This schedule is a work in progress, and is subject to change
What are revision sessions?
For the final six weeks, A-level media studies will switch to full revision. Each session will focus on structuring an exam, including presenting an argument, effectively using examples, appropriately applying theory, and presenting a clear conclusion. We will also be looking at the precise content needed to secure the higher grades.
In order to achieve this, each session will focus on a single question. Each class will tackle a different question. Every response will be posted to the blog. This means, should everything run smoothly, the plans for up to 90 (!) potential questions will be posted to the blog. In terms of revision resources, you cannot ask for anything more effective. This has been tried and tested by your teachers to deliver excellent results. Yes, it's a little dull. But we have to compromise.
Commitment to learning
In order to make this work, we need you to make the following commitments:
- You will not miss a single lesson, unless there is a spectacularly good reason
- If you feel you are not going to concentrate and contribute, then please do not attend the session (!!!)
- You will make excellent comments and suggestions in class when prompted
- You will make rigorous and detailed notes when other students and the teacher makes suggestions
- You will revise each and every day, completing past paper questions where appropriate to submit to your teacher for marking and brief feedback
- You will use the resources on the blog, making use of ALL of the assorted resources
Schedule for the final part of the year
Revision workshops
Naamah - Tuesdays 1440 - C15Michael - Wednesdays 1440 - C118
The content of these sessions tends to be repeated. We strongly recommend NOT attending both the plus time workshops in one week. Use your revision time to complete a past paper question instead!
Come to whichever session you like! Details will be added ahead of revision sessions!
- Tue 21/2 - Media language and representation prep for the mock exam
- Wed 22/2 - Representation prep for the mock exam (newspapers)
- Tue 28/2 - Industry and audience prep for mock exam
- Wed 29/2 - Cancelled due to strike!!!
- Tue 7/3 - mock week: no plus times
- Wed 8/3 - mock week: no plus times
- Tue 14/3 - Naamah tbc
- Wed 15/3 - Media language unseen
Lesson by lesson revision plan and revision index
The following topics will be covered or have already been covered. You can click each question to read a class plan for it. You can (and should) use these posts to prepare for timed essay questions, which you should then submit to your teacher for feedback.
Unsure about how you could be revising? Take a look at the revision pyramid!
Week one - Advertising and film
1 – advertising media language (unseen) and audience (seen)
Media language
- Explore how this product uses genre conventions to construct meaning
- How does media language incorporate viewpoints and ideologies in this product?
Audience
2 – advertising - Representation (comparison)
- Compare how representations reflect the time in which adverts are made. Refer to the Tide print advert you have studied and the Dove advert you have been provided with
- Compare how audiences can respond to and interpret the representations in the WaterAid advert you have studied and the Barnardo's print advert you have been provided with
3 – The film industry – industry (seen)
- I Daniel Blake industry responses (several questions)
- Black Panther industry responses (several questions)
Week two - Newspapers
1 – Newspapers – Component one a – Media language and representation – set texts
- How does the producer use representations to position the audience with this product?
- How are events, issues, individuals and social groups in this product represented through the selection and combination of media language?
2 – Newspapers – Component one b – industry & audience – general study
3 – Newspapers – Component one b – industry & audience – print edition
- Explain how social and cultural circumstances affect audience interpretations of newspaper content. Refer to a print edition of the Daily Mirror to support your points
- Explore how the newspaper industry meets the needs of its target audiences. Make reference to a print edition of The Times to support your answer [10]
You can find the 'print edition' pages we have set this year (the 'Pele edition' by clicking here)
Week three - Music videos, videogames and radio
1 – Music videos - Component 1 section a – media language and representation
- How do the representations in the music video to Formation you have studied and the video to Alright by Kenrick Lamar show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer?
- Explore how stereotypes have been utilised in the music video to Riptide that you have studied and White Noise by Will Wood you have been shown
2 – Videogames – Component 2 section b – Industry and audience
- Explore how digital technologies have affected the regulation of the video game industry. Make reference to the Assassin’s Creed franchise to support your answer [8]
- Explore how audience responses to the Assassin’s Creed franchise demonstrate social circumstances [10]
3 – Radio - Component 2 section b – Industry and audience
- How can audiences interpret Late Night Woman’s Hour in different ways? (8)
- To what extent has digital technology affected the ways in which the radio industry distributes and circulates its products? Make reference to Late Night Woman’s Hour to support you answer [10]
Week four - TV
1 – TV - Component 2 a – media language and representation
- Stuart Hall argues that stereotypes serve a variety of complex functions and are integral to understanding media products. Evaluate this theory of representation. Make reference to Humans and The Returned to support your response [30]
- According to Claude Lévi-Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response. [30]
- Compared with the past, David Gauntlett argues that in the media today ‘we no longer get singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities.’ Evaluate the validity of this claim with reference to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned and the historical contexts in which they were produced. [30]
2 – TV - Component 2 a – Industry and audience
Week five - Magazines
1 – Magazines - Component 2 b – media language and representation
- Liesbet Van Zoonen argues that gender is constructed through a complex system of codes, and that representations of gender have changed over time. Evaluate the validity of this theory of representation. Make reference to Woman magazine and Adbusters [30]
- “Representations are a fundamental tool to allow producers to successfully target audiences”. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make reference to Woman and Adbusters to support your answer
- Explore the ways in which magazines utilise media language in order to encode ideological perspectives. Make reference to the set editions of Woman and Adbusters to support your points.
2 – Magazines - Component 2 b – industry and Audience
- How far can aspects of identity be seen to affect the way in which audiences use magazines? Discuss, with reference to Woman and Adbusters. You should refer to relevant academic theories in your response. [30]
- “Representations are a fundamental tool to allow producers to successfully target audiences”. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Make reference to Woman and Adbusters to support your answer
Week six - Online media
1 – Online - Component 2 c – media language and representation
2 – Online - Component 2 c – Industry and audience