SECTION

A
1A

What we will look at

Quick overview of exam requirements
Making revision effective
Understanding each skill
Identifying skills elements you can talk about
Finding relevant and useful examples
How to organise your examples when revising
Converting examples in to essay paragraph plans
How to practice essay writing

Practicing HOW TO apply this in the session

Section 1A

SKILLS

G325 SECTION A
QUESTION 1A
HOW your

SKILLS
have progressed and
DEVELOPED over the course
of your Media education
Research & Planning

Using Conventions of Real

Media
Texts

Post Production

Digital Technology

Creativity
You must give examples from ALL of
your coursework productions
prelim, AS and A2
Its about

YOU

as a
MEDIA PRACTICTIONER

HOW TO APPROACH YOUR REVISION FOR Q1

MAKING REVISION
EFFECTIVE

Understanding the Skills

Read through the Skills
headings definitions

Make sure you understand

what each skill area
means
You can begin your introduction paragraph with:
a brief definition of the skill and
a comment about your abilities in the skill area
before you began your Media course

Understanding what you can talk

about for each skill
For EACH skill look at the
skills elements that fall
under each skill heading

Identify which elements

you want to talk about in
your essay
Pick a MINIMUM of 4 different elements for each
skill
This will depend on:
How many you used at AS / A2 or in BOTH
pieces of coursework

Finding
examples

Divide up your revision into SKILL

AREA

POST PRODUCTION

For each SKILL, think of 3 or 4

elements/software that you have
used over the course of the AS
and A2 productions
For each skill element list 1 or 2
examples of the ways in which
you used it
For each example:

List 1 example from your AS Thriller

List 1 or 2 examples from your A2
Music Video / Ancillary
For each example you give you
MUST reflect on:

What it allowed you to do with your

work
When & how you used it in your work
What you can do now as a result of that
skill, that you couldnt do before.

FCPro

cuts
AS
EG1
MATC
HCUT
S
A2
EG1.1
BASE
TRACKS/
JUMP
CUTS
A2

EG1.2
Lip
Synch

Speci
al
effect
s
AS
EG2
DESATURATION

A2
EG2.1
COLOUR
GRADING

A2
EG2.2
GREEN
SCREEN

STPro

LiveT

Nondiageti
c
sound

titles

AS
EG3

AS
EG4

PSho
p
Image
manipul
ation

A2
EG5
croppin
g

Speci
al
effect
s

A2
EG6
layer
s

BUTdont forget the need for

triangulation

Making your notes effective

How to organise your revision
Grids and Mind
maps

or anything that can be

easily converted to an
essay paragraph plan
such as
FLASHCARDS

Making your notes effective

How to organise your revisionA
suggestion of how to use grids

POST PRODUCTION
Skill element &
Feature
cuts
FCPro

AS Example A2
Example 1
1 AS EG1
A2 EG1.1
MATCHCU
TS

BASE TRACKS/
JUMP CUTS

AS EG2

FCPro

Special
effects

STPro

Nondiagetic
sound

AS EG3

LiveT

titles

AS EG4

PShop

Image
manipulation

PShop

Special
effects

DESATURATION

A2 EG2.1
COLOUR
GRADING

A2 EG5
cropping

A2 EG6
layers

A2
Example 2
A2 EG1.2
Lip Synch

A2 EG2.2
GREEN
SCREEN

How to organise your revision making

effective notes

SKILL ELEMENT / FEATURE OF

SKILL

Final Cut
Pro

Final Cut
Pro

cutting

Special
effects

AS
AS EG1

EXAMPLE

MATCHCUTS create
continuity; quicken
pace; heighten
tension.
when protagonist is
chased by the Villain
after leaves house.
I cut when actor ran
out of the door in
long shot. I used a
long shot from the
pavement to see him
running away from
the house
Helps heighten action
by making it feel
AS EG2
natural and
DESATURATION
continuous
Indicates change
in time; the past;
flashback
Selected footage,
clicked on effects
etc
When protagonist
looks at the B&W
picture of the
child, after the
cross dissolve we
see child playing
in the park in
b&W
makes us feel it
was his memory
of the past so it
helped us tell the
audience about
our characters

A2
1
A2 EXAMPLE
EG1.1

BASE TRACKS/ JUMP

CUTS
create
disconnection; get
from one shot,
verse, location to
another
Filmed 10 base
tracks, lay them
down on top of
each other on
timeline, marked
every 4th beat, cut
with razor tool
Intro it helps us
establish artist in 4
different locations
and jump cuts to
the beat to take us
from one location to
next
Creative way to
introduce our artist
and helped us to
follow conventions.

A2 EG2.1

COLOUR GRADING
Why did we use it
what effect can
it create?
When did we use
it in our video?
What was the
overall effect of
using it? How did
it improve our
video?

A2A2
EG1.2

Lip Synching
Matches image
and artist
singing with
lyrics
Marked the
audio at the
beginning of
verse & did
same with base
tracks
Lined them up,
cut between
them
Need to be very
precise - out of
synch in 2nd
chorus look less
professional as
a result as you
can tell the
artist is miming

EXAMPLE 2

A2 EG2.2
GREEN SCREEN
Why did we use
it? What effect
can it create /
help us to
achieve?
When did we use
it in our video?
What was the
overall effect of
using it? How did
it improve our
video?

From revision to Exam converting grid to plan

POST PRODUCTION
Skill element & Feature of
Skill

FCPro

cuts

FCPro

Speci
al
effect
s

STPro
LiveT
PShop
PShop

Nondiageti
c sound
titles

Image
manipul
ation

Specia
l
effect
s

AS Example 1
AS
EG1
MATCH
CUTS
AS
EG2

BASE
TRACKS/
JUMP
CUTS

A2
EG2.1

DESATURATION

AS
EG3

i
is

v
e
R id
r
g

A2 Example 1
A2
EG1.1

n
o

COLOUR
GRADING

A2 Example 2
A2
EG1.2
Lip
Synch
A2
Paragrap
EG2.2
h 1 GREEN
SCREEN
Paragrap
h2

Paragrap
h3

AS
EG4

A2
EG5
croppin
g

A2
EG6
layer
s

Paragrap
h4
Paragrap
h5
Paragrap
h6
Paragrap

Choose an essay structure

Before you go into the exam, you
want to have a plan for how you
will answer the question
This will save time AND help you
use your revision and examples
effectively
There are 2 types of essay structure
you can use for this answer
CHRONOLOGICAL
COMPARATIVE

Practice planning essay

answers
Now you have chosen which type of essay
structure you want to answer use your
revision notes that you made and practice
planning answers
Order your notes by number or physically
depending on how you have made them
Grid or mind map = NUMBER EACH ROW OR BUBBLE
Flashcards = LAY THE CARDS OUT in the ORDER you
think you could write about them

Each row, bubble or card then becomes A

PARAGRAPH

FCPr
o
cuts
AS
EG1
MATC
HCUT
S

FCPr
o
Special
effects
AS
EG2
DESATURATIO
N

STPro
Nondiagetic
sound

AS
EG3

Live
T
Titles

AS
EG4

FCPro
Cuts
A2
EG1.1
BASE
TRACKS/
JUMP
CUTS

A2
EG1.2
Lip
Synch

FCPro
Special
Effects
A2
EG2.1
COLOUR
GRADING

A2
EG2.2
GREEN
SCREEN

Pshop

Image
Manipulatio
n

A2
EG5
croppin
g

Psho
p
Specia
l
Effects
A2
EG6
layers

Paragraph 10

Paragraph 9

Paragraph 8

Paragraph 7

A2

Conclusion reflect on the

main skills you have developed
from AS to A2

Intro define term / establish

skills before Media course /
state productions

AS

Paragraph 6

Paragraph 5

Paragraph 4

Paragraph 3

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 1

A Chronological Essay

Paragrap
h1
Paragraph
2

Paragraph
4
Paragraph
5
Paragraph
6
Paragraph 7
Paragraph
8
Paragraph
9
Paragraph

FCPr
o
Cuts

FCPro

AS EG1 THRILLER
MATCH CUTS
A2 EG1.1 MV

Cuts

BASE TRACKS/
JUMP CUTS

FCPro

AS EG2
THRILLER

Special
effects

FCPro
Special
effects

STPro
Nondiagetic
sound

LiveT
titles

Pshop
Image
manipulati
on

Pshop
Special
effects

A2 EG1.2 MV
Lip Synch

DESAT-URATION

A2 EG2.1 MV
COLOUR
GRADING

AS EG3 THRILLER
AS EG4 THRILLER

A2 EG2.2 MV
GREEN SCREEN

A Comparative Essay

Paragraph
3

Intro define term / establish skills before Media course / state productions you have
produced for AS and A2

A2 EG5
DP/AD
cropping
A2 EG6 AP /
AD
layers

Conclusion reflect on the main skills you have developed from AS to A2 and evaluate how
important developing the skill has been to your work at AS and A2

Practice Essay Writing

Using the plan that you have made with your
notes:
Take a past exam question for each skill area
Write out an essay following the structure you have
made with your notes
You MUST ADD THE EVALUATION sentence (so point 3 on
the paragraph triangle) at the end of every paragraph if
you havent done this in your notes

Give yourself as long as you need to write the

essay
At 30 mins draw a line on the paper to show where you
got to

AND REMEMBERthe need for

triangulation

What MUST you show in your essay?

Clear structure
Progression and development in the skill the question
asks about
A range of examples of:
Different elements of the skill
Examples from your AS coursework
Examples from your A2 coursework INCLUDING ancillary work

Evaluate how successful you have been in:

using the skill
How your use of each element helped the outcome of your
products (i.e. made them good / successful etc)

WRITE MORE THAN 3 SIDES!

Practicing timed writing

When youre happy with your essay
structure and the way you are using
your content
Set yourself 30 mins
Use notes for reference
Stop at 30 mins & see how far youve
got
Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat!!!!

GOOD
LUCK