What gets you marks in any kind of question?
Before we start, it is worth nothing that the most important thing that can get you marks in an A-level media studies exam is knowing about A-level media studies. This is called 'using and applying knowledge and understanding'. Here are some examples of what this could look like
- Using the term 'mise-en-scene' (and anything else off the textual analysis toolkit!)
- Confidently and assertively suggesting the deeper meaning for something
- Making explicit and correct reference to key scenes
- Using the phrase 'patriarchal hegemony' correctly in a sentence
- Defining the term 'representation' in the introduction
- Using lots of media language together in a sentence
- Using a theory to back up a really important point
- Evaluating the use of theory, and even criticising it's usefulness, before presenting a more useful insight
- A clear and well argued point of view that reflects your own opinions
- Making an absolutely fascinating, and controversial point that makes the examiner go 'wow!'
Representation questions
Difficulty
These are the hardest questions in media studies. This is because the term 'representation' is so complicated, and requires so much unpacking. However, because you get to talk about things like sexism, hegemony, social issues and ideology, for some students this is by far the most fun part of the course!
What is representation?
Representation refers to how an issue, event, group of people or place is 'shown again' by the producer. Representations are constructed through media language, and representations always reflect the ideology of the producer. Beyond just 'showing' something or someone, representations can only be constructed by those in power. Producers will use ideologically motivated representations as a means to manipulate their audience.
What five things do I absolutely need to talk about?
- Representations are a reconstruction of reality, and are constructed from media language
- Representations reflect the ideology of the producer, and are used to reinforce societal hegemony. The producer is in a privileged position
- Representations always utilise stereotypes on some level
- Stereotypes reflect imbalances in society. Some groups are almost always constructed in subordinate and negative ways. Again, this reinforces that certain groups have more power than others
- Representations do not exist, but but reinforcing societal expectations, they directly affect the group being represented. Therefore our lives are shaped through re-presentations that are more real than the thing being re-presented
What are five types of questions that could come up?
- How does this product construct versions of reality?
- How (and why!) have stereotypes in this media product been used both positively and negatively?
- How does historical context effect the representations in this product?
- How do representations position audiences in this product?
- How do the representations in this product show the values, attitudes and beliefs of the producer?
Where can these questions come up?
There will be a BIG, 30 mark, one hour long representation question in component one section a. This will involve comparing a case study with an unseen analysis example. There will also be a representation question in component two, and it could come up for any industry. Basically, representation is always BIG.
How do I prepare?
There's no easy way out for revising representation: you will need to assiduously revisit case studies, explore unseen examples, and really make sure you understand the representation theorists and what they bring to the table. Beyond this, it is absolutely essential that you understand and apply representation theories.
What other subjects do representation questions most resemble?
English literature
Philosophy
Sociology
Media language questions
Difficulty
These are the second hardest questions in media studies. This is because you will be expected to 'ad lib' and suggest meanings for every single last aspect of analysis. If you are good at making stuff up as you go along, these might be your favourite
What is media language?
Media language is the things that build meaning in a media product. These are the terms that you can find in the textual analysis toolkit. Each one of these things, for example cinematography, editing and MES, reflects a decision made by the producer. And each of these things means something and has a deeper meaning. You will have to explain exactly what they mean! A good way to think about media language questions is that they are like English literature, where you look for the deeper meaning in a book or poem. We just look at more diverse media.
What five things do I absolutely need to talk about?
- Media language encodes the ideology of the producer, and is an attempt to manipulate the ideology of the audience
- Media language encodes meaning through a system of signs. Meaning is often complex, and can mean different things to different audiences
- Media language can position audiences to anchor meaning
- Media products can be categorised based on a system of genres
- Postmodern modern theorists argue that meaning has collapsed, and that surface meanings are even more important that deeper meanings, and that media products often represent something that is more real and more perfect than the thing it is representing...
What are five types of questions that could come up?
- How does media language combine to create meaning?
- How does this product use intertextuality/hermeneutic codes/whatever to construct meaning?
- Is this product typical of it's genre/narrative?
- In what ways does this product use media language to encode the ideology of the producer?
- How does new and developing technologies affect media language?
Where can these questions come up?
There will be a big, 15 mark, 30 minute long unseen textual analysis question in component one section a. Because it's unseen, you will have no idea what will come up, and you will be expected to come up with detailed meanings on the fly. There will also be a media language question in component two, and it could come up for any industry.
How do I prepare?
For the unseen question, you must practice analysing unseen media. Try watching adverts, music videos, promotional videos, film trailers etc on YouTube, and search for film posters, Blu Ray covers, promotional images, high end fashion adverts, newspaper front pages... The list is endless.! Then use the textual analysis toolkit to break them down and work out their deeper meaning!
For component 2, a quick and straightforward way is to screenshot a still from one of the TV shows, one of the magazine pages, or one of the website pages, and label it with as much toolkit terminology as possible!
What other subjects do media language questions most resemble?
English language
Industry questions
Difficulty
On the one hand industry questions are easy; you just need facts. However, because of this, and because these questions can be a little more dry than the others, some students find these hardest of all.
What is industry?
In these kinds of questions, you will talk about how media industries are structured, how they produce and distribute their products, and how they make money. This is the least theoretical aspect of the course, and is mainly based around cold facts and hard statements.
What five things do I absolutely need to talk about?
- The sole purpose of producing a media product is to create maximum profit with the minimum risk
- The cultural industries/media industries are structured like factories, either/or vertically and horizontally integrated to make profit as guaranteed as possible
- The media industries are dominated by enormous, multinational conglomerates that use their power to maximise profit and to muscle out independent and smaller competitors
- The regulation of media industries is made largely ineffective through digitally convergent technologies, which conglomerates will exploit to maximise profit
- Hoverer, there are some PBS and not for profit organisations that challenge the idea of aggressive profiteering. Examples include small film studios, the BBC, and the Adbusters Media Foundation
What are five types of questions that could come up?
- How is this media product produced, distributed and circulated, and by who?
- How have recent technological changes in this industry changed production, distribution and circulation?
- What economic factors have affected this product? How financially successful was it? Was it made commercially or not for profit?
- How exactly is this industry regulated, and who does it?
- How do individual producers (e.g. bloggers, vloggers, independent directors etc) affect this industry?
Where can these questions come up?
There will be 25 marks worth and 25 minutes worth of industry questions in component one section b. Some of these questions will be very short, and will involve defining industry terms, and some will be a little longer. The longer ones tend to be about 8-15 marks. One of the questions will ask you to draw upon your full course of study. This basically means you will be expected to talk about audience, media language and representation as well where appropriate. There will also be an industry question in component two, and it could come up for any industry.
How do I prepare?
Because of the 'hard' nature of the knowledge for these questions, they are very straightforward to prepare for. You must learn the facts. It is absolutely essential that you have examples for each and every industry which could come up for industry (and just so you know, the only industries that cannot come up in industry are advertising and music videos!). For these questions, I would recommend making a 'fact bank' and to memorise it, to allow you to slot in relevant examples no matter what comes up!
What other subjects do industry questions most resemble?
Business studies
Audience questions
Difficulty
These are the easiest questions in media studies. This is because there's really only two types of audience question (see below), and the theory you will use is very straightforward.
What is audience?
Audience refers to the users and consumers of media products. Audiences are complex and diverse, and they must be targeted by producers in order to ensure the success of a media product.
What five things do I absolutely need to talk about?
- Audiences are active, and will decode the meaning of a media product in a variety of different ways depending on their culture and upbringing
- Producers will attempt to use media language to position, target and construct audiences, to ensure they interpret the preferred meaning of a product
- It was previously considered that audiences were mindless zombies, easily swayed by 'the media'
- Increasingly, audiences can use and participate in media products in increasingly complex ways, thanks to digitally convergent technology.
- Media products are increasingly produced using digitally convergent technology, for example newspapers edited on the fly and films edited using consumer adjacent software, that suggests that traditional models of audience have ended, and that, according to Shirky at least, we are all producers now
What are five types of questions that could come up?
- How are audience grouped and categorised for this industry? Think age, gender, class, lifestyle, cultural capital…
- How does this product attract/target its audiences? How does it construct an audience?
- How can audiences interpret this product in different ways?
- How does the industry that makes this product address the needs of mass and specialised audiences through targeting?
- What is the importance of fans and niche audiences to this industry?
Where can these questions come up?
There will be 20 marks worth of audience questions in component one section b, and you will be expected to spend 20 minutes on this. There are usually two questions in this section. There will also be an industry question in component two, and it could come up for any industry.
How do I prepare?
Start Hall is your friend, both in terms of revision and the exam. His reception theory (check out the theorists and theories page!) is ridiculously useful, as it actually provides a structure for you to list the preferred, negotiated and oppositional audience responses. You could do a lot worse that to go through each and every text which could come up in audience and come up with at least three separate readings. Additionally, for Shirky and Jenkins, finding concrete examples of all the crazy and lovable stuff fans do with media products is always super helpful and fun.
What other subjects do audience questions most resemble?
Communication studies
Psychology