1. AS Media Studies induction
lesson
 Course overview
 Film openings – expectations?
 Theory 1 – binary oppositions and application
 Theory 2 – the hero’s journey
 Analysing film openings
 Blogs and setting one up
 Summer project

2. What is Media Studies?
 What are ‘the media’?
 The term ‘the media’ is an umbrella term for
the industries of TV, film, newspapers,
magazines, internet, radio, videogames
 The word ‘media’ is the plural form of medium
 For example, TV is a medium of
communication where a small group of people
can produce a TV programme that is watched
by millions – Big Brother, Coronation Street,
X-Factor

3. What is Media Studies?
 The technology of being broadcast pictures
and sound through radio waves or via satellite
or cable, is the medium – the ‘piggy in the
middle’ between sender (producer /
institution) and receiver (audience)
 The media forms listed above are mass media
– because they are intended to communicate
with great numbers of people. It is these mass
media which are the focus of the academic
subject of media studies at A-Level and
beyond

4. What is Media Studies?
 Media Studies at A-Level centres around the
study of 4 key concepts
 Everything we do in this subject relates to these
4 key concepts
 The 4 key concepts
 Media language
 Media audiences
 Media representations
 Media institutions

5. What is Media Studies?
 AS Media Studies
 2 units – 1 coursework (50%), 1 exam (50%)
 G321 Foundation Portfolio – the production of
the opening sequence to a film, plus evaluation
in the form of a blog
 G322 Key Media Concepts – 2 sections of work –
TV Drama and representation, Audiences &
Institutions
 A2 Media Studies – 2 more units – coursework
and exam, but harder still…

6. OCR A-level Media Studies
 This is a ‘joined up’ course
 What you do at AS has knock on effects for
A2
 The road to the final exam starts today

7. Levi-Strauss - Binary
oppositions
 Man walks up street to buy a newspaper
 Man walks up street, goes to shop, buys paper – no conflict,
no story
 Man walks up street, crosses paths with another man who
punches him, they fight, Man 1 wins, buys paper – conflict
and story – but short
 A well sustained story has a range of different types of
conflict – to constantly engage and entertain its audience
 Task – Story scenario – Girl gets into a car…
 Devise a story which features between 3-5 elements of
conflict and also make clear what the end of the story is

8. Vogler – the hero’s journey
o Ordinary World The hero's normal world before the story begins
a Call to Adventure - The hero is presented with a problem, challenge or adventure to
undertake
r Refusal of the Call - The hero refuses the challenge or journey, usually out of fear
s Meeting with the Mentor - The hero meets a mentor to gain confidence, advice or
training to face the adventure
Crossing the First Threshold - The hero crosses the gateway that separates the
ordinary world from the special world
r Tests, Allies, Enemies - The hero faces tests, meets allies, confronts enemies & learn
the rules of the Special World.
Approach - The hero has hit setbacks during tests & may need to reorganize his helpers
or rekindle morale with mentor's rally cry. Stakes heightened.
l Ordeal - The biggest life or death crisis – the hero faces his greatest fear & only through
“death” can the hero be “reborn” experiencing even greater powers to see the journey to
the end.
h Reward - The hero has survived death, overcome his greatest fear and now earns the
reward he sought.
. The Road Back - The hero must recommit to completing the journey & travel the road
back to the Ordinary World. The dramatic question is asked again.
n Resurrection - Hero faces most dangerous meeting with death – this shows the hero
can apply all the wisdom he's brought back to the Ordinary World
e Return with Elixir - The hero returns from the journey with the “elixir”, so everyone in
the world can use to heal physical or emotional wounds.

9. Vogler – the hero’s journey
– key stages
o Ordinary World The hero's normal world
before the story begins
Call to Adventure - The hero is presented
with a problem, challenge or adventure to
undertake
c Tests, Allies, Enemies - The hero faces
tests, meets allies, confronts enemies & learn
the rules of the Special World.
Return with Elixir - The hero returns from
the journey with the “elixir”, so everyone in the
world can use to heal physical or emotional
wounds.

10. Vogler – the hero’s journey
 Apply these stages to your narrative using the
worksheet

11. Expectations, codes and
conventions
 Key terms – codes, conventions
 Code – something that stands for something
else, e.g. M8 = Mate
 TV / Film – black clothes / facial hair – code for
villain
 Convention – codes repeated so often that they
become part of our expectations for that genre
 E.g. – in teen movies, teens are cool; adults are
stupid