Which aspect of film does the specification require students to study?

Film is studied in relation to media industries rather than as a form for close textual analysis.

What does a film distributor do?

Acquires the rights to release a film in a territory and manages its marketing, release strategy and supply to cinemas and other platforms.

Why is distribution often described as the most powerful stage of the film industry?

Because it determines which films reach audiences, on how many screens and with what marketing spend, so it controls access to the market.

What is vertical integration in the film industry?

Ownership of production, distribution and exhibition within one company, which allows a studio to guarantee its own films access to audiences.

How does a major studio differ from an independent production company?

A major has the capital to finance large productions, an established distribution arm and international reach, whereas an independent typically raises finance per project and depends on others to distribute.

AQA A-Level Media Studies 7572

Media Language

Topic overview Codes and conventions Constructing meaning through media language Genre, hybridity and intertextuality Viewpoints, ideology and audience interpretation Semiotics: signs and their types Semiotics: paradigm, syntagm and anchorage Barthes: denotation, connotation and myth Narratology: narrative codes and diegesis Todorov: equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium Genre theory as summarised by Neale Structuralism: binary oppositions and mythemes Structuralism: ideological reading and deconstruction Postmodernism: pastiche, bricolage and implosion Baudrillard: simulacra, simulation and hyperreality

Media Representation

Topic overview Constructing representations Why producers make the representational choices they do Social and cultural context in representation Stereotypes: positive and negative use Under-representation and misrepresentation Representation, realism and the values it carries Industry contexts and representational choice Discourse, ideology and audience positioning Theories of representation: stereotypes and countertypes Theories of representation: misrepresentation and selective representation Theories of representation: ideology, hegemony and constructed reality Hall on representation: encoding and decoding Theories of identity as summarised by Gauntlett Feminist theories: the male gaze and patriarchy Feminist theories: van Zoonen and hooks Theories of gender performativity Theories around ethnicity and postcolonial theory

Media Industries

Topic overview Production, distribution and circulation Ownership and control Economics and funding of media industries Marketing and maintaining audiences Regulation of media in the UK Digital convergence and the individual producer Regulation in global production and circulation Curran and Seaton: regulation, deregulation and the free market Curran and Seaton: concentration, conglomerates and public service broadcasting Curran and Seaton: neo-liberalism, surveillance and privacy Curran and Seaton: the central argument Livingstone and Lunt: the public sphere and governance Livingstone and Lunt: media literacy Livingstone and Lunt: power, value and globalisation Cultural industries as summarised by Hesmondhalgh

Media Audiences

Topic overview Grouping and categorising audiences Targeting, attracting, reaching and addressing audiences Media technologies and patterns of consumption Mass and specialised audiences Niche and fan audiences Audience interpretation and its circumstances Media effects: uses and gratifications Media effects: hypodermic needle and moral panic Media effects: media literacy Bandura: social learning and imitation Cultivation theory: socialisation and the bardic function Gerbner: cultivation differential, mainstreaming and resonance Reception theory: agenda setting, framing and myth making Hall on reception: the three reading positions Fandom 'End of audience' theories

Contexts of the Media

Topic overview Social context Cultural context Economic context Political context Historical context Analysing media products in context

Media Forms and Products

Topic overview Advertising and marketing Music video Radio Newspapers Film as an industry Television Magazines Online, social and participatory media Video games

The Cross-Media Production and Assessment

Topic overview Close study products and how they are used The NEA brief and its requirements The Statement of Intent Applying the theoretical framework in production Producing across platforms for a specified audience Extended response and synopticity

Media Forms and Products

Film as an industry

3 things to know
Media One and Media Two

Overview

Production, distribution and exhibition, why distribution holds the power, franchises, release windows, the BBFC and UK tax relief.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Process

What are the three stages of the film industry?

Evaluation

Why is distribution the most powerful stage of the film industry?

Key term

Why are franchises commercially attractive to studios?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Which aspect of film does the specification require students to study?
Model answer
Film is studied in relation to media industries rather than as a form for close textual analysis.
2
What are the three main stages of the film industry's process?
Model answer
Production, distribution and exhibition.
3
What does a film distributor do?
Model answer
Acquires the rights to release a film in a territory and manages its marketing, release strategy and supply to cinemas and other platforms.
4
Why is distribution often described as the most powerful stage of the film industry?
Model answer
Because it determines which films reach audiences, on how many screens and with what marketing spend, so it controls access to the market.
5
What is vertical integration in the film industry?
Model answer
Ownership of production, distribution and exhibition within one company, which allows a studio to guarantee its own films access to audiences.
6
How does a major studio differ from an independent production company?
Model answer
A major has the capital to finance large productions, an established distribution arm and international reach, whereas an independent typically raises finance per project and depends on others to distribute.

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Media Language

Media Representation

Media Industries

Media Audiences

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

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Postmodernism holds that the hierarchy has .

collapsedstrengthenedwidened

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Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AAccessing media forms the first component.

BUnderstanding media content forms the second.

CCritically evaluating content forms the third.

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Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Denotation means the literal, common-sense meaning of a sign.

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