What to revise

Representations in TV dramas:

Different representational groups (make sure that you familiarise yourself with the different stereotypes related to each group - use your revision guide):

• Gender
• Sexuality
• Regional identity
• Class & status
• Age
• Ethnicity

Different areas of media language (revise the key aspects and terminology related to each area. Remember to consider how the use of media language in a clip helps to create certain representations):

• Camerawork
• Editing
• Mise en scene
• Sound

Revise the concept of countertypes i.e. women represented as strong / heroes rather than weak / victims.

Revise the ideas surrounding audience positioning i.e. consider how the media language used in a clip, helps to position the audience in a particular way / encourage them to align themselves with a particular character.

In order to revise for this section you should watch and analyse a range of clips from different TV dramas.

Audiences and institutions (film industry):

• The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice
• The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing
• The technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, exhibition, marketing and exchange
• The significance increase in hardware (the physical media items, such as cameras, smartphones, computers, tablets, television etc.) and content for institutions and audiences
• The importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences
• The issues raised in the targeting of national and local audience (specifically, British) by international or global institutions
• The ways in which your own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour

You must ensure that you have case studies for at least one major studio (owned by a larger conglomerate) and an independent studio. You need to be able to make comparisons between them in the exam. Revise these case studies carefully and ensure that all of your examples within them are specific i.e. it is not enough to say that your chosen film studio used Twitter to promote their film, you must be able to explain how it was used and the significance of this in relation to audiences and institutions.

You must consider the impact on audiences and institutions within your exam responses.

Remember the examiner is not looking for you to regurgitate everything you know about the film industry. You must demonstrate that you are arguing a point. You do not need to define the terms in the question, you need to apply them to your case studies and argue their relevance in relation to the film industry.