1 - An A grade answer uses sustained and consistent use of media language
You will hear your teacher banging this drum every lesson, especially straight after a mock exam! But it's true: a significant proportion of your marks come from using media language effectively. A student may refer to an "unflattering picture of Theresa May" in The Times. But this demonstrates no knowledge and understanding of media studies. Since even people who have never sat a media lesson could point this out, it's a common sense answer, and should be avoided.
Here's a much better way of making the same observation:
"The central image of the then Prime minister Theresa May is presented as a voyeuristic close-up shot. The selection of a particularly unflattering image demonstrates a bias on behalf of the newspaper, which is further anchored through the use of the headline 'Driven To Despair'..."
2 - An A grade answer uses the words of the question
Let's say you are given the question "explore the ways in which the films you have studied have been shaped by their economic contexts". Of course Blake is an independent film, targeting a niche audience, and has been funded by a range of international corporations as diverse as the National Lottery fund to Canal+. However, it's very easy to go 'off on one' at this stage, and to detail everything you know about the marketing strategy, the film's divisive political message and the social media campaign accompanying it.
BUT
This needs to be consistently linked back to the question. This is why we get you to underline key words when answering a question. It means you can quote the question in every single paragraph, demonstrating to the examiner that you know exactly what you are talking about. So by way of example:
"A further way in which I, Daniel Blake has been shaped by its economic context is through it's unique funding. Quite the opposite of a mass-market, mainstream tent-pole feature funded by a multinational conglomerate (for example Black Panther) Blake was funded by a diverse range of organisations including PBS and charities. For example..."
3 - An A grade answer shows the student really knows their stuff beyond the scope of the lessons
Rather than just stating the basics, an A grade response will go in to significant contextual detail detail about the media product being analysed. Facts, figures, spelling names correctly... it all adds up. In order to do this you're going to need to do some research beyond what you've learnt in class. For example,
- Have you read and made notes from the Wikipedia page for every one of the key texts we have studied?
- Can you name three other Beyonce albums beyond Lemonade?
- Why is Lauren Laverne actually famous?
- What is the name of Paul Gilroy's most famous book?
- What else has Gemma Chan been in, and how has she been typecast?
- What are three competitors to Attitude Online and how can they be differentiated?
- What was going on in Britain in the 1960's and how could this apply to Woman magazine?
4 - An A grade answer uses theories and uses them appropriately
It's possible to use too many theories. It's possible to squeeze them in where not appropriate too. If you Have a question on power and the media industries, Curran and Seaton will be your choice, But Jean Baudrillard will be pretty much useless. Remember, the theories and theorists have been split in to four sections, media language, audience, representation and industry. This gives you a good indication of what theory to use where (though a well applied representation theory could work well in an audience question... it's about what's appropriate!)
But then there's a right way to use theory. As demonstrated in the essay in the theory chapter 'how not to use theories', you really shouldn't lead with a theory. This means, generally theories shouldn't go at the start of the paragraph, but should go towards the end. This is because you are using theory to back up your own point of view, rather than trying to back up the theory!
For example
"The significant absence of the representation of black and ethnic minority people in both The Times and The Mirror thus demonstrates a significant cultural hegemonic bias on behalf of the producer. This is an excellent example of Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory, in that it demonstrates a clear hierarchy between a powerful white political elite and an absent black subordinate class. Gilroy suggested that the power and privilege enjoyed by white colonists is still evident in today's postcolonial society, which is clearly represented through the mise-en-scene of both newspaper's layouts..."
5 - An A grade answer uses a variety of different examples
The standard paragraph structure is POINT, EVIDENCE, ARGUMENT. Without EVIDENCE, you can't back up a POINT and you definitely can't make an ARGUMENT. So let's agree that it's pretty important.
When you discuss magazines you must look beyond the front cover. I recommend at least three pages from each magazine (for a 30 mark question). Sane goes for TV shows (three key scenes) and online media (three key examples). Things get a little different in component one because of the shorter questions, but you still need to refer to the products explicitly. We listened to Late Night Women's Hour for a reason: so you could quote it and use these quotes to explore how the show addresses it's niche audience!