G325 Critical Perspectives in Media
General Comments
In general, the performance of candidates was in keeping with the previous
year, with question
1b eliciting relatively strong responses, centres appearing to have
prepared candidates well to
utilise theories of narrative in the analysis of one of their own
productions.
The use of contemporary media examples and, where applicable, recently
developed critical
theory or media appears to be increasing with each session, with many
candidates able to
demonstrate personal engagement with their own mediated citizenship
through theoretical
approaches encountered on their course.
Avoidable shortcomings in otherwise proficient answers remain – these are
described below.
Exam technique is apparently the subject of increasing preparatory attention,
with many
candidates answering section B first, in order to minimise the loss of
marks if time management
is an impediment. At the same time, less candidates offered brief or
incomplete responses than
has been the case in the past.
Comments on Individual Questions
1a 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 carefullychosen
examples from real media texts and explained how these informed decisions
made.
Many candidates chose to point out the value of real media texts but
failed to explain examples
in any detail. Most candidates provided evidence of the progression from
AS to Advanced but
tended to be restricted to an acknowledgement that progression had taken
place in for the
majority, bolted onto the end of the response without any further
elaboration.
1b Most candidates wrote about a Year 13 production and were able to
relate a range of
mainstream theorists' work to the practical piece. Many candidates systematically
applied the
classic narrative theories very well to one of their texts – Propp,
Todorov, Barthes, Levi Strauss,
Bordwell and Thompson. Where candidates attempted to relate genre or
representation to the
answer, some managed this by locating the text in question at the
intersection between overlapping
theoretical ideas (eg Mulvey, whose formative essay fuses the male gaze
with narrative
pleasure), whilst weaker answers appeared to be answering another
question. A key point of
distinction, eternally recurring, is between answers which deal with the
theoretical concept as a
production technique, using first person or accounts of collective
decisions and those which
adopt a critical vantage point on the text as site of theoretical
analysis. To restate, 1a is about
the candidates’ decision making and progress, 1b is about the finished
work, to be analysed in
the
same way candidates would deconstruct other media texts during their studies.
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