Media Studies

You will be learning about: 

Media is about communication, particularly mass communication with lots of people. The media creates products that are designed to entertain and inform, created for lots of people to hear, watch or read, often at roughly the same time. Whenever you are watching television, streaming films, scrolling through social media or listening to a podcast, you are consuming media. 

As a GCSE Media Studies student, you will analyse how media products like TV programmes and music videos use images, sounds, language, and representations to create meaning. You will learn about the media industry and how the industry affects how media products are made. You will investigate media audiences, exploring who are the people who watch, read and consume the products, and considering how different people might be affected by media products differently, and why. You will study lots of different media forms, such as:  

  • Television  
  • Online Media  
  • Advertising   
  • Film Marketing  
  • Magazines  
  • Newspapers  
  • Music Video  
  • Radio  
  • Video Games 

 Assessment will consist of a mixture of examinations and non-examined assessment.  

How will this subject help me in the future?  

You will practise a range of skills which will equip you for progression to A Level study. They will also help you hugely in other areas such as Film, English, Humanities and Social Sciences. Looking further ahead, over one hundred universities offer courses in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies in the UK. An A Level in Media Studies helps you to move towards these courses, as well as to those in a range of other areas. If university isn’t for you, there is a huge array of career opportunities in the media, and it’s an industry that is growing very quickly. 

If you are interested in the idea of a career in TV and film production, advertising, journalism, interactive media, and digital marketing, technical production, special effects, web design and post-production, then studying Media at GCSE level is a great place to start. 

Please follow the link to view our Media Studies curriculum:

Media Studies Progression Grid (2024-25)Download