Numbers
WJEC A-Level Media Studies 603-1976-8
Contexts of Media
Topic overviewThe conceptual framework and its four inter-related areasThe map of critical perspectives across the frameworkOwnership, funding and regulation as industry contextIndustry context, messages and ideologiesHistorical context and its effect on representationsThe time a product is made in and the time it is set inSocial and cultural contexts and the discourses of a productCultural influences: genres, styles, movements and other producersWhy the same product is read differently in different placesWales as a media context: social, economic and industry factorsS4C and Welsh-language broadcastingThe global dimension and media beyond the US and UK
Media Language
Topic overviewWhat media language isTechnical, visual and audio codesPrint design and layout conventionsCamerawork and mise-en-scèneEditing and soundOnline media language and design conventionsMode of addressSemiotics and Roland BarthesNarrative and Tzvetan TodorovGenre theory and Steve NealeStructuralism and Claude Lévi-StraussPostmodernism and Jean BaudrillardIntertextuality and hybridityViewpoints, values and ideology in media languageHow developing technologies change media language
Media Representations
Topic overviewWhat representation meansStereotypes and their usesRepresentations of genderRepresentations of ethnicity and Stuart HallRepresentations of ageRepresentations of place, region and nationRepresentations of Wales and Welsh identityRepresentations of issues and eventsIdentity and David GauntlettPositioning the audienceContext and its effect on representationAnalysing and evaluating representationsRepresentations of social classRepresentation and the global mediaReinforcement of representations across productsConstructing a representation in your own production
Media Industries
Topic overviewWhat a media industry isOwnership and controlFunding modelsRegulation of the mediaPublic service broadcastingProduction, commissioning and financeDistribution, marketing and exhibitionTechnological change and convergenceGlobalisation of the media industriesThe media industries in WalesNews industries and their economicsBrands, intellectual property and franchisesEntering and working in the media industriesIndustry context and its effect on contentAnalysing a product's industry
Media Audiences
Topic overviewWhat an audience isGrouping and categorising audiencesTargeting, attracting and reaching an audienceMedia effects and Albert BanduraCultivation theory and George GerbnerReception theory and Stuart HallThe end of audience and Clay ShirkyFandom and Henry JenkinsUses and gratificationsInteraction, participation and specialised audiencesRegulation, protection and audience harmResearching and measuring audiencesAudience positioning and preferred readingsAudiences and social and cultural circumstanceAudiences and media technologyAnalysing an audience for a product
Advertising, Marketing and Music Video
Topic overviewPrint advertising: layout, typography and design codesAudio-visual advertising: camerawork, editing and soundOnline advertising and its design conventionsCharity and public information campaignsCommercial advertising for consumer goodsHistorical advertising before 1980Barthes, semiotics and the meanings of an advertisementRepresentations of gender in advertising and music videoRepresentations of ethnicity and age, and Stuart Hall on representationGauntlett, identity and the audience as pick-and-mixMusic video: performance, narrative and conceptMusic video before 2000 and the changing formMarketing, audience categories and targetingAudience response, reception theory and media effects
News in the Online Age
Topic overviewDesign and language conventions of print and online newsThe Guardian in print and onlineThe Daily Mirror in print and onlineThe Times in print and onlineBBC News Online and public service newsThe Huffington Post and digital-native newsWales Online and news for a Welsh audienceRadio news conventions and Today on BBC Radio 4Radio Wales Drive and Post PrynhawnNews values and the construction of a news eventRepresentation, ideology and re-presenting reality in newsOwnership, control and public service in newsTechnology, convergence and the circulation of newsNews audiences, citizen journalism and the end of audience
Film Industries: From Wales to Hollywood
Topic overviewFilm language: camerawork, mise-en-scène, editing and soundGenre codes, iconography and Neale's repertoire of elementsNarrative construction and Todorov's equilibriumFilm production and funding in WalesCo-productions, festivals and national cinemaHollywood ownership, vertical integration and diversificationDistribution, marketing and exhibition in a digital ageRegulation of film in the United Kingdom and the BBFCFilm audiences: targeting, positioning and receptionDon't Knock Twice and Drag Me To HellSubmarine and CluelessThe Machine and Blade RunnerY Llyfrgell/The Library Suicides and Shutter IslandYr Ymadawiad/The Passing and The Village
Television in the Global Age
Topic overviewGenre and the television crime dramaCamerawork, mise-en-scène, editing and sound in crime dramaNarrative structure and ideology in television crime dramaConstructing representations of crime, gender and placeThe global television industry: ownership, funding and regulationTelevision audiences in the global ageY Gwyll/Hinterland, S4C and Welsh-language televisionThe Bridge (2012), Denmark and SwedenThe Killing (2007), DenmarkThe Disappearance (2015), FranceArne Dahl (2015), SwedenPrime Suspect (1991), ITVTouching Evil (1997), ITVMorse: 'The Way Through the Woods' (1995), ITVCracker: 'To be a Somebody' (1994), ITV
Magazines: Changing Representations
Topic overviewMagazine media language: codes, conventions and designConstructing representations in magazinesThe magazine industry and its audiencesVogue, July 1965: the historical fashion magazineWoman, 23–29 August 1964Woman's Realm, 7–13 February 1965Cosmopolitan onlineHello! onlineMen's Health onlineVogue onlineAdbustersAttitudeHuckPride
Video Games in the Digital Age
Topic overviewMedia language and the codes of video gamesInteractivity, immersion and ludic qualitiesVideo game genres and intertextualityRepresentations of gender and ethnicity in video gamesThe global video games industry: ownership, synergy and economicsVideo game audiences, fandom and media effectsAssassin's CreedGrand Theft AutoMass EffectTomb RaiderWii SportsCooking MamaMinecraftThe Sims
Creating Media Productions
Topic overviewResearching the codes and conventions of a formAudience research and defining a target audienceAnalysing comparable products: genre and competitor researchInvestigative research and the development outlineTreatments, storyboards, scripts and flat plansSchedules, shot lists and risk assessmentProduction in audio-visual, print and online formWorking to a briefApplying media language to construct a representationOriginal material, copyright and ethicsIndependent, collaborative and cross-media productionReflective and critical analysis
Television in the Global Age
Arne Dahl (2015), Sweden
- 3 things to know
- A2 Unit 3
Overview
Police unit is at the centre of the series, three social and political issues the series investigates and source material for the series.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
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Key term
How are the stories in Arne Dahl structured?
Key term
What kind of police unit is at the centre of the series?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Identify the Swedish crime drama set for study and give its broadcast details.
Model answer
Arne Dahl, Series 2 Episode 1 (2015), first broadcast on SVT1 in Sweden and shown in the UK by BBC Four.
- 2
How are the stories in Arne Dahl structured?
Model answer
Each case is told as a two-part narrative, so a single story runs across two episodes rather than being resolved within one.
- 3
What advantage does the two-part structure give the writers?
Model answer
The extra length allows the detectives' private lives and the relationships within the team to be developed alongside the case rather than squeezed out by the demands of the plot.
- 4
What kind of police unit is at the centre of the series?
Model answer
A specialist team of detectives assembled to handle serious national crimes, so the group rather than a single detective functions as the series' protagonist.
- 5
Name three social and political issues the series investigates.
Model answer
Terrorism, political corruption and sexual abuse.
- 6
Why does the series set its crimes against contemporary Swedish politics?
Model answer
Placing crime in a political setting lets the drama argue that individual offences grow out of institutional failures, which turns the genre into a vehicle for social criticism.
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