KS4 Media Studies

Overview

This is an exciting and innovative course, which encompasses a broad base of media texts. The units studied in Year 10 provide a foundation for analysing media products, introducing students to media language and representation issues as well as media industry structures and audience demographics and targeting.  Learners will also begin to explore how media products reflect, and are influenced by, the social, cultural, historical and political contexts in which they are produced.

In Year 11 students gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of media language and representation, as well as extending their appreciation of these areas through the study of media industries and audiences.

The course also involves an exciting production piece in which students will be able to act on their knowledge and understanding of media texts and produce one of their own. The production tasks are designed to suit a variety of students with a range of skills. Learners must apply their knowledge and understanding of media language and representation to an individual media production for an intended audience in response to a choice of briefs set by Eduqas.

When studying texts, we teach students to engage with the five pillars of media analysis:

  • Representation
  • Audience
  • Industry
  • Media Language
  • Context

By exploring these five elements, students will become adept in analysing the intent and impact of a wide range of media products.

Although delivery may vary slightly depending on circumstances, as well as the needs of specific groups, the structure of the year is as follows:

 

Year 10

Term 1 

Term 2

Term 3
  • Introduction to Media Language
  • Advertising and Marketing – campaigns studied include: This Girl Can, Quality Street, The Man With The Golden Gun, and No Time to Die, as well as unseen texts.
  • Magazines, focusing on GQ and Pride, as well as unseen texts.
  • Newspapers, focusing on The Sun and The Guardian
  • Introduction to the film industry
  • Focus films: No Time to Die
  • Introduction to the Newspaper Industry
  • Focus newspaper: The Sun
  • Introduction to the gaming industry
  • Focus games: Fortnite
  • Introduction to the radio industry
  • Focus radio show: The Archers
  • Coursework unit. Students will research and plan their production project which will be completed in Term 1 of Year 11.   The specifics of the brief are determined by the exam board (EDUQAS) and these change each year. They will, however, always include:
    • Market research
    • Analysis of existing products and audiences
    • Design of a media text/s
    • Independent completion of a media text/s Year 11

 

Year 11

As students move into their second year of formally studying the media, they must work hard to keep revisiting the texts that they studied in Year 10. Using their Knowledge Organisers regularly will not only aid memory of key texts but will help them to apply new knowledge of theories or perspectives. The most competent Media Studies students are, unsurprisingly, those who have regularly revised the course content without needing to be directed by their teacher.

Teachers will, of course, encourage students to revisit previously taught content by using quizzes throughout the year to encourage recall.

 

Term 1 Term 2 Term 3
  • Introduction to the television industry
  • Study of set text: Luther 
  • Study of historical set text: The Sweeney
  • Completion of NEA

 

 
  • Exam revision

 

Other Useful Information

Exam board website: Eduqas GCSE Media Studies

5 ways I can help my child

1 Encourage your son/daughter to consume a range of media texts, including texts that they might not necessarily enjoy for their own sake. The most competent students of Media Studies tend to be those who read widely (and when we say “read” in the context of Media Studies, we mean visual and audio texts as well as literary ones!).

2

 Share your own responses to media texts and be prepared to debate with your child! Ask your child to reflect upon how their own reception of texts has changed since they began to study the media objectively.

3

 Encourage your child to be a critical thinker. It is important for Media Studies students to always be conscious of the producer behind the text…what agenda, purposes and biases sit behind the texts that we consume?
4 Remind your child about the importance of regularly revising previously taught content by using knowledge organisers to self-quiz. Even if it has not been explicitly set as homework, revisiting content is vital to embed knowledge and support future study.

5

 Promote creativity – if your child owns a smartphone, encourage them to use it to experiment with photography. Some students find the NEA unit challenging because they are not used to taking photographs for a specific purpose. Taking photographs for imagined briefs (such as an album cover for a new band, or film poster for a thriller or romantic comedy) might feel a little odd, but it will be excellent preparation for their coursework, as well as any subsequent forays into the field of modern media.