The AQA Specification

MEST1: investigating media
The aim of this unit is to enable candidates to investigate the media by applying media concepts to a range of media products in order to reach an understanding of how meanings and responses are created. Candidates should be encouraged to investigate the contemporary media landscape and the changing contexts within which media texts are produced and consumed.
Candidates will investigate the processes of meaning-making in media production and reception:

• at the micro level within individual products (also termed texts)
• and at a macro level in terms of technologies (also termed platforms).

In this specification the media platforms are referred to as broadcasting, e-media and print, to include linear broadcasting (audio-visual) and cinema, print media, digital/web-based and emerging media.

Candidates will firstly investigate a wide range of media texts to familiarise themselves with media language and media codes and conventions and then embark upon a cross-media study.
The investigations into media concepts, processes and products will link with and inform the research into Unit 2: Creating Media, where candidates are required to produce media artefacts taken from two of the three media platforms.

MEST 1 Assessment Objectives:
• AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts (and critical debates)

• AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding when analysing media products and processes (and evaluating their own practical work) to show how meanings and responses are created

MEST1 Content:

Texts, concepts and contexts
Candidates should start this unit by investigating a wide range of media texts taken from the three media platforms to enable them to understand the media languages and the codes and conventions of moving image and print texts applicable to broadcasting (audio-visual) and cinema, digital/web-based media (e-media) and newspapers and magazines. Centres should choose media texts that enable candidates to identify and evaluate the ways in which the media languages are used (media forms) and which also allow investigation and exploration of the additional concepts of:
• media representations
• media institutions
• media audiences.

The study of media forms gives candidates an understanding of media language, including narrative and genre. Appreciating how media representations are constructed provides insight into the values
and ideologies underpinning the media. This is also apparent in the study of media institutions and media audiences. Study of these areas also provides candidates with an understanding of the profound
changes taking place in the production and reception of the media, and some of the implications of these changes.

Candidates will also gain a basic understanding of the role of marketing and the advertising industry in financing and promoting media through the investigation of a range of advertising texts and strategies present within and across the media platforms. Semiotics, narrative structures, reception theories and ideas and information relevant to the study of media texts and media platforms should be taught insofar as they serve to help candidates understand how meanings and responses are created in media products. However the understanding and application of media concepts is more important than the reproduction of theories or information.

Texts should be chosen to allow candidates access to cross-cultural factors where appropriate. Candidates are expected to use appropriate media terminology in their responses to the examination questions and this should be taught from the start of the course.

The media platforms
Candidates will undertake a study of one or more of the cross-media topic areas (see below) across at least three different media taken from the following media platforms:

Broadcasting – suggested texts: television and radio programmes both factual and fictional; films; advertisements; trailers and other audio/visual promotional material. It is advised that at least one from each type of text should be studied.

E-media – suggested texts: websites; blogs/wikis; podcasts; advertising and promotional materials; radio; television; music or fi lm downloads; games and emerging forms. It is advised that at least one from each type of text should be studied.

Print – suggested texts: newspapers; magazines; advertising and marketing texts including promotional materials. It is advised that at least one from each type of text should be studied.

The cross-media study
The knowledge and understanding of media concepts and contexts gained through the investigation and comparison of individual media texts will then be developed by making a detailed case study chosen from a range of topics.

Centres should choose a topic area that communicates with audiences across the media platforms; a topic which includes media products that can be classified, perhaps loosely, as a genre. By making a detailed investigation of the texts themselves, their similarities and differences and the processes and technologies used to create them within different media, candidates will gain a deeper and broader understanding of the contexts of their production and reception.

They will develop their understanding of how meanings and responses are created and received and how these meanings and responses can vary or stay the same across different media platforms. This approach ensures that the fluidity, flexibility and changing nature of media production and reception is investigated and prepares candidates for the other units in the course.


The Examination for Unit 1: Investigating Media
The examination for Unit 1 will take the form of a two hour two-part examination paper. It will be marked out of 80. Section A tests AO1 and Section B tests AO2. Quality of Written Communication will be assessed in Section B.

Section A (1 hour 15 minutes including 15 minutes reading/viewing time) will consist of four short answer questions, all compulsory, relating to a piece of unseen stimulus material. The unseen material will take the form of one of the following:

moving image, audio, e-media or print.

Questions will require candidates to focus on: media forms, codes and conventions; media representations; media institutions, media audiences and values and ideologies, and candidates will be required to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of these media concepts and the contexts in which they appear. 48 marks

Section B (45 minutes) will require a sustained response to one of a choice of two questions which will give the candidates the opportunity to write about their cross-media study. Questions will not be topic-specifi c but designed to allow candidates to show what they know and understand about media products and processes by applying their knowledge and understanding of media concepts and contexts. 32 marks