How I've been creative over my two pieces of coursework

• In the words of Bentley, creativity is "The making of the new and the rearranging of the old". I was able to do this in my A2 music video by using intertextuality in the way of movies, taking inspiration from the film '500 Days of Summer' but rearranging the idea to make a new product in my own way. I took inspiration from the idea of using a split screen to show what would happen in a situations regarding expectations and reality. I did this in my music video, however in the film this is used so show the expectations and reality of a relationship whereas I used it to show the expectations and reality of general life events. I was also able to do this with my thriller opening sequence as part of my AS coursework, using dialog which I had seen in previous thriller/horror films such as 'Scream' but rearranging how it was presented to fit the plot of my own thriller.

• I was also able to use rule breaking/boundary testing to challenge the conventions in both my thriller opening sequence and my music video. Again with the topic of using dialog in my opening sequence, I found that this was not a typical convention of thriller films with the opening sequences usually consisting of random images such as those seen in the film Seven or digitally constructed images as seen in the film Hostage. I also had a story in my opening sequence which is not typically seen in thriller films, and therefore challenged the conventions. Regarding my music video, I found that it was typically seen that a music video would be performance based, concept based, narrative based or sometimes a mix of two. However my music video has elements of all three, with shots of my artist lip syncing to the music to represent performance, the character having a story representing the narrative but making it conceptual by not giving the story a beginning, middle and end, rather using random general situations from her life.

• Anthony Storr says creativity is "the ability to bring something new into existence", meaning to create a modern, innovative and original product. I was able to do with with my music video and promotional ancillary tasks for my A2 coursework using the star image motif of split screens. I used split screens in my music video to show how a certain situation would turn out in the characters life regarding expectations and reality, something original that I had not seen in any other music video that I researched. I also carried this theme through to my ancillary tasks using a split screen on my digipak cover through a close up of my artists face, the left side looking visibly upset and the right side looking visibly happy, representing both the song I used and the album name "Heartbreak Beautiful". This, again, was not something I had seen on any other album cover I researched and therefore feel it was a modern, innovative and original idea.

(I have not included my thriller opening sequence in the above paragraph because I have yet to see how I can relate this.)

Media Theorists

Here are just three theorists and an overview of their theories. Try to find out about at least 10 - 15 media theories for G325 Question 1 (a) and (b) and have them at your fingertips for the exam. Remember - you must apply them to your own work.

Roland Barthes:

Roland Barthes concentrated some of his work on a discussion of how myth operates in society and he discussed this in the context of denotation and connotation.
Connotation and denotation are often described in terms of levels of representation or levels of meaning.
Denotation - the literal, 'obvious' or 'commonsense' meaning of an image.
Connotation - is used to refer to the socio-cultural and 'personal' associations (ideological, emotional etc.) of the image. These are typically related to the interpreter's class, age, gender, ethnicity and so on. Images are more open to interpretation - in their connotations than their denotations.

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall suggests that there are three different positions that the reader of a text can occupy when trying to interpret a text, they are:

Preferred Reading

Negotiated Reading

Oppositional Reading

Preferred reading is when the reader fully shares the text's codes and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading i.e. the most dominant reading.


Negotiated reading is when the reader partly shares the text's codes and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests - this position involves contradictions.

Oppositional reading is when the reader, whose social situation places them in a directly oppositional relation to the dominant code, understands the preferred reading but does not share the text's code and rejects this reading, bringing to bear an alternative frame of reference (radical, feminist etc.).

In this instance a 'code' can be interpreted as what a text says.

Ferdinand de Saussure:

Semiotics is the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems. Saussure stated that a sign could be made up of something which physically resembles the object in some way (icon), or has a direct link between it and its object, it is somehow connected i.e. smoke indicates fire (index) or it can be something with no resemblance at all and it communicates only because people agree that it shall stand for what it does (symbol).

The reading of a sign is determined by cultural experience of the reader. Semiotics pays great attention to the role of the reader in realising and producing meanings out of texts.

Useful web link
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html

Mark Scheme for Question 1A

Explanation/ analysis/argument (9-10 marks) 
There is a clear sense of progression established by the answer, and a range of articulate reflections on the production process are offered.

Use of examples (9-10 marks) 
Candidates offer a broad range of specific, relevant and clear examples in relation to creative skills development. 

Use of terminology (5 marks) 
The use of both production terms and conceptual media terminology applied throughout is excellent.

G325 Exam Overview

The purpose of this exam is to assess your knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, through your understanding of one contemporary media issue and your ability to evaluate your own practical work in reflective and theoretical ways.
The examination:
• two hours
• two compulsory questions
• Total marks available: 100 (two questions on production work marked out of 25 each, and the media theory question marked out of 50.)

There are two sections to this paper:

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production (50 marks)
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
2 compulsory questions.

Question 1(a) describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work, from Thriller Opening (AS) to Music Video (A2). The focus of this evaluation must be on skills development, and the question will require you to adapt this to one or two specific production practices. The list of practices to which questions will relate is as follows:

• Digital Technology
• Creativity
• Research and planning
• Post-production
• Using conventions from real media texts

Question 1(b) requires you to select one production and evaluate it in relation to a media concept. The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:
• Genre
• Narrative
• Representation
• Audience
• Media language


EXAMPLE QUESTION

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).
In this section you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units. You must answer both 1(a) and 1(b).

1 (a) “Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers”. In your own experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions? [25]

(b) “Media texts rely on cultural experiences in order for audiences to easily make sense of narratives”. Explain how you used conventional and / or experimental narrative approaches in one of your production pieces. [25]