In this unit, you will study a range of media from different sectors, such as music videos, short film extracts, animation, news programmes, websites, digital games and print adverts in order to explore how meaning, messages and values are constructed through formal and stylistic elements.

All media express messages through representations that shape perceptions and beliefs about what is valued and undervalued in society.

Interrogating media representations through a critical framework will expose underlying values inherent in those representations and lead to an understanding of how audiences can resist preferred readings and negotiate their own meanings. To complete the assessment task within this unit, you will need to draw on your learning from across your programme.

This unit will provide a foundation for understanding semiotic analysis and the ‘reading’ of media texts, which is important when consuming messages and producing representations of your own through the production of media in the optional units.

In this unit, you will draw on your learning from across the programme to complete assessment tasks.

It also provides an introduction to fundamental media theory and analysis that is the basis for many progression routes at higher education level.