Media Studies
Media Studies
Digital Media Communication is arguably the most important skill taught in the modern educational context. Media graduates are the one of the most likely to gain highly paid employment in the growing fields of: IT design; Cloud Computing; Marketing; Online Profile Management and Advertising. In short it is a subject that looks forward and prepares young people for a future filled with technology and images. Every institution from Disney to Tesco has a digital marketing department, running Twitter feeds and websites to promote their product – Media Studies prepares students for that world of work.
The course runs over two years, and works to develop creative skills as well as deeper theoretical and critical understanding. Set texts are wide ranging, include Music videos, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Gaming, Social Media, Film and TV. We also explore the representations of various groups within society, one of the first things we do is to critique the way adverts have changed that view over time. The picture above is from a 1960’s hair cream advert, if you are offended by the representations of men and women, have ideas about what is acceptable and how representations of identity need to change, then you are already thinking like a Media student.
Media Studies is a much more demanding A level than many think, we study the theory behind the practical work and look at ideas developed from19th and 20th century Art and Literature as well as Politics and Philosophy. Media pairs well with creative subjects like Art, Drama or Music; academic disciplines such as English, Business and Economics, Psychology or Sociology AND technical subjects like Computing or DT. It really is a bridging subject from academia to real world application and many of our students go onto successful study of Media marketing and business at university.
The Curriculum
Year 1 starts with a practical project and a review of basic theory, we move on to advertising and music videos and games/gaming followed by the study of Print media such as newspapers and magazines. We complete the year with study of online and social participatory media – from September 2022 we will be looking at the social media profile of Zendaya as a case study.
Students complete an independent project on the Film Blinded by The Light from Bend-it films and select their coursework focus from the 6 briefs supplied by AQA. These differ each year and cover all of the Media skills explored by the course, there really is something for everyone.
In Year 2 we examine Radio media forms, including the landmark War of the Worlds broadcast, and Long form TV drama. Students complete coursework. We recap all of Y12 with a new focus on the frameworks of Industry, Representations, Media Language and Identity. There’s a lot to know about, but the course is modern, relevant and more importantly diverse.
As you might expect there is a lot of focus on practical work, the students complete a practical project to go alongside each unit, making the skills they use relatable to the content they are critiquing. This culminates in the summer of Y12 being focused on completion of Coursework, it is 30% of the overall grade and we work hard with our students to ensure they produce the very best work they can.
We follow AQA media studies 7572, please see a link to this below :
I am very proud of the way we deliver Media here at BGS, our students are an active part of school life, learning to run state of the art complex stage equipment and making promotional materials for school, as well as developing their own passion for media. With the rise of online social participatory media as a primary marketing tool and social media accounts being the norm for many businesses it really is a subject that is on the ascent. I aim to have BGS students ready to take their place in this exciting industry.
Mrs Tracy Wrycraft
Director of English & Media Studies
Downloads
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| BGS Media Studies Curriculum Map 2023-20... |