GCSE MEDIA STUDIES STUDY PACK

2020-2021

TheTheoreticalFrameworkThis GCSE Media Studies specification is based on the theoretical framework for exploring and creating media. The framework is based on four inter-related areas:

• media language: how the media through their forms, codes and conventions communicate meanings

• representation: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups

• media industries: how the media industries' processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms

• audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them, and how members of audiences become producers themselves.

The framework provides a holistic and focused approach to interpreting and analysing the media, which you will develop progressively as you study the three components.

• Contexts of Media In addition to the theoretical framework, learners will develop knowledge and understanding of relevant contexts of media and their influence on media products and processes.

Media Forms Examples of all of the following media forms will be studied:

• advertising and marketing • film • magazines • music video and online, social and participatory media studied through a single music • topic • newspapers • radio • television • video games.

This will enable you to develop knowledge and understanding of a broad range of media forms and products, providing a comprehensive and balanced study of the media that encompasses audio-visual, print-based and online forms, as well as exploring the interrelationships between them.

MediaLanguage

Learning objectives:

• Define what constitutes ‘The Media’ • Define what is meant by ‘Media Language’ • Define what is meant by ‘code’ and ‘convention’ • Explain the difference between ‘connotation’ and ‘denotation’

What is ‘The Media?

• The main means of mass communication

� Anything you watch, read, or listen to which provides information.

� The producers who create texts have a target audience in mind – this audience determines what the final product will look/sound like.

TASK ONE: Examples of Media:

What is Media Language?

Media language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience. One of the ways Media Language works is to convey meaning through signs and symbols also known as codes and conventions.

Inyourownwords,writeadefinitionforMediaLanguageinyourhandbook

Codes and conventions: The typical features that you would expect from a particular text, ‘the rules’

Code: Icon or symbol

Convention: Something that happens

Connotations and denotations

When looking at a media text we are expected to try and read these signs because they add meaning.

One method practiced in Media Studies is to think in terms of connotation and denotation.

• Denotation: What is there. What it is literally

• Connotation: What it might mean or suggest

TASK TWO: Connotations and denotations

Denotation

Connotations

Denotation

Connotations

Denotation

Connotations

Denotation

Connotations

Denotation

Connotations

Colour

Colour is a very important factor when analysing a media text and is probably the first thing the consumer notices. Producers must be certain they have got it right to ensure they are attracting the desired target audience.

TASK FOUR

Working with your table, write down what you think each of these colours symbolise. What do you think of when you see them?

• Red

• Green

• Bright yellow

• Dirty yellow

• Black

• White

• Orange

• Hot Pink

• Baby pink

• Sky blue

Representation

Learning objectives:

- Define representation

- Define mediation

- Define stereotype

What is representation?

Understanding representation is all about understanding the choices that are made when it comes to portraying something or someone in a mass media text. It's impossible to portray every aspect of an individual in a photograph, or even in a feature film, so certain features of their personality and appearance get highlighted, and are often enhanced, when it comes to constructing the representation that the audience will see.

Mediation

Media producers construct representations of individuals, groups, issues and events using media language. The media do not simply present a picture of the real world, they re-present versions of reality by selecting and combining different elements of media language, as you might see in the images and text of a newspaper article. The process if called mediation.

When representing a person, media texts often focus on their:

• Age • Gender • Race/Ethnicity • Financial Status • Job • Culture/nationality

Signs and symbols are used as a kind of visual shorthand to represent these attributes. When we decode these signs we make assumptions about who the character is (usually by comparing them to similar characters we have encountered before), and this allows us to put them in a category and "read" them in context. For instance, when constructing characters for a TV or movie scene the producers might give an old man white hair and a walking stick, or provide a wealthy lawyer with a three piece suit to wear and a briefcase to carry. Whilst not all old men need a walking stick and not all lawyers carry briefcases, these are easy and quick

The portrayal of something or someone in a particular way. Re-presenting something or someone

ways of signifying information about the character. There are some stereotypical representations of women where they are defined by how men see them and how society expects them to look and behave.

Stereotypes

TASK FIVE: Answer these questions on femininity

Ø What is your interpretation of the term femininity?

Ø Do you think women are represented fairly in the media today?

Ø Do you think women are represented fairly in the advertising?

Women still tend to be judged on their looks and appearance foremost. Representations tend to concentrate also on their sexuality and emotions and narratives tend to be based around their relationships

Familiar stereotypes women are bound to:

Ø The ice queen Ø Psycho ex-girlfriend Ø Bimbo Ø Sex object Ø Wife Ø Mother Ø Damsel in Distress Ø Femme fatale Ø Gold digger Ø Asexual career woman

Stereotype: a set idea that people have about what someone or something is like

Context Contexts of Media When you analyse a media product, it is important to look beyond the text itself and consider the background behind the product, for example when it was produced and what the world was like at the time. This helps in identifying some of the decisions that the producers made and the meanings they intended to communicate.

Historical Context relates to the period in which a product was produced and the events occurring at the time. We are concerned mainly with texts from the past here, such as the Quality Street advert or poster for The Man with the Golden Gun. Learning something about what was happening in the world in the 1970s can help us understand some of the images and ideas included in the film poster and see how the film reflects the time in which it was made. The energy crisis of 1973, for example, is reflected in the film’s plot and indicated through the solar power station and laser gun shown on the poster. Social Context relates to society at the time the text was produced, for example the role of women during that particular period. This will affect the representations in a media product and the messages and values it communicates. The poster for The Man with the Golden Gun suggests that society in the 1970s was still quite patriarchal as the man is dominant and the women are sexualised objects.

Cultural Context concerns elements such as style, genre and technology, which will affect the product and how it is consumed. Media products are affected by current styles and genres in various forms of art. The style and content of Luther, for example, reflects the current trend for crime dramas to explore the protagonist’s personal life and is influenced by thriller genre conventions as well as the police genre.

Political Context is the way in which a media product is affected by the politics of the time, for example the political party in power and the key political issues affecting the country or world. Today, this could link, for example, to the economy issues such as Brexit. Political context is particularly relevant to newspapers as they report on political events. Most newspapers have a political leaning, which might be evident on the front page in the images and language used to report a particular story.

TASK SIX: Write your own definitions for context

Historical context:

Social context:

Cultural context: Political context: