An essay guide for students studying A-level Media. Here the question, which came up in a real exam, is broken down into manageable chunks. Using this guide, students should be able to talk about their film case studies effectively. There are working hyperlinks for extended knowledge/revision.

1. Planning a response to G322 – Section B: Film.
What significance does the development of
digital technologies have for media institutions and audiences?
Whilst there is no golden rule to writing a correct essay answer, you can effectively plan and map out a successful
response in little time, thus giving your writing a clearer focus and opportunity to respond to the question using all of
your knowledge and ideas. This writing frame is a six point guide to approaching an exam question.
1 ‐ Introduction: Don’t just launch into the question, you must define certain parameters, including
what industry you intend to reference and what areas of that business you will explore in relation to the question.
You should also define your success criteria and what you interpret as ‘significant’. You have studied two or three
media texts, therefore you need to explain to the examiner how you intend to shape your response – the pattern
you follow should then make more sense both to you, adding to your flow, and aid the examiner.
2 ‐ Try and complete this response in a linear way; you should address the impact of digital
developments in technology at the various stages of production, unless the question gives you a particular focus.
Why not start with pre‐production and how institutions use technology to create a buzz about their forthcoming
product. If a film is going to be filmed in 3D or have a particular star name attached to it, this can attract the
attention of investors and distributors. Once contracts/deals are signed there may be a press release. Take the new
Bond Film, Skyfall; a year before production there was an online buzz about who would be in it. Youtube is full of
fan‐made trailers which add to publicity; therefore this is significant for institutions and predicting popularity.
Audiences trawl new media websites to discuss and share thoughts about production. Directors and actors also now
use Vlogs to keep audiences wanting more.
3 ‐ Production: think about the technologies used to create the film. If it’s a Hollywood, high concept
film it may have a large part of its budget dedicated to CGI, which is significant to digital technologies. You can
contrast this against your British Film, which may or may not use CGI – you could also discuss affordability of special
effects in editing today (verisimilitude) and productions made 5‐10 years prior. Imax and 3D camera technology may
have been used, again this is linked to profitability at the box office and drawing new audiences in; however, they
may not want to visit the cinema because of improved technology at home (think HD, 3D TV) so institutions may be
responding to audience demands. REMEMBER to highlight the link/relationship between institutions and audiences;
the development of Apps and virals; trailers and fan pages; interactivity and games to raise awareness.
4 ‐ Distribution: the companies responsible for publicising and marketing the film. New technology
now plays a greater part than ever in attracting the eye of cinema goers. The careful selection of social network sites
like Facebook and Twitter is now seen as the norm. The impact of likes, trending and retweets is significant in
today’s media. You should have a detailed knowledge regarding marketing campaign, whether it was a saturated
release and how critics and fans received the film. There may well have been synergistic processes involving video
games and other media industries to reflect upon – perhaps made significant by digital technology. How TV spots,
theatrical trailers, posters offering digital content and product tie‐ins use the web to extend and attract niche
audiences or enforce marketing strategies to hook their primary and secondary audience.
5 ‐ Exhibition: Focus on the performance at cinemas and on the home entertainment market (DVD, Blu‐
Ray, download). What factors, e.g. piracy and cloud based exhibition systems are changing markets (lovefilm,
Netflix). You should think about new concepts like Ultraviolet and Phenix, designed to allow audiences to have
access to legitimate copies of films for portable media devices (borrowed from gaming). Think about what devices
audiences now use to watch films, relate this to the significance of new technology developments.
6 – Conclusion: Draw together your findings from paragraphs 2‐5 and conclude just how far digital
technologies have made significant developments for media institutions and audiences. Level 4 responses would
make predictions about future trends affecting either party.
Free resource taken from www.alevelmedia.co.uk