Media Studies

Component 1: Media products, industries and audiences (exam – 35%)

Section A: Analysing media language and representation.

Students will examine set media products including advertisements, music videos and newspapers and consider the ways they represent particular groups of people. In the exam students will be examined on these as well as on an unseen media text. Texts studied include music videos by Beyonce and Vance Joy, washing detergent adverts, and front covers of several UK newspapers.

Section B: Understanding media industries and audiences

Students will examine set media products including marketing, film, radio and video games and consider issues such as media ownership and production, and the ways in which different audiences react to media products. Texts studied include I’ Daniel Blake, Black Panther, Late Night Woman’s Hour and Assassin’s Creed.

Component 2: Media forms and products in depth (exam – 35%)

Section A: Television in the global age.

Students will compare two television programs, one British, one Scandinavian, and consider their production values and codes and conventions among other aspects. The programs studies are Life on Mars and The Bridge

Section B: Magazines – Mainstream and alternative media

Students will examine a number of magazines from different eras and formats and consider how they represent groups and how contexts influence their ideologies. Magazine include Vogue and The Big Issue.

Section C: Media in the online age.

Students will examine the changing nature of media consumption and ask whether audiences are passive or are also engaged in making or influencing media products themselves. Texts include Zoella and Attitude online magazine.

Component 3: Cross-Media Production (internally assessed – 30%)

Learners create an individual cross-media production in two different forms for an intended audience, applying their knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework and digital convergence in response to a choice of briefs set by EDUQAS. The forms that learners can work in include television, magazines, film marketing, music marketing and online options. The intended audience and industry context are specified in the brief.

Component 1 30%: Meanings and Representations in the Media

This component introduces learners to the knowledge, understanding and skills required to analyse media products through the study of key areas of the theoretical framework - media language and representation.

Learners study media language and representation in relation to examples of media products chosen by the centre from the following forms:

1. Music video and video games - at least two examples
2. Advertising and film marketing - at least three examples
3. Newspapers and radio news/current affairs programmes - at least three examples.

In this component, learners analyse how representations, discourses and ideologies are constructed in media products through media language, as well as how representations are influenced by social, cultural, historical and industry (including economic and political) contexts. Learners will also develop the ability to use and reflect critically upon relevant theoretical approaches and theories.

Component 2 40%: Media Forms and Products in Depth

In this component, learners build on the knowledge and understanding developed in Component 1 by studying all four areas of the theoretical framework.

Learners study media language, representation, audiences and media industries in relation to:

1. Television - a choice of three options, each including two contrasting programmes set by WJEC
2. Magazines - a choice of three options, each including two contrasting magazines set by WJEC
3. Blogs and websites – a choice of three options, each including two contrasting online products set by WJEC.

This component involves the detailed study of set products in a holistic way, building on the study of media language and representation in Component 1 to also consider industry and audience issues. Learners will explore and compare how relevant social, cultural and industry contexts influence the set products. Here, learners will again develop the ability to use relevant theoretical approaches and theories, with additional theories to those studied for Component 1.

Component 3 30%: Cross-Media Production

Learners create an individual cross-media production in two different forms for an intended audience, applying their knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework and digital convergence in response to a choice of briefs set by WJEC. The forms that learners can work in include television, magazines, film marketing, music marketing and online options. The intended audience and industry context are specified in the brief.