December mock exams: revision and preparation

Your December mock exams are another opportunity to practice exam skills and revise the CSPs we have studied so far. 

Your December exams will be two mini-versions of the real exams you'll do in the summer. Below is a full guide to what you need to revise for each section of the exam.   

Know your exams

One of the most important aspects of preparing for examinations is knowing exactly what topics could come up in each exam. For your December exams, this is what might come up:

Paper 1 - Thursday 8 December

Paper 1 Section A: Language and Representation

• Unseen text: advert, social media screengrab or music promotion of some kind. Multiple choice questions plus media language analysis. 
• Advertising & Marketing: OMO advert, Galaxy Audrey Hepburn advert and the NHS Represent blood donation campaign. 
• Magazines: Tatler and Heat.

Paper 1 Section B: Audience and Industry

• Media Industries questions - media terminology / theory / regulation.
• Film: Black Widow and I, Daniel Blake.
• Radio: Launch of BBC Radio 1 - Tony Blackburn show (1967) and the KISS Breakfast show. 
• Music Video: BLACKPINK - How You Like That and Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Paper 2 - Thursday 15 December

Paper 2 will be Section A only - Television.

Section A: Television

• Short extract from either Doctor Who – An Unearthly Child (1963) or His Dark Materials – The City of Magpies (2020).
• The extract will be shown twice and you can make notes. There will then be three questions on the extract (2 marks, 8 marks, 12 marks).
• The final question is a 20-mark essay on BOTH of your TV Close-Study Products.
• The TV index with links to all original blogposts is here.

Your real Paper 2 will also have a Section B with two 20-mark essays on either Newspapers or Videogames and Online, Social and Participatory Media. However, these will not appear in your December mock exam as we have not studied them yet.

How to revise

Revision is a very personal thing and everyone has different techniques. Personally, I strongly recommend using flash cards (they are often called record cards if you are trying to buy them online or in WHSmiths). The simple act of distilling topics into a few key words or phrases to put on the card will seriously help in remembering the key information in the final exams. I have spare flash cards in DF07 if you'd like some.  

Good luck with your revision and give these exams your best shot!

Due date on Google Classroom

Coursework: Statement of Intent

The first 10 marks of our coursework are for a written Statement of Intent.

This is simply a Word or Google Document in which we write what we are planning to make for our coursework. Your completed summer project will give you most of the information you need for this - particularly the music video planning section - but you may have changed or developed your idea since the summer. Your preliminary exercise learner response may also help you consider what you plan to create for your real music video coursework.

Our coursework brief for 2023 can be found here - we are working on Brief 5 - Music Video.

The Statement of Intent word count is 300 words - you can go slightly above this if you want to but you need to keep it close to 300.

This Statement of Intent guidance will help you if you're not sure what to write - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access it. The most important thing is that you cover media language, representations and the target audience in your Statement of Intent.

Another tip is that you can use subheadings and bullet points in your Statement of Intent - it doesn't need to all be in paragraphs. In fact, bullet points are very useful for keeping the word count down. 

Finally, here is an example statement of intent from a previous year - note this was a different brief but the layout and use of media terminology and theory may help you. 

Here's the Statement of Intent mark scheme: 

Statement of Intent: task

1) Write your Statement of Intent on a Word or Google Doc - word count 300 words. Use this Statement of Intent guidance document to help you.

Submit your Statement of Intent to your teacher by emailing them the Word or Google Document. 

Due date: on Google Classroom

Preliminary exercise feedback and learner response

The preliminary exercise is a brilliant opportunity to learn the basics of filmmaking before creating your actual coursework project.

After the screening of the preliminary exercises in class, you need to create a blogpost called 'Preliminary exercise learner response' and complete the following tasks as your feedback and learner response:

1) Type up your teacher's feedback in full plus a summary of the comments you received from other students in the class. If you've received your feedback via email, you can simply cut and paste it from the email into your blog.

2) Using a combination of your own reflection on the preliminary exercise and the feedback you were given, write three WWW bullet points and three EBI bullet points for your preliminary exercise.

3) What have you learned from the preliminary exercise that will help you in the actual coursework project?

Deadline on Google Classroom.

Coursework: Pre-production and filming

Pre-production tasks are vital - this is where you plan all the key details that make your video coursework successful.

Over the next two weeks we will be both finalising our pre-production and doing our filming. Here's a reminder of the video we watched in class that might help with making a no-budget music video:

Music video pre-production: blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Music video pre-production'. You may want to look over the original AQA brief here. 

Work through the following four tasks:

1) Create your music video treatment

A treatment is a like a script for a music video - it will give someone a very good idea of what the final product will look like. To write a treatment, you need to make sure you have the basic details for your music video. Remember - this will hopefully be the same as your preliminary exercise so you already have a good idea of what you will produce.

Artist and song you have chosen: 

Two-minute section of song you will use: 

Style of music video (narrative/performance etc.): 

What will happen in your two minute music video: 

If you want to take this further and write a professional music video treatment for your project, have a look at this example for Alt-J and Breezeblocks that we use for A Level Media. 

2) Write your full shot list

Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film for your music video AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. I advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word or Google Docs to set out your shot list - you can find an example here for a student film shot list. It makes sense to write your shot list by scene or location rather than a huge list of every shot in the music video in chronological order. 

3) Plan your mise-en-scene

What iconography or mise-en-scene are you including to ensure your audience understands the music genre of your artist and song? Plan your cast/performers, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. This can be simply completed using your blog or Microsoft Word - the key aspect is to have planned all the critical details. Remember the mise-en-scene mnemonic: CLAMPS.

4) Write your shooting schedule 

Plan a shooting schedule for your filming over the next two weeks. Include when, where, who is required and what shots you will complete at each time/location. Again, this can be on Word or Excel or you could simply use your blog. The most important thing is that you've planned it!

Deadline: on Google Classroom