OCR Exam Revision: Question 1A -

Question 1A - 

Creativity:

Costume
Make Up
FX Make Up
Prop
Prop Production
Location
Design Elements
Video Effects
Editing Techniques
Lighting
Camera

Research and Planning:

Focus Group
Target Audience (GEARS, Young and Rubican 4C Model)
Questionnaire
Storyboard
Textual Analysis
Timed Analysis
Forms
Location Practice Shoot

Real Media Conventions (Youth / Indie):

Alcohol
Drugs
Smoking
Nihilism
Sexual
Up Beat Music
Close Up Shot
Fast Paced Cuts

Digital Technology:

In Design
Photoshop
Premier Pro
Social Media
Youtube
Slideshare
Camera
Lighting

Post-Production:

Premier Pro
Colour Treatment
Stabilisation
Photoshop
Brightness
Contrast
Text
In Design
Digipak Layout

Exemplar - 


Over the two year media course we had to produce both a foundation portfolio of a
school magazine and music magazine as well as an advance portfolio of a horror
teaser trailer, film magazine – developing foundation skills further and a poster to
advertise our trailer.
In the first year we researched existing music magazines and analysed each one so
that we could gain knowledge of particular layouts, fonts and key elements that need
to be contained in our production to make it successful. Research and planning
allowed us to recognise ‘mastheads’ on magazines as being the most important and
therefore the need to focus on a font more detailed to keep continuity with the
contents page and double page spread which we also had to create. Personally I
researched ‘Rock’ magazines such as Kerrang, NME and others because I had chosen
after carrying out a questionnaire to use Rock music as my theme. The real life media
texts allowed me to visualise my favourite parts from each magazine – wripped
sticker graphics and broken font on my own work which I then attempted to recreate
within Photoshop CS4. In year one we were limited to what we could research
because magazines were the only theme however, in the second year I was able to
develop my ability to research real life media texts much further because we had a
range of products we needed to create all under the ‘horror’ genre this time. I was able
to research teaser trailers analysing my favourite and least favourite parts allowing me
to plan with a mood board which I produced from a range of stills from previous
horror films my ideas for my own trailer which helped me to develop my production
of my products in relation to real life media texts and techniques such as restricted
narration and handheld camera found in the ‘Blair Witch Project’ trailer which
inspired my trailer ‘Laquem’ which is also set in the woods. Research into film documentaries like the ‘American Nightmare’ inspired me to create a product which
reinforced fear and went against usual horror conventions to make it more interesting.
Over the second year research became so important to achieving a product which was
realistic and is now like my own distributed on on youtube as a real life media text of
its own.
 Real life media texts like advertising film posters were able to help me develop my
 Photoshop skills further because I was able to push myself with the ‘colour burn’
filters and want to create the scary atmosphere of my trailer from just an image and
text which I found really fun.
Research into film magazines allowed me to develop my work from AS level so much
further because I was able to produce a high standard piece of work in two weeks this
year when the magazines took over 3 months last year which shows how much my
skills have improves just by being able to constantly refer back to real life media texts
for inspiration and even colour schemes that work well together such as black and red
which in the first year I just found experimenting with. Research into horror trailers
allowed me to recognise different styles of film and how we like Alfred Hitchcock
could be an auteur creating new angles and ideas using generic conventions as well as
unconventional representations that I have picked upon when watching films and
 analysing certain techniques which I have then attempted to do in Final Cut Pro when
editing certain shots together to create collision cutting and changes in pace which my
trailer does extremely well. I was inspired initially by the hand held camera in the
trailer REC and the fact I want as an auteur to change the stereotyped representations 
to be able use a female psycho killer.
Research also allowed me to produce text and intertitles that shook in order to capture
my audience but narrating the story slightly so the shots when together made sense.
Research into types of camera movements needed were really helpful and allowed me
to completely change the pace with tracking shots and handheld camera which I
noticed was used in Silent Hill and American Werewolf in London which I analysed
and placed on my blog for reference as some pieces of footage I wanted to recreate
including the final girl representations.
 EAA 8 
EG 8
 T 4
(20)

Exemplar Marking - 

1A (20 Marks) The candidate starts well with an introduction which sets out exactly which projects have been undertaken. He moves on to talk about a program used, immediately explaining particular techniques which the program enabled (desaturation) with a reason for using them (creating a particular atmosphere typical to the genre). Technical terms are used accurately and confidently (temporal editing, cross fades, etc). Throughout, the candidate refers explicitly to examples from his work, to a range of programs and to techniques used. Several different programs are discussed in a succinct and clear way. Most of the essay is confined to programs on the computer and creativity is not explicitly addressed, nor are online technologies. However, overall this is not worthy of level 4.

EAA (Example, Analysis, Argument) : 8 / 10

EG (Example Given) : 8 / 10

T (Terminology) : 4 / 5

Practice Question - 

1 (a) 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. [25]