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

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

• Understanding OCR GCSE Media Studies

Schemes

• 2012 OCR GCSE Media Studies 1-Year Scheme of Work
• 2012 OCR GCSE Media Studies 2-Year Scheme of Work

Unit B321 - The Individual Media Studies Portfolio (Controlled Assessment)

• An Introduction...

Finally in Year One you should start the class thinking about the topic for the B question in the exam. The current topic is TV comedy.

Individuals need to make their own study of this topic depending on their own consumption of the many varieties of TV comedy, so that they have a thorough knowledge of at least two different texts and preferably three. Gervais in Extras might be a way of looking at postmodern comedy

ACTIVITIES

INSTITUTIONS...

UNITS B321, B322 or B323, and B324

There are three units designed as a two year GCSE with the emphasis on practical work.

Unit B321: The Individual Media Studies Portfolio

This is a Controlled Assessment unit, internally assessed and externally moderated.

It is essential that Centres set assignments that make use of TWO media within this Unit ~ ie if two texts are compared in the same media format in the theory element, then the supporting...

‘The focus of this examination is institutional/ scheduling issues and audience pleasures. These pages on sit-com provide a background only to the topic. The specific issues of institution/scheduling and audience pleasures in relation to sit-com will need to be taught separately.’

Brief Definition

The British TV sitcom is a television series that derives humour from the same characters in a fixed location exploring a variety of comic...

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...

BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show fits cosily into the category or genre of satire but with only some of its Swiftian connotations. This is not satire to hurt, or pillory or induce change. It is satire to gently entertain raising some pertinent political and moral questions in the course of entertaining and topically informed audience. It is more like witty after dinner conversation catching up on the more bizarre areas of the week’s news, with...

• Genre: Radio Comedy Satire of the Week’s News / Themes
• Running Time: 30 minutes from an hour live recorded show
• Home Station: BBC Radio 4
• Broadcast: 1998
• Series: 34
• Audience: It is one of Radio 4s most popular shows, with over 1.5 million listeners.

Starring

Hugh Dennis
Steve Punt
Jon Holmes (letters and emails)
Micth Benn (music, like this song King of Twitter)
Marcus Brigstocke (angry monologues)
Laura Shavin (female voices)

Other...

• Genre: Radio Comedy Surreal Sitcom
• Running Time: 30 minutes

• Home Station: Originally BBC London Live, then BBC Radio 4, later BBC 7

• Broadcast: 16 October to the 20 November 2001

• Series: One with six episodes

• Audience: Mainly student age, but 15-30 in the main

Starring

Noel Fielding* Julian Barratt*
Lee Mack
Richard Ayoade
Rich Fulcher* (*Writers)

Other Information

Award: Douglas Adams Award for Innovative Comedy Writing.

The series is...

• Genre: Radio Comedy Panel Game
• Running Time: 30 minutes

• Home Station: BBC Radio 4, with repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC World Service and you can listen to an episode from 1982 on the BBC iPlayer

• First Broadcast: 11 April 1972, only exception to series was 1998 and 2008 (Humph’s illness/ death)

• Series Length: Normally 6 per series, with 1-2 series a year. Series are recorded with two programmes running back to back

• Audience: Over 2...

Introduction

Although TV Comedy is a favourite, many of our top shows started on the radio: Little Britain, Harry Hill’s Fruit Corner and Goodness Gracious Me. It also brings in a range of genres like sketch shows, quiz shows, sit-coms and one-liners with writer-performers like Milton Jones or Miranda Hart. It can be surreal like The Mighty Boosh or traditional like I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.

Students will need to research this and...

Overview

• GCSE Media Studies Overview

Scheme

• OCR GCSE Media Studies 2012 2-Year SOW.doc

Concepts

• Media Language, Forms and Conventions (Film Language, Genre, Narrative)
• Representation
• Audiences (Targeting, Appeals / Pleasures, Positioning)
• Institution
• Analysis, Production, Evaluation
• Research and Planning, Production, Evaluation

Skills

• Textual Analysis, Communication Skills, Note Taking, Group Work, Identifying & Understanding Action...

Overview

• GCSE Media Studies Overview

Scheme

• OCR GCSE Media Studies 2012 1-Year SOW.doc

Concepts

• Media Language, Forms and Conventions (Film Language, Genre, Narrative)
• Representation
• Audiences (Targeting, Appeals / Pleasures, Positioning)
• Institution
• Analysis, Production, Evaluation
• Research and Planning, Production, Evaluation

Skills

• Textual Analysis, Communication Skills, Note Taking, Group Work, Identifying & Understanding Action...

Action Adventure / Crime Thriller (Heist) / Comedy Hybrid

The Italian Job is a ‘British’ film starring Michael Caine that was made in 1969. It is about a carefully planned heist involving gold bullion being stolen by an ‘English Mob’ from underneath the nose of the Mafia.

The film achieved critical and commercial success and traded on the recent success of the England football team winning the football World Cup in 1966.

It remains an...

Outnumbered is a successful British Situation Comedy (Sitcom) named so simply because the two parental central protagonists, ‘Sue’ and ‘Pete’ are outnumbered by their three children. It is set in West London and although on the surface offers pluralistic representations in the guise of their unruly children who often intellectually challenge their parents it very much follows a standard genre template established by family based...

Half or Full Day Revision Courses in Your School

Programme Details

Our practical workshops usually include:

• Investigating genre conventions (cards and games)
• Starter activities, ‘odd one out’ / ‘top n tail’ / connective thinking
• Loop cards with key facts
• Loop cards with relevant theories
• Carousel activities ‘add facts’ and move on….
• Carousel activities…making a storyboard…and move on…

We ensure that students get to know the exam structure,...

Trailer

At World’s End was the most successful film of 2007, grossing approximately $960 million worldwide, and making it the second most successful in the series, behind Dead Man’s Chest.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Makeup and the Academy Award for Visual Effects.

It remains one of the most expensive film ever made, with a budget of $300 million.

Definition

For an introduction to Action Adventure films for GCSE see:

January 2011 B322 GCSE Media Studies

Section A Action Adventure Films (Questions 1 to 3)

Extract

Master and Commander The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)

Extract location:

In point: 05.36 “Two points off the starboard bow, in the fog bank”

Out point: 09.58 “And for God’s sake don’t drop anything” - finish after the two men are blown to the floor.

Question 1

Explain two ways the characters and/or events in the extract fit the...

Example Task 1

This is marked out of 60. The topic is celebrity.

In a minimum of 800 words and a maximum of 1,500 words, compare and contrast how a woman’s weekly lifestyle magazine and a website like Perez Hilton represent celebrity. 

E.g. Hello = reverential, contributes to the myth of celebrity and Heat = irreverent, deconstruct celebrity status.

Use the appropriate technical language throughout.

Discuss:

• The house style of the...

For examination in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013

This is a textual analysis exam that will test knowledge of the key concepts in Section A:

• Genre
• Media Language
• Representation

As an introduction to this unit it is worth giving a general introduction to these genres:

• Action Adventure Films
• TV Comedy

Students can study either:

B322 Moving Image in Action Adventure Films

or

B323 Print with Lifestyle Magazines

The exam is 1 hour 45 minutes....

This is the major production for this GCSE and must include a print and an audio or audio/visual production. G324 is a controlled assessment unit, internally assessed and externally moderated.

Any of the 12 production briefs may be chosen by the centre / candidate - the brief defines what is required for assessment. There is no requirement for multiple media in this Unit - with the exception of Brief 12 - the Cross Media brief where it is...

This is a Controlled Assessment unit, internally assessed and externally moderated.

It is essential that Centres set assignments that make use of TWO media within this Unit ~ ie if two texts are compared in the same media format in the theory element, then the supporting practical exercise must be in a different medium. Alternatively, if the comparative assignment makes use of two media formats, then the practical exercise can be in any medium....[ read full article ] »

This genre of films appeals to a family audience. The stories often pick up on the characters and type of stories that children have come across in children’s books – pirates, swashbuckling heroes, a quest for lost treasure and lots of adventures with monsters and exotic locations such as ancient Egypt.

The most successful action adventure films include Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise, and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

...

This guide is designed to cover the main points of the genre of Disaster Movies, which is the designated topic until summer 2012 for the WJEC GCSE in Film Studies for Paper 1 Exploring Film and to explain what you are likely to be asked in the examination

Defining the genre, what is a disaster movie?

Like all film genres, disaster movies are recognisable because of the presence of certain key elements which we would expect to see in a film...

Half or Full Day Revision Courses in Your School

Programme Details

Our practical workshops usually include:

• Investigating genre conventions (cards and games)
• Starter activities, ‘odd one out’ / ‘top n tail’ / connective thinking
• Loop cards with key facts
• Loop cards with relevant theories
• Carousel activities ‘add facts’ and move on….
• Carousel activities…making a storyboard…and move on…

We ensure that...