OCR A-Level Media Studies set products: a complete overview of the close study products

Set products (close study products) are the specific media texts OCR requires you to study in depth across nine forms. This overview lists them, explains how each is examined, and sets out the close study product method. Each section has a matching dot-point page. Always confirm the exact set products for your exam series with OCR, as the list is updated.

The set products across the nine forms

• News and online: The Guardian and the Daily Mail.
• Advertising and marketing: campaigns such as Score, Maybelline, Kiss of the Vampire, Galaxy and This Girl Can.
• Music video: one text from List A and one from List B.
• Magazines: GQ, Vogue and Adbusters.
• Radio: the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
• Video game: Minecraft.
• Film (industry only): a Disney pairing, such as Snow White (1937) and Shang-Chi (2021).
• Long form television drama: one English-language and one non-English-language drama.

How the set products split across the papers

• Component 01 (Media Messages): the news set products (Section A), and the advertising, music video and magazine set products (Section B), focusing on media language and representation.
• Component 02 (Evolving Media): radio, video games and film (Section A), focusing on industries and audiences, and long form television drama (Section B), across the whole framework. Film is industry only.

News and online media

A comparative study of The Guardian and the Daily Mail across print, websites and social media, applying the whole framework and the political and economic contexts (Curran and Seaton, Hall).

Advertising, music video and magazines

Studied for media language and representation. Advertising mixes older and newer campaigns (gender representation, context). Music video compares List A and List B texts (genre, gender, identity). Magazines contrast mainstream (GQ, Vogue) with the alternative Adbusters (challenging consumer ideology).

Radio, video games and film

Studied for industries and audiences. Radio (the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show) is public service, regulated by Ofcom. The video game (Minecraft) depends on an active, productive audience (Jenkins, Shirky). Film (a Disney pairing) is studied for industry only, comparing the industry across eras.

Long form television drama

A comparative study of one English-language and one non-English-language drama across the whole framework, with the non-English drama raising globalisation, national identity and cross-cultural reception.

The close study product method

Build a full-framework fact file for each product (media language, representation, industry, audience, contexts), and apply the same method to unseen products. Online and social media is studied mainly through the news brands' online extensions (participation, convergence).