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Lord's Sixth Form College
studies the AQA specification in
Media Studies.

Twenty years ago the media could be summed up as mainly print (newspapers
and magazines) and audio/visual (television, radio and films). Not anymore!

Audiences today have access to a huge number of additional channels that let us receive news, entertainment, information and advertising. This new digital media includes the Web and mobile phones - providing us with access to blogs, social networking sites and emails.

GCE Media Studies is designed to enhance your enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of the media and its role in your daily life. The course introduces you both to media ideas and the practice of production, which gives you the chance to develop a real understanding of media platforms, the contemporary media landscape and the influential role of the media in today's society.

In the first year you will study two key aspects of the media. In the unit on 'Investigating 'Media' (Unit I), you'll learn the fundamentals of media forms and platforms and the concepts which lie beneath the surface, as well as the role of marketing and promotion of these products.

Unit 2, 'Creating Media', takes you through the production process, from researching the codes and conventions of professional media products to producing products of your own.

In the second year you'll look at different ways of explaining and understanding the media and how it works in 'Critical Perspectives' (Unit 3). This covers how issues are represented by the media as well as the impact of new media. You'll also undertake a case study on some of these issues and look at how they can be understood.

In 'Research and Production' (Unit 4) you'll carry out an individual piece of work that will give you the chance to really understand the relationship between research and practical production.

Both years have similar patterns of assessment in Media Studies.

In year one you will sit a two hour paper on 'Investigating Media', which will count for 50% of your AS marks for the year. Your two productions for 'Creating Media' - plus a 1500 word essay - will account for the other 50%.

In the second year, your two hour examination will be on the 'Critical Perspectives' unit and account for 50% of your marks for the year. The 'Research and Production' coursework unit - which requires a 2000 word research essay (or equivalent) plus a linked and fully realised production - which accounts for the other 50% of your marks.

Media Studies helps you develop a number of skills:

• An ability to analyse how media products are constructed.
• How to produce media products across different platforms - either on your own or as part of a team
• How to do individual research
• How to evaluate your own media products and those of others.

Media studies naturally leads to careers in journalism, marketing, advertising or public relations. But an awareness of how the world of media works can also support other careers, such as social work, law, medicine and education. By knowing how the media operates you'll be able to decode messages more skilfully, and engage with topics that interest you., the subject has a really broad application.