Thursday 6 February 2020

Key assessment six/second year mock exam feedback

Feedback legend


i - You need to use more media language...


ii - You've got to include more application of knowledge and understanding to demonstrate your higher level thinking. This could include presenting a stronger argument, but mainly you need to know the case studies like the back of your hand!


iii - Theory! You should include more! This is big! Really big!


iv - Big concepts and big arguments. Patriarchal hegemony, postcolonial representations and Marxist deconstructions. This is the kind of higher level concepts you should focus on


v - Tone. You use colloquialisms or write in a chatty way. Try to adopt a more formal tone


General feedback



  • Shot types!Camera angles! Mise-en-scene! Setting! Lexis! Modes of address! Costume! Etc! Media language always has been and always will be the bread and butter of media studies, and some students really do need to go back to basics. Forgetting to include Clay Shirky's end of audience theory is pretty understandable, as is misspelling 'Pantene'. However, one thing you really shouldn't be forgetting is media language. A whole bunch of you need to make this your top priority!
  • Try to avoid referring to 'you' or 'they' , as in 'you can see', or 'they have made it like...' etc. Almost refer to the specific group in question, most likely the producer or the (target) audience.
  • Consider how to apply theory. Don't just dump it in, for example 'this is shown through the Madonna/whore complex'. Instead, why not try 'Freud's notion of the Madonna/whore complex allows us to fully understand Anita's status in the Hawkins's household. For example...'


1 - 15 marks



  • Many students utilised Van-Zooen's feminist theory here, in particular the male gaze, but more needed to discuss how it positioned the female heterosexual target audience in such a way as to conform to patriarchal hegemonic standards of female attractiveness.
  • A good comparison here is the Tide advert. But it needed to be utilised as a counterpoint to the advert you were asked to study. In some cases it seemed like you were writing about Tide and not Pantene!


2- 2 marks



  • To get both marks, you needed something along the lines of 'digital convergence is the coming together of previously separate media industries thanks to digital technology"


3 - 12 marks



  • LNWH mainly targets a niche/specialised audience, so in order to get higher marks, you really needed to refer to a radio show with a mass audience appeal.


4 - 15 marks



  • Rather too many responses simply discussed the use of representation in Humans. Yet the question asks explicitly for how representations position audiences. For example, audiences may be positioned in an uncomfortable position with the stereotypical, sexualised representation of women in the brothel scene, or may be positioned in a relatable position by the middle-class mode of address and mise-en-scene of the breakfast scene.


5 - 30 marks



  • If a theory is explicitly named, you must evaluate its usefulness. This was not happening in every response, with several answers simply listing preferred/negotiated and oppositional responses...