Revision

How to write an answer

http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/how-to-do-exam-answer.html

Chief Examiner feedback 2016

Stronger responses devoted equal time to AS and A2 productions (and other media production work if applicable) and clearly signposted progress over time throughout the answer. The distinction between general research and planning, production techniques and / or use of audience feedback and the strategic adoption or subversion of media conventions was the key distinguishing feature of level 4 answers. Top level answers also featured a range of specific textual examples at the ‘micro’ level rather than broad genre traits or the more obvious end of the scale of audience expectations. The strongest answers drew conclusions from carefully- chosen examples from real media texts and explained how these informed decisions made. Many candidates chose to point out the value of research and planning at the broader level but failed to explain examples in any detail. Most candidates provided evidence of the progression from AS to Advanced but the higher marked responses gave specific examples linked to production outcomes. An omission in many level 2 answers was the link to media production outcomes. Candidates in this category would describe research or planning that had been undertaken, but with little sense of what impact this had had on the productions themselves or the decisions they had made. 

Final revision

Chief Examiner Report

examiners-report-june from Nicola Naisbett

Question 1a How to Structure an Answer

The good news is that you can prepare an answer that should score well.
The better news is that you can follow the same structure for any of the questions that might be set.
Follow the advice in these slides.

If you want a copy of this presentation in your blog, click here and embed it.

Research and Planning - essay plan outline

Using Real Media Conventions

Post Production

POST PRODUCTION - everything you did once your had your footage / photographs.

Consider the features of the post-production software that you made use of. Reflect on the effectiveness of your use of it. What benefits did it bring to your production? Were were your skills lacking in any area? What did you do to develop these?

Did you engage in additional research during this phase? What was the benefit?

Did you seek feedback on rough cuts? Did you create more rough cuts as you progressed at A2 than at AS? Why? What did you learn?

Summarise in bullet points the development of your skills in the post-production phases of AS and A2. Reflect upon the skills you developed and how the products that you made benefitted from this.

Spend 30 minutes writing a response to the following:

 "Describe how your skills in post-production informed your own creative media practice. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time."

Follow the previously suggested structure for the

• introduction (3 sentences), 
• body of the answer (AS examples > A2 examples, PDQ points) and 
• conclusion (be reflective, consider bigger questions).

For this answer you should not follow the pre-production, production, post-production model. You could however assess whether you made more of a creative difference to your products at the post-production stage as opposed to the earlier two.

Sample answers for reference

Level 4 q1a & q1b





low Level 4 q1a & q1b

Mark Scheme for Section Question 1a

Link to this Google document

Digital Technology - A2 Exam Session Part 2

Part 1 (15 minutes): Read through the exemplar answer on digital technology and the examiner response.


20/25 mark answer https://netherhallmediastudies.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/g325-section-a-january-2011-i.pdf


Part 2 (30 minutes): Prepping your response


1) Start with a list of all the digital technology you have used since the beginning of AS. Think about EVERYTHING.

• Digital cameras, both video and stills. An iMac, another computer, an iPad or tablet, your mobile.
• Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, InDesign.
• Wix, Vimeo, YouTube, Prezi, Slideshare, Blogger etc. 

What's different about these 3 groups?
Did you use any other forms of digital technology?


2) Now describe what your knowledge of digital technology was at the start of AS. Tell us how you felt about using it, what you did know and what you didn’t. How did you develop knowledge and skills? Workshops, study days, tutorials?


Part 3 (30 minutes): Prepping your response


Use the A3 paper and create a poster / mindmap / timeline for each piece of technology that you encountered or create a post-it note video using your phone and upload it to YouTube.


3) Discuss how you USED it from the AS Prelim right through to the A2 Music Video. Was your use of it exactly the same from AS to A2? (Hopefully not!) Did the use of digital technology help you when planning your productions? How did you get better at using it? What impact did it have on your work (how was your A2 work better and how did it have better production values?)


You can't discuss every single feature so pick out the ones that had the biggest impact.


Part 4 (30 minutes): Writing a response


Now have a go at writing up a response. Go back to the exemplar if needed.

A2 Exam session Introduction to exam question 1a (part 1 - 1 hour)

Introduction from nicolanais

TASK: Create a document (whatever form you prefer) which reflects upon your skills development, broadly, during your AS and A2 productions. Refer to induction activities, skills development activities, preliminary task, main task, A2 fortnight (re-creation activities), music video workshop, A2 skills activities and A2 production

Consider the following questions;

1.What production activities have you done?

2.What digital technology have you used?

3.In what ways can the work you have done be described as creative?

4.What different forms of research did you do?

5.What conventions of real media did you need to know about?

6.What do you understand by ‘post-production’ in your work?