Media Paper 2 PPE - Learner response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).
WWW- Well structured, detailed answers showing some synoptic ability by using a range of theories

EBI- More reference and analysis of the industry context (esp.Q3) and a more advanced appreciation/evaluation of some ideas (e.g. cultivation theory, post-feminism, etc.)

2) Did you succeed in meeting or exceeding your target grade for A Level Media in this paper? If not, how many additional marks do you need to achieve your target grade in Paper 2?
I did not succeed in meeting my target grade. I was 8 marks away.

We don't know exactly what grade boundaries AQA will set as this is a new specification. These are the boundaries we've used, based on last year's A Level exam but reduced slightly to account for the new specification (out of 84):  

A* = 78; A = 68; B = 56; C = 44; D = 32; E = 21.

Now read through the AQA mark scheme for Paper 2. This is vital as the paper was an official specimen exam paper and therefore the mark scheme tells us a lot about what AQA are expecting us to produce. The original Paper 2 question paper is here if that is helpful too.

3) Write a question-by-question analysis of your performance. For each question, write how many marks you got from the number available and identify any points that you missed by carefully studying the AQA indicative content in the mark scheme:

Q1: 7/9 marks
Additional points I missed: 

• Use more terminology (e.g. the Long shot, etc.)
• More advanced references to post-feminist theory
• The female character can be read through post-feminist theories – she is a powerful woman, taking on male characteristics. The image has regal connotations of hierarchy and power
• She is a personification of post-feminist theories of power – women no longer need to challenge patriarchal structures but compete within them
•  ideas of intersectionality could also be included here – representation of a powerful, black woman.

Q2: 21/25 marks
Additional points I missed:

• That the combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole
• The media cultivates attitudes and values which are already present in a culture: the media maintain and propagate these values amongst members of a culture, a way of binding the culture together
• Concept of mainstreaming – the idea that the media cultivates middle-of-the-road political perspectives
• Concept of resonance - the intensified effect on the audience when what people see on television is what they have experienced in life.
• Assumes a great deal of power for the media in shaping attitudes, which might not be justified

CSPs:

• Distinction between light and heavy viewers and their differing responses – consider target audience for each series.
• The TV CSPs are consumed in a very different media landscape to that of the original theory – is it possible to have TV drama as the dominant source of information?
• The CSPs combine extreme situations with more realist approaches which may well resonate and affect viewers (especially true with Capital)
• The use of the thriller genre as representing violence as a normal part of society, something you may be likely to encounter (mean world syndrome)

Q3: 20/25 marks
Additional points I missed:

• Needed more in terms of The Voice
• Processes of production, distribution and circulation by organisations, groups and individuals in a global context
• The significance of patterns of ownership and control, including conglomerate ownership, vertical integration and diversification
• The significance of economic factors, including commercial and not-for-profit public funding, to media industries and their products
• The role of regulation in global production, distribution and circulation.

Teen Vogue:

• Teen Vogue is characteristic of the economic organisation of media industries – part of a multi-media, global conglomerate
• The definition of reflecting political contexts would also include the representation of femininity in Teen Vogue and whether that could also be read as conservative – focus on fashion, beauty, celebrity etc

The Voice:

• The Voice covers political and economic issues as they affect their target audience -discrimination, institutional racism, economic inequality etc. – in a way not apparent in other news media
• The Voice covers political and economic issues as they affect their target audience -discrimination, institutional racism, economic inequality etc. – in a way not apparent in other news media
• The Voice is unusual as it is still owned by an independent company, it has very limited multi-media presence (distinction between the dominance of conglomerates and independent institutions)
• The Voice is aimed at a niche audiences in a period of global media targeting
• Teen Vogue has explicitly political content which challenges dominant ideologies

Both:

• The products have remained free to access, an increasingly rare position in contemporary media.
• Both online products reflect the decline of print products
• Developments in technology have shaped the design and consumption of both product
• Multiple opportunities for the collecting of data of the audience suggest that the two websites reflect economic contexts

Q4: 22/25 marks
Additional points I missed:

• Context of gender categories in the industry and audience – move by producers to make games appealing beyond the stereotypical young male audience.

Representation:

• References to theories of feminism, post feminism and gender could be used to analyse the types of representations on offer.
• The question of whether the representations are reflective of a socially and culturally aware industry of part of an economic imperative could be discussed.

Audience:

• Responses may challenge the assumption about audiences for games through empirical evidence – arguing that women have always played games despite the representations.
• Multiple ways of targeting audience other than through representation can be considered – narrative, identification with characters, skill and gameplay, nostalgia (Lara Croft).
• Audience theories of encoding and effects could be used to analyse the relationship between content and audience, as well as the producers control over these responses.

4) Choose your weaker of the three 25-mark questions. Write a full, new essay plan for this question using the indicative content in the mark scheme and with enough content to meet the criteria for Level 4 (top level). This will be somewhere between 5-7 well-developed paragraphs planned in some detail.

Media products are shaped by the economic and political contexts in which they are created. To what extent does an analysis of your online, social and participatory Close Study Products (The Voice and Teen Vogue) support this view? [25 marks]

Introduction:

• Media products are shaped by the economic and political contexts in which they are produced to a large extent.
• Whether this is a decision in order to reflect the economic and political contexts in which they are produced or whether it is a decision that is profit driven is debatable. 

Teen Vogue:

• Short intro of Teen Vogue: little sister to US Vogue, etc
• Teen Vogue has global brand recognition, an aim for contemporary media industries.
• The content of Teen Vogue reflects political contexts in its coverage of contemporary US politics (outspoken criticism of Trump etc)
• The definition of reflecting political contexts would also include the representation of femininity in Teen Vogue and whether that could also be read as conservative – focus on fashion, beauty, celebrity etc
• Teen Vogue is characteristic of the economic organisation of media industries – part of a multi-media, global conglomerate - this could perhaps suggest its change in the brand was a profit-driven decision

The Voice:

• Short intro on the Voice
• The Voice covers political and economic issues as they affect their target audience -discrimination, institutional racism, economic inequality etc. – in a way not apparent in other news media
• The Voice covers political and economic issues as they affect their target audience -discrimination, institutional racism, economic inequality etc. – in a way not apparent in other news media
• The Voice is unusual as it is still owned by an independent company, it has very limited multi-media presence (distinction between the dominance of conglomerates and independent institutions)
• The Voice is aimed at a niche audiences in a period of global media targeting
• Teen Vogue has explicitly political content which challenges dominant ideologies

Both:

• The products have remained free to access, an increasingly rare position in contemporary media.
• Both online products reflect the decline of print products
• Developments in technology have shaped the design and consumption of both product
• Multiple opportunities for the collecting of data of the audience suggest that the two websites reflect economic contexts

Conclusion:

• Media products are shaped by the economic and political contexts in which they are produced to a large extent.

5) Based on the whole of your Paper 2 learner response, plan FIVE topics / concepts / CSPs / theories that you will prioritise in your Easter Media revision timetable.

• Cultivation theory
• Post-feminism
• The Voice
• Metroid Prime
• Deutschland 83