A2

CRITICAL
PERSPECTI
VES PAPER
G325

SECTION A
REVISION
GUIDE

THE EXAM

The A2 exam worth 25% of your final A-level grade and is made
up of 2 separate sections

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Your Production

2 compulsory questions worth 25 marks each = 50 marks

in total

Section B: Contemporary Media Issues

1 question (Question number 2) from a choice of 2 worth
50 marks

SECTION A - THEORETICAL EVALUATION OF

PRODUCTIONS

Question 1
A question that requires students to describe and evaluate the
development of their skills over the course of their AS
Production work to their A2 Production work.
The question will ask students to focus their answer on ONE
OR TWO of the following issues:

Digital Technology
Creativity
Research and Planning
Post-Production
Using conventions of real media texts

You could also reference any other productions you have made
in this two year period outside of school.
On the following pages is a detailed breakdown of things you
could discuss for each of the above 5 topics.
The sections highlighted in green are the most important to
include if you get that question

Digital Technology how your skills have progressed

and how they helped you in your productions
Throughout your essay you should try and give several examples of real
occasions you used these technologies. For example At AS we started to use
Blogger to keep a record of all our coursework. We had no real experience of
blogging prior to this etc then at A2 we developed our skills with blogger
so instead of having group work blogged, we were able to take a more individual
approach. This gave us more autonomy over our own work and helped us take
more responsibility for all the research and planning

Intro: Digital technologies have a had a huge influence on media

production over the last few years and since you started in Year 12 you
have learned a massive amount about how to use them and what the
benefits are of using them. They in turn have had a significant impact on
the quality of your finished products.
Using more complex features of iMovie or other editing packages
Had zero experience at the beginning and have now moved from basic
editing to more complex editing, effects, transitions, sound manipulation.
Quick to upload so something can be filmed, uploaded and edited in a
matter of minutes. Be specific What specific techniques did your group
use and where?
Social Networking Sites Allows you to communicate with a far wider
network of people than other websites. You could have used this to
gather audience research, upload your video and ask for feedback etc..
Be specific Give an example of something you did using Facebook etc
You Tube Allows you to communicate with a far wider network of people
than other websites. Allowed you to research existing opening sequences
and music videos.. you may have uploaded your opening sequences and
used the feedback / comments that people posted to help you improve
when it came to your A2 productions etc.. Enabled you to post your own
video to a massive audience. Be specific Give example of real video you
looked at, real comment you got etc..
Digital Cameras Never used before. Struggled initially with holding
steady shots, framing etc.. But they allow instant playback, LCD screen,
small, portable (in comparison to larger older bulkier cameras) etc.
Allowed you to film in small spaces, to easily travel all over London to film,
to film something and view it straight away to check if was ok. Now can
easily film a variety of shot types.

Photoshop (you used to use Word and Powerpoint etc) Photoshop

allows manipulation of images, effects, colours, cropping, layering images
and words. Be specific What did YOUR GROUP do on Photoshop?
Other technologies you could mention include : Live Type,
Blogging, Prezi, Internet
Conclusion: Digital Technology has enabled you (a consumer of media) to
become a producer that can not only make a higher quality media
product, but edit it and distribute it to a wide audience..
To get A & B grades
To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not
just DESCRIBING how your skills developed. Instead you need to focus on
the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on any of the
following throughout your work

HOW important digital technology was

WHY was digital technology important

WHAT EFFECT did digital technology have on your final work

WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without digital

technology?

HOW did digital technology benefit you?

To Prepare:
In this space write at least one example of something specific you
did with this technology and explain how it helped you

Technology
At AS we used iMovie to

How it helped us

At A2 we used iMovie in a
different way

At AS we used Facebook..

At A2 we used Facebook in a
different way

At AS we used You Tube to..

At A2 we used You Tube in a

different way

At AS we used Digital Cameras

to

At A2 we used Digital Cameras in

a different way

At AS we used Photoshop to

At A2 we used Photoshop in a
different way

Creativity - how your skills have progressed and how

they helped you in your productions
Intro - What IS Creativity DEFINE IT - It is the making of new things
and the re-arranging of the old. eg the ability to have your OWN ideas
and not just copy other peoples. The ability to do things that are unusual
and different etc..
Where did your original ideas come from? How did you increase
your ability to come up with your own ideas? Did you mind map? Did you
share ideas? Did you do creative types of research eg not just
questionnaires with people you knew, but using You Tube to get comments
from people around the world, etc. Give real, specific examples.
Locations / Sets / Costumes At first you chose locations that were
near by and easy to access (give example) Then at A2 you were more
creative in your choices (give example) Did you choose unusual ones?
Did it take creative planning to adapt them? Be specific What creative
locations did you use? Why did using creative locations help your
production?
Camera At first your shots and filming were practical. You filmed a
medium shot because you hadnt considered doing anything else. In your
prelim task at AS you had a set of specific camera shots to include. For
AS, your camera skills were quite basic. Now you have developed so you
started filming in a more creative way eg high / low angles, putting the
camera on the floor, in the fridge, using stop motion, green screening etc..
Be specific giving real examples of creative camera shots you used and
explain how they made your production better
Editing At first you werent very creative. Editing was functional putting
shots next to shots to create some meaning for your AS opening
sequence.. However you couldnt do that at A2 as just having a narrative
wasnt enough.. you needed to create energy and engage the audience
and edit to the flow of the music using effects etc ... be specific, give real
examples of creative editing you tried and explain what impact they had
on your production
Genre / Conventions How have you developed your use of genre /
conventions from just copying conventions, to instead, being able to
challenge and subvert conventions of genres. Were you creative by
combining genres?
Casting At AS you werent very creative in your casting.. Chose people
who were friends etc.. Then you became more creative at casting

including sending out facebook messages, holding auditions etc.. How

were you creative in your casting? Be specific. What impact did this
have?
Photoshop - Never used before. When using Word / Publisher your
creativity was stifled because you are limited in how much you can edit
the images. Photoshop allowed you to manipulate images etc.. Be
specific, give real examples of creative Photoshop work you did
Conclusion
Certain Restraints on your creativity in place from exam board - you HAD
to make a music video, digipak, poster etc.. These rules do limit your
ability to be creative to a certain extent
Not easy to just be creative. You actually needed to do practical things
like research, paperwork, storyboards etc to ALLOW you to develop our
creativity. Without solid research and planning, being creative was
impossible. You needed a balance of organised AND creative people in a
group to be successful.
You cant just BE creative. Often it is a learning process where you start
by being told what to do, then you try doing things on your own and then
you end up being confident and skilled enough to experiment which leads
to creativity. You have to make mistakes at first to be creative.

To get A & B grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not
just DESCRIBING how your creativity developed. Instead you need to
focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on any of
the following throughout your work

HOW important creativity was

WHY was creativity important

WHAT EFFECT did creativity have on your final work

What PROBLEMS are there with being creative?

WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without creativity?

HOW did creativity benefit you?

Creativity
How it helped us
At AS we were creative coming up
with ideas by

At A2 we were more creative

coming up with ideas by

At AS we were creative choosing

locations by..

At A2 we were more creative

choosing locations by

At AS we chose costumes by

At A2 we were more creative with

our costumes by

At AS we copied conventions of
the genre for example..

At A2 we were more creative with

the conventions for example..

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At AS we used basic editing

techniques such as..

At A2 we were more creative with

our editing for example

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Research & Planning - how your skills have progressed

and how they helped you in your productions
Intro: Research & Planning have played a huge role in all of your
production work so far and hence your skills in R&P have developed
massively. Your research and planning have made your production work
develop in terms of quality.
Audience questionnaires allowed you to find out who your target
audience was, what they wanted, what they liked etc.. Be specific, what
did you find out from your questionnaires? How did you improve your use
of questionnaires at A2? Asked better people to complete them? Wrote
better, more focused questions? Qualitative and Quantitative questions
Audience focus groups (both before and after) same as above,
allowed you to personally interact with your target audience, delve
deeper, get them to clarify what they mean etc.. Focus groups after
production helped you to see if youd achieved your goals. At the
beginning many people didnt know how to do a focus group, or what
questions to ask. Now at A2 you are confident talking directly to the
audience members, asking the right questions etc. Be specific with things
you asked your focus group or what they said
Looking at real film opening sequences /music videos At first your
analysis was mainly descriptive, as you simply watched the opening
sequences on You Tube / DVDs and described what you saw.. but as your
analytical skills have developed at A2 your ability to use these as research
has developed too.. Now you can deconstruct a piece of footage in tiny
detail, commenting on colour, camera angle, shot size etc.. Be specific
with what real texts you looked at and what you learned from them. You
now watch a wider variety of texts (not just famous ones) and also
watched student made work which helped you see what was possible on
zero budget with school equipment.
Storyboarding / Shotlists Never done storyboarding before A-Level..
First storyboards at AS tended to be simple, with mainly pictures, and very
little shot description or editing information. Now as you have developed
your technical skills, your ability to create detailed storyboards have
developed.. these are useful to give the crew a specific idea of what to
shoot (useful if someone is absent) and helps you to focus on getting
particular shots rather than just filming random stuff. Helped you get the
right amount and type of footage.
Location recces Never did one at AS, you just filmed in local places eg
school.. At A2 you have learned to check for other aspects such as noise
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levels, power points to plug in equipment, health & safety, availability etc.
Plus you have sourced more interesting, exciting locations.
Casting At beginning you tended to cast friends, students etc.. Quickly
learned that people were unreliable, or didnt look right for the part etc..
Now you are able to cast the right people for the role, hold auditions, do
test shots, try them out on camera to see if they can act etc.. be specific
with real casting issues you had
Prelim The prelim in Year 12 helped you to develop skills you didnt
have before such as framing, different angles, 180 degree rule etc.. For
music videos you did a prelim task that involved shooting material for a
quick song and then re-editing it for a slow song. Some of you also made
a trial sequence for a Britney Spears video. How did this help you
progress? Be specific with real issues you had. If you hadnt done the
prelims, what problems might you have encountered?
Conclusion: Research & planning skills have changed you from a
producer of basic media texts, into a producer of complex quality media
texts. R&P skills are essential to making someone a better, more creative
producer of media.
To get A & B grades
To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not
just DESCRIBING how your research and planning developed. Instead you
need to focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on
any of the following throughout your work

HOW important research and planning was

WHY was research and planning important

WHAT EFFECT did research and planning have on your final work

What PROBLEMS are there with research and planning?

WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without research and
planning?

HOW did research and planning benefit you?

Research and Planning

How it helped us
At AS we used questionnaires to

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At A2 we improved our use of

questionnaires by

At AS we used focus groups to

At A2 we improved our use of

focus groups by

At AS we examined real opening

sequences such as / in order to

At A2 we improved our research /

analysis of real texts by

At AS we used storyboards for

At A2 we improved our use of

storyboards by

At AS we completed a prelim
tasks to..

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At A2 we improved the way we

used the prelim task by

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Post Production - how your skills have progressed and

how they helped you in your productions
Intro: You have gone from knowing virtually nothing about post
production to now being able to complete complex editing of video, sound
and graphics..
Final Cut Pro / Express in comparison to I Movie etc Had zero
experience at the beginning and have now moved from basic editing to
more complex editing, effects, transitions, sound manipulation. Quick to
upload so something can be filmed, uploaded and edited in a matter of
minutes. Can also export your movie to Quick Time to allow you to upload
it online etc How did this change the footage that you had? be specific
with real tools and effects you used and how it helped eg chroma keying,
green screen, stop motion animation etc
Live Type used to use the Final Cut text, now Live Type. Whats the
difference? It has more functions and potential to create moving text.
Why was this useful?
Photoshop (you used to use Word and Powerpoint etc) At A2
Photoshop allows manipulation of images, effects, colours, cropping,
layering images and words - How did this change the footage that you
had? Be specific with real effects you tried on Photoshop
You Tube / Redrafting / Peer Assessment At AS, you just uploaded
your final version to You Tube and left it there. At A2, after editing you
uploaded your opening sequences you used the feedback / comments that
people posted to help you improve it further and make multiple
improvements.. be specific with real comments you got and how this
helped your post production
After Effects had zero experience. Some of you then learned how to use
this in your own time, practised effects etc.. discuss how this helped make
your work better
Conclusion: Your post production skills have developed hugely and has
enabled you to take a simple piece of footage and turn it into something
complex and creative.

To get A & B grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not
just DESCRIBING how your post production skills developed. Instead you

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need to focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on

any of the following throughout your work

HOW important post production skills were

WHY were post production skills important

WHAT EFFECT did post production skills have on your final work

What PROBLEMS are there with your post production skills?

WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without post production
skills?

HOW did post production skills benefit you?

Post production
At AS we used iMovie to

How it helped us

At A2 we improved our editing

skills on Final Cut by
At AS we used the basic text
creator tool on iMovie to..

At A2 we improved our use text

by

At AS we knew this about

Photoshop

At A2 we improved our
understanding of Photoshop by

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At AS we got feedback after the

production by..

At A2 we improved post
production feedback by

Use of Real media Conventions

Conventions are the common features of a particular type of media or a
particular genre.
Introduction Over the two year course you have learned a lot about,
not just what the conventions of particular forms and genres are, but how
to use them in creative ways in your own work
Main:
Prelim task you included different types of camera shot, and editing
techniques. But did you make the genre clear of what you were doing?
Did you colour grade it? Did you change the sound levels or add sound /
editing effects? Probably not.. So your use of conventions was very
limited. Although you could probably name a few conventions of horror /
action etc you didnt actually know how to use them in your work yet. At
A2 you were more confident with your technical abilities which meant you
could use the prelim task to experiment with conventions of the genre
give example
Your genre - At AS, how did you identify what the conventions were of
your film genre? What videos did you watch and what were the
conventions you found? How easy was it to identify the conventions?
Then show development by discussing A2 What did you do differently to
identify the conventions of the genre? Did you look at videos AND theory
(Andrew Goodwin / Laura Mulvey)? This was likely to be a lot harder as
music videos often belong to 2 or more genres and many genres of music
have very few semantic elements (eg visual conventions). Discuss
some videos you watched and identify what you thought the main

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conventions of your genre were. How did using media theory to identify
conventions help you at A2?
Camera At AS, what camera shots / movements did you use that are
conventional of horror films? For A2, give an example of how you used
conventional camera work for music videos in your video. At A2, your
camera work may have been more about being creative. Explain how you
pushed the boundaries with your camera work at A2? What did you do
differently?
Mise-En-Scene At AS, what mise-en-scene did you use that was
conventional of horror films? (costumes, locations, colours etc) and what
effect might these have had on the audience? At A2, give some examples
of mise-en-scene you chose that was conventional of your genre. You
could discuss how at A2 your mise-en-scene was likely to be more creative
because of how you have developed your sense of how elements can
communicate meaning to an audience. Where as AS was about what was
convenient and easy, at A2, you deliberately chose locations and
costumes that were more planned to signify a meaning, more creative etc.
Give an example of how you pushed yourself with your mise-en-scene at
A2? What did you do differently?
Editing At AS, what editing techniques did you use that were
conventional of horror films? (cuts, dissolves, flash to white, wipes, colour
grading, other effects etc) and say why you used them. At A2, give some
examples of editing you chose that was conventional of your genre. You
could discuss how at A2 your editing HAD to be more creative as when
you researched videos (give example) you discovered that most videos
have fast paced shots lasting less than 3 seconds which meant your
editing had to be faster, more visually interesting (to engage an audience
instantly) etc. Give an example of how you pushed yourself with your
editing at A2? What did you do differently?
Sound At AS, what sound techniques did you use that were
conventional of horror films? (diegetic, non diegetic, sound effects, sound
bridges, soundtrack, dialogue etc) and say why you used them. At A2,
you were very restricted with your use of sound as most of you just used
whatever came on the music track itself. However this forced you to
become more creative. If you did add sound / dialogue on, then give an
example of where you did this and why. If you did, you could explain how
actually, not being able to manipulate or cut the sound made the process
more difficult as you had to ensure all the miming of the lyrics complete
matched, at the right pace etc. Give example of how you did this or
problems you encountered and how you solved them. ]

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Conclusion At AS, you were still learning about the concept of genre,
and felt as though conventions were very much easily identifiable and set
in stone. Many of you ensured that you followed lots of your genres
conventions in your AS work. However by the time you reached A2, you
learned that genre is much more of a fluid concept, less easy to define,
especially within music, and this led to you being confident enough to
both follow and challenge conventions of your genre, pushing the
boundaries throughout which impacted your creativity.

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QUESTION 2
This question will require students to select EITHER their AS
production OR their A2 production (whichever makes more
sense for the question) and evaluate it in terms of one of the
following media concepts.

Genre
Narrative
Representation
Audience
Media Language

Each of the above 5 topics of broken down here into more detail
for you to consider.

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GENRE
To get C&D Grades
Intro: What was your genre? What are the conventions of the genre (eg
horror / rock etc) and how did you find these out? Give examples of real
films / music videos you watched to find this out
Main: How have you signified the genre using:

Colour
Camera shots / angles / movements
Editing techniques
Sound / dialogue / music
Mise-en-scene such as Costumes / props / Locations

Conclusion
Do you think you made the genre of your piece clear to an audience?
How do you know this?

How to get A&B Grades

To gain an A or a B grade you really need to try and incorporate theories
into the above points. Try and use some of the theories below
(incorporating them throughout rather than having a whole separate
sections for them.) What do theorists say about the genre? Explain how
your video either conforms to the theorists ideas OR challenges them and
why
FILM GENRE THEORIES

GENERAL GENRE THEORIES

Steve Neale thinks that film

genres are constantly
changing and evolving and are
not set in stone. He thinks
there are 5 main stages in film
genres. Which stage does
your film fit into? Explain why.

Robert Stam suggests genre is

hard to define, doesnt really
exist and is just a concept made
up by theorists and critics. Do
you agree? Give examples from
your work that suggests that
genre either IS or ISNT easy to
define

The form finding itself (Psycho)

The classic (Halloween)
Stretching the boundaries of

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the genre (Nightmare on Elm

Street)
Parody (Scary Movie)
Homage (Scream)

Rick Altman says that the way we

define a genre is by two main
things:

Semantic Elements (eg signs

such as knives, blood, dark
colours, eerie music). He
thinks these elements are
easier for audiences to
recognise and identify

Syntactic elements (includes

THEMES such as fear,
revenge, rage as well as plots
such as PLOTS such as group
go on trip, one by one they
die, last girl survives and kills
killer) He thinks these
elements are more subtle and
harder to recognise.

Identify semantic and syntactic

elements in your video that
might help audiences identify
the genre of your film / music
video

Laura Mulvey - Suggests that

women in all media are
objectified. She is a feminist
who believes that women are
often shown through the ideas
of men (male gaze) and are
seen in voyeuristic ways. She
also thinks that women are seen
in one of either two ways the
virgin character or a whore
character. This is the virgin /
whore dichotomy

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24

AUDIENCE
To get a C/D grade
Intro: Why is it important / essential for a media product like a film or a
music video to appeal to an audience?
Who was your target audience for your production? Gender, age, class,
hobbies and media interests. To get the A&B grades, try and describe
their social demographic groups (ABC1C2DE)
What did you do to research what your audience wanted? What did you
find out about what they wanted? To get the A&B grades, dont just
describe what they wanted, try and comment on why they might want
these things use theory here.
Main: How did you use the following things to attract / engage an
audience?:

Camera

Editing

Sound

Mise-en-scene

What feedback did you seek AFTER your production and what was it like?
How did a real audience react to your product? Did they react in the
way you thought they would? Why?
Conclusion: How important it is to consider your audience in depth and
how this changed / affected your production overall.

To get A&B grades

To gain an A or a B grade you really need to try and incorporate theories
into the above points. Try and use SMALL portions of SOME of the theories
below (incorporating them throughout rather than having a whole
separate section for them.)
Theorist
Richard Dyer thinks that audiences
want media products that offer them
Utopian Solutions to their problems

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How I will apply it to my text

Blumler & Katz Think that audiences

want media products that gratify
particular needs (Uses & gratifications)
eg escape, entertainment etc
Frankfurt School Hypodermic
needle theory. Think audiences might
be directly influenced by media
products

Stuart Hall Encoding and Decoding

tests AND Preferred, negotiated and
oppositional readings. Thinks
audiences will react in different ways to
media products.

Pluralists think that the media

operates on a supply and demand basis
and so the media must give the
audience what it wants in order to
survive and be successful.

Tajfel & Turner intergroup

discrimination theory. Think that
audiences enjoy watching texts where
they can feel superior to the characters
in terms of money, class, success etc..

Laura Mulvey believes the media

texts often encourage the audience to
objectify women and look at them with
a male gaze

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REPRESENTATION
Depending on who the main characters were in your AS & A2 productions,
choose 1 or more of the following categories of people, and discuss how
your video represents them
Intro: Explain what media product of yours you will be analysing and
which social group/s you will be analysing the representation of
Main:
AGES - How does your video construct a representation of different ages?
consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial expression,
camera, sound, editing
ETHNICITY - What about different ethnicities? consider costumes, props,
location, body language, facial expression, camera, sound, editing
GENDER consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial
expression, camera, sound, editing.
CLASS consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial
expression, camera, sound, editing
GOOD vs EVIL - consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial
expression, camera, sound, editing
Have you included stereotypes in your production and why? (class, age,
gender, ethnicity etc?)
Have you challenged stereotypes in your production and why? (see above)
Conclusion: Why did you create these specific representations? What
effect might they have had on the audience?
Techniques I used

How it represents that

character

Camera shots:

Mise-En-Scene:

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Editing:

Sound:

To get A&B grades

To gain an A or a B grade you really need to try and incorporate theories
into the above points. Try and use some of the theories below
(incorporating them throughout rather than having a whole separate
sections for them.)
Theorist

Theory What to write about

Levi Strauss

said that media texts often represent characters in

terms of binary opposites such as good vs evil, weak
vs strong. Did you do this? If so how and why?
What effects might it have on the story, the audience
etc..

Laura Mulvey

Believes that women are often objectified in the

media. She says they are looked at with a male
gaze and are seen as sex objects.
She also believes that there are all too often only two
roles for women in the media. Either the virgin
character or the whore character. This is called the
virgin / whore dichotomy.
Can their theories be applied to your video? Did you
conform to their ideas of representation or challenge
them? Why?

Vladimir Propp

Propps theory of narrative suggests that texts often

represent characters as particular types in order to
make them easily identifiable to an audience and
help them know how to react to them.

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Hero
Villain
Princess
Donor / Helper
Dispatcher

If you included any of these characters, how did you

represent someone as the hero or villain. Why
does it engage an audience if they either DO know
who they are or DONT know who they are?
Angela McRobbie

http://www.angelamcrobbie.com/
Angela McRobbie says that men and women are often
represented through stereotypes in the media and
are often shown in traditional gender roles. For
example women are often shown as weaker, victims,
mothers, carers etc. Men are often shown as
aggressive, strong, managers, leaders etc.
Can their theories be applied to your video? Did you
conform to their ideas of representation or challenge
them? Why?

Stanley Cohen

Believes that particular groups in society are

demonised and marginalised through negative
representations which may have the effect of causing
a moral panic where the majority of society fears that
social group. Have you demonised a particular group
eg black people? Young people? Why?

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NARRATIVE
To get a C grade
Intro: What is the traditional type of narrative for your genre / type of
product? How did you find this out? What other real texts did you look at
that helped you work this out?
Have you used a Linear / Non Linear Narrative, where and why?
Main: How have you used the following to signify / communicate the
narrative of your film?

Camera give several examples of real shots / movements you used

Editing - give several examples of real transitions / effects you used

Sound - give several examples of real sounds, music, dialogue you

used

Mise-en-scene give several examples of real costumes, locations,

props, you used

Narrative Enigma where have you included this in your opening

sequence and why is it important?
Conclusion: Explain what audiences thought of your narrative. Was it
clear? Could it have been better? How?
Techniques I used

What it signified about the narrative

of my text

Camera:

Mise-En-Scene:

Editing:

Sound:

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To get A&B Grades

Theorist

Theory what to write about

Todorov

thinks there are several main stages to a complete narrative,

recognisable in any story
Equilibrium
Disruption
Resolution
Equilibrium
Explain whether you included these stages and where. Did you
have them in the same order? If not, why not? What was the
benefit of starting with the disruption for example?

Levi Strauss

says that Binary opposites are important in narratives such as

good vs evil, women vs men, crime vs justice. Explain any binary
opposites identifiable in your text and explain why you think they
might be important to include

Unknown
theorist

According to an unknown theorist, there are two types of narrative

Vladimir Propp

Unrestricted narration where information is given out in as

much detail as possible with very little restrictions so the
narrative is clear. Audiences often know more than the
characters so we know who the killer is, or where he is. If
you used this technique, explain where and why is it
engaging for an audience?
Restricted narration where the narrative is kept minimal,
with parts unclear eg a thriller film. Audiences are often in
the dark about many parts of the narrative. If you used this
technique, explain where and why this is engaging for an
audience

Propps theory of narrative suggests that texts NEED particular

characters to develop the narrative

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Hero
Villain
Princess
Donor / Helper
Dispatcher

If you included any of these characters, how did you make it clear
who was the hero / villain etc? Why does it engage an audience if
they either DO know who they are or DONT know who they are?
He also thinks there are particular parts of a narrative that always
happen eg hero gets a quest, someone is hurt, hero battles the
villain etc. If you included any of these things, why do you think
audiences enjoy seeing them?
Allan Cameron

thinks there are several different types of more unusual narrative.

If you included any of these, explain where, and then explain why
you included them.

Anachronic Narrative includes regular flashback and

flashforwards, with all different narrative parts being just as
important. Such as Pulp Fiction, Memento
Forking Path narrative shows two different outcomes that
are different only as a result of a small change or decision
such as GroundHog day, Sliding Doors
Episodic Narratives separate narratives that have some
sort of link. Eg different characters lives, linked only by the
fact that they are all involved in one incident
Split Screen Narratives Different stories, linked by the fact
that they are shown on screen at the same time.

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MEDIA LANGUAGE - IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT MEDIA

LANGUAGE REFERS TO THE 4 MAIN TECHNICAL
ELEMENTS
Tackle this one in much the same way as you tackled the TV Drama exam
at AS. You should be ANALYSING your work (not describing), discussing
how you created meaning for the audience on particular issues such as
genre, representation, narrative, audience, atmosphere etc.. Basically
WHY you chose particular shots, sounds, transitions etc
Intro: Explain what text you are analysing
Main: Include all 4 of the following key areas

Camera shot size, framing, high & low angles, subjective &
objective filming, hand held, tilts, pans, zooms etc, green screen

Sound diegetic and non-diegetic, sound effects, ambient sound,

dialogue, music, voice over

Editing fades, cuts, wipes, dissolves, slow motion, fast motion,

colour effects like black & white, bad tv, stop motion animation,
green screening and chroma key work

Mise En Scene costume, lighting, location, body language, acting,

make up, props etc

Conclusion: How well do you think you used media language to

communicate meaning to an audience?
Techniques I used
Camera:

What it signified to an audience

Mise-En-Scene

Editing:

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Sound:

To get A&B Grades

For this question you could choose to include ANY of the theories we have
looked at. Particularly good ones might be:
Theorist

Theory what to write about

Blumler & Katz /

Richard Dyer

Uses & Gratifications theory / Utopian Solutions explaining

how your use of MEDIA LANGUAGE offers these to an
audience

Vladimir Propp

Propps Character theory how your MEDIA LANGUAGE helps

audiences identify particular characters as heros / villains etc

Stuart Hall

Explain that your decision to use the MEDIA LANGUAGE you

chose was to create a preferred reading for your text. But
that audiences are used to Encoding and Decoding tests AND
could take a negotiated or oppositional reading

Rick Altman

Explain how you used MEDIA LANGUAGE to include

Semantic Elements (eg signs such as knives, blood, dark
colours, eerie music) or to signify Syntactic elements (eg
themes like love, revenge).

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Total Mark

Grade

40-50

35-39

30-34

25-29

21-24

0-20