Essay Writing Skills

HINTS AND TIPS

By the time you get to the exam, you MUST be able to watch a short clip 4 times, make notes during the 3 of the screenings, and then write an essay using key terminology analysing how one of the following social groups is represented through the use of camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound

•      Gender
•      Age
•      Class
•      Regional Identity
•      Disability
•      Sexuality
•      Ethnicity

Remember that when the examiner marks your essays they give you marks for the following things:

•        Your understanding of how technical elements create meaning
•     How relevant your answer is to the specific question
•     Your use of a wide variety of frequent examples that are clearly relevant to your answer
•     Frequent and accurate use of key terminology
•        Your use of accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling

Analytical vocabulary

This shot/scene/example (etc.)...

ANALYTICAL WORD	MEANING
... establishes...	sets up, creates
... signifies...	Shows / acts as a sign for (e.g. red signifies danger)
... denotes...	provides a straightforward reading
... connotes...	Suggests or offers a cultural or interpreted meaning
... suggests...	provides a possible interpretation
... implies...	suggests
... illustrates...	provides a clear example of
... foreshadows...	hints at what is to come
...contrasts with...	offers a very different image / interpretation to (another example)
... is juxtaposed with...	creates opposite feelings/readings (compared with another e.g.
...demonstrates...	Is an example
...identifies...	Pinpoints, makes clear

Audience Readings

This shot/scene/example (etc.)...

PHRASE	HOW TO CONTINUE THE PHRASE
... allows/invites the viewer to...	... deduce / infer / understand / realise
...creates and expection that	... X or Y will happen
... heightens the sensation of...	... fear / dread / excitement / passion etc.
... invites the audience to...	... sympathise / empathise / identify with   (a character)

ESSAY WRITING IN THE EXAM

If you struggle remembering what technical elements you should mention,  try and remember these to give you some hints:

CAMERA – CAMS	SOUND - DVDN	EDITING - PECT	MISE-EN-SCENE - PLACES
Compositions Angles Movement Shots	Dialogue Voice Diegetic Non-Diegetic	Pace Effects Cutting Transitions	Props Lighting Appearance Costume Expression Setting

If you are worried about how to structure your answer, just make sure that with every point you make you include the following information

TERMINOLOGY	MEANING FOR THE CHARACTER	MEANING FOR THE SOCIAL GROUP
Use a key piece of terminology to describe a technical element	Explain what the meaning of this aspect is and what it suggests about the character it relates to	Explain what wider significance this has in relation to representing the social group in question eg gender / class etc
In ‘Monarch of the Glen’, the low angle medium close-up on Paul, from Amy’s height...	... signifies Paul’s dominance from Amy’s perspective.	It reminds the audience that adults use their physical presence to dominate younger people – seen from Amy’s perspective this could be read as unfair
In ‘Primeval’, the last shot of the tiger sequence is on Cutter, rather than Abby, the shooter.	This establishes the male rather than the female point of view, de-spite the girl’s heroism...	... representing an old-fashioned masculine dominance of the narrative.
In ‘The Silence’, diegetic sound is sometimes subjective, from Amelia’s point of view. Walking happily through the park the audience hears only things she touches: leaves, the wall and so on.	This sympathetically illustrates how Amelia compensates for her deafness by making more use of other senses that hearing audi-ences may take for granted.	This invites the audience to appreciate that a deaf person’s experience is different, rather than worse, than their own.
In ‘Feather Boy’, both the children and the elderly residents exhibit negative body language, backing away from each other on first meeting.	This suggests that both groups are unfamiliar and fearful of each other, because of their different ages.	It represents the idea that in modern Britain, the young and old no longer spend time together and have grown far apart.