AS and A2 Media

Studies Course Booklet

 Media Studies Assessment Objectives

Candidates are expected to demonstrate the following in the context of the content
described:

AO1
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical
debates, using terminology appropriately and with accurate and coherent written expression.

AO2
Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing
media products and evaluating their own practical work.

AO3
Demonstrate the ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical
and creative skills.

AO4
Demonstrate the ability to undertake and apply appropriate research.
AS Performance Descriptors

A2 Performance Descriptors

Quality of Written Communication

In Media Studies, the quality of written communication will be taken into account in
assessing your work in the two externally assessed units. Candidates will:
 ensure that text is legible and that spelling, punctuation and grammar are accurate so
that meaning is clear;
 select and use a form and style of writing appropriate to purpose and to complex
subject matter;
 organise information clearly and coherently, using specialist vocabulary when
appropriate.
 AS G321: Set Brief

Preliminary exercise

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and
sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a
couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot
and the 180-degree rule.

Main task

To create the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the
exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum four
members to a group.
 AS Coursework Marking Criteria for G321:
Foundation Portfolio in Media

For this category, a mark will be awarded for the individual’s contribution to the main task,
not the preliminary task.

Level 4 48–60 marks

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

 holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

 framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;

 using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;

 shooting material appropriate to the task set;

 selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;

 editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;

 using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the
task set;

 using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

 using titles appropriately

AS Media G321: Marking Criteria for the presentation of your

research and planning on your blog

Level 4 16–20 marks

 There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.

 There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.

 There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.

 There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning

 Time management is excellent.

 AS Media G321: Marking Criteria for your evaluation

This MUST contain an element of audience feedback and may be either integrated with the
presentation of the research and planning material or may be presented separately.

The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?

 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

 Who would be the audience for your media product?

 How did you attract/address your audience?

 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?

 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product

Level 4 16–20 marks

 Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology,
representation, forms and conventions in relation to production.

 Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.

 Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.

 Excellent ability to communicate.

 Excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation

 AS G322: Exam

There are two sections to this paper:

Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation (50 marks)
Section B: Institutions and Audiences (50 marks)

The total time of the examination is two hours, including 30 minutes’ viewing time.

Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation

An ‘unseen’ moving image extract with one compulsory question dealing with textual
analysis of various technical aspects of the languages and conventions of moving image
media. Candidates will be asked to link this analysis with a discussion of some aspect of
representation within the sequence.

 Camera Angle, Shot, Movement and Composition

 Mise-en-Scène

 Editing

 Sound

The sequence will be taken from a contemporary British one-off or series or serial drama
programme

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition

 Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-
shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.

 Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.

 Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.

 Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus
pulls.

Editing
 Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.

 Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut,
crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert.

 Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short
take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

Sound
 Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects;
sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address,
sound mixing, sound perspective.

 Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.

Mise-en-Scène
 Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.

 Lighting; colour design.

You need to be prepared to discuss, in response to the question, how these technical
elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to
articulate specific messages and values that have social significance. Particular areas of
representation that may be chosen are:

 Gender

 Age

 Ethnicity

 Sexuality

 Class and status

 Physical ability/disability

 Regional identity

Section B: Institutions and Audiences

You need to be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production,

distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as
well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and
institutions.

This unit should be approached through contemporary examples in the form of case studies
based upon Magazines: A study of a successful magazine within the contemporary British
magazine market, including its patterns of production, distribution, marketing and
consumption by audiences. This should be accompanied by study of the use of online
magazine editions and the issues that they raise for the production, marketing and
consumption of a magazine brand.

Candidates should be familiar with:

 the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

 the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution

and marketing;

 the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of
production, distribution, marketing and exchange;

 the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and

audiences;

 the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

 the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British)
by international or global institutions;

 the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate
wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
 A2 Set Brief: G324

To create a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video,
together with:

 a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);

 a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

You will be allocated marks for

 Research and Planning

 Construction

 Evaluation
 A2 Coursework Marking Criteria for G324:
Advanced Portfolio in Media

At A2, in terms of production 40 marks will be allocated to the main task and 10 marks each
for the two ancillary tasks.

Level 4 32 – 40 marks
Where a candidate has worked in a group, an excellent contribution to construction must be
evident.

The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the
following technical skills:

 holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

 framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;

 using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;

 shooting material appropriate to the task set;

 selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;

 editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;

 using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately;

 using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task.
 A2 Media G324: Marking Criteria for the presentation of your
research and planning on your blog

Level 4 16–20 marks

 There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.

 There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.

 There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.

 Time management is excellent.

 There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.

 There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.

 There are excellent communication skills.

A2 Media G324: Marking Criteria for your evaluation

Each candidate will evaluate and reflect on the creative process and their experience of it.
The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?

 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages

Level 4 16–20 marks

 There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the
productions

 There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages
of the production.

 There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary

texts.

 There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.

 There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.

 There is excellent ability to communicate.

 There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

 A2 G325: Critical Perspectives in Media

This unit will assess your knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and
critical debates, through your understanding of one contemporary media issue and your
ability to evaluate your own practical work in reflective and theoretical ways.

The examination is two hours.

You will answer two compulsory questions: one question on your own production work and
one question on ‘Media and Collective Identity’.

The unit is marked out of a total of 100, with the two questions on production work marked
out of 25 each, and the media theory question marked out of 50.

There are two sections to this paper:

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production

You will answer two compulsory questions.

Question 1(a) requires you to describe and evaluate your skills development over the course
of both your production work, from Foundation Portfolio to Advanced Portfolio. The focus of
this evaluation must be on skills development, and the question will require you to adapt this
to one or two specific production practices. The list of practices to which questions will relate
is as follows:

 Digital Technology

 Creativity

 Research and planning

 Post-production

 Using conventions from real media texts

Where you have produced relevant work outside the context of their A Level media course,
they are free to additionally refer to this experience.

Question 1(b) requires you to select one production and evaluate it in relation to one media
concept. The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:

 Genre

 Narrative

 Representation

 Audience

 Media language

You may choose to write about work undertaken at AS or A2, main task or
preliminary/ancillary tasks.
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues
One question to be answered on ‘Media and Collective Identity’

There will be two questions to choose from

The topic areas require understanding of contemporary media texts, industries, audiences
and debates.

You are free to study any media texts, theories, case studies, debates and issues, providing
they relate to the four prompts for the topic area selected. The exam question will relate to
one or more of the prompts:

Media and Collective Identity

 How do the contemporary media represent nations, regions and ethnic / social /
collective groups of people in different ways?

 How does contemporary representation compare to previous time periods?

 What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of

people?

 To what extent is human identity increasingly ‘mediated’?

You can explore combinations of any media representation across two media, or two
different representations across two media. Some examples are:
National cinema, television representations, magazines and gender, representations of
youth and youth culture, post-9/11 representations of Islam, absence / presence of people
with disability in two media.

In order to be fully prepared for the specific requirements of the question, you must
familiarise yourself with these three elements:

 Historical – dependent on the requirements of the topic, candidates must summarise

the development of the media forms in question in theoretical contexts.

 Contemporary – current issues within the topic area.

 Future – candidates must demonstrate personal engagement with debates about the
future of the media forms / issues that the topic relates to.
 Golden Rules of Production Coursework

 DO have a clear shooting schedule: plan your recordings before setting up and stick
to it!

 DO 2- 3 takes of each scene. Swap your group members if possible: everyone has
a different eye and it is better to have more perspectives

 DO check the camera focus

 DO check the camera charge

 DO remember continuity issues – ensure your lighting/mise-en-scene is the same -

do all your takes for a scene in one day

 DO ‘overshoot’ - take more recordings than you think you will need and leave the
camera running for longer than you may feel necessary: it is better to edit too much
footage than to be short

 DO ensure all your equipment is colour coded - especially your tapes

 DO upload asap

 DO use a tripod unless you are specifically creating handheld effects

 DO NOT use play back on the camera to view your recording. Otherwise you risk
taping over your footage

 DO NOT force the tape into the mechanism

Camera Angles and Composition

Rule 1: The most important rule is to always compose your shot so that the subject is cut off in
between joints. Even if you are videotaping Lego characters this rule still applies! Don't cut your
subject at the knee, neck, elbow or waist. Consider this when you plan the shots in your storyboard.

Rule 2: Always shoot one scene from one angle and then move the camera or change the angle for
the next shot. If you don't do this you will get a "jump cut."
OTS – Over-The-Shoulder
The over-the-shoulder shot reveals one subject as
seen from over the shoulder of another subject. It
simulates a view of the subject as seen from the
second person’s eyes. This shot is often used in
conversations between two people where the director
wants to focus on the person speaking. Usually these
are close up shots.
 Low Angle Shot

High Angle Shot

Composition and Framing

Rule of Thirds

The most important thing in your picture should be 1/3 from the top or bottom, left or right side of the
shot. This is much more visually appealing than have the centre of interest in the centre of the shot.
Noseroom and headroom are difficult concepts. It is the empty space, or the space in front of, or
above, a person or object.

Head Room

Nose Room

Nose room is important if someone is talking or moving

There is too little noseroom in this shot. The person looks like he is
talking to the edge of the screen.

This is much better noseroom. If the person talks or motions there is

room for him to move. It also looks like the person is talking to
someone just off camera.
 Glossary of Terms

Camera angle - the position of the camera relative to the horizontal plane of the subject. In a
high-angle shot, the camera is above the subject; in an eye-level or flat shot, the camera is
on the same plane as the subject; in a low-angle shot, the camera is below the subject.
Camera angles should make sense within the context of the shot.

Camera distance - the apparent distance of the camera from the subject (extreme close
(XCU), close-up (CU), medium shot (MS), long shot (LS)).

Camera movement - an actual or simulated movement relative to the subject:

 pan - slow, steady movement across a scene from a fixed point

 follow - like the pan, but the camera is directed at an individual or object as it moves
through a scene
 tilt - a vertical pan or follow
 zoom in and zoom out - use of the zoom lens to approach or back away from the
subject
 dolly or track - use of a wheeled vehicle to move the camera alongside, toward, or
away from the action.

Camera-subject distance - the distance between the camera and a subject

Composition (visual media) - the placement and use of all the various elements in the
frame of a movie, television show, or photograph in order to achieve maximum impact.

Deconstruct - to take apart, analyze, or break down a media text into its component parts in
order to understand how it is created.

Director - the person responsible for the creative interpretation of the script, story, or issue
and the supervision of its filming and editing.

Dissolve - the superimposition of one shot which is fading out, on the next shot which is
fading in.

Docudrama - a semi-fictionalized film or program that mixes documentary footage with

dramatic scenes or re-enactments.

Documentary - a factual film about a particular subject or a radio program which treats an
event or issue in depth

Editing (visual) - a process of selecting, arranging, and combining shots.

Establishing shot (ES) - generally a long shot or extreme long shot used to show the
setting.

Extreme close up (ECU) - a close up in which a small detail fills the entire screen.

Extreme long shot (ELS) - a very wide shot, often a panoramic view.

Fade-in - a shot that begins totally over or under exposed (white or black) and gradually
becomes properly exposed.

Fade-out - a shot that ends by changing from the proper exposure to an extreme under or
over exposure.
Frame - a single, still image from a film or video.

Freeze frame - an effect in which a single frame is held on screen for an indefinite time.

High angle shot - a shot in which the camera looks down upon the subject from a higher
vantage point.

Ideology - a system of beliefs that is characteristic of a particular class or group.

Jump cut - an abrupt and jarring change from shot to shot or scene to scene.

Long shot (LS) - a wide shot or a scene, which relates the subject to the background or
setting.

Low angle shot - a shot in which the camera looks up at the subject from a lower vantage
point.

Mainstream media - media created for and favoured by large numbers of people in society
(related to popular culture).

Market - a potential listening audience in the area the radio station broadcasts; potential
buyers of the products and services advertised by the radio station.

Mass media - media such as television, radio, and newspapers that can reach a large group
of people.

Medium shot (MS) - a medium close shot in which the head, shoulders, and chest are
normally included in the frame.

Microphone (Mic) - a device which converts sound (usually the human voice) to electrical
energy.

Montage - a sequence of shots cut together often in a stylized way, to suggest a theme or
idea rather than a continuous event

Narration - a scripted voice-over commentary, read by a narrator or participant in a film.

Nonverbal - communication that relies on visual messages.

Pan - short for "panoramic" shot; a horizontal movement in which the camera is turned from
the left to right or right to left to follow a moving subject or give a sweeping view across a
scene.

Point of view (POV) - a subjective shot that shows the point of view of a particular
character.

Producer - the person who plans, co-ordinates, and supervises the overall production of a
film, including personnel and budget.

Production manager - the person responsible for the shooting schedule and for solving
problems on location during filming.

Propaganda - the information and opinions that are intended to convince people to accept
or reject a certain idea.

Rough cut - the first assembly of a film or program in which selected shots are edited
together
Scene - a clearly identifiable part of an event, usually in a single location and in a single time
span; it generally consists of several shots.

Sequence - a series of scenes shown together (related by theme, plot, or location) that
make up an organic whole and that has a clearly identifiable beginning and end; usually
several sequences are put together to make even a short film.

Shooting script - a detailed script for a dramatic film or program in which the action is
broken down shot by shot.

Shot or take - a single photographic image or a continuous take in motion pictures.

Stereotype - a highly opinionated, predictable, biased, and simplistic view.

Storyboard - a "short shot" script which includes drawings of each shot for a movie or for
some television shows.

 Three main elements: a description of the shot (e.g., medium shot, low angle,
camera movement); a drawing of the shot; a description of the sound (dialogue,
music, effects)
 Formats differ and are dependent on the needs of the creator and the type of media
text being produced.

Take - a version of a shot, unedited, as it was originally recorded by the camera.

Target audience - specific groups of people that media producers or advertisers want to
reach.

Tilt - the vertical equivalent of a pan, in which the camera is tilted up or down.

Tracking shot (dolly shot) - a shot in which the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform
or dolly to create smooth, steady movements

Travelling shot - a shot taken from a moving vehicle.

Voice over (VO) - a voice or commentary recorded for use on the film’s soundtrack.

Zoom shot - camera shot that creates the illusion of moving toward or away from a subject
simply by changing the focal length of the lens. A Zoom In magnifies objects to make them
appear close; a Zoom Out widens the angle view, making objects appear to move further
away.
 Useful Websites

http://www.imdb.com/
Contains information on almost every film produced globally; with fully searchable archive
and links to useful institutional and textual information

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/
Media and communications site index: a great starting point for links, articles and information

http://www.theory.org.uk/
Substantial and information links to media-related articles and information

http://www.film.com/
Trailers, clips, photographs and other useful information about studio releases

http://www.darkhorizons.com/
Great site for access to streaming films and downloadable trailers

http://trailers.apple.com/
The official apple site for trailers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/
Homepage for BBC TV channels

http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp_ind.htm
Details site about practical TV production

http://www.popcultures.com/
A diverse range of theoretical articles about TV and popular media culture

http://www.itv.com/
ITV portal

www.nbc.com
NBC television (USA)

http://www.newscorp.com/
Launch site for corporation newspapers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media
The Guardian media homepage

http://www.mtv.co.uk/
Great for researching current themes and trends

http://www.rollingstone.com/
Has a good archive of videos for a range of recording artists