Textual Analysis
Article
MBR Magazine
Introduction to the Unit 1 ‘Investigating Media’ Examination
There is a comprehensive description of the Unit 2 ‘Creating Media’ assessment in Chapter 13 of our book AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction for AQA. There is also more information on how to plan and produce practical production work for AS on this website.
Unit 1 (MEST1) ‘Investigating Media’ of AQA's specification for AS level Media Studies is assessed by one two hour written examination. The examination is divided into two sections:
Section A (1 hour 15 minutes including 15 minutes reading/viewing time) consists of four short answer questions, all compulsory, relating to a piece of unseen stimulus material. The unseen material takes the form of one of the following: moving image, audio, e-media or print.
The questions ask you to focus on four particular areas: media forms, codes and conventions; media representations; media institutions; media audiences and values and ideologies.
To gain top marks you will need to be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of these media concepts and the contexts within which they appear.
Section B (45 minutes) requires you to write an essay-type response to one of a choice of two questions and gives you the opportunity to write about your cross-media study. Questions are not topic-specific but are designed to allow you to show what you know and understand about media products and processes.
Section A carries slightly more marks and aims to test your ability to analyse a previously unseen text.
Click here to see 3 pages from Mountain Bike Rider (MBR) magazine:
Reproduced by kind permission of Mountain Bike Rider magazine. Using these pages as an example of the unseen text, think about how you might answer the questions below.
In Section A the examination paper asks you to respond to four questions based around the unseen text, so in this case the questions might be:
- Media Forms: Discuss the use of codes and conventions used in the construction of these magazine pages.
- Media Representations: Consider the representations of people and places in these pages.
- Media Institutions: What do these magazine pages tell us about the institutions involved?
- Media Audiences: Explore some of the ways in which these pages communicate with the magazine's target audiences.
At the beginning of the examination you have 15 minutes of viewing/reading time and this will allow you to read the unseen text through several times. At this stage it is important to try and capture your initial responses, for example what is your main/first impression of the magazine? Is it the colour, the language or the design? You will need to spend a few minutes jotting down initial impressions and also thinking about the general context of MBR magazine and the role and purpose of magazines before going into a more detailed analysis of the specific pages.
This more detailed analysis you might do on the second read through, thinking about the specific questions/key concepts you need to focus on (codes and conventions, representation, institutions and audience).
This is also a good point at which to consider which of your thoughts and responses belong under which of the four sections.
You might then use the third read through to check, consolidate and further develop your ideas about the magazine pages and the four specific areas. You should also spend a little time trying to think more generally about these magazine pages and their relationship with other wider media texts, contexts and issues as this will help you gain the extra marks needed for a top grade.
It would be helpful at this stage if you could, for example, refer back to Chapter 11 ‘Lifestyle Magazines and Television’ in the book AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction for AQA where we discuss lifestyle magazines and have a close look at Nuts magazine.
You may like to consider the following questions:
- What genre does this magazine belong to? What codes and conventions suggest this? Consider colour, style, the images used, the size and type of font, the language (do particular words repeat?). What is the purpose of the arrows and the flashes? Why do the page numbers all start with a 0? Consider the format of the pages — boxes and columns? Are the colours and design particularly associated with men and women or are they neutral?
- How are people and places represented on these pages? Consider the space each person or place is allowed. Is it equal? Why might this be so? Consider the gender and race of the people pictured on the pages. Do you think a female reader of the magazine would respond the same way as a male reader? What type of lifestyle is being promoted by MBR magazine? What events or people are connected with the places mentioned? Why?
- On the Editor's letter page we can see that IPC Media own the magazine. If you have read chapter 11 ‘Lifestyle Magazines and Television’ in our book AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction for AQA, you may remember that IPC Media also own Nuts magazine along with a number of other publications. The page we have from MBR magazine shows that it belongs to the IPC Inspire division. Why do you think the division has this name? Consider the branding of MBR. Why is the title shortened? How does the branding of the magazine fit with the ‘inspire’ division branding. Look at the ABC subscription figure mentioned, 35,586. What does this magazine tell us about IPC Media as an institution? How important might this magazine be in the IPC Media portfolio?
- Think about the possible target audience for this magazine. Consider the Editor's letter and the language it uses to communicate. Does it use jargon (suggesting a specialised audience) or more general language? Do the descriptions of the articles try to create a shared camaraderie between the magazine producers and the audience; do they introduce articles as if talking to friends? What age range do you think MBR targets? What information in the images or text suggests this? Consider the mode of address and how the audience are welcomed? What type of reader does the language presume?
Conclusion
In Section A you will only have about 15 minutes per question to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of media theory and your ability to apply it to an unseen text. This means that you will not have time to reflect and go back over what you have written, nor will you have the opportunity to consult websites. The examination is a test of memory, of your ability to remember what you have been studying so far in your course and your ability to apply it to a particular text.
In preparation for the examination it is important that you practice and rehearse writing examination answers as fully as possible in the (limited) time that you have available. No doubt your teacher will help prepare you but you might wish also to work with a fellow student and give each other ‘unseen texts’ to analyse and, using the mark scheme available at the AQA website, mark each other's work.
