With just three weeks to go to the exam, here are a few tips for the OCR AS G322.
1. Practice a bit of writing on TV Drama and particularly in organising
your notes. You'll find a whole presentation of tips on that part of the
exam in my presentation from an earlier post on Feb 29. There I suggest
that you go into the exam knowing how you will organise your notes, so
that you have a structure to look out for things and to ensure that you
maximise the note-taking time. After the first screening, if you draw a
grid in the answer booklet, like this:
It will give you all you need for the four categories- mise-en-scene,
camerawork, editing (continuity editing, at least) and sound. Down the
side are the three categories P- point, D-data (or example) and Q-
question (how to relate point and example to the question set). This
model was suggested by Vicky Allen at Thomas Rotherham College, who gets
good results every year, so she should know!
When revising for the exam, fill out a grid like this with the points
you are going to be looking for on the day, then regardless of the
extract, you will have things to look for. You won't be able to take one
in to the actual exam, but you will have fewer things to memorise to
cover!
So, under mise-en-scene, you might be looking for key examples of
setting, costume, props, colours, makeup, hairstyle, lighting, posture,
gesture. For camerawork you want to make points about angles, shot
distances, camera movements, framing and focus. For continuity editing
you want examples of the 180 degree rule, match on action, shot reverse
shot, eyeline match, insert shots. For sound you will want examples of
music, dialogue, sound effects, use of foley, counterpoint, sound
bridges. If you have lists like this that you can then remember, that
gives you plenty to look for.
Once you have watched the extract through, during the second screening
you can very quickly note down your grid and start to put in examples
to support your points and then as you watch it a third and fourth
time, you can start to relate the examples you find back to the
question, by asking what they contribute to the representation under
scrutiny. So, for instance, how is the setting being used, how are
camera angles being used, how are features of continuity editing used to
help establish differences between characters. You'll have 30 minutes
in total for the note-taking, so make the most of it!
Remember, the more you do in preparation for the note-taking, the better
your chances in the essay itself. A well-organised answer in the 45
minutes for writing, supporting points with examples, will go a long way
towards getting you a good mark!
