1. +
Theories for Questions 1a
and 1b
What to pick and why

2. +
Petesmediablog.blogspot.com
 This is the chief examiners blog.
 Tips for EVERY question can be found here
 Our blogs
 http://mrsmitha2musicvideo.blogspot.com/
 http://smithlcmedia.blogspot.com/
 http://lccollectiveidentity.blogspot.com/

3. +
Question 1a
 Will be a combination of
 Creativity
 Research and Planning
 Real Media Conventions
 Digital Technology
 Post production

4. +
Past Questions
 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 examples in your
answer to show how these skills developed over time.
(Jan 2010)
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.
(June 2010)
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 developed over
time. (Jan 2011)

5. +
Past Questions
 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. (June 2011)
 Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real media
texts informed your own creative media practice. Refer to a
range of examples in your answer to show how these skills
developed over time. (Jan 2012)

6. +
Past Questions
 Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in post
production and how these decisions made a difference to the
final outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to
show how these skills developed over time (June 2012)
 Explain how your research and planning skills developed over
time and contributed to your media production outcomes. Refer
to a range of examples in your answer. (Jan 2013)

7. +
Top Tip – From the examiner
 You only have half an hour for the question and you really need
to make the most of that time by quickly moving from
description (so the reader knows what you did) to
analysis/evaluation/reflection, so he/she starts to understand
what you learnt from it.
 Final tips: you need some practice- this is very hard to do
without it! Try to write an essay on each of the areas, or at the
very least doing a detailed plan with lots of examples. The fact
that it is a 30 minute essay makes it very unusual, so you need
to be able to tailor your writing to that length- a tough task!

8. +
Creativity – matching the debate to
an area
"A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few
but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones 1993)
post production research and planning
"The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997)
media conventions, post production, digital technology
"Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three
elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty
into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate
the innovation." (Csikszentmihalyi 1996)
"There is no absolute judgement [on creativity] All judgements are
comparisons of one thing with another." (Donald Larning)
media conventions

9. +
Real Media Conventions
Knowing what ‘real’ texts include and knowing why you used
them. For this, it is worth making a list for each project you
have worked on and categorising them by medium so that
you don’t repeat yourself
Prelim Mag – Music Mag – Music Video – Digi Pack – Poster
Or
Continuity exercise – film opening – Music Video – Digi Pack
- Poster

10. +
Key basic terminology – magazines
(useful for poster)
Masthead: The title of the magazine or newspaper. It is usually
placed at the top of the front cover for display purposes
Cover lines : Information about major articles given on the front
page of a magazine
Plug: Information about the contents of a magazine or newspaper
given on the front cover
Left-side third: A lot of important information designed to attract
potential readers is placed in the left-hand side vertical third of the
front cover page. This is in case the magazine is displayed in a
horizontal shelving system rather than a vertical one.

11. +
Section 1b – analyzing your text
against theory
Make sure you have a line of argument and plenty of examples to
back them up.
Audience
Genre
Narrative
Representation
Media Language

12. +
Past Questions
Analyse media representation in one of your coursework
productions.
(Jan 2010)
Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre.
(June 2010)
Apply theories of narrative to one of your coursework
productions. (Jan 2011)
Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the
concept of audience (June 2011)

13. +
Past Questions
Analyse media representation in one of your coursework
productions (Jan 2012)
Explain how meaning is constructed by the use of media
language in one of your coursework productions. (June 2012)
Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the
concept of narrative. (Jan 2013)

14. +
What’s been been asked?
Representation x 2
Genre
Narrative x 2
Audience
Media Language

15. +
Audience
 Who was your product aimed at?
(revise using your blog and uktribes)
 How did you target this audience?
(think uses and gratifications, what did you include to appeal to
them?)
 What was their reaction?
(prefered, oppositional and negotiated)

16. +
Media Language
Difficult as it’s a bit catch all BUT focus on technical features
 Editing
 Camera work
 Page layouts (magazine or poster)
 Fonts (magazine or poster)
These elements are used to tell a ‘story’. You’ll need to revise
Music Video theory.

17. +
Media Language - Basic Music Video stuff
Tempo of music drives the editing.
Genre might be reflected in types of mise-en-
scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
Camerawork impacts meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all
play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate).
Editing is done in fast cuts, rendering many of the images impossible to
grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing (repeatability).
Digital effects often enhance editing, which manipulates the the original
images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience.

18. +
Media Language
Slightly more advanced – Andrew Goodwin
Illustrate: Images used to represent the meanings of the lyrics
and genre (this is the most common feature of a music video) this
is very often literal.
Disjuncture: When the meaning of the song is completely
ignored
Amplify: Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly
shown throughout the video and shown to the audience (basically
repetition).
You MUST link these elements to the basic technical elements.