Media Studies

Head of Department: Mrs Evans

Media studies is a GCSE course aimed at students who are interested in film, television, the radio and music industries, newspaper and magazine industries, new media technologies like MP3's I-pods, internet, mobile phones etc) and even video games.

Over two years you will need to submit three projects (a mixture of written, oral and practical work) and a practical production e.g. a short film or documentary, a short animation, pages from a new magazine, scenes from a new soap opera etc. you will have the opportunity to work on your own, in pairs or in a group. You will learn to direct, shoot and edit film video on the computer.

You also have to do a controlled test. This is three hours long - but don't panic. You get the topic and title two years in advance and the questions weeks before you take the test! Previous topics have been Game Shows, Soap Operas, TV News, Science Fiction Films, Marketing in the Pop Music Industry etc.

If you are really interested in finding out how the media works and are prepared to work hard on both written and practical coursework then this can be a really enjoyable course.