Scotch College

VCE: Media

Rationale

VCE Media gives students the opportunity to study and produce audiovisual media such as film and animation, print-based media such as magazines and photography, and interactive digital media such as computer games and social media. VCE Media is a theoretical and practical study that places the student in the role of both media creator and media analyst. Students consider media texts, technologies and processes from various perspectives. They examine industry production and distribution, audience reception and the media's impact on society. This study is integrated with students' own individual and collaborative design and production of actual media products. VCE Media students develop and refine their analytical, critical, technical, creative thinking and expression skills and knowledge for contribution to contemporary society and further study at a tertiary level.

Structure

Unit 1: Representation & Technologies of Representation

Students develop an understanding of the relationship between the media, technology and the representations present in media forms. They study the relationships between media technologies, audiences and society. Students develop practical and analytical skills, including an understanding of the contribution of codes and conventions to the creation of meaning in media products, the role and significance of selection processes in their construction, the role audiences play in constructing meaning from media representations, and the creative and cultural impact of new media technologies.

Unit 2: Media Production & the Media Industry

Students produce their own media products. They develop their understanding of the specialist production stages and roles within the collaborative organization of media production. Students participate in specific stages of a media production, developing practical skills in their designated role. Students also develop an understanding of media industry issues and developments relating to production stages and roles and the broader framework within which Australian media organisations operate.

Unit 3: Narrative & Media Production Design

Students develop and understanding of film, television or radio production and story elements, and learn to recognize the role and significance of narrative organization in these texts. Students also develop practical skills through undertaking exercises related to aspects of the design and production process. They complete a media production design plan for their own media product. They present the relevant specifications as a written planning document, with visual representations that employ media planning conventions appropriate to the media form in which the student chooses to work.

Unit 4: Media Process, Social Values & Media Influence

Students make their media product which realizes the production design plan completed during Unit 3. Organisational and creative skills are refined and applied throughout each stage of the production process. Students analyse the relationship between media texts, social values and discourses in the media. The nature and extent of media influence, the relationship between the media, media audiences and media regulation are also critically analysed in this unit.

Assessment

Units 1 and 2: Examination

Media Representations Analysis, Media Production, Media Industry Production

Media Representations Production, Australian Media Organisations

New Media

Unit 3: School Assessed Coursework 8 per cent

Unit 4: School Assessed Coursework 12 per cent

Units 3 and 4: School Assessed Task: 35 per cent

Examination 45 per cent