A2 Media Studies reading week activities

During reading week you have some tasks to complete in preparation for the examination units which
will begin in the first week of February.
Read and complete the tasks carefully. Some of the tasks will relate to your 3 hour lesson and some
will relate to your 1 hour 30 minute lesson. Make a careful note which is which, and ensure that you
bring the right work to the right lesson week commencing the 1st February.
You must complete this work in your own time: you will not have Media Studies lessons during reading
week and so you should set aside the usual 4 hours 30 minutes of lesson time to complete the activities.
Tasks for Section A of the exam (complete and bring to your 1 hour 30 minute lesson)
This section of the exam is split into two. The first part is focused on reflecting on how your skills in five different
media areas have developed across the course of the A Level.
1. Provide detailed definitions of each of the following. You may like to add in some examples to help
with your definition:
a. Post Production:

b. Digital Technology:

c. Research and Planning:

d. Conventions from real media texts:

e. Creativity:

2. Make a list of all of the productions youve worked on during the course of your A Level. A couple
have been filled in to help you remember. You can add in productions of your own too they dont
have to be limited to what youve completed during studying for the course:

Swede | Shot-by-shot re-make

AS research and planning blog

A2 research and planning blog

Ancillary band website homepage

3. For this task we are going to concentrate on research and planning skills. Think about the two skills separately. Start by thinking about how and why
the research you conducted at AS was different to the research you conducted at A2 (think about audience research, research into similar texts, location
research etc). When you come to focus on planning compare the level of detail in the planning at AS compared to A2 to start with. Perhaps you
produced a hand-drawn storyboard at AS but a digital storyboard at A2? How detailed was your production schedule at AS compared to A2? Once
youve reflected on your skills in research and planning, fill in the grid below.
Select four productions (two from AS and two from A2) from your list above (task 2) and, using the grid below, give three examples of research
skills and three examples of planning skills that you developed when working on these productions. Try to choose different skills for each
production.
Research skills

Production 1:

Production 2:

Production 3:

Production 4:

Planning skills

Production 1:

Production 2:

Production 3:

Production 4:

Tasks for Section B of the exam (complete and bring to your 3 hour lesson).
This section of the exam focuses on the representation of teenagers in a range of different media. You will
study a range of different media theorists ideas, and will look at television, news, film and new media.
1. One of the main theoretical ideas that we will focus on during this unit is Marxism. You may have
studied Marxism in one of your other A Level subjects or you may have never encountered this
theory before. To ensure that everyone has a working knowledge of the ideas associated with
Marxism, go to the Collective Identity blog (or follow this link http://tinyurl.com/hbr8os2) and
watch the video on Marxism. As you watch the clip, you will be introduced to some of the key
terms and what they mean. The key terms are written in the grid below, try and listen out for
what they mean and write it next to the correct term.
KEY TERMS
Conflict theory

Modes of production

Capitalist

Ruling Class

Subject Class

Infrastructure

Superstructure

Ideological State Apparatus

False Class Consciousness

Repressive State Apparatus

MEANING

2. Read the extract from John Fiskes Television Culture. Summarise each paragraph, identifying what
you feel are the main points that hes making in each paragraph. This theory will be used during
the course and its important that you understand what he is saying about television so that you
can apply his ideas to the case studies. Use the space below to make your summary notes: