Media Studies Course Overview New AQA

8/14/2019 Media Studies Course Overview New AQA

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Media Studies:Media Studies:

Key Concepts

Key Concepts


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Media Representations

IntroductionIntroduction

Media Language

Media Institutions

Media Values and Ideology

Media Audiences


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Media RepresentationsMedia Representations

The subject matter of the Media is often ordinary,everyday people and yet they can often berepresented in ways that they would find

unrecognisable or even offensive. When weconsider Media Representations we will beconsidering:1. Who is being represented by the text?2. In what way?3. By whom?4. For what purpose?


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Media LanguageMedia Language

An analysis of a media text should include aconsideration of how each of these elements affectsour understanding and response to the text:

1. Connotation and denotation

2. Non- Verbal Communication3. Positioning of characters or objects4. Clothing, props, mise-en-scene, sets and settings5. Sound track, commentary and language6. Tone7. Sound and visual techniques (eg. camera

positioning, editing, special effects)8. Iconography9. Genre and genre conventions


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Media Institutions

Media texts do not just appear out of nowhere,they are produced by often very powerful andwealthy people. We need to consider:

1. What is the institutional source of the textand how has it shaped or influenced thetext?

2. Who owns and controls the institution?


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Media Values and IdeologyMedia Values and Ideology

These people who create media texts will oftenuse them either intentionally or not to presenttheir view of the world. This is their ideology.We should ask:

1. What are the major values, assumptionsand themes underpinning the text ornaturalised/embedded within it?

2. What are the criteria that have been usedfor selecting the content that has beenpresented?


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Media AudiencesMedia Audiences

You, the audience, are possibly the most importantand yet ignored element in the equation. We all haveour own very different ways of using the media. Wewill be considering:

1. To whom is the text addressed- what is its likelytarget readership/audience?

2. What is the text's likely place in the schedules ornewspaper/magazine?

3. In what ways does the text work to position its

audience?4. What are the likely conditions in which the text will

be received?5. What is the probable size and constituency of the

audience?6. What are probable and possible audience readings?


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You will also beYou will also be

consideringconsideringGenreWe can all tell within a few second of turning on thetelevision whether we are watching a thriller, a gameshow or whatever. We recognise the conventions of the

particular genre:

4.What genre does the text fit into? How can you tell-what conventions does it follow of the genre?

2. What do you know about the actors, stars, writers,directors etc.? Bearing in mind their associations,meanings and histories why do you think they havebeen chosen for this genre piece?


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AndAndNarrative

When you watch a film or a bit of T.V you are basicallybeing told a story. The study of narrative is the study ofthis story-telling and it is just as relevant in the TV Newsas it is in the latest blockbuster movie.

5.What is the structure of the narrative or the logic of theorder of its component parts?

2. How have specific narrative techniques been used (e.g.point of view and identification with one particularcharacter, building of suspense, use of reversals etc.?)

3. How are characters used- heroes and villains etc.established?


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FinallyFinallyWider contexts

No media text exists on its own. We need to thinkhow it fits in with the wider world and with thehistory of the Media:

5.What are the historical contexts relevant to anunderstanding of the text ? (generic, institutional,social etc.)

2. What are the economic determinants: the

ways in which economic factors may haveinfluenced and shaped the text?

3. What are the political contexts relevant to an

understanding of the text?


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Oh, I forgot AssessmentOh, I forgot Assessment

Unit 1Unit 1 (MEST 1)Investigating media

You must respond to an unseen print-based or moving-image media text (avideo, advert, photograph, etc),applying your knowledge of the keyconcepts.

You will have to write about the textand its form, commenting on theconcepts of Representation, Media

Audiences and Media Institutions.


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Unit 2 (MEST 2)Unit 2 (MEST 2)

Creating Media

You will produce two media texts,

informed by the study of the KeyConcepts and one of the contemporarymedia topics studied during Unit 1.The project has two parts:

Two linked production piecesWritten evaluation on bothproduction pieces (1500 words)

Media Studies Course Overview New AQA

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