Media Studies
Huge areas of our lives are affected by the media - television, pop video, radio, magazines, newspapers, films and the Internet. This course encourages a critical interest in these areas.What will I learn?
You will learn about film and TV genres, advertising images and language and how the media represents things to different audiences. You will also learn practical skills of photography, layout design, sound recording, preparing for practical work (e.g. making props or arranging access to locations) story boarding and using video cameras. You will discuss and write about very complex ideas and arguments.
What sort of homework will I be set?
This could be research (finding out about a topic), analysing images or texts, writing an evaluation of your practical work or attempting to apply theories learnt in class to media texts read at home. A significant amount of homework is written assignments of between 800-1000 words.What coursework will I need to do?
You will do six coursework assignments. Some are individual pieces and some might be group productions. Most of these projects will be written assignments (usually 4-5 sides of A4).How will my work be assessed?
There is one final exam paper on one topic. TV news, Soaps, Science Fiction Films, Pop Music and Documentary have been the topics used in previous years. The paper is 3 hours long.Your final GCSE grade will be assessed on:
| Written assignments | 25% |
| Major production | 25% |
| Final exam | 50% |
NB: The written work involved in this course is significantly heavy.
What qualification will I gain?
GCSE: Media Studies - Exam Board: AQA (Syllabus 3571)FOR FURTHER INFORMATION–ASK MS ALI-KHAN OR MS WILSON