Media
MEDIA STUDIES (AQA GCSE 3571)
HOW MANY ADVERTISEMENTS DO YOU IMAGINE YOU SEE EACH DAY?
HOW MANY HOURS EACH WEEK DO YOU SPEND WATCHING TELEVISION OR LISTENING TO THE RADIO?
HOW MANY CDS DO YOU BUY A MONTH?
DO YOU VISIT THE CINEMA OR READ MAGAZINES?
DO YOU SUPPOSE YOU ARE INFLUENCED BY THE REPORTED LIVES OF CELEBRITIES?
IN OTHER WORDS . . . HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE MEDIA TO YOUR LIFESTYLE?
With the expansion of information technology and global communications, it is little wonder that Media Studies is currently among the most popular and oversubscribed courses in Sixth Forms, Colleges of Further Education and at Universities.
The issues that Media Studies addresses - perhaps most importantly, the ownership and spread of information and knowledge, nationally and internationally - are central to life in the 21st century.
The Media Studies GCSE (AQA) offered at Acton High seeks to provide an introduction to the world of media - a world which already affects us daily, whether we recognise it or not.
This course will invite you to think in a more critical way about your everyday experience of the media. You will be encouraged to reflect on your role as an audience to media texts - and to produce original media texts of your own.
You will look at how the media tell their stories; how they construct their audience; how they represent different types of people; how movies tug at our heartstrings; how advertisements seek to persuade us to buy. You will learn what is meant by genre, mise-en-scene, and diegesis, how "noise" affects a message; and why watching the latest film on DVD just isn't the same experience as seeing it at the cinema.
The syllabus has a coursework (50%) and an examined (50%) component. Students complete three assignments and a practical production over the two years of the course and sit a pre-released examination at the end of Year 11.
Work undertaken by students in the past has included the launch of a new radio station, creating a website, making short films, and designing an advertising campaign. Now, more than ever, exciting opportunities exist for using IT to enhance coursework and to express fully creative ideas.
"IN THE AGE OF HARD SELL, SOUND BITE AND INSTANT INFORMATION, MEDIA STUDIES IS OF CRITICAL INTEREST TO ANYONE CONCERNED WITH HOW THE WORLD TURNS"
