GCSE MEDIA STUDIES WEEK 8 (Monday 1st June – Friday 5th June)

REVISION FOR PPE (NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES AND ADVERTS)

In week 9 you will sit a PPE for Media Studies. It will be a composite paper

(made up of different questions you might face on either paper 1 or paper 2 of

the real exam in Year 11) and will take 90 minutes to complete.

To prepare yourself for this, you must revise the topics we have covered so far

across years 9 and 10 which are:

• Advertising

• Newspapers

• Magazines

• TV Dramas

• Video games

The tasks in week 7 and week 8 will help you to revise these areas. The only

CSPs (Close Study Products) you need to know in depth for this test are from

the TV Dramas (Doctor Who, Class) and Video games (Kim Kardashian:

Hollywood, Lara Croft Go) units. You can of course refer to other CSPs (Reveal,

Tatler, OMO, Galaxy, NHS, The Times, Daily Mirror) where relevant and you

are encouraged to include your own examples either studied in lesson or at

home.

VIDEO GAME KEY WORDS

1) Unscramble the anagrams of key terms relating to video games and fill in the spaces

(or write them down elsewhere). Copy the letters into the numbered cells into other

cells with the same numbers and reveal the final question at the bottom.

Write your answers to the question here:

____________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

then see if you can accurately define each one of the key terms!

2) Practise annotating the video game still image below using appropriate terms (some of

which might be from task 1).

3) A key part of your media GCSE exam could be you confidently analysing the mise-en-

scene of one of your video game CSPs.

Using the screen grab on the previous page, plan how you would respond to each of

these questions, but there is no need to write out a full response:

a) How does the game appeal to its target audience?

b) How is the genre of game shown in the scene above?

c) How are stereotypes and Propp’s characters shown in the scene above?

d) Analyse the narrative of the scene above.

e) Complete a semiotic analysis of the text above (remember semiotics is another word

for the analysing of signs and symbols within a text. It covers aspects of mise-en-

scene and connotations.).

TV DRAMA KEY WORDS

4) Fill in the blanks to complete the paragraph about TV Dramas, using as many key

words as you can.

A TV serial drama is a ______________ shown on television which is usually

_________________ once a week in a similar _____________ as part on an ongoing

____________ of anywhere between six and twenty-six __________________. More family-

oriented shows will air during ________________ which is usually between 7 and 9pm whilst

more adult shows will be found later, after the ______________.

The show may be a ____________ or mixture of more than one genre, but because it is

usually primarily ____________ rather than funny, it is always considered a drama. Some

shows like Poldark are considered _____________ or historical dramas whilst a show like

Shakespeare and Hathaway has elements of ____________ and _____________.

Our CSPs are _________________ and its _____________ Class, which are both made by

the BBC which is considered a ____________________ unlike its commercial rivals who

make programmes in order to sell advertising and make money. This means the show tries to

include more _____________ in its casting and storylines in order to reach a larger

____________________.

Doctor Who was first shown in _________________ on _____________ whilst Class began in

________________ and was shown first on BBC3 which is entirely ______________.

Although both shows were traditionally broadcast first of all, they, like a lot of other shows can

now be found on _____________ platforms like Netflix and Britbox.

A lot of TV dramas rely on ________________ or predictable character-types in order to

quickly allow audiences to understand who is who, but according to ________________’s

theory, audiences like characters they can identify with, which means writers and producers

need to try harder and not simply have the obvious male ___________ and female

___________ characters, as _______________ theorised.

Successful shows will hook viewers immediately with a ______________ before the

programme even begins properly. Sometimes clues to the genre or narrative are given during

the _________________ which also reflect the show’s themes and style. A lot of shows have

a typical five-part ____________ structure, as suggested by ____________, beginning with

____________ and ending with a resolution of sorts. To entice casual viewers to watch,

sometimes each episode will begin with a ______________ to show what happened

previously and by ending with a ______________, the makers ensure audiences will tune in

next time.

1963 2016 BBC1 BLUMLER & KATZ BROADCAST CLIFFHANGER COLD OPEN

COMEDY CRIME DIVERSITY DOCTOR WHO EPISODES

EQUILIBRIUM HERO HYBRID NARRATIVE ONLINE OPENING TITLES

PERIOD PRIMETIME PRINCESS PROGRAMME PROPP PUBLIC SERVICE

BROADCASTER RECAP SERIES SERIOUS SPIN-OFF

STEREOTYPES STREAMING TARGET AUDIENCE TIMESLOT TODOROV WATERSHED

5) Practise annotating the still image from Class below using appropriate terms (some of

which might be from task 4).

6) A key part of your media GCSE exam could be you confidently analysing the mise-en-

scene, cinematography and sound of one of your TV drama CSPs.

Using the screen grab on the previous page, plan how you would respond to each of

these questions, but there is no need to write out a full response:

a) How does the show appeal to its target audience?

b) How is genre used in the scene above?

c) How are stereotypes and Propp’s characters shown in the scene above?

d) Analyse the narrative of the scene above.

e) Complete a semiotic analysis of the text above (remember semiotics is another word

for the analysing of signs and symbols within a text. It covers aspects of mise-en-

scene and connotations.).

7) Make notes on the CSPs you have studied in this area. Remember you will not need

all of these for the PPE:

• Doctor Who

• Class

• Lara Croft Go

• Kim Kardashian: Hollywood

8) A huge part of responding to questions in media is knowing your CSPs, but almost as

important is that you have you own examples either from lessons or ones you have

learned about yourselves.

Make notes on the any other examples you have studied in each area. Remember

you will not need all of these for the PPE:

• Advertising (print, online, broadcast)

• Newspapers (tabloid or broadsheet)

• Magazines

• TV dramas

• Video games

9) Finally, here are some more unseen print texts for you to analyse, just for practice.

They may or may not include references to other CSPs, but this is just to give you

something to write about.

Figure 1: Doctor Who Magazine front cover

Figure 2: OK magazine front cover

Figure 3: Daily Mirror front cover and inside page