G325 NOTES

(2 hours)

SECTION A (1 hour)
Two questions 30 minutes each (sample answer about 1200 words for both = 600 words each) Q1a: Needs to refer to both AS and A2 productions (including Preliminary and Ancillary if appropriate). Answer would focus on 1 or 2 of the following, depending on the exam question: Digital Technology Creativity Research and Planning Post-production Generic Conventions Q1b: Select one production and evaluate from viewpoint of theme specified in exam question will be one of the following: Genre Narrative Representation Audience Media Language (Production selected will be the most appropriate for the question, so need to be ready to answer on any of them.)

Question 1a You need to refer to at least two of your productions, covering both AS and A2. (NB: A number of these topics will overlap) One question or approach that will apply to all topics: What did you learn during you AS production that benefited you at A2? Digital Technology Software / hardware used during production (computers, DTP packages, camcorders, still cameras, video editing packages, manipulation of images, blogs, Powerpoint presentations etc) how and why they were used, ease of producing media texts using digital equipment as opposed to analogue, but also limitations (where applicable), development of skill and/or sophistication from Preliminary tasks to Advanced Portfolio productions etc. Creativity Looking at imaginative content of productions could be page design, use and manipulation of images for effect, producing a media text that is perhaps a bit different (or that is an excellent example of its type), how your ideas were translated into the final text, perhaps how improved knowledge and experience of digital technology enabled you to realise your ideas better in your later productions. Use of music, sound or special effects, striking images etc. Research and Planning Different approaches to research and planning from AS to A2 (or similar, depending). Use of blogs, Powerpoint etc. Level of detail. Use of questionnaires / feedback and its effect on planning and development. Techniques used draft layouts, storyboards, draft versions, reviewing the production at different stages (and possibly including it in blog or Powerpoint etc). Post-production Examiners have taken post production to mean everything after the shoot/gathering or drafting of articles- so, for example, as soon as students commit to a DTP package for print work it is all the equivalent of post production. Can also mean work done in ancillary packages at A2 promotional material. Generic Conventions How productions use or challenge generic conventions comparisons or parallels to real media texts, which conventions being used, how effectively, etc

Question 1b Refer to one production, from either AS or A2 select the one that best suits the topic in the question. Will need theoretical input here. Genre Same elements as in 1a, but will not come up in the same exam. Will have to focus on a single production, though. This will go further into the theories behind Genre how is a generic text marketed or promoted, perhaps, or how important is it that a text fits neatly into a genre Narrative What story is the production telling and how? More straightforward for opening sequence of a film, less so for other productions. Can be summed up by Every picture tells a story approach for other media what is an image or media text telling you about its subject connotations, representations, inferred meanings, cultural references etc. Examples: what is a music magazine telling us about the featured music, its artists, fans etc; what is a local newspaper telling us about its community, local opinions / attitudes etc. Representation Representation of people, locations, gender, ethnicity etc. Could be representation of female / male artist in music video, a social group in a video production or artists / fans within a particular style of music for a magazine etc are conventional stereotypes being challenged or confirmed and why? Audience Extent to which a production targets a specific audience, use of feedback from potential audience during planning and research, also feedback on completed products, how audience targeted, etc Media Language Artistic, stylistic or generic techniques used in production, intentions and effects of these (not necessarily the same thing), iconography, use of conventions (challenging or confirming), use of connotations to create or add to meaning (e.g. why use a particular colour or combinations of colour in a production, use of b/w in a video production, choice of words in a newspaper headline looking in depth at camera / editing techniques, use of images, effects generated etc) Email response from an examiner on Media Language There is a key difference between medium-specific language - ie the language of television, the language of film, the language of social media even, and broader concepts like genre which can be used across media or within a media but within a boundary (eg TV sitcom). So to give an example, say a student has produced a film thriller sequence. If asked about representation they focus on who + what is represented in relation to theories of representation. For genre. they discuss the conventions of film thrillers in relation to their own work and to genre theories. For media language, they discuss the way their sequence operates within 'the language of film' which might indeed involve discussion of representation and the conventions of a genre, but might focus much more on the grammar of the edit, cinematography, diegesis at the broader level of FILM AS A MEDIUM.