Media Studies A Level - Ashbourne College, Media Studies Kensington, Media Studies London, UK

Ashbourne Independent Sixth Form College, Kensington

MEDIA STUDIES A LEVEL

“All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values”

Marshall McLuhan (Canadian Philosopher, 1911-1980)

Ashbourne’s Media and Film Department

This department is headed by Dennis Fulcher, who also teaches film studies. He is hugely experienced having taught for more than twenty years in both the private and public sector. He also has vast examining experience. Dennis has a long track record of success in Media Studies and year on year extracts excellent practical productions from students encompassing promotional pop DVDs, video based advertising campaigns and sophisticated desk-top publishing projects. Dennis holds a BSc Hons in Sociology, an MA in Government & Political Studies and a PGCE. He is also a fully qualified journalist and has worked for the local press, covering amongst other things the 1997 General Election. Dennis is most ably assisted in the department by Wesley Rykalski who is a graduate of UCL and holds an MA from University of London. He is currently finishing his PhD thesis in cultural studies. Wesley has made a fantastic contribution to the department since joining us three years ago.

Examination Board

Ashbourne follows the AQA specification for Media Studies as it is felt it affords the right balance between practical and theoretical work and covers a broad range of media industries, offering students a wide variety of choice. The specification has been substantially updated to take into account the rapid emergence of new media forms such as podcasts and blogs. The specification has been approved by the QCA for first teaching from September 2008.

MEST1

Investigating

Media Introduction The aim of this unit is to enable candidates to investigate the media by applying media concepts to a range of media products in order to reach an understanding of how meanings and responses are created. Candidates should be encouraged to investigate the contemporary media landscape and the changing contexts within which media texts are produced and consumed. Candidates will investigate the processes of meaning- making in media production and reception:

• at the micro level within individual products (also termed texts)

• and at a macro level in terms of technologies (also termed platforms).

In this specification the media platforms are referred to as broadcasting, e-media and print, to include linear broadcasting (audio-visual) and cinema, print media, digital/web-based and emerging media.

Candidates will firstly investigate a wide range of media texts to familiarize themselves with media language and media codes and conventions and then embark upon a cross-media study. The investigations into media concepts, processes and products will link with and inform the research into Unit 2: Creating Media, where candidates are required to produce media artefacts taken from two of the three media platforms.

Texts, concepts and contexts

Candidates should start this unit by investigating a wide range of media texts taken from the three media platforms to enable them to understand the media languages and the codes and conventions of moving image and print texts applicable to broadcasting (audio-visual) and cinema, digital/web-based media (e-media) and newspapers and magazines.

Centres should choose media texts that enable candidates to identify and evaluate the ways in which the media languages are used (media forms) and which also allow investigation and exploration of the additional concepts of:

• media representations

• media institutions

• media audiences.

The study of media forms gives candidates an understanding of media language, including narrative and genre. Appreciating how media representations are constructed provides insight into the values and ideologies underpinning the media. This is also apparent in the study of media institutions and media audiences. Study of these areas also provides candidates with an understanding of the profound changes taking place in the production and reception of the media, and some of the implications of these changes. Candidates will also gain a basic understanding of the role of marketing and the advertising industry in financing and promoting media through the investigation of a range of advertising texts and strategies present within and across the media platforms.

Semiotics, narrative structures, reception theories and ideas and information relevant to the study of media texts and media platforms should be taught insofar as they serve to help candidates understand how meanings and responses are created in media products. However the understanding and application of media concepts is more important than the reproduction of theories or information. Texts should be chosen to allow candidates access to cross-cultural factors where appropriate.

Candidates will undertake a study of one or more of the cross-media topic areas (see below) across at least three different media taken from the following media platforms:

Broadcasting – suggested texts:

television and radio programmes both factual and fictional;

films;

advertisements;

trailers and other audio/visual promotional material.

E-media – suggested texts:

websites;

blogs/wikis;

podcasts;

advertising and promotional materials;

radio;

television;

music or film downloads;

games and emerging forms.

It is advised that at least one from each type of text should be studied. Print – suggested texts: newspapers; magazines; advertising and marketing texts including promotional materials. It is advised that at least one from each type of text should be studied.

Suggested cross-media topic areas include:

Broadcast or film fiction: candidates should investigate how (audio-visual) broadcast or film fiction is presented across the media, primarily in broadcasting and cinema platforms, but also in newspapers and magazines, the internet and portable electronic devices. They should study the production and reception of broadcast or film fiction products including the ways in which audiences may select, consume and respond to broadcast or film fiction and its coverage.

Documentary and hybrid forms: candidates should investigate how documentaries are presented across the media, primarily in (audio-visual) broadcasting and cinema platforms, but also the treatment of these in newspapers and magazines, the internet and portable electronic devices. They should study the production and reception of documentary products including the ways in which audiences may consume, participate and respond to documentaries and their coverage.

Lifestyle: candidates should investigate how lifestyle, ie: make-over, information and advice products (such as buying and decorating property, cooking, slimming, bringing up children, improving a relationship, fashion tips etc), are presented across the media, for example in (audio-visual) broadcasting, the internet, newspapers and magazines. They should study the production and reception of such texts including the ways in which audiences may participate and respond to lifestyle products.

Music: candidates should investigate how music is presented across the media, for example, in (audio- visual) broadcasting, internet and portable electronic devices, newspapers and specialist magazines. They should study the production and reception of this coverage including the ways in which audiences may select, consume and respond to music products.

News: candidates should investigate how news is presented across the media, for example in (audio- visual) broadcasting, newspapers including on line newspapers, the internet and portable electronic devices. They should study the production and reception of news, including the ways in which audiences may select, produce, respond to and contribute to news.

Sport: candidates should investigate how sport is presented across the media, for example in (audio- visual) broadcasting, the internet and portable electronic devices, newspapers and magazines. They should study the production and reception of sport including the ways in which audiences may select, consume and respond to the coverage of sport (and sports products).

The texts within the cross-media topic should be examined by applying the knowledge and understanding gained through the study of the media concepts introduced during the investigation of media platforms. These include:

• audiences and how they receive and respond to (and create) texts

• institutional contexts including the relationship with the advertising industry, the level of independence/corporateness and how these contexts may infl uence the production and content of texts

• representations available within the texts and how these are constructed and construed

• semiotic, narrative and generic codes and conventions within the individual texts and across the topic, accounting for similarities and differences in codes and conventions across the media

• features and issues such as synergy, intertextuality, cross-media promotion, public service remit and other obligations, censorship and control, news and entertainment values, the technologies used in the production and reception process – as relevant to the topic chosen.

MEST2 Creating Media

In this unit candidates will produce two linked media artefacts taken from two of the three media platforms studied in

Unit 1: Investigating Media, with a single, accompanying evaluation and pre-production materials for both pieces. The pre-production materials, the production work and the evaluation should explicitly and implicitly demonstrate understanding of media concepts. It is expected that candidates will be actively engaging with the media concepts throughout the unit but, perhaps, particularly during the pre-production and evaluation phase of the unit. Therefore, an element of prior research into the production area will be considered necessary and will be evidenced in the pre-production materials.

This unit should develop out of Unit 1: Investigating Media, and enables candidates to pursue their own media interests within a framework of media concepts, contexts and issues. The productions undertaken in Unit 2: Creating Media should be linked to the learning undertaken in Unit 1.

Candidates need to complete a portfolio based on one of the set briefs for that examination series. They will offer for assessment two productions chosen from two of the three media platforms in their chosen brief, plus an evaluation of both production pieces with reference to the third media platform. The pre-production materials will demonstrate that candidates have researched appropriate media areas and extant texts as well as considering how to target specific audiences.

The productions will demonstrate that candidates have planning, technical and creative skills as well as knowledge of relevant codes and conventions within their chosen platforms. The evaluation will be partly a consideration of the candidate’s intentions for the productions, but it will be largely an analysis of the success of the productions in the light of their chosen platforms, target audiences and relevant media concepts.

Production Tasks

Candidates will choose two linked tasks from two separate media platforms. Each production task can be seen as technologically equivalent.

Broadcasting	Print	E-media
2 minute film trailer	2 magazine/newspaper features/reviews	3 web pages
2 television or radio advertisements	3 magazine advertisements	Viral marketing tool
Opening sequence for a TV programme	2 newspaper front pages	3 web pages

Brief One: Film Promotion

Broadcasting

Create a 2-minute cinema trailer for a new ‘15’-rated hybrid genre film and with a budget of roughly £30 million partly supplied by lottery funding.

Print

Write two features/reviews on the release of a new hybrid genre film, rated ‘15’ and with a budget of roughly £30 million partly supplied by lottery funding. You should aim to produce an A4 page for each piece including images and text. The pieces should be specific to a named publication such as a newspaper, lifestyle magazine or specialist film magazine.

E-media

Create three web pages for the official site for a new hybrid genre film, rated ‘15’ and with a budget of roughly £30 million partly supplied by lottery funding.

Brief Two: Public Service Advertising

Broadcasting

Create two television or radio advertisements as part of a campaign designed to promote sensible drinking aimed at young women (18-25 years of age).

Print

Create three magazine advertisements for three different magazines for a pre-Christmas campaign discouraging young women from drink-driving.

E-media

Create a viral, moving image marketing tool to promote sensible drinking. The piece is intended to be disseminated via mobile phone attachments.

Brief Three: Current Affairs

Broadcasting

Create the opening sequence for a new current affairs programme to be screened on Channel 4 at 6.30 pm aimed at the 16-21 age demographic.

Print

Create the front pages for two new middle-market blacktop newspapers, each with a different gender bias.

E-media

Create three web pages of an internet site dealing with current affairs aimed at women under the age of 30. Work can be submitted in a range of contemporary formats, which could include;

• DVD

• Video

• Print

• Website (submitted on CD-ROM)

• MP3/Podcast

• CD-ROM

Unit 3 MEST3 Critical Perspectives

Introduction

The aim of this synoptic unit is to allow candidates to demonstrate their holistic understanding of the Media Studies Specification.

Pre-set topic areas: The first two pre-set topic areas will be:

1. Representations in the media

• Images of particular groups or places across a range of media

• Possible alternative representations; representation and stereotyping

• Representation and genre

• Representations and wider contexts

• Representations and audience

• Cross-cultural factors in representation

• The effect of globalisation on representations in the media

• Values and ideology underlying representations.

Case studies might be of a chosen group or place, eg refugees in British newspapers or Los Angeles in Hollywood films and television. Thus candidates might study a variety of representations across the media platforms over the period of a term such as teenagers in TV soap operas and British films or celebrities in magazines and newspapers. They could widen this approach to study such representations across different media platforms, where appropriate. Areas such as these would allow them to consider a variety of current media issues and debates such as media effects, ownership and control and news values. They could consider the role of the media in shaping our beliefs and attitudes and the reasons why certain representations exist by examining the wider contexts in which media products are manufactured and sold. A study of representations in the media would also lend itself to the examination of a variety of media theories to:

• consider how the representations of groups and places are constructed (media analysis)

• consider the political issues surrounding representations (politics and the media)

• consider the effects of such representations on audiences and the reasons why such representations exist (consumption and production)

• consider cross-cultural factors in the representation of groups and places as appropriate.

2. The impact of new/digital media.

• The interactive consumer

• Social networking

• The internet and the world wide web

• Blogs

• Podcasts

• The changing contemporary media landscape

• The role of media institutions

• The media and democracy

• The changing role of the distributor and exhibitor

• New technologies and the audience

• The effect of globalisation on the use of new/ digital media

• Cross-cultural factors in the use and effects of new/digital media

• Values and ideology in the impact of new technology.

A study of the impact of new/digital media would also lend itself to the examination of a variety of media theories to:

• consider how new/digital media affects the construction of media products (media analysis)

• consider the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption (media theories)

• consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions (media production)

• consider the role of the interactive audience (media audiences)

• consider cross-cultural factors in, and the effects of globalisation on, the impact of new technology as appropriate.

Media Issues and Debates

The following represents an indication of the possible issues and debates currently prevalent in the study of the media.

They may be added to or subtracted from, depending on their relevance.

• Representation and stereotyping

• Media effects

• Reality TV

• News Values

• Moral Panics

• Post 9/11 and the media

• Ownership and control

• Regulation and censorship

• Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century

• The effect of globalisation on the media

Media Theories

• Semiotics

• Structuralism and post-structuralism

• Postmodernism and its critiques Politics and the Media eg:

• Gender and ethnicity

• Marxism and hegemony

• Liberal Pluralism

• Colonialism and Post-colonialism Consumption and Production eg:

• Audience theories

• Genre theories

Unit 4 MEST4 Media: Research and Production

The unit has two sections:

1. Critical Investigation (48 marks)

2. Linked production piece (32 marks)

Candidates will research and produce one critical investigation and one linked production. The unit is holistic so the link between the two elements must be evident and appropriate.

At A2 it is expected that they will be able to synthesise theory and production and consider relevant cross-cultural factors and the effects of globalisation on the media as appropriate.

The unit is intended to enable candidates to explore a text, theme, issue or debate relevant to the contemporary media landscape in depth and use this exploration to inform their production piece.

Investigations presented in non-written format should be equivalent to 2000 words of academic writing. For example:

• a DVD commentary approximately 10 minutes long – including interview, commentary on key sequences and analysis of existing material

• a wiki-based investigation of at least four pages with links, analysis, comparison and visual materials. Suitable areas of investigation and linked products might include: