Media Studies - A Level (OCR)

The Media Studies course at A Level focuses on a range of media texts across the nine different media forms (television, film, radio, newspapers, magazines, advertising and marketing, online, social and participatory media, video games and music video).

Everything you study will be underpinned by the four areas of the theoretical framework, these are:

• Media Language: camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing, sound, genre, narrative
• Representation: stereotypes, social groups, issues, events
• Audience: demographics, passive and active audiences, prosumers
• Industries: ownership of media products we study

A Level Media will allow you to reflect on media in an academic context and apply the knowledge and understanding gained to the process of creating your own media productions. You will develop critical and reflective thinking skills so that you can actively participate in the critical debates surrounding modern media. Creative media production (making your own music video and website helps you understand how theory supports coursework and coursework supports theory. The NEA (coursework) aspect is 30% of the entire A Level. No prior knowledge of the camera or editing is needed.

This course is available for international students, if you are applying as an international student please click here.

• News and Online Media
• Media Language and Representation
• Media Industries and Audiences
• Long-Form Television Drama
• Creating your own media portfolio (making music video and website) 

The course covers a wide range of texts as we study print media which includes newspapers, The Guardian and Daily Mail, and magazines specifically The Big Issue. Print adverts from Dove, River Island and Shelter are analysed, and music videos from Corinne Bailey Rae and David Guetta. We also study Video Games including Animal Crossing, and Radio including the Radio 1 Breakfast Show along with Disney 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937) and 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' (2021).

You will need:

• Grade 5 or above, and at least one grade 6 or above, in GCSE English Language plus one other written subject, such as History, Geography, Humanities, English Literature, Business, Media Studies, Religious Studies, Drama and Film Studies
• Three further GCSEs at grade 4 or above

If you wish to study 4 A Levels, you will need 7 GCSEs at grade 7 or above, including two at grade 8.

All applicants must have an interview to confirm that A Levels are suitable for them.

When applying for an A Level programme at City and Islington, please refer to the general entry requirements on our A Level Courses page as well as the subject-specific details listed above.

The course is assessed as three units, two of which are exams taken at the end of the second year of study:

• Component 1: Media Messages (35%)
• Component 2: Evolving Media (35%)

The third element is a Non-Exam Assessment (coursework) which provides the remaining 30% of the programme.

Aged 16-18

If you will be aged 16, 17 or 18 on 31st August prior to the start date of your course and you have the legal right to remain in the UK for the duration of your programme then your study with us will be free. Please see here for the documents you will need to show us.

Some courses will have other associated costs, such as for specialist materials and trips. Many of our students are eligible for financial support, see here for details.

A Levels are widely regarded as the standard entry qualification for top universities in the UK, and the rest of the world. Many of our students go on to study for a degree at the university of their choice, with some choosing to progress into apprenticeships or other employment.

Click here to see some of the teachers that teach A Levels at the college