Genre, Narrative, Representation

Have a look at these as you consider the key concept of your research investigation.

Genre

A2 Media Studies Genre 

Narrative



Representation

Some suggestions for Research Investigations and linked Productions:

SECTION 1: INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PRODUCTIONS 

 An exploration of the representation of teenagers in (two or three) British films.
 Campaign material for a low budget UK ‘teenage-rights-of-passage’ film

 An analysis of the representation of two stars from mainstream and alternative music.
 The official fan site for a new artist (this could utilise MySpace or YouTube)

 An analysis of news photographs: their structure and narrative appeal
 A series of anchored news photographs for a specific newspaper

 Do film promotional websites follow the same conventions? A close analysis of (two or three)
contrasting sites
 A web site promoting a new film (this could become a group production with the insertion of
film footage shot by the students)

 How far are Soap Operas a representation of real life? (A close analysis of two contrasting
programmes) ‘
 Three to four page magazine spread launching a gritty new soap opera.

 Exploring the representation of gender in men’s magazines.
 Three magazine pages for a new men’s magazines which challenges stereotypical
representations.

 Analysing representations in teen magazines
 A photo story for a new teen magazine

 How do cause adverts represent issues?
 Three print cause adverts aimed at teenagers (e.g. anti drugs)

SECTION 2: GROUP INVESTIGATIONS AND PRODUCTIONS 

Research Titles (individually produced):
 An investigation into how genre conventions are used to raise audience expectations in
film trailers.
 An analysis of the narrative structure of three contrasting trailers.
 A study of the representation of heroes and villains in three trailers

Production:
 A trailer for a new film.

Research Titles (individually produced):
 Exploration of the narrative structure of two narrative-driven music videos
 A study of gender representations in two (or three) music videos
 Explore the genre conventions of two music videos

Production:
 A music video for a new band

Research Titles  (individually produced):
 Investigating the styles of two radio presenters.
 Deconstructing reality: how are issues represented in radio programmes?
 A comparison between two radio news bulletins from contrasting channels

Here are some example sof productions from A2 Media Studies students: