This document provides an overview of the AS media studies course. It consists of two units: MS1 on media representations and responses, and MS2 on media production processes. MS1 is examined through a summer exam analyzing representations in various media forms. MS2 is coursework involving a pre-production brief, production, and evaluative report on a music video or advertising campaign. The document outlines the aims of developing critical analysis, practical skills, and understanding of the social contexts of media through engagement with different texts and production processes. Students are advised to actively engage with media in and out of class and to think critically about why they want to study media and its impacts on their lives and society.
6. A:
Because it is all around us, it is an
unavoidable part of our lives and we
need to make sense of the images
and signs that are representing us,
appealing to our needs and trying to
sell us stuff!
7. KS5 NSD
The AS course
Consists of 2 units:
MS1: Media Representations and Responses
MS2: Media Production Processes
MS1: Media Representations and Responses
Summer Exam 2 and a half hrs - 50% of AS mark
Advertising images
Newspapers
Sign and Code systems
Magazine covers
Selection and construction
Radio sequences
Film extracts
Modes of address and point of
view
Television sequences
Narrative construction
Music Videos
Computer Game Extracts
Genre
Websites As well as…
CD and DVD Covers
8. KS5 NSD
The AS course
Consists of 2 units:
MS1: Media Representations and Responses
MS2: Media Production Processes
MS1: Media Representations and Responses
Summer Exam 2 and a half hrs - 50% of AS mark
Advertising images
Representation and stereotypes
Newspapers
Magazine covers Audience categorisation
Radio sequences Models of audience reception
Film extracts Preferred readings
Television sequences Effects debates
Music Videos
Moral Panics
Computer Game Extracts
Realism
Websites
CD and DVD Covers
9. KS5 NSD
The AS course
Consists of 2 units:
MS1: Media Representations and Responses
MS2: Media Production Processes
MS2: Media Production Processes – Autumn/Spring term
Coursework- 50% of AS mark
A series of 3 linked pieces of work:
2 Briefs to choose from:
Pre-Production
Music video
Production
Advertising campaign
Evaluative report
Altogether this utilises and improves a valuable skillset:
•Analytical thinking
•Academic writing
•Technical
•Creative
10. KS5 NSD
Aims of this course
• To become critical readers of media texts
• To understand the different ways in which the media
represent the world to us
• To understand the social, political and cultural contexts in
which media texts are produced
• To understand the different ways in which audiences
respond to media texts
• To develop your own practical work
•To develop, investigate and research skills and apply them
to the analysis of media skills
…Phew!
11. KS5 NSD
This year you will:
• Come to all lessons
DON’T • Be on time and prepared – paper,
pens, diaries etc
• Meet deadlines
PANIC! • Keep an organised folder
• Learn from others
• Attend lessons and some individual
tutorials outside of lessons
• Study in an academic way
• Work independently and in groups
•Study outside of lessons- read
newspapers, watch TV, go to the
cinema – not just the stuff you usually
see/read
•Challenge yourselves
12. KS5 NSD
For tomorrow:
Why do you want to study the media?
Hints:
Think about your own media consumption.
Think about the types of media you are passionate about.
Think about the skills you want to improve.
What brought you here? Or in other words – how does the media impact
on YOUR life?
Why is media studies an A-level subject?
Hints:
Think about the reason I gave earlier.
Think about the size of the media industry.
Think about the things that we do on the course and where it might take
you.
Think about society – how does the media impact on ALL OUR lives?
Spend half an hour thinking and writing about this.
You will be sharing your ideas tomorrow.
