Key term
WJEC AS-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
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
Contexts of Media
- 12 subtopics
- 36 things to know
- AS Unit 1 and A2 Unit 3
What Contexts of Media covers
Contexts of Media is examined in the two written units. At AS only industry contexts are studied, in Unit 1; at A2 historical, social and cultural contexts are added, and in Unit 3 one of the three sections also assesses media contexts. It covers the conceptual framework and its four inter-related areas, the map of critical perspectives across the framework, ownership, funding and regulation as industry context, industry context, messages and ideologies, historical context and its effect on representations, the time a product is made in and the time it is set in, social and cultural contexts and the discourses of a product, cultural influences: genres, styles, movements and other producers, why the same product is read differently in different places, Wales as a media context: social, economic and industry factors, S4C and Welsh-language broadcasting and the global dimension and media beyond the US and UK.
Where it is assessed
AS Unit 1 and A2 Unit 3
The conceptual framework, applied in every section of both written units.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 12 subtopics
Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Media Studies students sit this topic in the first year.
- The conceptual framework and its four inter-related areasFour inter-related areas of the media conceptual framework, industry decision that shapes the media language of a product and term media product.Open →
- The map of critical perspectives across the frameworkMedia language perspective concerned with binary oppositions and media language perspective concerned with simulation and hyperreality.Open →
- Ownership, funding and regulation as industry contextMedia conglomerate, vertical integration and public service broadcasting.Open →
- Industry context, messages and ideologiesTerm ideology, term hegemony and public service remit.Open →
- Historical context and its effect on representationsRecall questions on why a 1960s representation reads as dated, how the law and the technology of a period shape what a product can offer, judging a product by its own standards as well as today's, reproducing an older style deliberately, and why context shapes the audience as much as the producer.Open →
- The time a product is made in and the time it is set inTerm discourse as it is used in media analysis and nostalgia as a way of representing the past.Open →
- Social and cultural contexts and the discourses of a productSocial context of a media product, cultural context of a media product and term cultural identity.Open →
- Cultural influences: genres, styles, movements and other producersFilm or television movement, style known as Nordic noir and celtic noir.Open →
- Why the same product is read differently in different placesCultural discount, argument for dubbing a foreign programme rather than subtitling it and cult audience.Open →
- Wales as a media context: social, economic and industry factorsWelsh Government body set up to support the creative industries and democratic deficit in Welsh media.Open →
- S4C and Welsh-language broadcastingBBC's Welsh-language radio station and the year it launched and bilingual production.Open →
- The global dimension and media beyond the US and UKGlobalisation in the media, global audience and argument known as cultural imperialism.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Why can two products in the same genre differ sharply when one is publicly funded and one is commercially funded?
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What does it mean to say that a representation is shaped by its period rather than caused by it?
Evaluation
Why do audiences re-evaluate a product years after its release?
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How many core critical perspectives are studied, and across how many areas of the framework are they spread?
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Define the term ideology.
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How does the law of the time shape the representations a product can offer?
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Why do social and cultural contexts make the comparison of two products worthwhile?
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Describe the style known as Nordic noir.
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Why does the size of the population of Wales matter to its media industries?
Numbers
When did S4C begin broadcasting?
Key term
What is meant by globalisation in the media?
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Why are the four areas described as inter-related rather than separate?
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Which area of the framework is Roland Barthes' semiotics filed under?
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Define a media conglomerate.
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How can the ownership of a newspaper show in the messages it carries?
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In what way is the available technology part of a product's historical context?
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What is the difference between the time a product was made in and the time it is set in?
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Define the term cultural identity.
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How does the commercial success of one product influence what is commissioned next?
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Why can one product be praised in one country and rejected in another?
Numbers
Which devolved body has represented Wales since 1999, and what is it now called?
Numbers
How was S4C funded at launch, and where does most of its funding come from now?
Key term
Define a global audience.
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How can a finding about the audience change the representations a producer offers?
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Under which area of the framework does Tzvetan Todorov's narratology sit?
Evaluation
What is vertical integration, and why does it strengthen a company's position?
Key term
Define the term hegemony.
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Why does a female detective leading an early 1990s crime drama read as a statement rather than a neutral choice?
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Why can a film set in the past reveal more about the year it was made than the year it shows?
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Define a subculture.
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Define pastiche.
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Define cultural discount.
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Why is the appearance of Wales on network television a political question?
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Which broadcaster is required to supply S4C with Welsh-language programmes?
Evaluation
State the counter-argument to cultural imperialism.
Take Contexts of Media further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Historical context vs Social and cultural context
Historical context: the period a product belongs to and the events, laws and technology current then. Social and cultural context: the structure of beliefs, tastes and everyday life in the society around it.
The time a product was made in vs The time a product is set in
The time a product was made in: the moment whose attitudes, money and technology the makers worked with. The time a product is set in: the world the story depicts.
Vertical integration vs Horizontal integration
Vertical integration: a company owning successive stages of the same industry, from making to selling. Horizontal integration: a company owning several businesses at the same stage.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What are the four inter-related areas of the media conceptual framework?
Model answer
They are media language, representation, media industries and audiences.
- 2
What does the media language area of the framework examine?
Model answer
It examines how codes, conventions and techniques are used to create meaning in a media product.
- 3
What does the representation area of the framework examine?
Model answer
It examines how the media re-present events, issues, places and social or cultural groups.
- 4
What does the media industries area of the framework examine?
Model answer
It examines the processes of production, distribution and circulation that bring a product to its audience.
- 5
What does the audiences area of the framework examine?
Model answer
It examines how different audiences and users respond to, interpret and interact with media products and processes.
- 6
Why are the four areas described as inter-related rather than separate?
Model answer
A decision taken in one area has consequences in the others, so a full analysis of a product has to move between them.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Contexts of Media revision questions
- Is Contexts of Media examined at AS in WJEC Media Studies?
- Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1 and A2 Unit 3, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Contexts of Media cover in WJEC AS-Level Media Studies?
- 12 subtopics: the conceptual framework and its four inter-related areas, the map of critical perspectives across the framework, ownership, funding and regulation as industry context, industry context, messages and ideologies, historical context and its effect on representations, the time a product is made in and the time it is set in, social and cultural contexts and the discourses of a product, cultural influences: genres, styles, movements and other producers, why the same product is read differently in different places, wales as a media context: social, economic and industry factors, s4c and welsh-language broadcasting and the global dimension and media beyond the us and uk. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Contexts of Media organised?
- By the WJEC 603-1976-8 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Contexts of Media, on a schedule.
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