SPECIFICATION

Course Outline

You will develop a deeper understanding of the modern mass media - newspapers, online, advertising, music video, video games, radio, film and television - through studying the institutions and practices that produce them and the audiences that consume them. You will investigate relevant and interesting case studies that will introduce you to the key ideas that surround current debates in the mass media. You will make your own production.

Teaching methods include the use of audiovisual material, discussion, presentations, group work and individual investigation. All pupils record their work on individual blogs that are linked to the class teaching blog.

A reformed GCSE Media Studies specification graded 9 -1 is planned for first teaching in September 2017 under current proposed timelines.

Course Content

J200/01 Textual Analysis - written exam (1 hr 45) 70 marks, 35% of total GCSE

In this module, you explore how media products (specifically, television crime dramas) follow generic conventions, use media language, represent events, issues, places, individuals and social groups, address audiences and reflect their industrial context. As television crime drama is your case study, under examination conditions, you view an extract from a television crime drama and answer questions about genre conventions; you analyse film language and the representation of people and places; and you explain the differences between television channels and their audiences.

J200/02 Exploring Media - written exam (1 hr 15) 70 marks, 35% of total GCSE

This module introduces you to a wide variety of contemporary media forms and industries: film, magazine, television, radio, online media, music videos and video games. There is a specific case study designated for each of these mass media. In the exam, you will demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of aspects of each industry, its language, its audiences and the ways in which it creates representations. You prepare three in-depth case studies for exam questions (historical and contemporary, products intended for different audiences):

·      Advertising and marketing

·      Newspapers

·      Online, social and participatory media

J200/03/04 Creating Media - non-exam assessment, 60 marks, 30% of total GCSE

You create your own original production and will be assessed on your work individually although you may use other people as actors and assistants to operate light, sound and recording. You will produce a production log documenting research into similar media products and the planning of your own production. The proposed Brief is to make a two-minute sequence from a new television chat show with a host, guests, sound effects, music and set.

Co-curricular activities

Media Club and clinics run during lunch breaks. We have a study day at the British Film Institute. Pupils enter film production competitions and participate in schemes such as the BIFA champions.

Target Group

A recognised part of the National Qualifications framework, media studies gives you valuable insight into how media is produced for those interested in working in business, journalism and in the television, film, magazine and radio industries. You develop transferable skills in research and new technologies. If you love film, television, newspapers and radio, and want to learn more about how to discuss and to make them, then this is the course for you.