As Media Studies: The Essential Revision Guide

217 Pages·2006·2.22 MB·English

by  Peter Wall

AS MEDIA STUDIES:
THE ESSENTIAL REVISION GUIDE FOR AQA
AS Media Studies: The Essential Revision Guide for AQAis the must-have, self-
help resource for students preparing for AQA AS Media Studies exams.
Individual sections cover the following key topics:
■ Reading the Media (MED1) ■ Textual Topics in Contemporary
■ Media Language Media (MED2)
■ Audience ■ Film and Broadcast Fiction
■ Representation ■ Documentary
■ Values and Ideology ■ Advertising and Marketing
■ Institution ■ British Newspapers
Written by experienced teachers and examiners, AS Media Studies: The Essential
Revision Guide for AQAprovides invaluable advice and support and includes:
■ Activities ■ Revision tips
■ Exam questions ■ Why we have exams – what is AS
■ Worked examples level? What is AQA Media
Studies? How does the exam
■ Advice on how to approach the system work?
exam – using the reading time, ■ Suggested resources
note-taking, planning an answer,
ordering your ideas and writing
your response

AS MEDIA STUDIES:
THE ESSENTIAL REVISION GUIDE FOR AQA
Jo Barker and Peter Wall
First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2006 Jo Barker and Peter Wall
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN10: 0–415–36569–4 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–36570–8 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–96977–4 (ebk)
ISBN13: 9–78–0–415–36569–7 (hbk)
ISBN13: 9–78–0–415–36570–3 (pbk)
ISBN13: 9–78–0–203–96977–9 (ebk)
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CONTENTS
PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1
GETTING READY 2
What kind of student are you? 2
The passive student 2
The active student 3
Getting the best from this book 6
Why do we need exams? 10
Preparing for exams 12
What is AS level? 14
REVISION 18
RESOURCES 26
HELP!!!! 28
THE EXAM SYSTEM EXPLAINED 31
Exams 31
What happens to your exam script when you have finished the exam? 34
vi
CONTENTS
PART 2 MED1 – READING THE MEDIA 41
Introduction 42
Preparing for AQA MED1 43
The key concepts 43
Using the reading time 44
Note-taking 44
Planning an answer 46
Ordering your ideas 47
Writing your response 48
Starting off 48
Your analysis and the key concepts 49
Covering the key concepts in some detail 51
Media language 51
Audience 52
Representation 54
Values and ideology 55
Institution 57
Evidencing learning 57
How much learning are you demonstrating? 57
How successfully are you integrating this learning? 57
Debating the point 60
What goes wrong in MED1? 63
Best practice in MED1 63
Media language 67
Representation 67
Audience 68
Values and ideology 69
Institution 69
vii
CONTENTS
PART 3 MED2 – TEXTUAL TOPICS IN
CONTEMPORARY MEDIA 71
INTRODUCTION 72
FILM AND BROADCAST FICTION 78
DOCUMENTARY 95
The topic title and its implications 95
Specification demands: what do I need to cover? 99
Investigative 106
Fly-on-the-wall 106
Personal 107
Key concepts: how do they link to this topic? 116
Media language 116
Representation 117
Values and ideologies 120
Audience 121
Institution 121
Choosing appropriate texts 123
Key concepts, issues and texts 126
A closer look at the questions 129
Choosing and preparing to write 130
ADVERTISING AND MARKETING 137
The topic title and its implications 137
Specification demands: what do I need to cover? 138
Key concepts: how do they link to this topic? 148
Media language 149
Representation 152
Values and ideologies 153
viii
CONTENTS
Audience 154
Institution 156
Choosing appropriate texts 158
Key concepts, issues and texts 160
A closer look at the questions 163
Choosing and preparing to write 165
Media language 165
Audience 166
Representation 166
Values and ideology 167
Institution 167
BRITISH NEWSPAPERS 173
Critiques and debates 174
Key concepts: how do they relate to this topic? 178
Representation 179
Media languages and forms 179
Narrative 180
PART 4 CONCLUSION 187
PART 5 APPENDICES 189
SAMPLE AQA MATERIALS 191
Sample front page of the AQA AS Media Studies MED2 examination 192
Sample from the mark scheme for the AQA AS Media Studies MED2
examination 193
Extract from the AQA report on the Media Studies examination 194
ix
CONTENTS
DOCUMENTARY 199
Example of a completed grid 200
ADVERTISING 201
Effectson media content: example of a completed grid 202