AO1
This module requires candidates to
demonstrate knowledge and application of the Key Concepts employed within Media Studies and the evaluation of texts and ideas using the Key Concepts


Content

The subject matter of this module will consist of a wide range of texts chosen by centres and teachers themselves, to which candidates will be required to apply
the Key Concepts of

• Media Representations
• Media Institutions
• Media Language (including Narrative and Genre)
• Media Values and Ideology
• Media Audiences


Because these Key Concepts are inter-related it is expected that they will all be taught as part of this module. The emphasis, however, should be placed upon Media Language, Representations and Media
Audiences, since they should be readily applicable to all media texts from the earliest stages of analysis.

The Key Concepts which underline the specification are therefore:

• Media Representations
• Media Language
• Media Institutions
• Media Values and Ideology
• Media Audiences.

In addition, two aspects of media language have such a high degree of importance and purchase across every media text, that they can also be considered as part of the Media Studies conceptual framework.

They are:

• Narrative
• Genre.

These Key Concepts underpin every aspect of the specification at both AS and A Level.
They are essential to the critical reading of media texts (Modules 1 and 6).
They will be indispensable to the detailed study of specialised topics (Modules 2 and 4).
They should inform the Practical Production (Module 3); and they should provide the investigative tools for candidates in undertaking their independent study (Module 5).


The kind of questions raised by the Key Concepts, which may be applied to the analysis, investigation and production of all media texts
and issues may be indicated as follows:

Media Representations


Who is being represented?
• In what way?
• By whom?

Why is the subject being represented in this way?

• Is the representation fair and accurate?
• What opportunities exist for self-representation by the
subject?


Media Languages and Forms


• What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
• What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
• What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text
(e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication,
clothing, props etc)?
• What is the significance of mise-en-scène/sets/settings?
• What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/
language of the text?
• What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
• What sound and visual techniques are used to convey
meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that
images and sounds are combined to convey meaning)?


Narrative


• How is the narrative organised and structured?
• How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
• How are characters delineated? What is their narrative
function? How are heroes and villains created?
• What techniques of identification and alienation are
employed?
• What is the role of such features as sound, music,
iconography, genre, mise-en-scène, editing etc. within the
narrative?
• What are the major themes of the narrative? What
values/ideologies does it embody?


Genre


• To which genre does the text belong?
• What are the major generic conventions within the text?
• What are the major iconographic features of the text?
• What are the major generic themes?
• To what extent are the characters generically determined?
• To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?
• Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is
strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and
associations do they have?


Media Institutions


• What is the institutional source of the text?
• In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by theinstitution which produced it?
• Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text?
• Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does this matter?
• How has the text been distributed?


Media Values and Ideology


• What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions
underpinning the text or naturalised within it?
• What criteria have been used for selecting the content
presented?



Media Audiences


• To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience?
• What assumptions about the audience’s characteristics are implicit within the text?
• What assumptions about the audience are implicit in the text’s scheduling or positioning ?
• In what conditions is the audience likely to receive the text? Does this impact upon the formal characteristics of the text?
• What do you know or can you assume about the likely size
and constituency of the audience?
• What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text?
• How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate thetext? To what extent is your reading and evaluation

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