Media Studies A Level
Course Overview
Media Studies at A Level provides students with an opportunity to develop a thorough and in depth understanding of key issues, using a comprehensive theoretical framework to support critical exploration and reflection, analysis and debate.
Over the two-year course, you will study many topics, including texts ranging from Black Panther film marketing to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour; The Daily Mirror newspaper to the Assassins Creed computer game franchise; TV’s Peaky Blinders to Vogue magazine and much more. You will engage with the dynamic relationships between media products, media industries and audiences, whether it be social influencers, large multi-media corporations or independent companies.
There is a coursework component where students will work from a chosen brief. It is an exciting opportunity to develop media production skills in different forms, apply your knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework to media forms and products, and become creators of meaning yourselves.
Course Components
Year 1 Components (continuing into Year 2)
- Advertising and Marketing
- Film Marketing
- Newspapers
- Radio
- Music Videos
- Computer Games
- Media Theory and Contexts
Year 2 Components
- Television in the Global Age
- Magazines: Mainstream and Alternative Media
- Media in the Online Age
Key Info
Minimum Entry Requirements
Five GCSEs at Grade 4 or above including:
- GCSE grade 4 in English Language or Literature
Assessment
- 70% Exam
- 30% Coursework
- Exam Board Eduqas
Subject Lead
Mr I Bailey
Why Chose this Course?
The media has become the most dynamic and influential method of mass communication of modern times. Media Studies is a vital tool necessary to understanding the media’s significance and its power. The media impacts on our everyday lives – it influences how we think, feel and behave. Media representations can affect our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us – it has become integral to the way we live. There has never been a better time to become a Media Studies student.
Production work is an integral part of the course, and you will have an opportunity to apply your knowledge and understanding of how media artefacts are constructed as you will create your own media products.
Skills You Gain
Media Studies will help you to develop valuable transferable skills. It will enhance your understanding of critical approaches to media issues and how to apply them. You will demonstrate skills of critical thinking and analysis which will further your appreciation of the media and their role both historically and currently in society, culture, politics and the economy. Your course of study will help with your knowledge and understanding of the global nature of the media.
After Northgate
Over one hundred universities offer courses in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies in the UK. An A Level in Media Studies helps you to progress to these courses, as well as to those in other areas such as English, Humanities and Social Sciences. Media Studies is a well-regarded A Level, and it may also be useful for a career in television, film, radio or journalism.
"Media Studies is a fascinating subject that has made me challenge the way that I see its role in our everyday lives. It has opened my eyes to the construction of meaning and how media representations tell us much about changes in society."