Resources for WJEC A Level Film Studies on MediaEdu

This page should provide you with an index to the information we have on MediaEdu which relates directly to WJEC A Level Film Studies.

This page also contains external links to support materials on the WJEC site.

Cinematic New Waves

Studying Tsotsi

Further Reading & Support

The primary source for authoritative information & support is the WJEC Film Studies website.

WJEC Film Studies GCE...

Resources for WJEC A Level Media Studies on MediaEdu

This page should provide you with an index to the information we have on MediaEdu which relates directly to WJEC A Level Media Studies.

It also contains external links to support materials on the WJEC site.

AS Schemes

WJEC AS MS1 Scheme

WJEC AS MS2 Scheme

A2 Schemes

WJEC A2 M2 MS3 Scheme

WJEC A2 MS4 Scheme

British Pop Music A2 Scheme

Associated Resources

Advertising

• How To Analyse...

Resources for AQA A Level Media Studies on MediaEdu

This page should provide you with an index to the information we have on MediaEdu which relates directly to AQA A Level Media Studies.

This page also contains external links to support materials on the AQA site.

AS Schemes

• AQA AS MEST1 Scheme

• AQA AS MEST2 Scheme

A2 Schemes

• AQA A2 MEST3 Scheme

• AQA A2 MEST4 Scheme

Guides

• AQA AS Media Studies | How To Get The Top Grades

• AQA A2 Media Studies...

Resources for OCR A Level Media Studies on MediaEdu

This page should provide you with an index to the information we have on MediaEdu which relates directly to OCR A Level Media Studies.

This page also contains external links to support materials on the OCR site.

AS Scheme

Latest Scheme

2011-2014 OCR AS Media Studies Scheme of Work

Other Schemes

AS G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media

AS G322: Key Media Concepts (TV Drama)

AS G323: Key Media...

The catch word for the digital world of new media is convergence. Convergence is the coming together of everything digital.

Definition

Any digital media can be transmitted by any suitable digital medium, such as a wifi broadband connection or mobile phone, so that all communications, text, audio, graphics, video, and broadcasting can be accessed instantly.

The iPhone, Blackberry or computer becomes a two-way communications module with access...

The new Government report Digital Britain would make a good starting point for a case study on the impact of digital media. The report provides recommendations to promote and protect talent and innovation in British creative industries, to modernise TV and radio frameworks and support local news, and introduces policies to maximise the social and economic benefits from digital technologies. The Report is one of the central policy commitments in...

An Overview - Unit G322 Key Media Concepts

As this is a new course it is important to have an overview so that you know what you have let yourself in for.

OCR suggest that theory and coursework support each other and develop along side each other. The suggested learning time is that students receive 180 ‘guided learning hours’ per year. You could divide this half and half between class work and homework.

I think you have more control over...

An Overview - Unit G322 Key Media Concepts

As this is a new course it is important to have an overview so that you know what you have let yourself in for.

OCR suggest that theory and coursework support each other and develop along side each other. The suggested learning time is that students receive 180 ‘guided learning hours’ per year. You could divide this half and half between class work and homework.

I think you have more control over...

Why Regulate The Media?

The media now affects nearly every aspect of our lives.  It influences the products we consume, via advertising; our understanding of the world via news and documentary; our leisure via film and broadcast fiction and games; our methods of communication via the internet.  It is widely acknowledged that this dominance gives the media huge influence.

For example:

• The Media Effects theory has achieved widespread...

An Overview

As with all the new specifications in Media A Levels there are 4 units.

AS has 2 units and A2 has 2 units.

MS1 or Unit 1 - The Exam

The WJEC Unit 1 is called MS1 and is 25 % of the complete 4 unit A level.

The AS UNIT 1 exam paper is 50% of the total AS mark. This is an externally assessed 2½ hour written paper on the topic of Media Representations and Responses.

MS1 is marked for 2 assessment objectives AO1 and AO2.

AO1...

Unit 1 Media Representations and Responses

• 50% of AS, 25% of A Level
• 2 hour 30 minutes Written Exam Paper
• External Assessment

Three compulsory questions, including one question on unseen audio-visual or print-based material (interactive media will be presented as print-based) (40, 30 & 30).

Paper raw mark total: 100
Paper UMS total: 100

Unit 2 Media Production Processes

• 50% of AS, 25% of A Level
• Internal Assessment

Three components:...

We Study Media by Rob McMinn

The Student Room & Media Studies

Setting up a Radio Station on Mediaed.org.uk

Modern Mechanix: examples of vintage advertising

Technorati on Ideology

Ideology for Kids: Decoding the Kremlin’s Website

The End of Cyberspace

Kinoeye on Media Studies

Bluegrass Film Society

Kids Gobble Up Interactive Junk Food Marketing

Continental Philosophy: Key Notes on Theorists

Dr. Mabuse’s Kaledio-scope: Four Models of...

Foundation Portfolio in Media

This is a coursework unit where candidates produce two paired media artefacts from a series of briefs.

This process involves progression from a pre-production, preliminary exercise to a more fully realised piece.

The briefs offered are: print, video, audio and website.

This unit is internally assessed and externally moderated.

click on this hyperlink to find out more

Media Concepts (TV Drama)

This paper...

Television and film crime/cop drama is very popular with a wide audience. Crime dramas seek to anchor the representations of all types of police officers, criminals and victims as ‘believable’ characters, with ‘realistic’ plot lines, set in urban locations.The genre has been taken up in the US under the heading of American Quality Televsion (AQT) - see under heading AQT.

Codes and conventions

Crime dramas:

• are constructed realities
...

2008 Onwards

Unit 1 Investigating Media

• 50% of AS, 25% of A Level
• 2 hour written examination
• 80 marks

Two Sections: A & B

Section A

Four compulsory short answer questions

Section B

A choice of one from two essays

Available January and June

Click on this hyperlink to find out more about Unit 1

Unit 2 Creating Media

• 50% of AS, 25% of A Level
• Practical unit, internally assessed and externally moderated
• 80 marks
• Externally set...

G324 Advanced Portfolio in Media

G325 Critical Perspectives in Media

Critical Perspectives = Contemporary Media Regulation ~ Media and Collective Identity (30 Week Scheme of Work)

Overview

• OCR A Level Media Studies Overview

Scheme

• OCR A2 Media Studies SOW 2012-2014.doc

Concepts

• Regulation within the Media Industry
• Researching Film Magazines and Film Posters
• Skills Development - Planning and Production
• Evaluating and Linking Coursework to...

H140

• G321 Foundation Portfolio in Media (50%) and G322 Key Media Concepts (50%)
• G322 Section A: TV Drama (52%) and Section B: Film Industry (50%) - 32 Week Scheme of Work

Overview

• OCR A Level Media Studies Overview

Scheme

• OCR AS Media Studies SOW 2011-2014.doc

Concepts

• Media Language, Forms and Conventions (Media Language, Representation, Genre, Narrative)
• Film Industry Institution
• TV Drama and Representation
• Research, Planning and...

Associated Resources

MEST2 Coursework Overview 2011-12.ppt

All teacher-assessed marks to be returned to AQA by 10 January 2012 or 15 May 2012

Link: AQA MEST2 Briefs

Brief Two | Regional Newspapers

A regional newspaper is about to run a month long campaign promoting local sports. The newspaper has an online presence and is keen to use its website as a focus for information, as well as featuring a range of sports related features in its print...

Synopsis

The Winchester, a typical London pub. Shaun (Simon Pegg), his girlfriend Liz (kate Ashfield), her two friends David (Dylan Moran) and Diane (Lucy David) are in the pub. Shaun’s best friend, the foul mouthed (and minded) overweight layabout, Ed (Nick Frost) plays the slot machines. Shaun is getting a hard time from this girlfriend; she wants to spend more time with him, be more exciting and do more than sit in The Winchester with Ed....

Denotation and Connotation

These are two important words concerned with the way an audience understands the meaning of a media text. These can also be called the signs and signified meaning, or the micro and macro features.

Denotation / sign / micro feature is the basic, literal meaning of what is in the picture or scene.

Connotation / signified meaning / macro feature means different interpretations suggested by the text, often associated...

Institutional Factors | Production and Historical Context

The Tudors is a critically and commercially successful Period Drama, (a sub genre of TV Drama), produced by an Independent Production Company, commissioned by the BBC and screened on BBC2 in October 2007 but originally shown on the American cable channel, Showtime. It ran for four seasons until 2010. Screenwriter Michael Hurst created the series, he had previously written Elizabeth,...

Associated Resources

• Semiotics Glossary.doc

Anchorage

The fixing of a set of meanings, often found in a photograph or advert, usually through captions or other written text

Arbitrary Sign

Where the signifier has no connection to the signified e.g. Snow and Christmas

Codes

A system of signs, languages or symbols that allow audiences to decode meaning e.g. Technical and Symbolic codes or Narrative codes

Content Analysis

A way of decoding...

Associated Resources

• Moving Image Terminology and Semiotics.doc

Semiotics/Semiology

The study of signs that help us to deconstruct Media Texts

Signifier/Denotation

The physical form of the sign, without deeper meaning

Signified/Connotation

Meaning associated with the relationship between signifier and signified. Connotation is open to interpretation

Mythical Connotation

Meaning which is subjective interpretation, yet untrue

Anchored...

Associated Resources

• Representation Theory Simplified Handout.doc

The media literally re-presents the world to us. Dominant and oppositional arguments conflict e.g. on one hand the media is showing us how things actually are, on the other hand they are telling us how things should be (dictating representations, not just reflecting society).

The main representations we study in the media are:

• Masculinity
• Femininity
• Social Class
• Sexuality
...

Associated Resources

• Narrative AS Terminology Revision Sheet.doc

Overview

• Narrative
• Narrative Enigmas
• Narrative Themes
• Narrative Structure
• Narrative Theory

Narrative

• The structure and organisation of media texts e.g. story
• Narrative chain of cause and effect – the plotlines in a story that are triggered by action and enigma codes (something happens that causes something else to happen)
• Narrative is correlated...

Associated Resources

• Genre Revision Test.doc
• Genre Test Answers.doc

1. What does the word genre literally mean?  1 mark

2. How does the concept of genre help audiences understand media texts?  2 marks

3. Give three ways audiences can identify genre.  3 marks

4. Using two examples, identify how can genre be understood in terms of narrative themes and structure.  4 marks

5. What are generic codes and conventions?  1 mark

6. Explain the...

Contemporary Examples

• The Rite Mikael Håfström, 2011
• Paranormal Activity 2 Tod Williams, 2010
• Saw (6 films in franchise) James Wan, 2002-2009
• Blair Witch Project Daniel Myrick + Eduardo Sánchez, 1999
• Dog Soldiers Neil Marshall, 2002
• Urban Legend Jamie Blanks, 1998
• I Know What You Did Last Summer Jim Gillespie, 1997
• Hostel Eli Roth, 2005

Codes and Conventions

• Split into sub genres (see below), often hybridised
• Primary target audience –...

Recommended Reading

• ‘Spectacular Bodies’ - Yvonne Tasker (Routledge) 1998
• ‘Action’ – Richard Dyer, 2000
• ‘Action Women: Muscles, Mothers and Others’ – Yvonne Tasker, 1998

Contemporary Action Films

• Your Highness (Adventure/Comedy Hybrid) David Gordon Green, 2011
• Inception (Action/Sci Fi Hybrid) Christopher Nolan, 2010
• Quantum of Solace Marc Forster, 2008
• Die Hard 4.0 Len Wiseman, 2007
• Tomb Raider Simon West, 2000
• Mission...

Examples

• Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson, 2001-2003)
• Harry Potter (Chris Columbus, 2001-11)
• Chronicles of Narnia (Andrew Adamson, 2005)
• Tron (Kenneth Branagh, 2011)
• Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)

Codes and Conventions

• High production values
• Younger target audience although significant older appeal
• Wide/saturated distribution (normally by an American Studio e.g. Warners or Disney). Mainstreamers and Aspirers
• Dedicated, sometimes...

Cultural Context

• “Television is the Drug of the Nation”
• “Like Religion Television is a form of Social Control”
• “Television has a disproportionate status in our lives”
• “Television is cool, there’s loads of great programmes and those massive HD, LCD/Plasma screens are so awesome. I’m gonna get a 3D TV and sit in my front room with the silly glasses on, woo-hoo!”

Marshall McLuhan

• “The Medium is the Message” – Like the...

Overview

• Directed by Stephen Frears
• Shot on location in Dorset and at Pinewood Studios
• Adapted screenplay by Moira Buffini (Jane Eyre, 2011) from a Graphic Novel by Posy Simmonds (The Guardian). Ready made Storyboard.

• Produced by BBC Films (Exec Production), Ruby Films (Production Company) and West End Films (Sales Agents/Casting)
• Ruby Films (Fish Tank 2009, Jane Eyre 2011) are an independent production company that specialise in literary...

Shifty is an independent social realist film that borrows (in terms of genre conventions) from the Crime Thriller/Gangster film, although arguably is not a hybrid genre. The film was produced with key funding from fledgling organisation Microwave who offer grants to film makers if they can keep the production budget under £100,000 and can execute filming in less than 18 days. Additional funding for distribution came from the UK Film...

Overview

• Independent Film – CULTURALLY and INSTITUTIONALLY
• Writer / Director – Andrea Arnold (b.1961, Dartford)

• Part funded / Executive Production by BBC Films
• Produced by Kasander Films (Arnold’s Production Company)
• Additional funding: UK Film Council (Prints and Advertising Fund - £70,000, New Cinema Fund - £644,000 and Development Fund - £20,000)

• Nominated for the Palm D’Or at Cannes 2009
• Winner of Jury Prize at Cannes
• 2010...

Associated Resources

• British Film and Hollywood Essay.doc

British Film has been dominated by Hollywood since WW1. Any essay that discusses UK Film has to reference the cultural and ideological dominance of the Hollywood Film Industry to such as point that many cinema goers often will never see a film in any other environment than a multiplex cinema. They may also fail to recognise that many other countries have very successful film industries...

Associated Resources

• Atonement Case Study.doc

Overview

• Director – Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice): experience of big budgets, high production values and of the genre Costume Melodrama. Novel written by Ian McKewan (critically successful author)
• Genre Costume Melodrama – critically and commercially successful (‘safe’ genre). Arguably Atonement is a hybrid genre – Romance/War Film (built sets, contextual background). Gosford Park,...

Institutional Factors

• Campaign sequenced by DLKW (Delaney, Lund, Knox and Warren). Full Service
• Vauxhall Opel - re-brand the Corsa from one of function and cheapness only to Style, Form, Fun and Vibrancy – “Put the fun back into Driving” (imperative command)
• Adverts combined product image and product demonstration format
• Adverts have international/global appeal
• USP – Cmon’s puppets (live in Barcelona)
• Extensive Viral Marketing
• Cross...

In the MS4 exam or any form of external assessment you will be analysing the Advertising Industry as a Media Form, just like Film and Television.

Advertising can be deconstructed like any other Media form. The key relationship with Advertising and other Media forms however it that it is often (advertising) the essential funding that underpins their very existence. All of the following rely on advertising revenue:

• Commercial Television –...

• Dramatically reduced advertising spend during 08’-10’ recession
• High production values
• Wide global distribution

• TA – ABC1, Male skew, Aspirer, Urban.City living, 25-45 but dependent on model
• E.G. Honda Diesel “Grrr” targets liberal, environmentally conscious families (advert 5 months in production)

• Filmic representations e.g. The Impossible Dream

• Key Focus – TV Advertising
• Many adverts have become part of popular...

Associated Resources

• Barnardos Believe Campaign.ppt

Institutional Factors

• Campaigns sequenced by BBH (Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty, Full Service Agency) since 2000
• 2001 – Emotional Death (adults and violent death)
• 2002 – Stolen Childhood (superimposed heads of adults on children)
• 2003 – Silver Spoon (babies)
• 2005 – New Life (children back in the womb)
• Prior campaigns – more ‘shock advertising’ (one Silver Spoon advert – ASA regulated)...[ read full article ] »
  

Associated Resources

• Advertising and Regulation Industry Key Points 2011.doc

Key Points

Advertising in the UK is regulated by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority).

• TV Advertising
• Radio
• Newspapers
• Leaflets
• Billboards/Posters
• Internet
• Magazines

Ofcom regulate Television and Radio (Broadcast Media).

Cinema Advertising is regulated by BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).

Adverts in draft form (rough cuts, designs) are sent to...

Explore the impact of Digital Technologies on Advertising

Key Teaching Areas

• The impact on Production (identify new digital forms of advertising and the effect on traditional media forms)
• Advertising and Media Convergence
• Narrative vs. Interactive Narrative (new technology)
• Changes to Target Audiences e.g. the Internet and Narrowcasting
• New forms of Distribution
• Case Study e.g. ad2-one – the relationship between text, industry and audience

• Declining media revenues including Advertising since mid 2008 (start of recession)

• Advertising spend is an indicator of confidence in a brand e.g. current low production value Honda advert (Feb 2010) compared to 2003-2007 Power of Dreams campaign (Wieden and Kennedy) Car companies like Honda have dramatically reduced advertising spend.

• Argument 1 – short term reduction in advertising spend can be costly in the long run.

• Argument 2 -...

Text Based

1. The Advertising Handbook – Sean Brierley (Routledge) 2000

2. How to get into Advertising – Andrea Neidle (Thomson) 2002

3. The Language of Advertising – A Goddard 1998

4. Promotional Culture – A Wernick 1991

5. Decoding Advertising: Ideology and Meaning – J Williamson (1978)

6. No Logo – Naomi Klein 2000

7. Advanced Level Media – Bell et al (Hodder and Stoughton) 1990: Chapter 10 Advertising

Journals

1....

How do I get my students to reach the top grades? This is a question which we all ask.

Examiners and moderators often see work by students who may not be in the top ability bands yet manage to reach the higher mark bands because they REALLY understand what is required of them.

Below are some ideas and strategies which have been proven to help raise achievement in both exams and coursework modules.  These are focused on the AQA Media Studies A2...

How do I get my students to reach the top grades? This is a question which we all ask.

Examiners and moderators often see work by students who aren’t perhaps in the top ability bands yet manage to reach the higher mark bands because they REALLY understand what is required of them.

Below are some ideas and strategies which have been proven to help raise achievement in both exams and coursework modules.  These are focused on the AQA Media...

AS Case Study Example

Film / broadcast fiction over three platforms, moving image, print and emedia

• Students will do significantly better if they use their own, rather than teacher-taught material.

• A case study is not just one product. The case study is an investigation of the area you have chosen to study (sport / music / lifestyle) and will include a wide range of products from the three platforms, moving image, print and emedia.

• Questions...

Associated Resources

• JAN10 Question Paper.pdf
• MEST1 Jan 2010 Blu Ray Exemplars.doc

The term ‘EXCHANGE’ in the spec has worried students and teachers. Here is some help.

The spec says:

‘The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange’

The word exchange was used in the January exam 2011.

Here are some views on what it means from people who know on the OCR forum.

Brief Definition

Exchange:

The way in which texts are not only consumed by media...

Associated Resources

• http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/as-ocr-media-studies-audience-and-institutions-film-production-film-industr/
• http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/as-ocr-media-studies-audience-and-institutions-film-industry-revision-ppt/

Key Principles

1. Have you got contrasting films you can use as case studies e.g. big budget Hollywood v low budget British indie which allow full range of issues to be discussed?

2....

Associated Resources

• http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/as-ocr-media-studies-audience-and-institutions-film-production-film-industr/
• http://media.edusites.co.uk/index.php/article/as-ocr-media-studies-audience-and-institutions-film-industry-revision-advic/

AS OCR A&I - Film Industry Revision.ppt