The mass media plays an increasingly important role in contemporary society, providing us with information and entertainment in many forms, such as film, television, radio, internet, magazines, newspapers and advertising…
Media Studies currently follows the AQA GCSE syllabus. Assessment is through a written examination worth 40% and practical coursework worth 60%.
It’s rather like studying English and other languages, but instead of reading books we ‘read’ the modern media – we assess and analyse extracts from films, TV, newspapers, advertising and so on. Just as in English you learn about punctuation, alliteration and similes, so in Media Studies we discuss how editing, framing, denotation and connotation create meaning.
As well as media language, we learn about representation – the way the media presents people, places, ideas and stories – and we ask whether this is fair and accurate or misleading and manipulative. We also learn about the different audiences that use the media, and the institutions that produce media products. There is also the chance to produce media products such as adverts, magazines, newspapers – even film trailers or radio programmes using the school’s ICT resources.
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