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The purpose of this unit is to enable students to develop an understanding of the relationship between the media, technology and the representations present in media forms. The unit involves the study of the implications of media technology for the individual 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, and the creative and cultural implications of new media technologies.

AREA OF STUDY 1 

Representation

This area of study focuses on an analysis of media representations and how such representations present, for example, events, people, places and oganisations. The media represent reality to audiences through the essential elements of selection, construction and representation. Each media form and process constructs an image or representation of an event, idea or story and represents it in a way which is different from the audience’s direct experience of reality.

These representations involve the selection of images, words or sounds and the ways in which they are presented, related and ordered. Often this is not immediately evident in the media product which can present itself as natural and realistic. Media codes and conventions, together with such factors as the degree of realism intended in the text, the cultural contexts of the time and place of production and legal restraints, help shape a product’s structure and meaning. A media product should be approached in terms of how it constructs meaning (and therefore its relationship to reality) rather than solely according to whether the product is realistic.

Outcome 1

On completion of this unit the student should be able to describe the construction of specific media representations and explain how the process of representation reproduces the world differently from direct experience of it.

To achieve this outcome the student will draw on knowledge and related skills outlined in area of study 1.

Key knowledge

This knowledge includes

• representations present in media texts;

• media representation and its relationship to the selection and construction of reality in various media forms;
• the nature of codes and conventions (such as visual, audio, technical and written) evident in media productions, and the meanings they create;
• different kinds of ‘realism’ in media texts; for example, newspaper reporting, fantasy genres, lifestyle and documentary programs, radio news reports;
• representations within the context of values such as those related to gender, age, ethnicity and socioeconomic status;
• influence of institutional practices on the nature of representations, their availability and accessibility;
• representations within the context of media history; for example, the way in which media representations of social stereotypes, presentation styles or generic conventions have emerged and changed.

Key skills

These skills include the ability to

• describe representations in media texts;
• compare the construction of different representations in media texts and across media forms;
• use concepts of representation, selection and construction in the evaluation of media texts;
• discuss how audiences make judgments about how realistic specific media texts are;
• analyse representations within the context of institutional practices, media history and cultural values.

AREA OF STUDY 2

Technologies of representation

This area of study focuses on the production of representations by students in two or more media forms. Students then compare how the application of the different media technologies affects the meanings that can be created in the representations. The implications for the distribution and/or consumption of these representations are also discussed.

Different media technologies represent the world in different ways. Each, through its technology, materials, techniques, applications and processes, produces a particular representation of the world. While the different forms of media (for example, television, radio and the Internet) have practices
that are common, they also have features that result in the production of media products with characteristics that are unique. The use of codes and conventions to convey ideas and meaning in the representations is considered in the context of the media forms in which the technologies were applied and with reference to the specific forms and characteristics of the representations produced.

Outcome 2

On completion of this unit the student should be able to produce and compare media representations
in two or more media forms and compare the representations produced by the application of different
media technologies.

To achieve this outcome the student will draw on knowledge and related skills outlined in area of study 2.

Key knowledge

This knowledge includes

• the nature and use of media technology, materials and applications in two or more media forms;
• techniques and processes used in the production of media representations;
• ways in which codes and conventions (such as visual, audio, technical and written) are used to convey ideas and meanings;
• implications of different media technologies and processes for the production, distribution, and/or consumption of media representations.

Key skills

These skills include the ability to

• identify and explain the characteristics and potential of media technology and materials;
• operate media technology and use materials, techniques, applications and processes to produce representations in two or more media forms;
• discuss how the use of different media technologies affect the production, distribution and/or consumption of media representations.

AREA OF STUDY 3

New media

This area of study focuses on the social consequences of the emergence of new media technologies. The creative implications of new media technologies are considered in the context of the capabilities of the technologies, their relationship with existing media, how they provide alternative means of representation and distribution of media products. Their cultural significance is investigated in terms of how they challenge and alter our perception of the world through the media products that can be produced and consumed, and the changes, possibilities and concerns that may arise in society. Technological advancements in the media occur within the context of the society in which they are created, developed and used. Such developments therefore, not only affect media products themselves but also change the processes involved in production, distribution and consumption. In many instances they may also influence the nature of the reality (the event) being depicted by the media; for example, digital imaging techniques have allowed the manipulation (that is altering, distorting, mutating and reshaping) of photographic representations. The convergence of new media technologies, digitisation, computerisation and high-speed data transfer create new pathways for the transmission, exchange and storage of both existing and new forms of information and entertainment. Issues such as ownership, copyright, privacy and access gain new significance in terms of the relationship between media technology and the circulation of representations.

Outcome 3

On completion of this unit the student should be able to discuss the creative and cultural implications of new media technologies for the production and consumption of media products. To achieve this outcome the student will draw on knowledge and related skills outlined in area of study 3.

Key knowledge

This knowledge includes

• the nature of new media technologies, such as cable, satellite, broadband, streamed, networked, interactive and other computer-based systems, and the relationship between new media technologies and existing media technologies;

• changes in media production and consumption that the emergence of new media technologies introduce; for example, mobile telephone downloads, use of digital printing processes in photography, home entertainment systems, participation in virtual and responsive media environments, digital media transfer such as SMS, MP3 and streamed video and the availability of video and digital information and entertainment on mobile and fixed display screens;

• creative and cultural changes, possibilities and/or problems occurring in society as a result of the emergence of new media technologies; for example, interactive and digital television data-streaming, copyright issues related to online file sharing, digital video installations and networked galleries on the Internet.

Key skills

These skills include the ability to

• identify and describe characteristics of new media technologies;
• analyse the relationships between new and existing media technologies;
• discuss how the emergence of new media technologies have affected media production and the circulation and consumption of media products;
• analyse the creative and cultural impact of new media technologies.