language and Maths). In addition, you should have a strong interest in one of the major forms of media.

Media students enjoy the benefits of a purpose built Media and Performing Arts building at the Centre for Creative Industries (CCI), with a Learning Resource Centre (LRC), TV studio and control room and state of the art Apple Mac editing facilities with Final Cut Pro.

There are some costs of materials and resources.