This document provides guidance for students preparing for Section A, Question 1a of the G325 Critical Perspectives in Media exam. It breaks down the question, explains how it is marked, and provides examples of potential questions focused on skills development. Key points: - The question is worth 25 marks and requires students to evaluate their skills development over their AS and A2 coursework. - Answers are marked on explanation/analysis (20 marks), examples (20 marks), and terminology (10 marks). - Students should describe skills growth in areas like research, technology use, conventions, and more, using specific examples from their work. - Strong answers will critically reflect and evaluate skills growth over time, not just describe

1. G325 – Critical Perspectives in
Media
Section A , Question 1a – Skills
Evaluation of Production

2. Thursday 16th
April
Outcomes:
1. To understand what to expect in Section A Qu 1a of
the exam
2. To consider how you have developed your skills
over the course of your A-level

3. Breakdown of Section A question 1a
• Section A, question 1a of the A2 exam is
worth 25 marks
• You will be evaluating your AS and A2
coursework in terms of the skills you have
developed over the 2 years
• You will have 30mins to answer this
question

4. How is it marked?
20 marks - Explanation, analysis, argument
20 marks – Examples
10 marks - Terminology

5. Section A: Skills Evaluation of
Production
Question 1(a)
describe and evaluate your skills development over the course
of your production work – this can include the preliminary
tasks, your actual c/w, ancillary tasks and any other pieces you
have created in the past year.
In the exam 1 or more of the following areas will be selected for
you to write about:
• Digital Technology
• Creativity
• Research and planning
• Post-production
• Using conventions from real media texts

6. Jan 2010
June 2010
Jan 2011
June 2011
Jan 2012
1) Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media
production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision
making. Refer to a range of example in your answer to show how these
skills developed over time
2) Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by research
into real media texts and how your ability to use such research for
production developed over time
3) Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for
media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your
creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to
show how these skills.
4) Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media
influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range
of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed
over time.
5) Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real media texts informed
your own creative practise. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to
show how these skills have been developed over time.

7. What is it about?
• What did you do?
• How did you do it?
• How did your skills develop?
• All supported with specific examples
• In relation to the area(s) in question

8. Critical Reflection
• Reflective practice is a skill that is much sought
after and is highly regarded by universities and
employers. This goes beyond evaluations of the
outcomes; we are not simply thinking about
strengths and weaknesses.
• This is probably the most difficult part of the A2
course.

9. Section A: Skills Evaluation of
Production
• There is some cross over between the 5 areas
e.g. for “Research and Planning” you had to
research other film openings or music videos,
which clearly links to “Using conventions
from real media texts”.

10. Suggested structure (paragraph
summary – see full plan)
1. Introduction – give an overall answer and outline what you
did at AS and A2 and what you used. What will you do in the
essay?
2. Pre-production – the impact of technology on your planning
and preparation stages.
3. Production – your skills with the equipment and how they
developed between AS and A2.
4. Post-production – how digital technology helped create
meaning in your constructions, the development of your
skills.
5. Conclusion – round up your learning and present pros and
cons of the technological decisions you made.

11. Planning – start with a list
• In two columns, make a list of all the digital
technology you used at AS and A2.
• Next, again in two columns, list the pros and
cons of each piece of technology. Start with
the ones you used in both.
• Answer: how would you improve your AS
work if you had a chance to do it again with
your current knowledge of the technology?

12. Examples
To get at least a C, you need to give a range of
specific examples. The study guide gives you
some general ideas of the kinds of things to talk
about for this question option, but it must be
applied to your own constructions.
Answer – what are you proudest of in your
constructions, in terms of technological
achievement, and why? (will most likely be
something you couldn’t do at AS, but managed
at A2).

13. Example examples (!)
From a 20 mark response: During
the making of our thriller film, we
found a pre-recorded track that
sounded eerie to create tension for
our audience. Using Garageband, we
looped it throughout the opening
until it reached the point where
someone was going to be attacked,
at which point we incorporated a
heartbeat effect, which created
tension in the sense that the
audience wondered if it was the
heroine’s heart and whether it
would continue beating.
From a 17 mark response: At A2, I
utilised the sound layers in Final Cut,
having only made use of video layers
as AS. By doing this, I was able to
create and merge a sound effect of
waves crashing with the non-diegetic
music of my artist.
These responses are obviously very
different: one considers the impact of
the technology on the audience. The
key thing is that the 20 mark (B)
response uses evaluation whereas the
17 mark (C) response is descriptive.

14. How to evaluate (A/B grade)
Refer to the study guide, page 5.
Evaluation means considering the following about your
example:
•How important the technology was
•Why it was important
•The effect it had on the audience for the final work
•How it benefitted you
Add the response to these prompts to your example.
Then complete the chart on pages 5/6.

15. Homework – for Tuesday 17th
• Read through the given 1a response from a
student from last year (Amazon Rose).
• Use the mark scheme provided to annotate
the response as a teacher would, identifying
where the marks came from.
• Finish with a summative comment suggesting
how it could be improved to a A-grade
standard. Be very specific about it!