This study provides students with the opportunity to examine the media in both historical and contemporary contexts while developing skills in media design and production in a range of media forms.
VCE Media provides students with the opportunity to analyse media concepts, forms and products in an informed and critical way. Students consider narratives, technologies and processes from various perspectives including an analysis of structure and features. They examine debates about the media’s role in contributing to and influencing society. Students integrate these aspects of the study through the individual design and production of their media representations, narratives and products.
VCE Media supports students to develop and refine their planning and analytical skills, critical and creative thinking and expression, and to strengthen their communication skills and technical knowledge. Students gain knowledge and skills in planning and expression valuable for participation in and contribution to contemporary society. This study leads to pathways for further theoretical and/or practical study at tertiary level or in vocational education and training settings; including screen and media, marketing and advertising, games and interactive media, communication and writing, graphic and communication design, photography and animation.
Units of Study
Unit 1:
Media Forms, Representations & Australian Stories
In this unit students develop an understanding of audiences and the core concepts underpinning the construction of representations and meaning in different media forms. They explore media codes and conventions and the construction of meaning in media products.
Students analyse how representations, narrative and media codes and conventions contribute to the construction of the media realities audiences engage with and read. Students gain an understanding of audiences as producers and consumers of media products. Through analysing the structure of narratives, students consider the impact of media creators and institutions on production. They develop research skills to investigate and analyse selected narratives focusing on the influence of media professionals on production genre and style. Students develop an understanding of the features of Australian fictional and non-fictional narratives in different media forms.
Students work in a range of media forms and develop and produce representations to demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of each media form, and how they contribute to the communication of meaning
Unit 2:
Narrative Across Media Forms
In this unit students further develop an understanding of the concept of narrative in media products and forms in different contexts. Narratives in both traditional and newer forms include film, television, sound, news, print, photography, games, and interactive digital forms. Students analyse the influence of developments in media technologies on individuals and society, examining in a range of media forms the effects of media convergence and hybridisation on the design, production and distribution of narratives in the media and audience engagement, consumption and reception.
Students undertake production activities to design and create narratives that demonstrate an awareness of the structures and media codes and conventions appropriate to corresponding media forms
Unit 3:
Media Narratives & Pre-Production
In this unit students explore stories that circulate in society through media narratives. They consider the use of media codes and conventions to structure meaning, and how this construction is influenced by the social, cultural, ideological and institutional contexts of production, distribution, consumption and reception. Students assess how audiences from different periods of time and contexts are engaged by, consume and read narratives using appropriate media language.
Narratives are defined as the depiction of a chain of events in a cause and effect relationship occurring in physical and/or virtual space and time in non-fictional and fictional media products.
Students use the pre-production stage of the media production process to design the production of a media product for a specified audience. They investigate a media form that aligns with their interests and intent, developing an understanding of the media codes and conventions appropriate to audience engagement, consumption and reception within the selected media form. They explore and experiment with media technologies to develop skills in their selected media form, reflecting on and documenting their progress. Students undertake pre-production processes appropriate to their selected media form and develop written and visual documentation to support the production and post-production of a media product in Unit 4.
Unit 4:
Media Production & Issues In The Media
In this unit students focus on the production and post-production stages of the media production process, bringing the media production design created in Unit 3 to its realisation. They refine their media production in response to feedback and through personal reflection, documenting the iterations of their production as they work towards completion.
Students explore the relationship between the media and audiences, focusing on the opportunities and challenges afforded by current developments in the media industry. They consider the nature of communication between the media and audiences, explore the capacity of the media to be used by governments, institutions and audiences, and analyse the role of the Australian government in regulating the media.
Example pathways
- Advertising,
- Animation,
- Film, Television & Online Media,
- Games and Interactive Media,
- Graphic and Communication Design,
- Journalism,
- Photography,
- Radio & Music,
- Videography,
- Web Design.
This is a guide only, please see the careers team for pathway planning advice.
Entry
There are no prerequisites for entry to Units 1, 2 and 3. Students must undertake Unit 3 and Unit 4 as a sequence.
Unit 3 and 4 Assessment
Percentage contributions to the study score in VCE Media are as follows:
- Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Coursework: 20 per cent.
- Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Task: 40 per cent
- End-of-year examination: 40 per cent
This subject requires the completion of a folio as part of assessment.
