GCSE

Content

What our students will learn over the two years:

Fundamental principles of semiotic analysis, including connotation and denotation.

Other terms and techniques may include:

•  code

•  anchorage

•  sign

•  icon

•  symbol.

The various forms of media language used to create and communicate meanings in media products.

Linear models of communication:

•  sender

•  message

•  receiver.

How choice (selection, combination and exclusion) of elements of media language influences meaning in media products to create narratives, to portray aspects of reality, to construct points of view, and to represent the world in ways that convey messages and values.

The ‘rules' of media language: how signs are selected, deselected and assembled to conform to codes and make meanings.

The constructed nature of reality.

Theories of narrative, including those derived from Propp (character types).

Narrative development:

•  exposition

•  disruption

•  complication

•  climax

•  resolution.

Audience appeal of narrative:

•  enigma

•  closure.

The relationship between technology and media products.

How developments in technology impact on content:

•  forces that drive technological change

•  the impact of new technology on the form, content and meaning of media products:

•  image manipulation

•  high definition

• computer-generated imagery (CGI)

•  mobile communication technology

• · user-generated content.

The codes and conventions of media language, how they develop and become established as ‘styles' or genres (which are common across different media products) and how they may also vary over time.

Varieties of code:

•  Technical.

•  Verbal and non-verbal.

•  Symbolic.

•  Design, layout, typography.

Theoretical perspectives on genre:

•  principles of repetition and variation

•  the dynamic nature of genre

•  hybridity

•  intertextuality.

Intertextuality, including how inter-relationships between different media products can influence meaning.

The evolution and development of genres (including hybrid genres) in different media forms.

Factors influencing the creation of genre products:

•  financial

•  cultural

•  audience demand.

The ways in which the media re-present (rather than simply present) the world, and construct versions of reality.

Theoretical perspectives on representation, including processes of selection, construction and mediation.

The processes of:

•  selection

•  construction

•  mediation.

Realism: reasons why some representations seem more truthful or realistic than others.

Critical exploration of views including:

•  the media is a window on the world

•  the media is the message.

Theoretical perspectives on gender and representation and feminist approaches.

An exploration of the distinction between essentialist views (that males and females are different categories with essential features, behaviours and attributes that define them) and social constructionalist views that the same features, behaviours and attributes are constructed by society (including the media) and not by nature.

The choices media producers make about how to represent particular events, social groups and ideas.

Audience positioning.

Selective representation, biased and prejudicial representation.

The ways aspects of reality may be represented differently depending on the purposes of the producers.

Techniques of persuasive communication.

Advertising, marketing, political bias, propaganda.

The different functions and uses of stereotypes:

•  How stereotypes become established.

•  How stereotypes may vary over time.

•  Positive and negative stereotypes.

•  How stereotypes enable audiences to interpret media quickly.

A range of different stereotypes will be discussed and exemplified in order that students understand the problems with and usefulness of stereotypes.

How and why particular social groups may be under represented or misrepresented.

Bias and partiality in representation.

Relationship between media representations and the dominant value system of society.

How representations (including self-representations) convey particular viewpoints, messages, values and beliefs, which may be reinforced across a wide range of media products.

Role of individuals as producers (as well as consumers) of media messages in which the self is represented.

Contrast between dominant representations and contested representations of, for example, groups, issues and places.

The social, cultural and political significance of particular representations in terms of the themes or issues that they address.

Agenda setting.

News values.

How representations reflect the social, historical and cultural contexts in which they were produced.

Relationship between representation and changing values and beliefs and culture specific values and beliefs.

The factors affecting audience interpretations of representations including their own experiences and beliefs.

Audience positioning

Decoding - the influence of social variables such as age, class, gender, ethnicity on the interpretation of media representations.

The nature of media production, including by large organisations, who own the products they produce, and by individuals and groups.

Patterns of ownership:

•  mergers

•  demergers

•  takeovers

•  concentration.

The impact of production processes, personnel and technologies on the final product.

Similarities and differences between media products in terms of when and where they are produced.

Working practices in media industries.

The effect of ownership and control of media organisations:

•  conglomerate ownership

•  diversification

•  vertical integration

•  horizontal integration.

The impact of the increasingly convergent nature of media industries across different platforms and different national settings.

Cross media ownership.

Convergence of content providers, network providers and platform providers.

The importance of different funding models. Government funded, not-for-profit and commercial models.

Role of:

•  television licence

•  advertising, sponsorship, product placement, direct sales

•  independent and voluntary sector.

How the media operate as commercial industries on a global scale and reach both large and specialised audiences.

Globalisation.

Cultural imperialism.

International agreements (and disagreements) on regulation and freedom to trade media products.

The functions and types of regulation of the media.

Self regulation and government regulation.

Disputes about freedom, censorship and control.

Nature of regulatory bodies in UK:

•  the Office of Communications (OFCOM)

•  the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)

•  the Video Standards Council (VSC)

•  the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

•  the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

•  Pan European Game Information (PEGI).

The challenges for media regulation presented by 'new' digital technologies.

Debates about:

•  online, social networking abuse and bullying

• online anonymity

•  rights and responsibilities of ISPs and social networks

• public interest versus rights of the individual.

Theoretical perspectives on audiences including:

•  active and passive audiences

•  audience response

• audience interpretation.

Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory.

The role of audiences in the creation of meaning and the degree of effect of media messages upon audiences.

How and why media products are aimed at a range of audiences, from small, specialised audiences to large mass audiences.

Requirement for commercial media producers to create audiences which can be sold to advertisers.

The ways in which media organisations target audiences through marketing.

Understanding of the assumptions organisations make about their target audience(s).

Role of genre conventions in the targeting of audiences.

Techniques used in the marketing of media products:

•  guerilla and viral marketing

• trailers, tasters and teasers.

How media organisations categorise audiences.

Segmentation and variables:

•  geographic

• demographic

• psychographic.

The role of media technologies in reaching and identifying audiences, and in audience consumption and usage.

Use of online resources to collect audience data.

Audience research institutions including the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB), Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR), Pamco, Nielsen.

Research techniques:

•  quantitative/qualitative

• primary/secondary.

The ways in which audiences may interpret the same media products very differently and how these differences may reflect both social and individual differences.

•  Reception theories.

•  Active audiences.

• Preferred and aberrant readings.

Active audiences.

Influence of social variables on audience perception.

How audiences may respond to and interpret media products.

Why these responses and interpretations may change over time.

The ways in which people's media practices are connected to their identity, including their sense of actual and desired self.

Identity and audience membership.

Fans and fandom.

Talking about the media.

The social, cultural and political significance of media products:

•  the themes or issues they address

•  the fulfilment of needs and desires

•  the functions they serve in society and everyday life.

How audiences may respond to and interpret media products and why these responses and interpretations may change over time.

How changing cultural values with reference to, for example, gender roles, ethnic identities have influenced contemporary perceptions of historical products.

What's assessed

Section A will focus on Media Language and Media Representations. Questions in this section can test any two of the following forms:

• magazines

• advertising and marketing

•  newspapers

•  online, social and participatory media and video games.

Section B will focus on Media Industries and Media Audiences. Questions in this section can test any two of the following forms:

•  radio

•  music video

•  newspapers

•  online, social and participatory media and video games

•  film (industries only).

How it's assessed

• Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes

• 84 marks

•  35% of GCSE

Questions

•  A range of questions relating to an unseen source and Close Study Products.

•  An extended response question (20 marks).

What's assessed

Section A will be based on a screening from an extract of one of the television Close Study Products and can test any area of the theoretical framework.

Section B will be based on either newspapers or online, social and participatory media and video games and can test any area of the framework.

How it's assessed

• Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes

• 84 marks

• 35% of GCSE

Questions

• Short, medium and extended response questions assessing depth of knowledge and understanding of the course.

What's assessed

• Application of knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework.

•  Ability to create media products.

How it's assessed

•  A choice of one of five annually changing briefs, set by AQA.

•  60 marks

• 30% of GCSE

•  Assessed by teachers

• Moderated by AQA.

Tasks

Students produce:  

•  a statement of intent

•  a media product for an intended audience.