QUESTION 2

This question will require students to select EITHER their AS

production OR their A2 production (whichever makes more
sense for the question) and evaluate 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 to consider.

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 to find 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 know this?

How to get A&B Grades

To gain an A or a B grade you really need to try and incorporate theories
into the above points. Try and use some of the theories below
(incorporating them throughout rather than having 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 are constantly
changing and evolving and are
not set in stone. He thinks
there are 5 main stages in film
genres. Which stage does
your film fit into? Explain why.

Andrew Goodwin
Thinks that music videos
follow the following
conventions:

Robert Stam suggests genre is

hard to define, doesnt really
exist and is just a concept made
up by theorists and critics. Do
you agree? Give examples from
your work that suggests that
genre either IS or ISNT easy to
define

The form finding itself (Psycho)

The classic (Halloween)

Conventions depend
on the genre of the
music
Star persona is

 Stretching the boundaries of

the genre (Nightmare on Elm
Street)
Parody (Scary Movie)
Homage (Scream)

important and
companies use close
ups to sell them to
the audience

Voyeuristic images
are used to attract an
audience

They often contain

intertextual
references to other
media

There is a link
between the lyrics
and the visuals

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

Rick Altman says that the way we

define a genre is by two main
things:

Semantic Elements (eg signs

such as knives, blood, dark
colours, eerie music). He
thinks these elements are
easier for audiences to
recognise and identify

Syntactic elements (includes

THEMES such as fear,
revenge, rage as well as plots
such as PLOTS such as group
go on trip, one by one they
die, last girl survives and kills
killer) He thinks these
elements are more subtle and
harder to recognise.

Identify semantic and syntactic

elements in your video that
might help audiences identify
the genre of your film / music
video

Laura Mulvey - Suggests that

women in all media are
objectified. She is a feminist
who believes that women are
often shown through the ideas
of men (male gaze) and are
seen in voyeuristic ways. She
also thinks that women are seen
in one of either two ways the
virgin character or a whore
character. This is the virgin /
whore dichotomy

AUDIENCE
To get a C/D grade
Intro: Why is it important / essential for a media product like a film or a
music video to appeal to an audience?
Who was your target audience for your production? Gender, age, class,
hobbies and media interests. 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 about what they wanted? To get the A&B grades, dont just
describe what they wanted, try and comment 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 real audience react to your product? Did they 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 above points. Try and use SMALL portions of SOME of the theories
below (incorporating them throughout rather than having a whole
separate section for them.)
Theorist
Richard Dyer thinks that audiences
want media products that offer them
Utopian Solutions to their problems

How I will apply it to my text

Blumler & katz Think that audiences

want media products that gratify
particular needs (Uses & gratifications)
eg escape, entertainment etc
Frankfurt School Hypodermic
needle theory. Think audiences might
be directly influenced by media
products

Stuart Hall Encoding and Decoding

tests AND Preferred, negotiated and
oppositional readings. Thinks
audiences will react in different ways to
media products.

Pluralists think that the media

operates on a supply and demand basis
and so the media must give the
audience what it wants in order to
survive and be successful.

Tajfel & Turner intergroup

discrimination theory. Think that
audiences enjoy watching texts where
they can feel superior to the characters
in terms of money, class, success etc..

Andrew Goodwin believes that

audiences are often played in the
position of a voyeur within music videos
(watching someone). He also believes
that the use of close ups is important to
help the audience appreciate the star
persona of the lead singer

Laura Mulvey believes the media

texts often encourage the audience to
objectify women and look at them with
a male gaze

REPRESENTATION
Depending on who the main characters were in your AS & A2 productions,
choose 1 or more of 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/s you will be analysing the representation of
Main:
AGES - How does your video construct a representation of different ages?
consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial expression,
camera, sound, editing
ETHNICITY - What about different ethnicities? consider costumes, props,
location, body language, 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, ethnicity etc?)
Have you challenged stereotypes in your production and why? (see above)
Conclusion: Why did you create these specific representations? What
effect might they have had on the audience?
Techniques I used
Camera shots:

Mise-En-Scene:

How it represents that

character

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 above points. Try and use some of the theories below
(incorporating them throughout rather than having a whole separate
sections for them.)
Theorist

Theory What to write about

Levi Strauss

said that media texts often represent characters in

terms of binary opposites such as good vs evil, weak
vs strong. Did you do this? If so how and why? What
effects might it have on the story, the audience etc..

Laura Mulvey

Believes that women are often objectified in the

media. She says they 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 for women in the media. Either the virgin
character or the whore character. This is called the
virgin / whore dichotomy.
Can their theories be applied to your video? Did you
conform to their ideas of representation or challenge
them? Why?

Vladimir Propp

Propps theory of narrative suggests that texts often

represent characters as particular types in order to
make them easily identifiable to an audience and
help them know how to react to them.

Hero

Villain
Princess
Donor / Helper
Dispatcher

If you included any of these characters, how did you

represent someone as the hero or villain. Why
does it engage an audience if they either DO know
who they are or DONT know who they are?
Angela McRobbie

http://www.angelamcrobbie.com/
Angela McRobbie says that men and women are often
represented through stereotypes in the media and
are often shown in traditional gender roles. For
example women are often shown as weaker, victims,
mothers, carers etc. Men are often shown as
aggressive, strong, managers, leaders etc.
Can their theories be applied to your video? Did you
conform to their ideas of representation or challenge
them? Why?

Stanley Cohen

Believes that particular groups in society are

demonised and marginalised through negative
representations which may have the effect of causing
a moral panic where the majority of society fears that
social group. Have you demonised a particular group
eg black people? Young people? Why?

NARRATIVE
To get a C grade
Intro: What is the traditional type of narrative for your genre / type of
product? How did you 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 it important?
Conclusion: Explain what audiences thought of your narrative. Was it
clear? Could it have been better? How?
Techniques I used
Camera:

Mise-En-Scene:

Editing:

Sound:

What it signified about the narrative

of my text

To get A&B Grades

Theorist

Theory what to write about

Todorov

thinks there are several main stages to a complete narrative,

recognisable in any story
Equilibrium
Disruption
Resolution
Equilibrium
Explain whether you included these stages and where. Did you
have them in the same order? If not, why not? What was the
benefit of starting with the disruption for 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 your text and explain why you think they
might be important to include

Unknown
theorist

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

Vladimir Propp

Unrestricted narration where information is given out in as

much detail as possible with very little restrictions so the
narrative is clear. Audiences often know more than the
characters so we know who the killer is, or where he is. If
you used this technique, explain where and why is it
engaging 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 parts of the narrative. If you used this
technique, explain where and why this is engaging for an
audience

Propps theory of narrative suggests that texts NEED particular

characters to develop the narrative

Hero
Villain
Princess
Donor / Helper
Dispatcher

If you included any of these characters, how did you make it clear
who was the hero / villain etc? Why does it engage an audience if
they either DO know who they are or DONT know who they are?
He also thinks there are particular parts of a narrative that always
happen eg hero gets a quest, someone is hurt, hero battles the
villain etc. If you included any of these 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 of the music.. How did you do this?

Allan Cameron

thinks there are several different types of more unusual narrative.

If you included any of these, explain where, and then explain why
you included them.

Anachronic Narrative includes regular flashback and

flashforwards, with all different narrative parts being just as
important. Such as Pulp Fiction, Memento
Forking Path narrative shows two different outcomes that
are different only 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. Eg different characters lives, linked only by the
fact that they are all involved in one incident
Split Screen Narratives Different stories, linked by the fact
that they are shown on screen at the same time.

MEDIA LANGUAGE - IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT MEDIA

LANGUAGE REFERS TO THE 4 MAIN TECHNICAL
ELEMENTS
Tackle this one in much the same way as you tackled the TV Drama exam
at AS. You should be ANALYSING your work (not describing), discussing
how you created meaning for the audience on particular issues such as
genre, representation, narrative, audience, atmosphere etc.. Basically
WHY you chose particular shots, sounds, transitions etc
Intro: Explain what text you are analysing
Main: Include all 4 of the following key areas

Camera shot size, framing, high & low angles, subjective &
objective filming, hand held, tilts, pans, zooms etc, green screen

Sound diegetic and non-diegetic, sound effects, ambient sound,

dialogue, music, voice over

Editing fades, cuts, wipes, dissolves, slow motion, fast motion,

colour effects like black & white, bad tv, stop motion animation,
green screening and chroma key work

Mise En Scene costume, lighting, location, body language, acting,

make up, props etc

Conclusion: How well do you think you used media language to

communicate meaning to an audience?
Techniques I used
Camera:

Mise-En-Scene

Editing:

What it signified to an audience

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 /

Richard Dyer

Uses & Gratifications theory / Utopian Solutions explaining

how your use of MEDIA LANGUAGE offers these to an
audience

Vladimir Propp

Propps Character theory how your MEDIA LANGUAGE helps

audiences identify particular characters as heros / villains etc

Stuart Hall

Explain that your decision to use the MEDIA LANGUAGE you

chose was to create a preferred reading for your text. But
that audiences are used to Encoding and Decoding tests AND
could take a negotiated or oppositional reading

Rick Altman

Explain how you used MEDIA LANGUAGE to include

Semantic Elements (eg signs such as knives, blood, dark
colours, eerie music) or to signify Syntactic elements (eg
themes like love, revenge).