Source: http://petesmediablog.blogspot.com

1. G325 Critical Perspectives: Section A: Approaching Question 1a
These are the previous questions that came up for this part of the exam:
• 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.
You will notice that each of these begins by asking you to 'describe' and then
goes on to ask you to reflect in some way: "evaluate", "how you used" "how your
skills developed", herein lies the key to this part of the exam! 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 he/she starts to understand what you learnt
from it.
there are five possible areas which can come up
1. Digital technology
2. Research and Planning
3. Conventions of Real Media
4. Post-Production
5. Creativity.
If you look through those questions above, you will see that they all contain at
least two of the five- creativity is mentioned (as 'creative decision making') in
two of them alongside the main area (digital technology on one, research and
planning skills in the other). In the third of those past questions , research is
combined with conventions of real media. So as you can see, the question is likely
to mix and match the five, so you HAVE to be able to think on your feet and
answer the question that is there.
So, how do you get started preparing and revising this stuff? Begin by setting out,
on cards or post-its, a list of answers to these questions:
What production activities have you done?
This should include both the main task and preliminary task from AS and the
main and ancillaries at A2 plus any non-assessed activities you have done as
practice, and additionally anything you have done outside the course which you
Source: http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/approaching-
question-1a.html

2. might want to refer to, such as films made for other courses or skateboard videos
made with your mates if you think you can make them relevant to your answer.
What digital technology have you used?
This should not be too hard- include hardware (cameras, phones for
pictures/audio, computers and anything else you used) software (on your
computer) and online programs, such as blogger, youtube etc
In what ways can the work you have done be described as creative?
This is a difficult question and one that does not have a correct answer as such,
but ought to give you food for thought.
What different forms of research did you do?
Again you will need to include a variety of examples- institutional research (such
as on how titles work in film openings), audience research (before you made
your products and after you finished for feedback), research into conventions of
media texts (layout, fonts, camera shots, soundtracks, everything!) and finally
logistical research- recce shots of your locations, research into costume, actors,
etc
What conventions of real media did you need to know about?
For this, it is worth making a list for each project you have worked on and
categorising them by medium so that you don’t repeat yourself
What do you understand by ‘post-production’ in your work?
For the purpose of this exam, it is defined as everything after planning and
shooting or live recording. In other words, the stage of your work where you
manipulated your raw material on the computer, maybe using photoshop, a
video editing program or desktop publishing.
For each of these lists, your next stage is to produce a set of examples- so that
when you make the point in the exam, you can then back it up with a concrete
example. You need to be able to talk about specific things you did in post-
production and why they were significant, just as you need to do more than just
say ‘I looked on youtube’ for conventions of real media, but actually name
specific videos you looked at, what you gained from them and how they
influenced your work.
This question will be very much about looking at your skills development over
time, the process that brought about this progress, most if not all the projects
you worked on from that list above, and about reflection on how you as a media
student have developed. Unusually, this is an exam that rewards you for talking
about yourself and the work you have done!
Source: http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/approaching-
question-1a.html