Questions 1a an 1b (2010-2013)

In question 1a you need to write about your work for the Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio units and you may refer to other media production work you have undertaken.

In question 1b you must write about one of your media productions.

January 2010

1a. Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to the creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

1b. Analyse media representation in one of your coursework productions.

June 2010

1a. 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.

1b. Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre.

January 2011

1a. Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills have contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

1b. Apply theories of narrative to one of your coursework productions.

June 2011

1a. Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

1b. Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience.

January 2012

1a. Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real media texts informed your own creative media practice. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

1b. Analyse media representation in one of your coursework productions.

June 2012

1a. Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in post-production and how these decisions made a difference to the final outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

1b. Explain how meaning is constructed by the use of media language in one of your coursework productions.

January 2013

1a. Explain how your research and planning skills developed over time and contributed to your media production outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer.

1b. Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of narrative.

June 2013

1a. explain how your skills in the creative use of digital technology developed over time. Refer to a range of examples in your answer.

1b. Apply the concept of representation to one of your coursework productions.

1a topics

1. Creativity 

2. Digital Technologies

3. Research and planning

4. Post production

5. Real media conventions

Radiohead postmodern task

Uncool playlist

Eurythmics - Sweet dreams (are made of this) - synth pop / new wave

David Bowie - Space oddity - Rock

Sex pistols - Silly thing - Punk

Stormzy - Wickedskengman4 - Grime

Crystal Castles - Baptism - Electronic

Outkast - Roses - Hip Hop

The Cranberries - Zombie - Rock

Gil Scot heron & Jamie xx - NY is killing me - Electronic

Radiohead - Idioteque - Indie Rock

Gorillaz - November has come - Indie Rock

Palma Violets - We found love - Indie Rock

Barry white - let the music play - R&B / Soul / Funk

A$AP Rocky - Lvl - Hip Hop

Tame Impala - Reality in motion - Psychedelic Rock

The Clash - Police and thieves - Punk

Daft Punk - Something about us - Dance 

LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean - Electronica / Dance rock

Skepta - I Spy - Grime

Lionel Richie & Dianna Ross - Endless love - Soul / Pop

FKA Twigs - Preface - Electronic

How can Django unchained be viewed as a postmodern film?

How can Django unchained be viewed as a postmodern film?

Postmodernism is a concept in the arts and architecture, it represents a departure from modernism and is characterised by the self conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories. Frederick Jameson describes postmodernism as vacuous and trapped in a circular reference’ meaning it is empty and going around in circles, suggesting the idea that everything is a copy and nothing is original. 

In 1858 a bounty hunter named Schultz befriends a slave called Django and buys him as he needs his help to find three men, after they find these men Django wants to find his wife, Broomhilda, who along with him were sold separately for trying to escape their last owners house, Schultz offers to help him as long as Django stays with him to be his partner. They find out she was sold to a plantation in Mississippi. Fully knowing they cant just go in and demand to buy her, they have to come up with a plan so that the owner invites them into his home and they can save her. 

Django combines various characteristics of various film genres, one of them being a ‘western’ which is a film set in the wild west of america, a ‘spaghetti western’ which is a low budget western made in Italy, and ‘blaxploitation’ which is a film where black people are cast as stereotypical characters of the black community, this can be seen as some sort of postmodern ‘mash up’ which coincides with the Frederick Jameson's idea of circular referencing. This is not the only feature that makes the film a ‘mash up’, the actual name of the film and the the origins of it come from two other films that have been previously made, they are Django (1966) and Hercules unchained (1959), this has created what is known as a meta, which is a piece of creative work which refers to itself or to the conventions of its genre ‘self referential’, this was something done deliberately by the films director Quentin Tarantino who is famous for his postmodern style. 

Postmodernism is particularly hard to get your head around as it is a concept that you either believe in or don't believe in, you have to form your own opinion on it which is why it is difficult to define something as postmodern or not, the actual name of the concept ‘post modern’ does not make sense, post meaning after, and modern being the present tense, something can not be after modern, it just doesn't work. 

Compared to other ‘western’ films the film is very unconventional, one particularly unconventional part of it is the music and soundtrack, the music does not fit well at all with the type of film it is, however in a way it does work as well, the one that stood out for me was hip hop artist Rick ross, this song did not suit the type of film at all and would clearly not have been in any original ‘western’ films, they also have Italian opera style ballads, so the range of music is very wide. This again is done deliberately by Tarantino, to add a comical element to his work, it adds to his ‘historical deafness’, historical deafness is our society’s lack of understanding of many historical events, due to us not actually being there so we rely on information from other people, who get it from others, etc etc, and in reality many of these things may have been exaggerated or not happened at all, the wild west is a great example of this, as many people are thought to get shot all the time, as shown in many films, and particularly Django, however obviously this is not true, as western films are made for our entertainment so clearly things must be exaggerated to create dramatic effect.