Welcome to A Level Media Studies - Media Studies Transition Tasks - Cronton Sixth Form College
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Welcome to A Level Media Studies
Media Studies Transition Tasks
Welcome to A Level Media Studies at Cronton Sixth Form College. We are looking forward
to seeing you at enrolment and for you to start the course with us in September. To prepare
you for the course I’ve created a range of tasks intended to help you develop a basic
understanding of media language. You will explore the way media products are constructed;
media industries – who produces media products and who consumes them, and theorists -
ideas about media.
These are three main areas that we will cover during the course.
Task 1: A Mini Introduction to Media Language
1. Watch a music video of your choice. I want you to find one that shows various shot
types and camera angles.
2. Find examples of different camera shots and angles and explain how they
communicate/talk to the audience.
3. Identify if there is storyline. How does it begin? How does it end?
4. What clothes are used in the video? What do they say about how the character is
feeling?
5. What season is the used in the video? Any suggestion of weather? How does it link in
with the type of music?
6. What characters are used in the video? Is there a hero? A villain?
7. Are there any examples of opposites used in the video? It could be characters,
colours used, clothes worn to cause differences.
8. What happens at the crescendo of music? Describe what you see on the video at the
point where the song reaches its pivotal point.
Task 2: Institution Research
One of the programmes we watch in Media Studies is ‘Life on Mars’. We will be analysing
Season 1 Episode 1. I want you to watch this on either YouTube or BBC iPlayer. You need to
decide:
What is the programme all about?
What kind of programme is it (Soap Opera, News, Documentary)?
Who are the main characters?
When is it set?
Where is it set?
Research in detail the BBC and create a fact‐file or essay with your findings.
You will need to research to find out the following:
● Structure. How is the company structured? Consider its channels, online presence,
publishing, digital output
● What products does the institution produce? i.e.
films/programmes/papers/radio/website/channels/
● How the BBC is funded. What does it mean to be a Public Service Broadcaster?
What is the BBC’s remit?
● Who are the competitors for your institution and what is the market position of your
institution? (Is your institution successful compared to its competitors)
● The history of the company
● Any other useful information
Task 3: Media Theory Research
Research ONE of the following media theorists and summarise their ideas. You will need to
use media texts (Life on Mars, Black Panther, I, Daniel Blake) to illustrate what they mean
Genre theory - Steve Neale
● the idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference,
variation, and change
● the idea that genres change, develop, and vary, as they borrow from and overlap with one
another
● the idea that genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts
●
Feminist theory - bell hooks
● the idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of
domination
● the idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice
● the idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are
exploited, discriminated against or oppressed
Fandom - Henry Jenkins
● the idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual
meanings
● the idea that fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by
the media producers (‘textual poaching’)
● the idea that fans construct their social and cultural identities through borrowing and
inflecting mass culture images, and are part of a participatory culture that has a vital social
dimension.
Power and media industries - Curran and Seaton
● the idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the
logic of profit and power
● the idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality
● the idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for
more varied and adventurous media productions.
Over the summer you are expected to start to explore the
films that will be the focus of study for this A Level. The films
we will be studying are:
Black Panther
I, Daniel Blake
You will need to look at:
• The films official websites
• The trailer for both films
• Official Movie posters
• Reviews from newspapers (e.g. The Guardian, The Telegraph, Rolling Stone, Empire, The
Independent, New York Times, Huffington Post)
• Wikipedia
• Box office mojo
For each film make sure that you can answer the following questions
• Who directed the film? What other films have the directed?
• Who produced the film (credited producers and the company who funded/ paid for the
film)? What other films have they produced?
• What companies distributed the film in the UK/US? Where else was it distributed and by
whom? What other films have the companies distributed
• How much money was spent on the film? How much money did it make (and over what time
scale)?
• What censorship classification did it have (and was this different in different countries)?
Why did it get this classification?
• What awards (if any) did the film receive?
• How was it received by critics?
• How was the film marketed and what does this marketing tell us about the intended target
audience?
• How did the film deal with social, political and economic issues and how did this reflect who
it was made by?
• How does the film represent different social and ethnic groups?
How should you present this assignment?
Paper Based Portfolio – A collect of articles you have found online which you have read, highlighted
important points, anointed with your thought, organized about the four key areas. You will also
include a quick summary of each question.
Blog Based Portfolio (I would recommend using Blogger – you can sign up for an account using your
school email address.) – On the blog you would have a posts for each film and area and you would
include hyperlinks to articles, YouTube clips, websites etc. that contain information and a more
detailed summary of each question to show that you have read the material! This summary could
take the form of video podcasts, text, embedded power-points, embedded Prezi etc. You will need to
give me the URL of the blog so that I can see what you have done.
While it is not essential to watch the films it would make this task more interesting and enjoyable!
Finally, The Creative Task
Part of the media studies course will involve making your own print and audio-visual products.
Choose one of the following tasks to help you demonstrate your creative side:
● The front cover of a magazine
● A film poster
● A newspaper front cover
● A charity advertisement
You can use Photoshop and bring in your own images. You need to
incorporate all the key features to make your piece look professional.
Therefore, if you are creating a magazine you will need it to have a masthead,
coverlines, barcode, price, strapline.
A film poster needs to reveal what kind of film it is, what the film is all about,
Key characters, release dates, official rating.
You will need to look at each of these texts, explore the key features and how
You will recreate them.
Channel your creativity and showcase your talent.
I’ll look forward to seeing your work.
Good Luck, Enjoy this and look forward to seeing you in September.You can also read
