Media Studies

Course summary

To choose Media Studies A Level, you do not need to have studied Media Studies at GCSE level. Therefore, no previous experience is required as everyone starts at the same point, although obviously an interest in the media, its construction and influence, is essential. Paper 1 Students will study towards a 2 hour 15 minute exam that will test them on how media texts use media language, construct representations and the contexts that influence them. They will cover contemporary identities, representation of gender, ethnicity and reality as well as explore the positioning of audiences and institutional influences across a range of different platforms including advertising, film marketing, videogames, music videos and newspapers. Paper 2 Students will learn about 3 areas of the media in depth; TV in the Global Age (case studies include Peaky Blinders and The Bridge), Magazines (Mainstream, Vogue vs alternative, Big Issue) and Media in the Online Age (case studies include Zoella and Attitude Magazine).They will be required to study 2 texts in depth and comparatively, which are set by the exam board. The exam is 2 hours 30 minutes long, in which students need to write many extended answers. Both exams are sat at the end of the 2 year course. Non-Exam Assessment (NEA) Individually, students will need to respond to a brief set by the board. They will need to produce a cross-media response. For example, the brief may ask students to produce a sequence of 2½ – 3 minutes from anew TV drama as well as produce an accompanying magazine front page and double page spread helping to promote it in a TV lifestyle magazine. Students will also have full access to our facilities: Film/TV studio, industry standard cameras (moving image and SLRs), Apple Macs with Adobe Premier Pro and Photoshop software.