Welcome to the Media Department
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Mrs Jackie Clarke - Curriculum Leader of Drama and Media
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Rebecca Woolston - Teacher
What is Media Studies, and why is it important?
Media is about communication, particularly mass communication with lots of people. The media creates products that are designed to entertain and inform, created for lots of people to hear, watch or read, often at roughly the same time. Whenever you are watching television, streaming films, scrolling through social media or listening to a podcast, you are consuming media.
What do students learn in Media?
GCSE Media Studies students, will analyse how media products like TV programmes and music videos use images, sounds, language, and representations to create meaning. You will learn about the media industry and how the industry affects how media products are made. You will investigate media audiences, exploring who are the people who watch, read and consume the products, and consider how different people might be affected by media products differently, and why. You will study lots of different media forms, such as:
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There’s also a significant amount of practical work where you might create music videos, magazines, television programmes, advertisements and more. In your practical work, you’ll be able to apply what you’ve learnt about the media in the production of your own media products.
Challenge and support in Media
The exam is un-tiered – all students sit the same paper. Much of the challenge comes through feedback from practice exam questions and assessments. In the Non-examined assessment teachers are not permitted to give direct feedback – only advice.
How is Media Studies assessed?
We follow the EDUQAS GCSE exam. Assessment will consist of a mixture of examinations and non-examined assessment.
- Component 1: Written examination: 1 hour 30mins, 40% of qualification
- Component 2: Written examination: 1 hour 30mins, 30% of qualification
- Component 3: Non-exam assessment: Media Production, 30% of qualification
Learning beyond the classroom
There is a monthly EE film club. Home learning is set every week.
Where can Media Studies lead?
During the GCSE Media course you’ll develop and practise a range of skills which will equip you for progression to A Level study. They will also help you hugely in other areas such as Film, English, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Looking further ahead, over one hundred universities offer courses in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies in the UK. An A Level qualification in Media Studies, informed by study at GCSE level, helps you to move towards these courses, as well as to those in a range of other areas.
If university isn’t for you, there is a huge array of career opportunities in the media, and it’s an industry that is growing very quickly. If you are interested in the idea of a career in TV and film production, advertising, journalism, interactive media, and digital marketing, technical production, special effects, web design and post-production, then studying Media at GCSE level is a great place to start.
There has never been a better time to become a Media Studies student. To learn more, ask your English teacher about Media Studies.