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.