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Rationale
Rationale
This study provides students with the opportunity to examine the media in both historical and contemporary contexts while developing skills in media design and production in a range of media forms.
VCE Media provides students with the opportunity to analyse media concepts, forms and products in an informed and critical way. Students consider narratives, technologies and processes from various perspectives, including an analysis of structure and features. They examine debates about the role of the media in contributing to and influencing society. Students integrate these aspects of the study through the individual design and production of their media representations, narratives and products.
VCE Media supports students to develop and refine their planning and analytical skills, and their critical and creative thinking and expression, and to strengthen their communication skills and technical knowledge. Students gain knowledge and skills in planning and expression that are valuable for participation in, and contribution to, contemporary society. This study leads to pathways for further theoretical and/or practical study at tertiary level or in vocational education and training settings, including screen and media, marketing and advertising, games and interactive media, communication and writing, graphic and communication design, photography and animation.
Aims
This study enables students to:
· investigate and analyse their and others’ experience of the media
· understand the codes and conventions that are used to construct media narratives and products
· develop an understanding of traditional and contemporary media forms, products, institutions and industries through theoretical study and practical application
· develop an understanding of the structure, nature and roles of media forms, products and contexts in the creation, production, distribution, consumption and reading of media products.
· analyse media stories and narratives to understand how meaning is constructed and how audiences are engaged
· examine and develop an understanding of the relationship between the media and audiences that produce and engage with it
· develop the capacity to investigate, examine and evaluate debates around the role of contemporary media and its implications for society
· develop and refine skills in critically understanding and analysing the significance, aesthetics and production of media products in a range of contexts and forms for different audiences.
Structure
The study is made up of four units.
Unit 1: Media forms, representations and Australian stories
Unit 2: Narrative across media forms
Unit 3: Media narratives and pre-production
Unit 4: Media production; agency and control of the media
Each unit deals with specific content contained in areas of study and is designed to enable students to achieve a set of outcomes for that unit. Each outcome is described in terms of key knowledge and key skills.
Entry
Entry
There are no prerequisites for entry to Units 1, 2 and 3. Students must undertake Unit 3 and Unit 4 as a sequence. Units 1 to 4 are designed to a standard equivalent to the final two years of secondary education. All VCE studies are benchmarked against comparable national and international curriculum.
Assessment
Assessment
Satisfactory completion
The award of satisfactory completion for a unit is based on the teacher’s decision that the student has demonstrated achievement of the set of outcomes specified for the unit. Demonstration of achievement of outcomes and satisfactory completion of a unit are determined by evidence gained through the assessment of a range of learning activities and tasks.
Teachers must develop courses that provide appropriate opportunities for students to demonstrate satisfactory achievement of outcomes.
The decision about satisfactory completion of a unit is distinct from the assessment of levels of achievement. Schools will report a student’s result for each unit to the VCAA as S (satisfactory) or N (not satisfactory).
Levels of achievement
Units 1 and 2
Procedures for the assessment of levels of achievement in Units 1 and 2 are a matter for school decision. Assessment of levels of achievement for these units will not be reported to the VCAA. Schools may choose to report levels of achievement using grades, descriptive statements or other indicators.
Units 3 and 4
The VCAA specifies the assessment procedures for students undertaking scored assessment in Units 3 and 4. Designated assessment tasks are provided in the details for each unit in VCE study designs.
The student’s level of achievement in Units 3 and 4 will be determined by School-assessed Coursework (SAC), a School-assessed Task (SAT) as specified in the VCE study design, and external assessment.
The VCAA will report the student’s level of achievement on each assessment component as a grade from A+ to E or UG (ungraded). To receive a study score, the student must achieve two or more graded assessments in the study and receive an S for both Units 3 and 4. The study score is reported on a scale of 0–50; it is a measure of how well the student performed in relation to all others who completed the study. Percentage contributions to the study score in VCE Media are:
· Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Coursework: 20 per cent
· Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Task: 40 per cent
· end-of-year examination: 40 per cent.
Unit 1: Media forms, representations and Australian stories
The relationship between audiences and the media is evolving. Audiences engage with media products in many ways. They share a common language with media producers and construct meanings from the representations within a media product.
In this unit, students develop an understanding of audiences and the core concepts underpinning the construction of representations and meaning in different media forms. They explore media codes and conventions and the construction of meaning in media products.
Students analyse how representations, narratives and media codes and conventions contribute to the construction of the media realities that audiences read and engage with. Students gain an understanding of audiences as producers and consumers of media products. Through analysing the structure of narratives, students consider the impact of media creators and institutions on production.
Students work in a range of media forms and develop and produce representations to demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of each media form, and how they contribute to the communication of meaning.
Students develop an understanding of the features of Australian fictional and non-fictional narratives in different media forms. They develop research skills to investigate and analyse selected narratives, focusing on the media professionals’ influence on production genre and style. They experience the voices and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creators to gain an understanding and appreciation of how their stories contribute to our cultural identity.
Unit 2: Narrative across media forms
Fictional and non-fictional narratives are fundamental to the media and are found in all media forms. Media industries such as journalism and filmmaking are built upon the creation and distribution of narratives constructed in the form of a series of interconnected images and/or sounds and/or words, using media codes and conventions. New media forms and technologies enable participants to design, create and distribute narratives in hybrid forms such as collaborative and user-generated content, which challenges the traditional understanding of narrative form and content. Narratives in new media forms have generated new modes of audience engagement, consumption and reception.
In this unit, students further develop an understanding of the concept of narrative in media products and forms in different contexts. Narratives in both traditional and newer forms include film, television, digital streamed productions, audio news, print, photography, games and interactive digital forms. Students analyse the influence of developments in media technologies on individuals and society; design, production and distribution of narratives in the media; and audience engagement, consumption and reception.
Students undertake production activities to design and create narratives that demonstrate an awareness of the structures and media codes and conventions appropriate to corresponding media forms.
Unit 3: Media narratives and pre-production
In this unit, students explore stories that circulate in society through a close analysis of a media narrative.
Narratives are defined as the depiction of a chain of events in a cause-and-effect relationship occurring in physical and/or virtual space and time in fictional and non-fictional media products. Students consider the use of codes and narrative conventions to structure meaning and explore the role these play in media narratives. Through the close analysis of a media narrative, students develop media language and terminology and a deeper understanding of how codes and narrative conventions are combined in a narrative. They study how social, historical, institutional, culture, economic and political contexts may influence the construction of media narratives and audience readings.
Through the study of a media narrative, students explore specific codes and narrative conventions and begin the process of research to support their understanding of how they can adopt and employ these techniques in their own works. They investigate a media form that aligns with their interests and intent, developing an understanding of the codes and narrative conventions appropriate to audience engagement, consumption and reception within the selected media form. Students use the pre-production stage of the media production process to design the production of a media product for a specified audience. They explore and experiment with media technologies to develop skills in their selected media form, and reflect on and document their progress. Students undertake pre-production planning appropriate to their selected media form and develop written and visual planning documents to support the production and post-production of a media product in Unit 4.
Unit 4: Media production; agency and control in and of the media
In this unit students focus on the production and post-production stages of the media production process, bringing the pre-production plans created in Unit 3 to their realisation. Students refine their media production in response to feedback and through personal reflection, documenting the iterations of their production as they work towards completion.
The context in which media products are produced, distributed and consumed is an essential framework through which audiences view and read media products. Social, historical, institutional, cultural, economic and political contexts can be seen through explicit or implied views and values conveyed within media products. The media disseminate these views and values within a society and, as a result, can play a key role in influencing, reinforcing or challenging the cultural norms.
In this unit, students view a range of media products that demonstrate a range of values and views, and they analyse the role that media products and their creators play within the contexts of their time and place of production.
Students explore the relationship between the media and audiences, focusing on the opportunities and challenges afforded by current developments in the media industry. They consider the nature of communication between the media and audiences, explore the capacity of the media to be used by governments, institutions and audiences, and analyse the role of the Australian government in regulating the media.
Text book - Unit 1-4
Text book - Unit 1-4
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