AS Specification

AS Media Specification

MS1: MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS AND RESPONSES


Introduction


This unit aims to provide candidates with a framework for analysing the media and

requires them to explore representations and audience/user responses.

Candidates will be encouraged to explore the media through a study of genre,

narrative and representation and make connections between the texts and

audience/user responses to them. In the developing area of interactive media,

this involves considering users and their interaction with texts.

It will be important for candidates to be provided with a range of examples

which will enable them to understand and interpret the media independently.


The representations of social/cultural groups, events, issues and their underlying

messages and values will be explored using a range of approaches.


Content

Candidates will be required to study how media texts are constructed and how

audiences and users respond to and interpret them using the following framework:


(a) Texts

• genre conventions

• narrative construction

• technical codes such as camerawork, lighting, editing and sound for

audio-visual media and graphic design elements for print-based and

interactive media

• language used and mode of address.


(b) Representations

• the role of selection, construction and anchorage in creating

representations

• how the media uses representations

• the points of view, messages and values underlying those representations.

Candidates will be expected to have studied a range of representations of:

• gender

• ethnicity

• age

• issues

• events

• regional and national identities.


(c) Audience Responses

Candidates will need to consider the ways in which different audiences can

respond to the same text in different ways. This will involve studying:

• the ways in which audiences can be categorised (e.g., gender, age,

ethnicity, social & cultural background, advertisers' classifications)

• how media producers and texts construct audiences and users

• how audiences and users are positioned (including preferred,

negotiated and oppositional responses to that positioning).


Any media can be explored but the media texts used in the examination will

be selected from the following:


• advertisements

• DVD covers

• CD covers

• newspaper front pages

• magazines (including comics)

• radio sequences

• film extracts

• television sequences

• music videos

• websites (if selected for examination, websites will be reproduced in

print-based format)

• computer game extracts.


Assessment

A written examination paper of two and a half hours, assessing AO1 and AO2. This

will consist of three compulsory questions:

• Question 1 requires an analysis of an audio/visual or print-based

extract (40).

• Questions 2 and 3 will be based on representation and audience issues and

may be subdivided where appropriate (30 and 30).

Note: for questions 2 & 3, candidates will be expected to draw on their own studies of

representation and audience response issues.



MS2: MEDIA PRODUCTION PROCESSES


Introduction:

This unit is designed to enable candidates to demonstrate knowledge, understanding

and skills in media production processes through research, planning, production and

evaluation.


Content
Candidates will be required to produce three pieces of linked work. These will

comprise:

• a pre-production reflecting research and demonstrating planning techniques

• a production which has developed out of the pre-production

• a report of 1200 - 1600 words.

It is anticipated that one brief will be set outlining pre-production and production

tasks. Although there must be a link between pre-production and production, there is

some flexibility in the nature of the tasks which can be set for pre-production and

production.


Examples of linked pre-production and production tasks include:

• A storyboard of the trailer for a new BBC1 television crime drama (preproduction)

and the trailer for that drama (production)

• A script or shooting script for the opening sequence of a teen horror film (preproduction)

and a marketing campaign for a new teen horror film, to include at

least the dvd cover and one poster (production)

• Draft designs for two magazine front covers (pre-production) and a double page

spread for one of those magazines (production)

• Prototype design for a new website (pre-production) and the completed website

consisting of a home page and at least two associated web pages (production).

The production tasks must enable candidates to demonstrate competent technical

skills. It is essential they have access to appropriate technical equipment and that

they have been taught how to use it prior to undertaking their productions.


(a) Pre-production

Pre-production tasks must be undertaken individually but may be set on a

whole class basis. Pre-production work will focus on the research and

planning skills needed to create media productions. Pre-productions may,

for example, involve research into comparable products, key aspects of the

appropriate industry relevant to the pre-production as well as research into

the target audience.


(b) Production

The production must develop out of the pre-production planning.

Audio-visual productions can be produced individually or by a group

(maximum of four). For group tasks the candidates will need to select one of

their pre-productions to develop into a production. There must be appropriate

opportunities for a significant and definable contribution to be made by each

candidate. Audio-visual productions should be up to 3 minutes in length,

depending on the nature of the production and the number of candidates.

Interactive media (other than audio-visual productions) and print-based

productions must be produced individually and must contain at least two

pages of original material. The majority of the images within the production

should be originated by the candidate.


(c) Report

The pre-production and production must be accompanied by a report of 1200

– 1600 words. This report must be completed individually and will include:

• a discussion of the most significant research findings which informed the

pre-production

• a brief justification of the target audience for the production

• an evaluation of the production which highlights its strengths and

weaknesses through, for example, a comparison with existing media

products.


Assessment:

This unit will be internally assessed and externally moderated, assessing A02, A03

and A04, with the following mark allocations:

• Pre-production (20)

• Production (40)

• Report of 1200-1600 words (40)

Each of the three pieces of work will be assessed separately and then combined to

achieve a total mark.