End of Year 1 Exam: Learner Response

1) Type up any feedback from your teacher in full (you do not need to write the mark/grade if you do not wish to).

Total: 39 / 42      Grade: 9 

WWW: Stunning: almost impossible to fault! 

EBI: Perhaps research some of the British post-colonialist contexts for 1960s to push even higher.

2) Look at the mark scheme document linked above. Question 1.1 asks about mise-en-scene. What do we use to remember mise-en-scene? Give one example answer from the clip too - you'll find example answers in the mark scheme.

CLAMPS -> Costume / Lighting / Actor PME / Make-up & Hair / Props / Setting

e.g. - setting - empty city

3) Question 1.2 asks about narrative features in the extract. Look at the mark scheme to pick out three possible answers for this question.

• Narrative theory: Propp – character types. Lyra and Will as heroes who the audience can identify with and accompany on their exploration of this empty city. The audience are clearly positioned to sympathise with Lyra and Will when they initially face the two other children.
• The two children they are chasing initially are presumed to be villains but the dialogue in the second half of the extract complicates this. Instead, perhaps they become donors – giving Lyra and Will a drink and something to eat as well as important information about the Spectres (including the danger Will may soon be in).

• Todorov (equilibrium): The empty city creates a sense of disequilibrium – that something has gone wrong and needs to be repaired or at least understood by the characters.

• Costume: Lyra and Will are placed in costumes that reflect the world they are from. This helps to communicate the wider narrative arc of the show and emphasises the fact they are ‘out of place’ in this city currently. This creates a sense of narrative enigma (why are they there? What will they discover? Are they in danger?) and also a sense of binary opposition – of two opposing worlds. The costumes of the two other children help emphasise this contrast and reflect the narrative development of the ‘Spectres’ that have left these children homeless and the city empty of grown-ups.

4) Now focus on Question 2 - the 20 mark essay. Use the mark scheme to pick out one way Doctor Who reflects 1963 and one way His Dark Materials reflects 2020.

Doctor Who: 

 

The storylines reflect events in society at the time of production, e.g. in Doctor Who the

Daleks were initially seen as representing the Nazis, especially in the 1960s when WW2 was

still a recent memory for many of the audience. Since then the Daleks have continued to

represent totalitarianism, although in some recent episodes they have been more

humanised.

His Dark Materials:

His Dark Materials reflects the increasing independence young people expect and deliberately places the children in environments where there are no adults. Many grown ups are presented as villains and Lyra’s parents have effectively abandoned her. This subverts traditional stereotypes but does reflect modern contexts where young people are increasingly asserting themselves in society (e.g. political protest, climate change etc.)

5) Reflect on your overall work and exam performance this year. What three things do you need to work on or revise in Media for Year 11?

• Researching extra social, cultural and historical contexts in the relevant time periods to use in any question.
• Aiming to use more high-level examples of representation - e.g. representations of the patriarchy and religion through the Magistrate in His Dark Materials
• Working on timing - aiming to write more in the given time / writing faster