g325 critical perspectives in media

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G325 Critical Perspectives

in Media

Section A

Theoretical

Evaluation of

Production

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Section A

Theoretical Evaluation of Production

Examination

2 Hours

1 Hour on each section

Candidates are required to answer two compulsory questions in Section A

30 mins each question Section A

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in Media

Question 1a

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Section A


Section A

Question 1a To describe and evaluate the skills development over the

course of the production work from the Thriller to the Music

Video

+Section A


You must consider the whole of your practical work:

The preliminary task at AS (the continuity sequence)

The Thriller

The Music Video

The DVD advert and digipak

+Section A


It can also include things you have produced outside the

course such as production work in:

Film studies

Art

Photography

Or even things made for fun on Youtube

+Question 1a

How have you developed as a maker of media products across

the scope of your practical work?

What skills have you developed?

What have you learnt?

+Question 1a

The skills development needs to be adapted to one or two of

the following production practices:

Digital technology

Creativity

Research and planning

Post-production (after filming – including, editing, sound,

titles, blog)

Using conventions from real media texts

+Question 1a

You have considered the following areas in your Blog

evaluations:

Digital technology

Research and planning

Post-production (editing)

Using conventions from real media texts

+Question 1a

However, Creativity is a new area to consider. Ask yourself the

following questions:

How creative have you been?

Would it have been more creative to have a free choice of

tasks?

Did the set tasks help you to be creative?

+Question 1a

Were you restricted too much by the task?

Did the task free you to be creative within the boundaries of the

task?

Where does creativity come from?

And finally. What does creativity mean?

Try applying all these questions to your practical coursework.

+Definition of creativity

Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize

ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving

problems, communicating with others, and entertaining

ourselves and others.

Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken


Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative:

need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation

need to communicate ideas and values

need to solve problems


In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in

new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things,

you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new

alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of

alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of

those alternatives. the ability to generate alternatives or to see

things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other,

more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility,

tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of

things heretofore unknown

+Question 1a

A good place to begin is by creating a timeline from September

in Year 12 showing what you done, what you have learnt and

what skills you have developed. E.g.:

Sept – film/media language

Oct – set up blog

Nov – preliminary task etc

+Question 1a

How to answer Question 1a

1. Plan and prepare

Be prepared to write about everything you have done

Remember you only have half an hour

You will be asked to write about one or two of the production

practices

+Question 1a

Identify examples from your coursework which you can adapt

to different questions

Consider how you are going to cover the breadth of your work

in only 30 minutes

+Question 1a

2. Consider the mark scheme

10 marks for explanation, analysis and argument

10 marks for use of examples

5 marks for use of terminology (media language)

Even a brilliant piece of argument can only score 10 marks

if not backed up by examples and terminology

+Question 1a

3. Think about where you are at the end of the course

What have you learnt in all the areas of the course?

Don’t just give an account of what you have done but also

reflect upon it in the light of all your learning

+Example Question 1a

In your experience, how has your creativity developed through

using digital technology to complete your productions?

Introduction

Explain the tasks you have done across the two years of the

course and mention anything made outside the course that

might be relevant.


Main paragraphs

Start by writing about the technology you have used with some

reflections on how you got to grips with it initially

Discuss – your editing package, the camera, Blogger, YouTube,

Photoshop, Wordle, Picnik, the HD Digital cameras, the still

digital cameras and so on


How easy is it to use the technology?

How did you use the technology in particular tasks?

Creativity – what does it mean to you?

Where have your ideas about creativity come from?

What do other people say about what creativity might mean?


How have the tasks themselves encouraged creativity?

Refer to examples from what you have done?

Conclusion

Try to bring together these strands – technology and creativity

– to answer the question


How has the technology allowed you to develop other skills?

Such as:

Teamwork

Organisation

Planning

Research

Negotiation

Technological confidence


Final paragraph of conclusion

Digital technology has given media consumers the opportunity

to become media producers too (Web 2.0) – particularly via

web distribution, and that this, in turn, has allowed creative

comment in wider communities such as YouTube, Twitter and

Facebook

+Section A


Example Questions

1(a) ‘Digital technology turns media consumers into media

producers’. In your own experience how has your creativity

developed through using digital technology to complete

coursework productions?

+Section A


1(b) ‘Media texts rely on cultural experiences in order for

audiences to easily make sense of narratives’. Explain how you

used conventional and/or experimental narrative approaches in

one of your production pieces.

+Section A, Qu 1(a): Post-Production

QUESTION: In your experience how have your

post-production skills developed through

creating your productions?

Introduction



might be relevant.


Main paragraphs

Post-production is everything you do after the filming process

Start by writing about the technology you have used with some reflections on how you got to grips with it initially

For the preliminary task and thriller write about the process of editing in detail (using Final Cut Express, Adobe Premiere)

How much of your text was ‘created’ only in post-production?

How much of your footage ended up being unused or rejected and why?

How did you use sound and music? Did you use mobygratis.com or freeplaymusic.com etc to obtain copyright music? Did you add any sound effects?


Did you use a range of transitions? Dissolves, fades etc. Why? How?

Did you use effects? Black and white, slow-motion etc. Why? How?

What titles did you add? How and why?

After the editing was finished what did you do? Audience feedback, consider ideas around distribution and marketing – DVD, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter.

For the music video do the same, but there might be a lot more to say about the use of effects, e.g. pixellated effects, fast motion, mirror effects, titles etc

You also need to write about the advert and the digipak

Finally about the blog and what you added after the filming – inc. the evaluation and all the examples of technology (e.g. Slideshare, Animoto, Poplet etc) used


Conclusion

Again write about the technology you have used. What was easy? Difficult? What was effective? What worked/didn’t work?

How has the technology allowed you to develop other skills? Such as:

Teamwork, organisation, planning , research, negotiation, technological confidence

Write about how using digital technology has enabled you to become an effective media post-production producer (Web 2.0, user generated content), and that this in turn has allowed participation in wider communities such as Youtube, Facebookand Twitter

+Section A, Qu 1(a): Research and Planning

QUESTION: In your experience how has your

research and planning developed through

creating your productions?

Introduction



might be relevant.


Main paragraphs

Start by writing about the research about thrillers that you undertook and some reflections on how you got to grips with it initially

Consider the conventions of the genre

Films and directors you have looked at e.g. Alfred Hitchcock, ‘Shadow of a Doubt’, ‘North by Northwest’, ‘Rear Window’, ‘Vertigo’. The opening titles of ‘Seven’ (David Fincher)

Research into potential target audiences (surveys, questionnaires, interviews, Facebook, Vox Pops etc)

How did your research into institutions responsible for production influence your production work?


Next move onto planning. What did you do to plan your thriller? Initial ideas, treatment, shooting schedule, location sheet, shot list, risk assessment, costume and props sheet, contingency plan, storyboard, animatic, organisation of time and resources. How effective was your planning – how did it help you in the production stage?

Final research for the thriller was into the audience feedback – what did you do? What did you find out? Then, write about the research and planning for the music video, advert and digipak in the same way.

What did you learn from planning your first production that helped you to improve your planning for the second?

How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?

VERY IMPORTANT: How have you used digital technology in your research and planning?


Conclusion

Try to bring together these strands – research and planning – to

answer the question: what have you learnt from the process?

How has the technology allowed you to develop other skills? Such

as:

Teamwork, organisation, planning, research, negotiation,

technological confidence

Write about how using digital technology has enabled you to

become an effective media producer (Web 2.0, user generated

content), and that this in turn has allowed participation in wider

communities such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter

+Section A, Qu 1(a): Using conventions

from real media texts

QUESTION: In your experience how has your

understanding of conventions developed

through creating your productions?

Introduction



might be relevant.



Main paragraphs

Start by writing about the concept of genre. What is it? Why is it important?

Talk about the importance of genres for both audiences (easily recognised and understood) and institutions (as a mode of production – to target widest possible & specific audiences)

What research have you done into ‘real’ media texts? What did you find out? From this research what are the conventions of the thriller genre? Give examples from real films. How have you been influenced by producers/directors?

Think about Rick Altman’s Semantic (mise-en-scene)/Syntactic(narrative) approach to the conventions of a genre

How have you used these conventions in your own thriller?



Have you challenged the conventions of the genre? If so, how?

Is your work generic or postmodern, or both?

Then, consider the music video – what research did you undertake into the genre? What are the conventions of the genre?

Also, consider the advert and digipak – what research did you do? What are the conventions of these two forms?

How have you used these conventions in your music video, advert and digipak?

Have you challenged the conventions? If so, how?

To what extent have you used digital technology in your research into the conventions of the thriller/music video/advert/digipak?



Conclusion

How has the consideration of technology allowed you to develop other skills? Such as:

Teamwork, organisation, planning, research, negotiation, technological confidence

Write about how using digital technology has enabled you to become an effective researcher into the conventions of real media texts (Web 2.0, user generated content), and that this in turn has allowed participation in wider communities such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter

What have you learnt about using conventions from real media texts?

+


in Media

Question 1b

+G325 Critical Perspectives in Media

Question 1(b) requires that you select one of your media productions (either the Thriller or the Music Video)

You are then required to evaluate it in relation to one of the following media concepts:

+Question 1(b)

Genre

Narrative

Representation

Audience

Media Language

+Question 1(b)

In the examination the question will ask

you to consider your coursework in

relation to only ONE of these concepts

and there will be no choice given

You should choose to write about only

ONE of the pieces of coursework but

can also discuss the preliminary or

ancillary tasks

+Question 1(b)

Therefore, you must be prepared to write about each of the

concepts in relation to either of the pieces of coursework

For example:

The thriller and genre

The music video and audience

The thriller and narrative

and so on

+Question 1(b)

You are studying Postmodernism for Section B of the paper

and can include a postmodern consideration of your

coursework as part of your answer

The postmodern aspects of the music video are reflected in

narrative, genre, representation, audience and media language

For example – the narrative structure of a music video can be

viewed as being postmodern in that it borrows from other

videos or genres (film, television etc)

+Question 1(b)

It is important to not just apply the relevant theory (e.g.

narrative and the thriller) but also to consider the importance

and significance of the concept to the product

E.g. why is narrative so important to your thriller?

What does narrative tell us about the genre of the thriller?

What are the conventions of the thriller evident in your

coursework and why is this significant?

+Question 1(b)

The key is to consider the task as an opportunity to:

really reflect on how your chosen project actually works as a text

You must be prepared to be flexible

It would be a big mistake to pin your hopes on one particular concept coming up in the exam

In advance you should prepare answers for the five concept areas.

+Question 1(b)

What do we mean

by each of these

media concepts?

+The concepts

Genre

Consider the conventions of the genre

How does your production conform/use the conventions of the

genre?

How does it challenge/break these conventions?

Apply Rick Altman’s theory of genre

+The concepts

Narrative

How is time and space organised in your production?

Is it linear? Non-linear?

Does it contain enigmas? What are they?

Apply the theories:

Todorov / Propp / Levi-Strauss /Barthes /Three-Act

+The concepts

Representation

How are groups represented in your production?

Gender – Men/Women

Ethnicity – representation of ethnic

minorities

Sexuality – gay/straight

+The concepts

Age – old/young

Class

Regional identity

Disability

Also, consider applying Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze

+The concepts

Audience

Apply the theories of audience:

The effects model

Cultivation Theory

Two Step Flow Theory

The uses and gratifications model

Reception theory

Suture

Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze

How did you target your audience? What was your audience’s response (feedback)?

+The concepts

Media Language

How does your production communicate to audiences through

media language? Consider:

Camerawork

Mise-en-scene

Sound

Editing

+The Mark Scheme

The mark scheme for question 1(b) is organised in the same

way as for question 1(a)

The question is marked out of 25 marks

Explanation, analysis and argument are worth 10 marks per

question

Examples are worth 10 marks

Use of terminology is worth 5 marks

+Example Question

Explain how you used

conventional and/or

experimental narrative

approaches in one of your

production pieces?

+Example Question

How might you go about answering this question?

You will need to select the piece of coursework that best suits this question – either the thriller or the music video

For the purposes of this example lets consider that the music video is used

+Example Question

The question can then be answered as follows:

1. Make some general points about how music videos work and

that they don’t need to tell a story

2. Define the term narrative – how a story is organised

3. Sometimes music videos do tell a story – does yours?

Describe here what you decided to do with your music video

+Example Question

4. A brief account of the video, the artist, the genre of music

5. Consider the idea of structure and how you chose to organise the music video if not through a chronological narrative

6. Then consider to what extent a narrative structure appears in the video

+Example Question

Consider the following questions

7. What governs the beginning, middle and end? Is it the music? Or the performance? Or is there a story?

8. How have you played with time and space in the video?

9. How will the audience have understood it?

+Example Question

Apply the narrative theories:

10. Todorov – Equilibrium > Disruption > Resolution > New

Equilibrium

11. Propp – the 8 character types – Hero, villain, princess,

donor, father, dispatcher, false hero, helper

12. Levi-Strauss – a series of binary oppositions

13. Barthes – Open/closed/polysemic/enigma codes

14. Three Act Model – Set up/Confrontation/Climax

+Example Question

There is no single right answer here

Whatever you write will need to be justified and explained with close reference to your production

14. You will also need to consider it in relation to other examples that you have seen, to show how you either followed or broke conventions

+Example Question

15. The concepts can overlap – so you can also discuss genre with relation to narrative

16. This will also overlap with the concept of audience

17. Remember – it is your production work you will be writing about, so you should know about it!

+Section A, Qu 1(b): Genre

QUESTION Explain how you used genre in your ‘thriller’

production piece

The question can then be answered as follows:

Define the term genre

Make some general points about how the thriller genre

works

Describe here what you decided to do with your thriller.

What happens? What characters are involved? Setting?

etc


Consider the conventions of the thriller genre

How does your production conform/use the conventions of the genre?

How does it challenge/break these conventions?

Identify icongraphic/structural paradigms

Apply Rick Altman’s theory of genre

The Semantic approach – mise-en-scene. conventions

The Syntactic approach – narrative, situation, issues, themes

The Pragmatic approach – institution/audience


You should include the following theorists:

Daniel Chandler – genres create order

John Fiske – a way of categorising texts

Barry Keith Grant – hybridity and sub-genres

Rick Altman – genre and pleasure

Jason Mittell – genre and institutions


David Buckingham – genres and change

Steve Neale – genres and evolution, genres and audiences

David Bordwell – genres and themes

Genre and Uses and Gratifications – Deborah Grant

CONCLUSION

What have you learned about genre from your

coursework?

+Section A, Qu 1(b): Audiences

QUESTION: Analyse one of your pieces of

coursework (either the thriller or the music

video) in terms of audience. You should

consider:

Briefly describe what you have done in your

video. What it is about. Where you got the music

from.

Then write about the fact you planned your video

with audiences in mind.


Then write about the Text>Audience>Institution Model and how you cannot think about texts (the music video) independently of audiences and institutions – they are all inextricably linked.

Audience research before you made the video (surveys, questionnaires, interviews, etc)

The effects model (passive, hypodermic syringe, Bobo Doll – Albert Bandura)

The uses and gratifications model (Active, use text for own pleasure)


Reception theory (meaning encoded by producer

– dominant, negotiated, oppositional)

Two-step flow theory – using opinion leaders

Cultivation Theory

Suture – ‘stitched’ into dominant reading by

narrative, mise-en-scene, editing, music etc)

Laura Mulvey – the male gaze, the triple gaze,

agency, the object of erotic desire


The use of digital technology –Youtube/Facebook/Twitter/Blog/surveymonkey etc to widen access for audiences

Web 2.0 (user generated content, audiences empowered –become creators in own right)

Audience feedback – surveymonkey, questionnaires, interviews etc – who is the audience? (Gender, age, class, sexuality, ethnicity etc)

Marketing to audience – the advert, digipak

CONCLUSION: What have you learned?

+Section A, Qu 1(b): Media Language

QUESTION Analyse one of your pieces of coursework

(either the thriller or the music video) in terms of MEDIA

LANGUAGE. You should consider:

Briefly describe what you have done in your video. What it

is about and where you got the music from.

Compare it to other examples that you have seen, to show

how you either followed or challenged conventions

Then write about how you used the following in the video:


Camera Angle, Shot, Movement and Position

High, Low, Tilt

Long, Medium, Close-Up, Extreme Close-Up

Wide Shots

Over the Shoulder, two-shots

Crane

Zoom, reverse zoom

Point-of-view

Tracking, dolly

Pan

Steadicam

Rolling

Hand-held

Deep focus, pulling focus


EditingSpeed – long take/short take

Style - straight-cut, dissolve, fade, wipe, jump cut

Shot/reverse shot

Eyeline match

Action match

Montage

Slow motion

Graphic Match

Ellipsis and expansion of time


Sound

Diegetic/non-diegetic – soundtrack,

themes, ambient sound

Parallel/Contrapuntal

On-screen/off-screen

Sound effects

Sound bridges

Pace

Dialogue

Music


Mise-en-Scene

Setting/location

Props

Hair, make-up, costume

Positioning of characters in frame (deep-focus)

Body language/facial expressions

Colour – denotation/connotation

Lighting – high key/low key etc

Special effects – CGI, back projection, pyrotechnics etc

CONCLUSION: What have you learned?

+Section A, Qu 1(b): RepresentationRichard Dyer – Typography of Representation

Richard Dyer – The Typography of Representation

Richard Dyer describes the typography of representation as

consisting of:

1. Re-presentation, which consists essentially of media

language, the conventions that are used to represent the world

to the audience; “representation insists that there is a real

world, but that our perception of it always mediated by [the

media's selection]“

2. Being representative of, for example, “to what extent are

representations [of groups] typical of how those groups are in

society?”. In this, the use of stereotypes is very important.

+Section A, Qu 1(b): RepresentationRichard Dyer – Typography of Representation

3. Who is responsible for the representation “that is,

in the sense of speaking for and on behalf of”. in

this, we must consider how the institution creating a

media text influences representation.

4. What does the audience think is being

represented to them?

+Section A, Qu 1(b): Representation

Tessa Perkins Stereotypes

Stereotyping is not a simple process and can contain a number of assumptions.

Tessa Perkins identifies five such assumptions:

1. Stereotypes are not always negative eg the French are good cooks

2. They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful eg ‘Upper class twits’

3. They can be held about one’s own group

4. They are not always rigid and unchanging

5. They are not always false


QUESTION: Analyse one of your pieces of coursework (either

the thriller or the music video) in terms of REPRESENTATION.

You should consider:

Describe what happens in your video/thriller

What groups in society are represented in your production?

How are these groups represented in your production?

Are the depictions positive or negative?

Do they reinforce or challenge stereotypes?

Or are they archetypes (typical examples)? Generic types

(only found in certain genres)?

Does your coursework maintain or challenge hegemony?


The following are possible groups to write about:

Gender – Men/Women

Ethnicity – representation of ethnic minorities

Sexuality – gay/straight

Age – old/young

Class (upper/middle/working/under)

Regional identity (Northern/Scottish/Welsh/Irish etc)

Disability (as opposed to ‘able’ people)


All the above are examples of Levi-Strauss’ idea of BINARY OPPOSITIONS with a dominant group and a subordinate group. How is this evident in your coursework?

Genre – what are the conventional representations of characters in the genre e.g. Femme Fatale in the thriller

How is representation constructed in your production (camera, editing, sound, mise-en-scene)?

To what extent is the representation of the characters in your production postmodern?


Also, consider applying Laura Mulvey’s theory of

the male gaze - the gaze of the camera is the

male gaze, the triple gaze, agency, the object of

erotic desire

How did your audience respond to issues of

representation in your video (consider your

audience feedback)

CONCLUSION

What have you learned?

g325 critical perspectives in media

Education