A LEVEL MEDIA

We study media industries and their products: how audiences consume them and how the professionals plan and research materials before going into production.

Year One AS

Unit 1: Students prepare for an exam in which they display their knowledge of the unwritten rules of media production. We discuss narrative how products tell stories and genre how products fit different labels and categories.
We examine how the media portray subjects such as ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality and how this encourages audiences to form opinions about these issues. The exam requires students to analyse a television excerpt or magazine layout and explore issues of audience response raised by it. 2 ½ hr written exam.

Unit 2: Students are required to plan, develop and produce a media product such as a DVD cover and insert. They then write a report 1650 words comparing their product with a similar professionally produced artefact. Internally marked. Externally moderated.

Year Two A2

Unit 3: Candidates research and produce an 1800 word investigation into a topic of their choice. They then produce a media product based on their findings and then evaluate the process 750 words. Internally marked. Externally moderated.

Unit 4: Students will study three media organisations e.g. the music, film and T.V. industries and learn how they have developed and changed particularly since globalisation and digital technology have come to the fore. We will learn how these industries are controlled and regulated by law and custom and how they research and relate to their audiences.

2 ½ hr written exam.

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