Media
The Media Department is committed to helping students learn about the media in its various forms.
It is a forward-looking department which utilises technology to ensure all students are informed and supported throughout their studies; using apps and online resources to enhance learning at all stages and to prepare our students as digitally literate citizens of the 21st Century.
Course description
The Media course at GCSE and A Level reflects and Illuminates the theoretical framework underlying the study of the media through the key concepts of:
- Representation
- Institutions
- Audience
- Media language (construction of meaning)
Both GCSE and A Level courses provide opportunities for your own interpretation and in-depth critical analysis of media texts, enabling you to develop a detailed understanding of how the media communicate meanings and how au
diences respond, dependent on their social, economic or political climates. Please see the detailed curriculum maps for each course for further information.
What will you learn about?
Both GCSE and A Level have the following units; TV, Film, Newspapers, Magazines, Advertising and Marketing, Radio, Video Games, Music Videos and Online and Social Media.
You will be required to study a range of set products for each medium, and to compare these to unseen products in the exam. This will involve a mixture of theoretical, factual and contextual application.
To be successful in this subject students will need to be good at and enjoy:
Analysing products from different theoretical perspectives, in a similar way to English literature.
Applying your understanding of social, economic and political context. A prior understanding of History and Politics will be hugely beneficial.
Considering how the funding and ownership of different products and industries effects distribution and their success, applying your understanding of business and consumption.
Evaluating why different people react differently using theoretical viewpoints, while considering how products are constructed to appeal to a predetermined target audience.
Progression routes & career opportunities
Because of the wide range of media units studied, careers can be gained in a multiple of fields. Some are below:
Journalist, Advertising and Marketing, Editorial assistant, Event manager, Film director, Film production/editor, Magazine journalist, Market researcher, UX designer, Writer, Media planner, Multimedia specialist, Programme researcher, Broadcasting/film/video, Public relations officer, Social media manager, Television/film/video producer, Web content manager, Photographer, Presenter
Homework/extended learning
You will be given a knowledge organiser full of terminology, as well as a knowledge organiser for the theorists covered to help with homework. All homework and lesson resources will be available on Google Classroom, including suggested reading lists.
Additional information
After a hiatus as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures, the department aims to resume the subject’s popular residential trip to Disneyland Paris beginning in the 2022/23 academic year.
In the past the department has organised trips to numerous other media institutions within the London area, such as The Guardian, the IPA Advertising Festival, the BFI (British Film Institute) and the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), and is committed in continuing to do so as circumstances allow.
See some of our previous trips below:
New York 2018:
https://www.facebook.com/137045676802583/videos/358059988034483/
Disneyland 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpJu5ZWKtv0
Disneyland 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibwmSB2Bbwg
Here is the video made by the A Level students while on a week filming trip in conjunction with Rainham Hall and Elstree Film Design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjglaJiHAhU
Here is behind the scenes at Rainham Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX4DKYWB5GM
The media students also get involved with photographing, filming and editing whole school events. Here is the STEM festival shot by our A Level students:
