Media Forms and Products | AQA A-Level Media Studies (7572)

Media Forms and Products

  • 125 questions
  • 9 subtopics
  • Media forms and products
  • Media One and Media Two

The nine media forms divide between the two papers.

Advertising and marketing, music video, radio, newspapers and film sit on Media One; television, magazines, online, social and participatory media and video games sit on Media Two. Film is studied for its industry only.

Sample questions from Media Forms and Products

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

  1. Advertising and marketing

    How does an advertisement establish its target audience within the text itself?

    Show the answer
    Through casting, setting, music, language and visual style chosen so that the intended group recognises the product as meant for people like them.
  2. Music video

    Why is editing to the beat a defining technical feature of music video?

    Show the answer
    Because cutting on the rhythm binds image to sound so that the visual pace is dictated by the track, which distinguishes the form from other audio-visual media.
  3. Radio

    What is a station ident and what does it do?

    Show the answer
    A short branded audio element identifying the station between items, which reinforces recognition for listeners who join partway through.
  4. Newspapers

    What are news values?

    Show the answer
    The criteria by which journalists judge what makes a story worth covering, including immediacy, scale, proximity, conflict, prominence of those involved and unexpectedness.
  5. Film as an industry

    What is vertical integration in the film industry?

    Show the answer
    Ownership of production, distribution and exhibition within one company, which allows a studio to guarantee its own films access to audiences.
  6. Television

    What is a public service broadcaster required to provide in the UK?

    Show the answer
    News and current affairs, original production, programming for a range of audiences including minorities, and content meeting standards set out in its remit and the Broadcasting Code.
  7. Magazines

    How does advertising shape a magazine's content?

    Show the answer
    Advertisers seek an environment suited to their products, so editorial content, tone and the reader profile a magazine cultivates are shaped by the advertising it seeks to attract.
  8. Online, social and participatory media

    What is an influencer and how does the role work commercially?

    Show the answer
    A person who has built an audience on a platform and earns income by promoting products to it, which trades on the trust and familiarity that audience relationship provides.

The 9 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic What it covers Questions
Advertising and marketing Brands and unique selling points, aspirational representation, anchorage, the ASA codes, native advertising and digital targeting. 13
Music video Performance, narrative and concept videos, editing to the beat, star image, intertextuality, and distribution after music television. 13
Radio Sound-only meaning, mode of address, radio as a secondary medium, station identity, public service and community radio, and podcasting. 13
Newspapers Tabloid and broadsheet, masthead and splash, news values, political allegiance, IPSO self-regulation, and the collapse of print revenue. 13
Film as an industry Production, distribution and exhibition, why distribution holds the power, franchises, release windows, the BBFC and UK tax relief. 13
Television Formats and the format trade, series against serial, public service obligations, the watershed, on-demand viewing and how success is measured. 17
Magazines Covers and cover lines, specialised audiences, the influence of advertisers, house style, and the shift to digital. 13
Online, social and participatory media Web 2.0, user-generated content, how platforms earn from data, algorithms, influencers and the Online Safety Act. 17
Video games Interactivity and agency, game mechanics, representation in games, PEGI ratings, microtransactions and free-to-play models. 13
Media Forms and Products is 125 of the 1,066 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

  1. Step 1 · Closed book

    Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.

  2. Step 2 · Open book

    Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.

  3. Step 3 · Closed book again

    Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.

Nearby topics

All 7 topics Guide overview

AQA A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide

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