MEDIA STUDIES

What is the course about?
The course will study various types of media, from Newspapers and Cinema to I-pods and Games Consoles. You will study three units. The first looks at how action adventure films are produced and also at how situation comedies on TV work. You will study new media technologies and the impact they have on audiences and the companies that own and run the media. Finally, you will produce two pieces of practical media, the best one will be entered as coursework.

Which skills and experience would be useful or essential?
We recommend that you have achieved a grade C at English as much of the course requires a good level of written and spoken English to communicate your ideas. An interest in art and design is useful for the production elements of the course, as are good ICT skills, as all of our media production work is made on a computer.

How will I learn and be assessed?
There is a combination of teacher lead learning and student lead coursework and research projects. Coursework represents 40% of the assessment for this course. The other 60% is assessed as two written papers in the June examination session.

What opportunities are available to me?
There are a number of careers in the media, both locally and nationally and, with the boom in digital media, it is certainly a growth industry. The course enables progression onto Art, Design or Media courses at Higher Education. The skills you will practice in this course are analytical interpretative, as well as learning new approaches to audience and institutions, also producing practical media in a team is a skill which employers and admissions tutors are keen to see in their candidates.