1A Paragraph Examples

Intention – We used.../We created.../We sought to ...

 At AS we researched the conventions of existing media texts to inform our own planning. 

Example – Through our use of .../We used the camera to ...

For example, we found Thriller have various character tropes such as the innocent victim, which is often portrayed through high angle shots and quick cuts to various close ups of key objects to connote fear. 

Impact – This enabled us to ... More authentic/awareness of genre/build suspense/create a convincing narrative

This was something we duplicated in our video, planning in high angle shots of the victim, cross cutting with the close – up footsteps of the criminal 

Change – At A2, there was a greater/more demand for/more diversity/a challenge in ...

However at A2 the emphasis was not on the emulation of the genre conventions but more the adaption of conventions to our own product 

Example – We now .../We used the camera to .../We deliberately edited ... for example in the scene ...

For example we found that many indie videos cut between close-ups of the artist’s skill and performance in conjunction with a film-based narrative, often surrounding the artist himself, for example John Smith’s ‘I Need You’ portrays a flashback narrative through the use of vintage-style filters. 

Impact – This changed as we were far more aware of .../We were now .../We realised ...

However, rather than emulating this, we sought to adapt it, so we maintained the cross cutting between performance and narrative, however we selected a brighter, more saturated colour filter to imply almost a cartoon-style effect in order to suggest the dreamlike qualities of the narrative, rather than aiming for the realism of traditional indie

Paragraph Structure for 1A with suggestions

Try using  INTENTION-EXAMPLE-IMPACT-CHANGE-EXAMPLE-PROGRESS

Intention – We used.../We created.../We sought to ...

Example – Through our use of .../We used the camera to ...

Impact – This enabled us to ... More authentic/awareness of genre/build suspense/create a convincing narrative

Change – At A2, there was a greater/more demand for/more diversity/a challenge in ...

Example – We now .../We used the camera to .../We deliberately edited ... for example in the scene ...

Impact – This changed as we were far more aware of .../We were now .../We realised ...

Example Paragraph taken from an A- essay (41/50)

Gilmor’s theory suggests the idea of ‘citizen journalism’. He argues that we see “the internet as a catalyst to challenge the big media powers, as ordinary people can post their news via blogs and other online communications’. Gilmor’s theory suggests that an increase in globalised media has positive effects on distribution and consumers can now become producers (web 2.0). A positive example of this would be the Syrian Arabic protests. Although news correspondents are unable to enter parts of Syria due to government restrictions, through an increased in globalised media with distribution, local suffering citizens were able to let the world know about their issues, an example being the internet video programme youtube user 25Bahman1389 posted mobile phone footage of Syrian Protests on youtube. Through this globalisation this account of citizen journalism was able to be posted around the world to highlight the problems. This suggests a positive impact of globalised media.

 However, coming from an economically developed countries point of view and affluent society where internet access is readily available, it is far too easy to assume everyone has access to this. Leadbetter’s theory of 2008 supports this as he claims that “only 4% of the Arab nation has internet access’ so although globalised media can have positive effects on the distribution of media text, the less economically developed countries are unable to receive this distribution due to the inability to access the internet which suggests that globalised media is not as global as can be argued.

1b Essay Example Representation

Fiske argues that our interpretation of a representation is only based around previous ones that we have seen: the “car chase” theory. Within music videos representation of the genre itself often relies on the audience awareness and prior knowledge of media products they have already seen. Our own video demonstrates this in that the performance scene, several of the techniques directly relate to existing videos in the genre, for example the canted angle on the neck of the guitar during the instrumental scene, the heavy use of low key lighting for the performance and the increased cutting rate in the instrumental sections. These are all common features of rock videos that often represent artist’s skill and the idea of the artist being an ‘authentic’ musician . Therefore representation of the genre relies heavily on audience prior knowledge into order to decode the messages embedded within the text.

Hall also argues for the different ways approaching representation in that there is reflective, constructionist and intentional. Within music videos there is clearly a reflective approach taken as music videos often seek to reflect meanings and messages already present in the world, particularly within the target audience. For example in our own genre and work much of the hip-hop genre is judged to be criminal and urban with a heavy emphasis on individual performers and their personal history which needs to be represented. We demonstrated this through the use of black and white filters, which have connotations of the past as well as using low angle shots in conjunction with the expected dress code of hoodie and snap-back cap within the performance scenes in order to connote power and dominance. Therefore, this reflects the interests and cultural choices made by the target audience as well as providing a representation that audience members can emulate and aspire to be, a concept with is argued by Stewart in his theory of music videos providing an “inspirational lifestyle”.

Student Answers

Below are three pdf files that have three  students answers from last year - they are complete answers with 1a, 1b and Global Media

One is an A grade (due to boundaries the mark of 77 was changed to 88)
The other two are B grades (these also had 9 marks added to their grades for boundaries)

http://www.mediafire.com/?dqzrla8619b4x59

http://www.mediafire.com/?kcn08448ij44f64

http://www.mediafire.com/?6st8yjmgvf033qk

All three links are to my mediafire account and the downloads are safe to use :)

Example Paragraphs

A music video is often made with a particular audience in mind. Maffesoli argues that there are particular “urban tribes” with each having their own conventions and consumer culture. Within our own product we deliberately selected symbols and signs that the audience could recognise and relate for example in the hall scene where the artist is performing alone for the entire video the lights are deliberately low and the daylight through curtains highlights his facial expressions and piano both are which are expected by the audience who would have seen similar artists use this convention. By identifying these, the audience gain the ‘pleasure of recognition’ suggested by Burton.

It can also be argued that interaction with the audience is a vital part of music video as music videos often serve as “tv commercials”(Stewart) for the artist to promote their artist images. For example within the performance scene we focused deliberately on the artist’s, especially for the lyrics that were in the second person in order to establish an emotional connection with the audience. We also used Final Cut to enhance the artist’s performance with the orange filter, glow effect and slow motion to firstly differentiate from the narrative but also to make our artist seem more professional less and real as Dyer argues that stars are not real, they are constructed and within the pop genre this is a common feature.