Revision notes for OCR G325 (part 1)

1. Evaluation of your Practical Work
for G325
Section A
Q1a (25 marks)
Discussing your development from AS to A2
A2 Exam Preparation

2. Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and
evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of
examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.
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.
Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media
production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision
making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills
developed over time.
Typical questions

3. In this question you will be asked
to discuss both your AS and your A2 productions in
relation to one or two of the following issues
• Digital Technology
• Creativity
• Research & Planning
• Post Production
• Using conventions of real media
texts

4. You only have half an hour for the question and
you really need to make the most of that time by
quickly moving from…
description (so the reader knows what you did)
to analysis/evaluation/reflection, so the reader
starts to understand what you learnt from it.
Examiner’s Advice

5. You need some practice - this is very hard to do
without it!
Write an essay on each of the areas, or at the
very least do a detailed plan with lots of
examples. The fact that it is a 30 minute essay
makes it very unusual, so you need to be able to
tailor your writing to that length - a tough task!
Examiner’s Advice

6. Examiner’s Advice
• Strong answers have a range of specific examples.
• Weaker answers are descriptive.
• Technical and conceptual terminology needed
• Evaluation and critical reflection on your work
is needed.
• There needs to be a sense of progression over
your A Level “journey”.

7. Examiner’s Checklist
• Creative decision making
• Process
• Progress over time
• Specific examples
• Reflection on own development
Is it about the Candidate?
Does the essay show…

8. To do well
Example from the mark scheme …

9. To do well
• Progression
• Reflection
• Specific examples in relation to outcomes
• Terminology

10. Paragraph 1
An introduction which explains which projects you did. It can be quite short.
Paragraph 2
Pick up the skill area and suggest something about your starting point with it-
what skills did you have already and how were these illustrated. Use examples
example.
Paragraph 3
Talk through your use of that skill in early projects ,what you learned and
developed through these. Again use examples to support what you say.
Paragraph 4
Go on to demonstrate how the skill developed in later projects, backed by
examples, and reflect how this represents a positive development for you
Paragraph 5
Short conclusion
Planning Your Essay

11. Example - Effect - Progress
Example from an essay…

12. Example - Effect - Progress

13. Planning Your Essay
Use this chart (handout) to practise planning essays

14. Digital Technology

15. Digital Technology
• What software was used
• What hardware/equipment was used
• What were the technical pros and cons
• How did technology enhance/restrict your work
Discuss all stages of the process:
Pre-production
Production
Post-production

16. Digital Technology
Give real examples to illustrate your points:
“Before this course I had not used any
blogging software and found WordPress
difficult to use. But by the time I had finished
my A2 coursework, having used the program to
prepare both my portfolios, I found it much
easier to organise and present my work.”

17. Digital Technology
“We used the Sony Vegas non-linear editing
package in post-production. Our first experience
of this was editing our 180 degree exercises at
AS . I found it a steep learning curve but by the
time I came to edit my final A2 film I had learnt
how to use it proficiently and found it essential
for my animatic in pre-production as well as
preparing video clips for my evaluation where I
used it to prepare picture in picture effects to
present scenes from my film, as well as capture
stills which I used through out my blog”

18. Digital Technology & Creativity
“Using a digital video camera enabled us to quickly
review our shots while filming and efficiently re-
shoot if we were unhappy about the quality. It
was also very easy to transfer the work to my
computer back in class for post-production using
Sony Vegas to edit and apply transitions and
graphics. The non-linear process enabled me to
try out different narrative structures and
compare the results before settling on a final
approach.”

19. Digital Technology & Creativity
“We learnt early on in AS how important sound is
to a film and how adding and mixing a multi-layerd
sound track really improves the work. Using a
small digital recorder I was able to capture an
atmospheric background track on location,
(birdsong, traffic, etc. ) which I used to “smooth
over” glitches in my soundtrack and help disguise
my cuts. I was really pleased with final,
professional result that this gave my film.”

20. Digital Technology & Creativity
“Because my film was a romance I wanted the
overall look of it to be in soft, pastel colours.
When I had put together my final rough cut of
the film I used Sony Vegas to slightly de-
saturate and soften the shots. In some places,
for instance when my two protagonists kiss, I
also softened the picture by adding the
appropriate special effect.”

21. Digital Technology & Research
“Using the internet, particularly Google and YouTube, I
was easily able to research real media texts to investigate
the generic conventions of trailers. Many real trailers can
be found on YouTube and by deconstructing and analysing
them I was able to work out the best way to make mine.
Social media, YouTube and Facebook, enabled me to carry
out audience research when I had finished my film. I also
uploaded two different versions of it to my smartphone
during post-production so that I could survey friend’s
opinions of how I should end it.”

22. Use real examples
• Remember to always include real examples
of what you have done in your work to illustrate
your points.
• Try to avoid making general statements
• Be specific. Give examples of real texts you
researched, real comments you got from your
audience, real things you learnt or did, etc.

23. Maximise your marks
To get a higher grade you need to ensure that
you are not just describing how your skills developed.
You need to focus on evaluating your work.
• How important was digital technology
• Why was it important
• What effect did it have on your work
• What couldn’t you have done without it
• How did you benefit from it?

24. Digital Technology Exercise
List each piece of technology you have
used and then something specific from
your work that did with it.

25. Creativity

26. Creativity
What is creativity?
• The making of new things or re-arranging the old
• The ability to have your own ideas rather than copy
others
• The ability to do things that are unusual and different

27. Creativity
Think about…
Where did your original ideas come from?
• Brainstorming?
• Mind Maps?
• Research on the web?
• Special software?
• Newspaper stories?

28. Creativity
Think about…
Where did your original ideas come from?
• Brainstorming?
• Mind Maps?
• Research on the web?
• Special software?
• Newspaper stories?

29. Creativity
You may have been creative with…
• Locations/sets/costumes
• Camera
• Editing
• Genre/conventions
• Casting
• Technology (see handout for ideas)

30. Creativity
Also consider these points:
• Restrictions of the briefs limited creativity
• Can’t be creative without first doing practical
things like research and planning
• You have to be confident in your skills before you
can develop creative ideas

31. Maximise your marks
To get a higher grade you need to ensure that
you are not just describing how your skills developed.
You need to focus on evaluating your work.
• How important was creativity
• Why was it important
• What effect did it have on your work
• What couldn’t you have done without it
• How did you benefit from it?

32. Creativity Exercise
Write short notes in this form
At AS I was creative coming up with ideas by …..
This helped me because…
At A2 I was more creative coming up with ideas by …..
This helped me because…

33. More to follow…
look at revision PowerPoint
on the A2 blog for more now