A: Textual Analysis & Representation

COMPONENT 2 - Key Media Concepts
Section A - Textual Analysis & Representation

AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, using terminology appropriately.
AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing media products.

  • ONE QUESTION. 
  • Assessment Criteria.
  • The extract will be from a TV drama and will last for a maximum of 5 minutes. It will be played four times.
  • 30 minutes to watch and make notes on the moving image extract.
  • 45 minutes writing time.
  • Analyse how technical aspects of the language and conventions of the moving image medium are used to create meaning for an audience:-
    • Camera shots, angle, movement and composition: 
      • shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point-of-view shot, over-the-shoulder shot, and variations of these 
      • angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle 
      • movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom 
      • composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.
    • Editing: This includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems:
      • cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway, insert 
      • other transitions: dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects. 
    • Sound: 
      • diegetic and non-diegetic sound, synchronous/asynchronous sound, sound effects, sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective 
      • soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound. 
    • Mise-en-scène: 
      • production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties 
      • lighting, colour design.
Overall Learning Objective: 
to be able to effectively deconstruct media text
Overall Success Criteria:
- to analyse 'micro' elements 
- to explore a range of 'macro' representations from the 'micro' elements
- to consider how different people might respond to these representations (AO1, AO2)