a2 Exam Guide Section A

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A2 EXAM GUIDE SECTION A


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SECTION A - THEORETICAL EVALUATION OF PRODUCTIONS

Question 1

A question that requires students to describe and evaluate the development oftheir skills over the course of their AS Production work to their A2 Productionwork.

The question will ask students to focus their answer on ONE OR TWO of thefollowing issues:

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

Candidates can also choose to discuss media products they have made outsideof school during these two years.

On the following pages is a detailed breakdown of things you could discuss foreach of the above 5 topics.

The sections highlighted in green are the most important to include if you getthat question


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Digital Technology how your skills have progressed and how they helpedyou 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 recordof all our coursework . We had no real experience of blogging prior to this etc then at

A2 we developed our skills with blogger

This gave us more autonomy over our own work and helped us take more responsibilityfor all the research and planning

Intro: Digital technologies have a had a massive influence on media production over thelast few years and since you started in Year 12 you have learned a massive amount abouthow to use them and what the benefits are of using them. They in turn have had a massive

impact on the quality of your finished products.

Development with Adobe Premiere Had zero experience at the beginning and have nowmoved 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 peoplethan other websites. You could have used this to gather audience research, upload yourvideo and ask for feedback etc.. Be specific Give an example of something you did usingfacbook / twitter / whatsapp etc

You Tube Allows you to communicate with a far wider network of people than otherwebsites. Allowed you to research existing opening sequences and music videos.. youuploaded your opening sequences and used the feedback / comments that people posted tohelp you improve when it came to your A2 productions etc.. Enabled you to post your ownvideo to a massive audience. Be specific Give example of real video you looked at, realcomment you got etc..

Digital Cameras Never used before. Struggled initially with holding steady shots, framingetc.. But they allow instant playback, LCD screen, small, portable (in comparison to largerolder bulkier cameras) etc. Allowed you to film in small spaces, to easily travel all overLondon to film, to film something and view it straight away to check if was ok. Now caneasily film a variety of shot types.

Photoshop/Fireworks (you used to use Word and Powerpoint etc) Photoshop allowsmanipulation of images, effects, colours, cropping, layering images and words. Be specific What did YOUR GROUP do on Photoshop?


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Other technologies you could mention include : slideshare , powtoon, pixl, Blogging , Prezzi,Internet

Conclusion: Digital Technology has enabled you (a consumer of media) to become aproducer that can not only make a higher quality media product, but edit it and distribute itto a wide audience..

To get A & B grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not just DESCRIBINGhow your skills developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATEyou 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 technologyand explain how it helped you

Technology How it helped us

At AS we used Premiere Pro to

At A2 we used Premiere Pro in a differentway

At AS we used Facebook..


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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 differentway


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Conclusion

Certain Restraints on your creativity in place from exam board - you HAD to make a musicvideo, 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 researchand planning, being creative was impossible. You needed a balance of organised ANDcreative people in a group to be successful.

You cant just BE creative. Often it is a learning process where you start by being told whatto do, then you try doing things on your own and then you end up being confident andskilled enough to experiment which leads to creativity. You have to make mistakes at firstto be creative.

To get A & B grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not just DESCRIBINGhow your creativity developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATE part. ToEVALUATE 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 ideasby

At A2 we were more creative coming up with


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ideas by

At AS we were creative choosing locationsby..

At A2 we were more creative choosinglocations by

At AS we chose costumes by

At A2 we were more creative with ourcostumes by

At AS we copied conventions of the genre forexample..


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At A2 we were more creative with theconventions for example..

At AS we used basic editing techniques suchas..

At A2 we were more creative with our editingfor example


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Research & Planning - how your skills have progressed and how they helpedyou 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 madeyour production work develop in terms of quality.

Audience questionnaires allowed you to find out who your target audience was, whatthey wanted, what they liked etc.. Be specific, what did you find out from yourquestionnaires? How did you improve your use of questionnaires at A2? Asked betterpeople to complete them? Wrote better, more focused questions? Qualitative andQuantitative 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 thebeginning 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 rightquestions 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 mainlydescriptive, as you simply watched the opening sequences on You Tube / DVDs anddescribed 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 intiny detail, commenting on colour, camera angle, shot size etc.. Be specific with what realtexts you looked at and what you learned from them. You now watch a wider variety oftexts (not just famous ones) and also watched student made work which helped you seewhat was possible on zero budget with school equipment.

Storyboarding / Shotlists Never done storyboarding before A-Level.. First storyboards atAS tended to be simple, with mainly pictures, and very little shot description or editinginformation. 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 toshoot (useful if someone is absent) and helps you to focus on getting particular shots ratherthan 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 youhave learned to check for other aspects such as noise levels, power points to plug inequipment, 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


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right people for the role, hold auditions, do test shots, try them out on camera to see if theycan act etc.. be specific with real casting issues you had

Prelim The prelim in Year 12 he lped you to develop skills you didnt have before such asframing, different angles, 180 degree rule etc.. For music videos you did a prelim task thatinvolved shooting material for a quick song and then re-editing it for a slow song. Some ofyou 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 mightyou have encountered?

Conclusion : Research & planning skills have changed you from a producer of basic mediatexts, into a producer of complex quality media texts. R&P skills are essential to makingsomeone 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 DESCRIBINGhow your research and planning developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATEpart. 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

At A2 we improved our use of questionnairesby


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At AS we used focus groups to

At A2 we improved our use of focus groupsby

At AS we examined real opening sequencessuch as / in order to

At A2 we improved our research / analysis ofreal texts by

At AS we used storyboards for


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Post Production - how your skills have progressed and how they helped youin 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 beginningand have now moved from basic editing to more complex editing, effects, transitions, soundmanipulation. Quick to upload so something can be filmed, uploaded and edited in a matterof 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 youused 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 allowsmanipulation of images, effects, colours, cropping, layering images and words - How didthis 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 toYou Tube and left it there. At A2, after editing you uploaded your opening sequences youused the feedback / comments that people posted to help you improve it further and makemultiple improvements.. be specific with real comments you got and how this helpedyour post production

After Effects had zero experience. Some of you then learned how to use this in your owntime, practised effects etc.. discuss how this helped make your work better

Conclusion : Your post production skills have developed hugely and has enabled you to takea 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 DESCRIBINGhow your post production skills developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATEpart. 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


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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 How it helped us

At AS we used Final Cut Express / i-Movie to..

At A2 we improved our editing skills on FinalCut by

At AS we used the basic text creator tool onFinal Cut to..

At A2 we improved our use text by

At AS we knew this about Photoshop

At A2 we improved our understanding of


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Photoshop by

At AS we got feedback after the productionby..

At A2 we improved post production feedbackby

Use of Real media Conventions

Conventions are the common features of a particular type of media or a particular genre.

Introductio n Over the two year course you have learned a lot about, not just what theconventions of particular forms and genres are, but how to use them in creative ways inyour own work

Main:

Prelim task you included different types of camera shot, and editing techniques. But didyou make the genre clear of what you were doing? Did you colour grade it? Did youchange the sound levels or add sound / editing effects? Probably not.. So your use ofconventions was very limited. Although you could probably name a few conventions ofhorror / action etc you didnt actually know how to use them in your work yet. At A2 youwere more confident with your technical abilities which meant you could use the prelimtask to experiment with conventions of the genre give example


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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 toidentify the conventions? Then show development by discussing A2 What did you dodifferently 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 oftenbelong to 2 or more ge nres and many genres of music have very few semantic elements(eg visual conventions). Discuss some videos you watched and identify what you thoughtthe main conventions of your genre were. How did using media theory to identifyconventions help you at A2?

Camera At AS, what camera shots / movements did you use that are conventional ofhorror films? For A2, give an example of how you used conventional camera work for musicvideos 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 dodifferently?

Mise-En-Scene At AS, what mise-en-scene did you use that was conventional of horrorfilms? (costumes, locations, colours etc) and what effect might these have had on theaudience? At A2, give some examples of mise-en-scene you chose that was conventional ofyour genre. You could discuss how at A2 your mise-en-scene was likely to be more creativebecause of how you have developed your sense of how elements can communicatemeaning to an audience. Where as AS was about what was convenient and easy, at A2, youdeliberately chose locations and costumes that were more planned to signify a meaning,more creative etc. Give an exampl e of how you pushed yourself with your mise -en-sceneat 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 youused them. At A2, give some examples of editing you chose that was conventional of yourgenre. You could discuss how at A2 your editing HAD to be more creative as when youresearched videos (give example) you discovered that most videos have fast paced shotslasting 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 pushedyourself with your editing at A2? What did you do diffe rently?

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 whyyou used them. At A2, you were very restricted with your use of sound as most of you justused whatever came on the music track itself. However this forced you to become morecreative. If you did add sound / dialogue on, then give an example of where you did this andwhy. 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


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complete matched, at the right pace etc. Give example of how you did this or problems youencountered and how you solved them. ]

Conclusion At AS, you were still learning about the concept of genre, and felt as thoughconventions were very much easily identifiable and set in stone. Many of you ensured thatyou followed lots of your genres conventions in your AS work. However by the time youreached 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 andchallenge conventions of your genre, pushing the boundaries throughout which impactedyour 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) andevaluate 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 toconsider.


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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 tofind 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 knowthis?

How to get A&B Grades

To gain an A or a B grade you really need to try and incorporate theories into the abovepoints. Try and use some of the theories below (incorporating them throughout rather thanhaving 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 MUSIC VIDEO GENRE

THEORIES

GENERAL GENRE THEORIES

Steve Neale thinks that film genres areconstantly changing and evolving andare not set in stone. He thinks thereare 5 main stages in film genres.Which stage does your film fit into?Explain why.

The form finding itself (Psycho) The classic (Halloween) Stretching the boundaries of thegenre (Nightmare on Elm Street)

Andrew Goodwin Thinksthat music videos follow thefollowing conventions:

Conventions depend onthe genre of the music

Star persona is importantand companies use close

ups to sell them to the

Robert Stam suggests genre is hard todefine, doesnt really exist and is just aconcept made up by theorists and critics.Do you agree? Give examples from yourwork that suggests that genre either IS orISNT easy to define

Rick Altman says that the way we define


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Parody (Scary Movie) Homage (Scream)

audience

Voyeuristic images areused to attract anaudience

They often containintertextual references toother media

There is a link between thelyrics and the visuals

There is a link between thevisuals and the music /pace etc

a genre is by two main things:

Semantic Elements (eg signs such asknives, blood, dark colours, eeriemusic). He thinks these elements

are easier for audiences to recogniseand identify

Syntactic elements (includesTHEMES such as fear, revenge, rageas well as plots such as PLOTS suchas group go on trip, one by one theydie, last girl survives and kills killer)He thinks these elements are moresubtle and harder to recognise.

Identify semantic and syntacticelements in your video that might helpaudiences identify the genre of yourfilm / music video

Laura Mulvey - Suggests that women inall media are objectified. She is afeminist who believes that women areoften shown through the ideas of men(male gaze) and are seen in voyeuristicways. She also thinks that women areseen in one of either two ways thevirgin character or a whorecharacter. This is the virgin / whoredichotomy


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AUDIENCE

To get a C/D grade

Intro: Why is it important / essential for a media product like a film or a music video toappeal to an audience?

Who was your target audience for your production? Gender, age, class, hobbies and mediainterests. 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 aboutwhat they wanted? To get the A&B grades, dont just describe what they wanted, try andcomment 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 realaudience react to your product? Did the y 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 abovepoints. Try and use SMALL portions of SOME of the theories below (incorporating themthroughout rather than having a whole separate section for them.)

Theorist How I will apply it to my text

Richard Dyer thinks that audiences want mediaproducts that offer them Utopian Solutions totheir problems


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Blumler & katz Think that audiences wantmedia products that gratify particular needs(Uses & gratifications) eg escape, entertainmentetc

Frankfurt School Hypodermic needle theory.Think audiences might be directly influenced by

media products

Stuart Hall Encoding and Decoding tests ANDPreferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.Thinks audiences will react in different ways tomedia products.

Pluralists think that the media operates on asupply and demand basis and so the media mustgive the audience what it wants in order tosurvive and be successful.

Tajfel & Turner intergroup discriminationtheory. Think that audiences enjoy watchingtexts where they can feel superior to thecharacters in terms of money, class, success etc..


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Andrew Goodwin believes that audiences areoften played in the position of a voyeur withinmusic videos (watching someone). He alsobelieves that the use of close ups is important to

help the audience appreciate the star personaof the lead singer

Laura Mulvey believes the media texts oftenencourage the audience to objectify women andlook 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 moreof 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/syou will be analysing the representation of

Main:

AGES - How does your video construct a representation of different ages? considercostumes, props, location, body language, facial expression, camera, sound, editing

ETHNICITY - What about different ethnicities? consider costumes, props, location, bodylanguage, 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, ethnicityetc?)

Have you challenged stereotypes in your production and why? (see above)

Conclusion: Why did you create these specific representations? What effect might theyhave 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 abovepoints. Try and use some of the theories below (incorporating them throughout rather thanhaving a whole separate sections for them.)

Theorist Theory What to write about

Levi Strauss said that media texts often represent characters in terms of binaryopposites such as good vs evil, weak vs strong. Did you do this? Ifso how and why? What effects might it have on the story, theaudience etc..

Laura Mulvey Believes that women are often objectified in the media. She saysthey 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 forwomen in the media. Either the virgin character or the whore


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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 didyou 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/ music video?

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 itimportant?

Conclusion: Explain what audiences thought of your narrative. Was it clear? Could it havebeen better? How?

Techniques I used What it signified about the narrative of my text

Camera:

Mise-En-Scene:

Editing:


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Sound:

To get A&B Grades

Theorist Theory what to write about

Todorov thinks there are several main stages to a complete narrative, recognisable in anystory

Equilibrium Disruption Resolution Equilibrium

Explain whether you included these stages and where. Did you have them in thesame order? If not, why not? What was the benefit of starting with the disruptionfor 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 yourtext and explain why you think they might be important to include

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

Unrestricted narration where information is given out in as much detailas possible with very little restrictions so the narrative is clear. Audiences


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often know more than the characters so we know who the killer is, orwhere he is. If you used this technique, explain where and why is itengaging 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 partsof the narrative. If you used this technique, explain where and why this isengaging for an audience

Vladimir Propp Propps theory of narrative suggests that texts NEED particular characters todevelop the narrative

Hero Villain Princess Donor / Helper Dispatcher

If you included any of these characters, how did you make it clear who was thehero / villain etc? Why does it engage an audience if they either DO know who theyare or DONT know who they are?

He also thinks there are particular parts of a narrative that always happen eg herogets a quest, someone is hurt, hero battles the villain etc. If you included any ofthese things, why do you think audiences enjoy seeing them?

Andrew Goodwin thinks that in music videos the narrative often links to the lyrics and the tempo ofthe music.. How did you do this?

Allan Cameron thinks there are several different types of more unusual narrative. If you includedany of these, explain where, and then explain why you included them.

Anachronic Narrative includes regular flashback and flashforwards, withall different narrative parts being just as important. Such as Pulp Fiction,Memento

Forking Path narrative shows two different outcomes that are differentonly 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. Egdifferent characters lives, linked only by the fact that they are all involved inone incident

Split Screen Narratives Different stories, linked by the fact that they are


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shown on screen at the same time.


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Editing:

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 / RichardDyer

Uses & Gratifications theory / Utopian Solutions explaining how your useof MEDIA LANGUAGE offers these to an audience

Vladimir Propp Propps Character theory how your MEDIA LANGUAGE helps audiencesidentify particular characters as heros / villains etc


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Stuart Hall Explain that your decision to use the MEDIA LANGUAGE you chose was tocreate a preferred reading for your text. But that audiences are used toEncoding and Decoding tests AND could take a negotiated or oppositionalreading

Rick Altman Explain how you used MEDIA LANGUAGE to include Semantic Elements(eg signs such as knives, blood, dark colours, eerie music) or to signifySyntactic elements (eg themes like love, revenge).


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Documents

a2 Exam Guide Section A