PICK OUT THE KEY WORDS

FROM THESE QUESTIONS

Describe a range of creative decisions that you made
in post-production and how these decisions made a
difference to the final outcomes. Refer to a range of
examples in your answer to show how these skills
developed over time.
Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real
media texts informed your own creative media
practice. Refer to a range of examples in your answer
to show how these skills developed over time.
Explain how meaning is constructed by the use of
media language in one of your coursework
productions.

A2 Media
Studies
How to answer
Section A Theoretical
Evaluation of
Production
How to write
critically

KEY WORDS
Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in
post-production and how these decisions made a
difference to the final outcomes. Refer to a range of
examples in your answer to show how these skills
developed over time.
Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real
media texts informed your own creative media practice.
Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how
these skills developed over time.
Explain how meaning is constructed by the use of media
language in one of your coursework productions.

KEY WORDS
Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in
post-production and how these decisions made a
difference to the final outcomes. Refer to a range of
examples in your answer to show how these skills
developed over time.
Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real
media texts informed your own creative media practice.
Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how
these skills developed over time.
Explain how meaning is constructed by the use of media
language in one of your coursework productions.

WHY HIGHLIGHT KEY WORDS?

You will know what the question is asking you
to do
To help you stay on topic
To be able to define any key terms and apply
these to your production portfolio
Keep key words at the top of your page
throughout the exam, to ensure all your points
refer back to the question

WHAT DOES THE QUESTION WANT ME TO

DO?
Question 1A Evaluation of skills
development

Question 1B Evaluation of One

M edia Product

To describe and evaluate your

skills development
Over the cour se of your production
work
From Foundation to Advanced
Por tfolio
With reference to one or two
specific production practices,
including

Evaluate ONE media product

Either AS/A2, M ain task or
preliminar y/ancillar y production
Evaluate production in relation to a
media concept, including

Digital Tec hnology, Creativity,

Researc h and planning, Post production, Using conventions from
real media texts

Genre, Narrative, Representation,

Audience, M edia language

WHAT CAN I EVALUATE?

PRE-PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION

E.g. Screenwriting

POST-PRODUCTION

WHAT CAN I EVALUATE?

PRE-PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION

Screenwriting
Storyboarding
Concept development
Casting decisions
Production design
Scheduling
Location manager
Shot design
Make up/costume design

Scene direction
On set producer
Make up/costume
Camera operator
Cinematographer
Sound recordist

POST-PRODUCTION
Editor
Sound mixer
Advert/package design

Roles throughout
Director
Producer

HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED?

It is essential that you are evaluating how you have developed
across the two years from your foundation to advanced
portfolio

Write down how your work has

changed over the course? What have
you learnt? What have you
developed?

HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED?

Working relationships
Skill set developed
New skills learnt
Organisational/planning skills
Time management
Analysing and applying real media texts to own work
Research skills
Creative collaboration
Understanding and using new technology programmes and
equipment
Evaluation skills
Adaptability

1B EVALUATION OF ONE MEDIA

PRODUCT
These are the only media concepts that will be used in the exam
question

Genre
Narrative
Representation
Audience
Media language

You may in fact be asked how your media product does NOT
conform to these media concepts
Does your product challenge or adhere to conventions?
Always make sure you are referring to the key media concept
given to you in the question do not steer of f topic

WHAT THEORIES CAN YOU USE FOR EACH

OF THESE MEDIA CONCEPTS?
GENRE

MEDIA LANGUAGE

REPRESENTATION

NARRATIVE

AUDIENCE

THEORIES YOU COULD APPLY

Andrew Sarris Notes on the Auteur theory
(1962)
Laura Mulvey Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema (1975)
Lev Kuleshov The Kuleshov ef fect (1920s)
Levi Strauss Binary oppositions
Roland Barthes The Death of the Author
(1967)
Vladimir Propp Narrative theory
Steve Neale - Genre
It is important to critically analyse these
theories, do they apply to your chosen
production or has your production subverted
these theories?

BEING CRITICAL
Dont be afraid to criticise your work
If something didnt work, why didnt it?
How did you progress and get past these issues?
What would you do differently next time to
improve?
How did you improve over your entire portfolio?

Critical thinking is a key aspect of academic

writing

WAYS TO BE CRITICAL, WITHOUT BEING

NEGATIVE
How could you word these phrases dif ferently

My development was bad

I didnt do anything to progress

I didnt have enough time to do what I wanted
My group didnt work, I want to leave because

WAYS TO BE CRITICAL, WITHOUT BEING

NEGATIVE
My development was bad
Becomes My development was staggered throughout the
course due to a number of factors, including
I didnt do anything to progress
Becomes I could have improved my work through dif ferent
methods such as
I didnt have enough time to do what I wanted
Becomes If I had more time in the future I would be able to
develop my ideas fully by
My group didnt work, I wanted to leave because
Becomes The group had creative dif ferences, due to

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR ANSWERS

What is missing from the answer below and how could you
improve it?

The post-production stage was hard, because

people in the group didnt pull their weight. I
was the editor, which meant I put the footage
together once filming was done, and it mostly
went ok.

WHAT WAS MISSING?

Lacks any real description
No mention of development
Lack of theoretical support
Lack of evaluation
Use of negative language
Not enough on role itself
Lack of media terminology

IMPROVED ANSWER
When working in my production group there were a
number of creative decisions that had to be made in
the post-production stage. The levels of work were
differentiated between each member of the group,
some taking on more technical roles. My role as editor
on the advanced portfolio has developed dramatically
from the foundation portfolio, as both my confidence
and technical competence have grown, subsequently
improving the quality and pace of my work on the final
product.

WHAT TO REMEMBER
Use the correct terminology, media language and formal
language throughout
Make sure you know the names and functions of programmes
and equipment you have used
You must evaluate your development over the entire course
Answer the question make sure you stay on topic
Make sure to evaluate one production, either from AS/A2,
Main or Preliminary/Ancillary task
Have suf ficient knowledge of all media concepts, so you feel
confident with answering any question given to you
Did you productions challenge or adhere to generic
conventions, and how?