A-Level Media Studies

Revision resource 2026 The above is a link to a LIVE document that is being updated lesson by lesson with up to date information, strategies, facts and indicative content for the component one and component 2 exams for the EDUQAS A-level media studies specification. When it's finished, it would be great to spend some printer credit printing it out and covering it with notes! It should be used in …

The following information is for students completing their NEA (non exam assessment, AKA coursework) for submission in 2027. This information will NOT be correct for any other student group. Please use the blog to find the correct information for your year. Brief A cross-media production for a new artist or band in a popular genre (or sub-genre/hybrid) of your choice. Create an original music vid…

Tzvetan Todorov - narrative equilibrium Narratives work by moving from a state of equilibrium to a state of disequilibrium. At the end of the narrative, the equilibrium is restored. In Disney’s Tangled (2011) an equilibrium is established where Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower. Suddenly, a charming rogue infiltrates the tower, and Rapunzel kidnaps him, signalling the disequilibrium. The partial …

Judith Butler and theories of gender performativity. Gender performance refers to the rituals and routines that we carry out to construct our gender. Butler argues that sex and gender are separate concepts. Gender is fluid, and we can shape our gender performance through our actions. Gender performativity refers to how our performance of gender affects the world around us. For Butler, gender perf…

Jean Baudrillard kept returning to the motif of the hypermarket in his writing. A sort of huge, French supermarket, for Baudrillard it presented a microcosm of consumerism, and of capitalism as the predominant logic of postmodern existence. Hyper means to go beyond , and this prefix is used in much of Baudrillard's writing, most notably in the concept of hyperreality. This suggests a world beyond…

Prompt: construct a step by step written tutorial for using adobe InDesign. The tutorial should cover how to start a project, how place text and images within a project, and finally how to export this project. Here’s a step-by-step written tutorial for using Adobe InDesign . This guide walks you through: Starting a new project Placing text and images Exporting your finished document 🖥️ Part 1: St…

Introduction This absolute monster of a post covers absolutely everything we covered for Adbusters. Except it doesn't quite. The research tasks, the examples of direct action, the consideration of regulatory factors and the detailed analysis of the website as an ancillary text were all completed din different ways, and will exist in your notes. Your notes will always be absolutely essential, and …

For this session, you will collect research on another videogame that is NOT part of the Assassin's Creed franchise, or developed or published by Ubisoft. Not only will this give you the opportunity to offer a counterpoint to the aims and functions of the AC franchise in the exam, it will also allow you to explore industry and audience with something that you like. In order to make this session R…

Newsworthiness: what reality is constructed by The Times and how does media language help it to construct a hierarchy of importance? Newsworthiness refers to how WORTHY a story is of being featured in the news. Only the producers of media have this ability, and the producers of mainstream mass media therefore have significant power. In this sense, the Times constructs a reality which interpolates…

Bricolage - a range of different styles, aesthetics, and themes encodes the ideology that everyone has the means to revolt! Inclusion - The 'third force' middle finger dot encourages audiences to feel a sense of identity and inclusion that goes beyond merely reading the magazine/website Digital convergence - the 'spank donny' mini-game provides a distracting, transgressive mode of address, but do…

First year - The radio industry In order to complete these tasks , you will need a BBC Sounds account, so please set one up if you do not have one already. You can set one up by googling 'BBC Sounds' and taking things from there. Go to the BBC Sounds web portal Many people, especially younger people will access BBC sounds using either the web portal (basically an old fashioned term for website: a…

Revising the analytical thinkers Roland Barthes Everything has a deeper meaning. The world is built from codes, anything which has meaning Proairetic code - action code. Something that suggests that something is going to happen. Hermeneutic code - mystery, suspense, enigma. Asks a question. E.g. a ghost, dark setting, a dark ally… Symbolic code - the deeper meaning Referential code - intertextual…

The Times presents a more informational and informative mode of address. This is typical of broadsheet newspapers, as it allows it to target a more middle class target audience. However The Mirror presents less information, appealing to a working class target audience. This highly stereotypical mode of address cultivates an ideology in the audience that they are either educated or not educated. T…

Read this story published by The Daily Mirror on 12/01/26 and accessed on the same date. Then consider the following questions: What makes this story newsworthy? What issues are there with regulating online media?

For this task, you will be compiling examples of audience interactions and industry concerns from the websites of the newspapers we have studied. If done correctly, this work should take between two and three hours to complete. Click here to access the work

Read the following article from Private Eye no. 1663 (28th November - 11th December 2025). Private Eye is a satirical yet serious investigative periodical, that uses it's numerous links and sources to draw attention to corruption and abuses of power in the UK and world media, government and industry. It's recommended reading for media students! Questions Why have Reach PLC fired so much of their …

For this activity, you will construct an advertising and marketing dossier, with many different examples for both TV shows we have studied. These examples will of course be particularly useful to answer questions about advertising and marketing! However, they will also be extremely useful in answering questions about audience, media language, constructing representations of reality, and the econo…

Roland Barthes argues that meaning is constructed from a complex system of signs and myths. Evaluate this theory of semiotics. Refer to The Returned to support your answer Roland Barthes’s theory of semiotics is extremely useful, as it helps us to break down the complex set of meanings that Les Revenants uses to confuse and disorientate it’s audiences Semiotics - the study of meaning Sign - anyth…

It's ten years (and one day) since the A-level media studies blog was started. Thank you so much to all the students and teachers who have used it in this time. Here's to another ten years!

Component one How newspapers must be referred to in component one Component two