Lesson 1 Question 1B Intro & Narrative

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Introduction to Question 1b)

Transcript of Lesson 1 Question 1B Intro & Narrative

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Introduction to Question 1b)

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Introduction to Question 1a)

Question 1b) is a 25 mark answer and you will have 30 min to write your response.

The content 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

Questions will be set using one of these concepts only.

You will be expected to select the production that appears to relate most effectively to the specific concept that arises in the exam question.

Candidates may choose to write about work undertaken at AS or A2, main task or preliminary/ancillary.

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Past Questions

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.

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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.

Final tips: you need some practice- this is very hard to do without it! So you will be practicing doing detailed plans with lots of examples and writing essays on each of the areas. The fact that it is a 30 minute essay makes it very unusual, so you need to be able to tailor your writing to that length- a tough task!

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Basic essay structure for 1b (Choose only ONE product to write about):

Paragraph 1: Intro

1. First, define the concept you have been given in the question. For example, for Narrative you might say that every text tells a story. Add a quotation, such as for genre, "Genre is a type" (Daniel Chandler, 2001).

2. Outline the production you've chosen to evaluate.

3. Tell the examiner you're going to discuss (x) number of ideas about the concept.

4. Use no more than 5 theories in your answer (so you'll need to have learnt about 6-7 theories in total).

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Paragraph 2: Using the theorists, describe some of the key features of the concept you are being asked to apply. Outline two or three of the theories/ideas of particular writers, relating them to your production.

Paragraph 3: Start to apply the concept, making close reference to your product and to other examples to show how the concept is evident in it.

Paragraph 4: Show ways in which ideas work in relation to three areas of your product - production, distribution and exchange - and also ways in which those ideas might not apply/could be challenged.

Paragraph 5: Conclusion - Sum up by returning to the question and, having discussed key issues, say how your product follows or challenges the conventions of that issue.

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NARRATIVEPreparation for Exam Question 1b: Lesson 1 & 2

Lesson 1

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What are the narratives behind these images?

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Starter Questions & Discussion What do we mean by narrative? Why is narrative important?

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In media terms, narrative is the /organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end.

Successful stories require actions which change the lives of the characters in the story. They also contain some sort of resolution, where that change is registered, and which creates a new equilibrium for the characters involved. When unpacking a narrative in order to find its meaning there are a series of codes and conventions that need to be considered. When we look at a narrative we examine the conventions of:

1.Genre2.Character3.Form 4.Time

and use knowledge of these conventions to help us interpret the text.

Narrative…

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NARRATIVE…“Narrative is defined as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time” (Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, 1980)

Story is about trying to determine the key conflicts, main characters, setting and events.

Plot is about how, and at what stages, the key conflicts are set up and resolved.

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Example Exam Question

1(b) Apply theories of narrative to one of your coursework productions[25]

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Lesson Task

‘What happens next?’ Video

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Questions to consider when looking at narrative: What is the story or narrative of your text? How is your narrative structured? (the

content of the story and the form used to tell the story).

What effect do you think your narrative has on an audience?

What is the narrative structure of the production?

How do the specific elements of the production relate to the narrative structure?

Does the production adhere to or subvert narrative conventions?

How does the narrative support the establishment of the chosen genre of the production?

How have narrative techniques been used?

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KEY CONCEPT POINTS: In NARRATIVE, your task is identifying genre

and subgenre in your work and looking at how genre affects your work.

How narrative affects or structures the audiences viewing experience.

Since Aristotle (350 BCE) narrative plots are supposed to have a beginning, middle, and end.  

Its only because we are used to reading narratives from a very early age and are able to compare texts with others that we understand these conventions.

A narrative in its most basic sense is a series of events, but in order to construct meaning from the narrative those events must be linked somehow.

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THEORISTS YOU MAY WISH TO LOOK AT MORE CLOSELY:

Vladimir Propp Bordwell and Thompson Tzvetan Todorov Roland Barthez Tim O’Sullivan Pam Cook Christian Metz Claude Lèvi-Strauss

We will be looking at some of these theorists in more depth. It will be up to you to go away and find more information on the others to see what they say.

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Levi-strauss (who we’ll look at in a bit more detail later) states that we see the world, people and places by forming Binary Oppositions. His theory states that all narratives are arranged around the conflict between the opposites.

Good Vs Evil Men Vs Women Light Vs Dark Technology Vs Nature                     War Vs Peace Age Vs Youth Strong Vs Weak Democracy Vs Dictatorship

On the following slides, which of these films (based on whether you have seen the film or from the poster) do you think involves the following binary opposites and why?

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Good Vs Evil Men Vs Women Light Vs Dark

Technology Vs Nature                      War Vs Peace Age Vs Youth

Strong Vs Weak Democracy Vs Dictatorship

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Good Vs Evil Men Vs Women Light Vs Dark

Technology Vs Nature                      War Vs Peace Age Vs Youth -

Strong Vs Weak Democracy Vs Dictatorship

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Good Vs Evil Men Vs Women Light Vs Dark

Technology Vs Nature                      War Vs Peace Age Vs Youth

Strong Vs Weak Democracy Vs Dictatorship

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Important terms…

NarrativeThe structure of a story.

DiegesisThe internal world created by the story that the characters themselves experience and encounter.

Verisimilitude: Literally – the quality of appearing to be real or true. For a story to engage us it must appear to be real to us as we watch it (the diegetic effect). The story must therefore have verisimilitude – following the rules of continuity, temporal and spatial coherence.

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Watch Propps Theory Video

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Vladimir Propp (1928)

Russian theorist who studied the narrative structure of RussianFolk Tales.

Propp concluded that regardless of the individual differences in terms of plot, characters and settings, such narratives would share common structural features.

He also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only seven character

types in the 100 tales he analysed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero. 2. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical

object.3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.4. The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero,

identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

5. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

7. [False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

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Tzvetan Todorov (1977)Bulgarian structural linguist. He was interested in the way language is ordered to infer particular meanings and has been very influential in the field of narrative theory.

Stage 1: A point of stable equilibrium, where everything is satisfied, calm and normal.

Stage 2: This stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium.

Stage 3: Recognition that a disruption has taken place.

Stage 4: It is only possible to re-create equilibrium through action (An attempt to repair) directed against the disruption.

Stage 5: Restoration of a new state of equilibrium. The consequences of the reaction is to change the world of the narrative and/or the characters so that the final state of equilibrium in not the same as the initial state.

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D) Simba the future king of the prideland is born.

1. Equilibrium 

E) Mufasa (Simba’s father) is killed by Scar. Simba flees the kingdom in shame. Scar becomes the new king 

2. Disruption 

C) Scars reign has destroyed the kingdom. Simba realises he must return to the prideland. 3. Recognition

4. Attempt to repair/Action 

B) Simba returns to the pride land  and fights Scar. Simba wins

5. New Equilibrium 

A) The pride land recovers. Simba is now king. The Circle of Life starts all over again.

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D) Simba the future king of the prideland is born.

1. Equilibrium 

E) Mufasa is killed and Scar makes Simba believe that it was his fault Mufasa died, so Simba flees the kingdom in shame. Scar becomes the new king 

2. Disruption 

C) Scars reign has destroyed the kingdom and transformed it into a wasteland. Simba is reluctant to challenge Scar but realises he must return to the prideland.

3. Recognition

4. Attempt to repair/Action 

B) Simba returns to the pride land  and fights Scar, Simba wins and does a loud roar which travels throughout the entire pride land declaring that he is back

5. New Equilibrium 

A) The pride land recovers. Simba is now king. Simba and Nala mate and have a daughter, Kiara who is picked up by Rafiki. The Circle of Life starts all over again.

• 1 - D• 2 - E• 3 - C• 4 - B• 5 - A

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Roland Barthes (1977)

Establishment of plot or theme. This is then followed by the development of the problem, an enigma, an increase in tension.Finally comes the resolution of the plot.

Such narratives can be unambiguous and linear.Why do you think this is important to note?

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Lesson task : Use the remainder of the lesson to write down how the production you are writing about for Q1b) uses narrative. You may wish to use the computers to re-watch your work.

Back this up with at least 5 specific elements/examples from your production that show how you have used narrative.

Reference any theorists you have learnt about today

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NARRATIVEPreparation for Exam Question 1b: Lesson 1 & 2

Lesson 2: Essay Planning

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REMINDER OF KEY CONCEPT POINTS: In NARRATIVE, your task is identifying genre and

subgenre in your work and looking at how genre affects your work.

How narrative affects or structures the audiences viewing experience.

Since Aristotle (350 BCE) narrative plots are supposed to have a beginning, middle, and end.

  Its only because we are used to reading narratives from a

very early age and are able to compare texts with others that we understand these conventions.

A narrative in its most basic sense is a series of events, but in order to construct meaning from the narrative those events must be linked somehow.

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Reminder of Questions to consider when looking at narrative:

What is the story or narrative of your text?

How is your narrative structured? (the content of the story and the form used to tell the story).

What effect do you think your narrative has on an audience? What is the narrative structure of the production?

How do the specific elements of the production relate to the narrative structure?

Does the production adhere to or subvert narrative conventions?

How does the narrative support the establishment of the chosen genre of the production?

How have narrative techniques been used?

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For example you may want to start with an ‘Essay planning table’which could look something like this.

You now have 20 min to plan your essay on NARRATIVE…

Concept: Narrative Project Name: Look at your two productions and choose the best one Summary: This will form the basis of your opening summary for question 1b). Write a description of your project. If you are using the same project for another concept then you can use this but then mention the concept you will be using and how you aim to look at it. Techniques you used to

construct your narrative? How did you use these techniques in

your production?

What it signified about the narrative of

my text?

Which Theorist can you apply to this

point and why? What quotes can you use?

Examples in your work

Camera Todorov Mise-En-Scene Levi Strauss Editing Sound

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1(b) Apply theories of narrative to one of your coursework productions[25]

Now using your lesson plan attempt the question:

….You have 30 mins

Good luck!

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HOMEWORK TASK:

Take a look at your media theorists hand-out. Research other theories that may use to apply to your texts. Find quotes for each theorist you research:

John Fiske – genre as ‘convenience’ for producers and audiences

Henry Jenkins – genre constantly ‘breaks rules’ e.g. evolving hybridization

John Hartley – genre is interpreted culturally

David Buckingham – genre in constant process of negotiation and change