The accompanying Analysing Media Texts DVD-ROM is the winner of the 2006 British Universities Film and Video Council 'Learning on Screen Award' for Interactive Media (Course and Curriculum related content). More about the awards and the shortlist can be found at
Visit the Understanding Media series microsite.
This book provides an engaging introduction to analysing media texts. Students learn how to do semiotic, genre and narrative analysis, content and discourse analysis, and engage with debates about the politics of representation. Each chapter provides readings and worked examples, from the classic 1959 film melodrama by Douglas Sirk, Imitation of Life, to contemporary television ads.
The book has an accompanying DVD-ROM for PC users.
“Another exemplary volume from the OU presents a wide range of questions that can be asked about mediated texts and the complexity of providing adequate answers to such questions. An enjoyable interactive DVD-ROM offers exercises that allow the reader to make the critical language their own."
Professor Annabelle Sreberny, Centre for Media and Film Studies, SOAS.
"This is an impressive resource, accessible and user-friendly, but authoritative in its development of established theories of textual analysis. The DVD-ROM offers a series of excellent exercises making this a 'must-have' for all undergraduate media studies courses."
Professor Richard Paterson, British Film Institute.
"An excellent introduction to the theory and practice of media analysis [and] a much-needed ‘toolkit’... The DVD-ROM, with its 'cool' design, clips gallery and innovative narrative sequence builder, allows students to put into practice skills acquired throughout the text and offers an important tool for bringing concepts to life… A wonderful addition to a first-rate series."
Alison Griffiths, Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Baruch College, The City University of New York.
