“What I’ve enjoyed most about Media Studies is the coursework side, especially being able to create my own media products and think about how real audiences would respond to them. It allowed me to be creative, but also made me think more carefully about branding, representation, genre and how meaning is created in the media. We do two lots of practical coursework, where we use a combination of learning practical skills and creative ideas. After choosing our theme, we learned how to use Final Cut Pro and Photoshop to make a music video, tour poster and double-page spread for a magazine.

We apply lots of theories to do our analysis, such as feminist, post-colonial identity and audience theories. We use these theories to analyse a range of media products in a lot of detail, such as Huck Magazine, and then discuss our findings in groups in the classroom. We also have the chance to work on the College’s student magazine, Xavazine, where we research, write and publish articles for the magazine. There is a trip planned to New York, where we will visit the New York Film Academy, the Museum of Modern Art and see a Broadway show and independent film.”