The media plays a central role in our world. It affects society at all levels, from economics, politics, community, culture and individual.
In this course you will analyse the media and its role in everyday life. You will develop your analytical and critical skills through looking at various examples of texts from newspapers, TV, film, radio or the internet. And, you will improve your creative and expressive skills when you learn to create your own media content.
The skills you learn in this course are useful in many career areas. This includes writing, the performing arts, journalism and publishing.
Career Pathways
To see what career areas this subject could lead to and the routes to get there, download and view these career pathways:
The school or college will decide on the entry requirements for the course. You would normally have achieved:
This course aims to help you develop critical and creative skills through analysing and creating media content. You will learn to look critically at examples of different media texts such as film trailers, websites, radio or posters. And, you will develop knowledge of the key concepts of media literacy (language, representation, narrative, audience and categories). You will gain the practical skills to create your own media content, perhaps using camerawork or desktop publishing skills. You will learn to appreciate the opportunities and challenges going on in the media industry.
The course comprises two areas of study.
Analysing Media Content
You will develop:
Creating Media Content
You will develop:
Course Assessment
The course assessment has two components totalling 108 marks:
For the assignment component, you will be asked to generate ideas in response to a design brief, develop and justify media content choices and evaluate the impact of actual or likely constraints on the media content.
Both the assignment component and the question paper will be set and externally marked by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
The grade awarded is based on the total marks achieved across all course assessment components.
The course assessment is graded A-D.
If you complete the course successfully, it may lead to:
Further study, training or employment in:
Your school will give your parents an Options or Choices information booklet, which has detailed information on the curriculum and the individual subjects or courses you can study. It will also invite them along to a Parents’ Information Evening.
They can also read the information leaflet(s):
