Thank you for stopping by. This site aims to provide a useful source of information, resources and activites to help you with your AQA A Level Media Studies and WJEC A Level Film Studies. Please sign up for the newsletter

 

 

 MEDIA STUDIES 

 

Here you will find MEST 1 Section A: Investigating Media. As with Section B these are assessed in a 2 hour exam in May.

 

Section A allows us to explore areas and concerns relating to all aspects of media production and reception. Our knowledge will be tested when presented with a new text* not previously seen or studied on the course. The 'tools' to study the media are called the Media Key Concepts (not just by the AQA). For the AQA they consider the following as key conceptual areas:

 

Media Language

Media Institutions

Genre

Narrative

Ideology (and Values)

Media Audiences

Media Representations

 

We will study these Key Concepts across range of texts and from three main media platforms, e-Media/Digital Media, Broadcast (film and TV) and Print Media.

 

Section B Case Study information, resources, help, advice and guidance. This year's 'case study' is The Hunger Games . We believe this to be an excellent dystopian vision which allows us to explore it's many genres and the engaging narrative structure. Also, the characterisations offer us an intersting variety and representations like Katniss, the heroine, can be studied as being an alternative to the mainstream male archetypes. Money motivates most media so institutional and production factors can't be ignored, The company's values that are shared with us and the ideologies and meanings that are implied are ways we get information about the world and the societies we live in, or never visit. We will explore audience engagement and reception, our likes and dislikes and the cultural factors that affect our reactions and responses.

 

 

 

 

MEST 2 Creating Media is the coursework option, here you will find information, resources, help, advice and guidance etc. For examples of Media and Film Studies coursework, please see that page which contains this specific content; click below :

 

                    COURSEWORK EXAMPLES   

 

- or use the link on the skyline tabs.

 

There are usually 3 production 'briefs' to choose from, one could be from the music industry, another probably film or television based. You will  research a brief of your choice and  pland and produce a range of media texts for two media platforms, choosing from print, e-Media/ Digital and Broadcast/Video.

 

Without using templates you can learn to build a website and use it as a promotional tool. Or you can engage with PhotoShop, you'll use your own PC with the latest software, learn how to enhance photographs and construct print products. Another option is shooting a video and editing a sequence (usually 2-3 minutes long). Depending on interest we can have workshops on lighting, Digital/SLR cameras, video/film making techniques (modes of narration and continuity editing), and video editing on iMac computers and PowerBooks.

 

You will then critically review and analyse all your work in a 1500 word evaluation, using the Key Concepts as analytical tools.

 

Media Studies is a rich subject when considering the transferable skills you will learn or develop.

 

 FILM STUDIES 

 

All things relevant to FM1 Exploring Film Form can be found here. Including MACRO elements (narrative and genre, representation and ideology) and MICRO elements of Film Form:

 

Cinematography

Editing

Mise-en-scène

Performance

Sound

 

Information on the various coursework options and the 1500 word Written Analysis of a Film Sequence, or the 'Micro Essay', the visualisation and illustration ofan Imaginary Film Sequence - your options: a 15-25 frame Photographic Storyboard, which is the most popular choice, the least favourite 1000 word Extended Step Outline (describing 5-8 consecutive scenes) or the attractive, but labour intensive,  2-3 minute Video Sequence.

 

Also there's a section on Section C, the  Comparative US Film Study. This is a third of the assessment by exam, each third worth 40 marks. In this unit we compare two similar films (same main character, genre and a similar plot) but seperated by different time periods. I am Legend was a re-make of The Omega Man released in 2007.

 

In addition to this being another opportunity to use our knowledge and demonstrate an understanding of the micro features, the macro elements of film form: narrative and genre are also explored here:

 

NARRATIVE : theory, concepts, debates, story, plot, structure, narration and characteristation.

 

GENRE : iconography and codes, conventions, hybridity, theory and critical debates.

 

Also ideology and representations also appear in the exam questions.

 

These two films are both ciematic interpretations of Richard Matheson's 1954 novella, I am Legend - but the themes, messages and values of the post-war 1950's that influenced the novel played out differently when re-told on film in 1971's Omega Man and then changed again to appeal to a new audience in 2007.

 

Historical, cultural, social, technical differences and ideological values are analysed and examained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This website is a new venture so please let me know if you like it and what you would like to see here, or what you'd like to see more of. If there's any feedback you'd like to share I'd be delighted to hear from you, please visit the contact page for information on how to get in touch.

 

* a text is any media product, for example; films and TV programmes - factual and fiction, print materials - flyers, posters, papers and magazines, e-Media/Digital - apps, websites, social-media. Radio and computer game texts too.

 

Exam dates are on the calendar (right) as are coursework deadlines and other events that are relevant to our studies.

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