Y13 Baseline assessment: Learner response

 Baseline assessment learner response

Create a new blog post called 'Y13 baseline assessment learner response' and complete the following tasks:

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: This is an important lesson at the start of Year 13 on the level we need to reach. You have a track record of a C grade assessments so we need to use this to work out what we need to develop with regards to Paper 2 this year.

EBI: Q1 just starts to get into myth and ideology in the final paragraph: you needed much more discussion of this and specific reference to the text. Q2 actually starts reasonably well but then just stops. Is this a timing issue? Revision? Decoding the question? Hopefully the mark scheme and LR will help you with this.

2) Focusing on the unseen question 1, pick out three bullet points on the anticipated content and link each point to the three aspects of the question - denotation, connotation, myth. 

the denotation of the costume, props, colour and body language

the connotations of the image with reference to USA’s national identity through the burning flag and the reference to the Western genre

the construction of myth through the use of signs – the lone, charismatic American hero, violent but thoughtful and reflective.

3) Look at the anticipated content for the 25-mark Magazines question. Pick out three points on GQ and three on The Gentlewoman that you think are particularly interesting for this question on social and cultural contexts.

GQ

GQ could be seen as a clear example of the way media producers respond to changing social and cultural contexts – a magazine that has explicitly attempted to redefine modern masculinity.

Global Editorial Director Will Welch has championed a ‘New Masculinity’ that has seen cover shoots that challenge gender stereotypes and a move away from style advice to self-

expression.

CSP pages that support this view include the Robert Pattinson cover shoot (Art and Fashion issue) and the extended interview and fashion photoshoot with actor Jonathan Bailey. Specific analysis might include the unusual, subversive font and typography on the Pattinson cover or the Virgil Abloh feature that offers a ‘Golden age of creativity’.

The Gentlewoman

The Gentlewoman magazine has bucked the trend when it comes to the decline in print media but perhaps reflects changes in social and cultural contexts with regards to rebranding print as a luxury product in an ethical lifestyle.

It is published just twice a year which is perhaps the consequence of the digital revolution in society. It’s worldwide distribution (many copies paid by subscription rather than newsstand) reflects the change in the way audiences buy and consume their media.

The magazine certainly reflects the feminist movement and therefore does show a product responding to changing social and cultural contexts. Editor Penny Martin talks about wanting to represent “how modern women live” and reflect “women as they actually look, sound and dress”. The magazine has also subverted trends in the women’s lifestyle genre by selecting a wide range of cover stars including 88-year-old Angela Lansbury and Beyonce deliberately photographed using no make-up.

4) Write a full essay plan for the 25-mark Magazines question. The mark scheme contains plenty of ideas you can use here. Your plan should include notes/bullet points addressing the following:

• Paragraph 1 content: GQ could be seen as a clear example of the way media producers respond to changing social and cultural contexts – a magazine that has explicitly attempted to redefine modern masculinity. Global Editorial Director Will Welch has championed a ‘New Masculinity’ that has seen cover shoots that challenge gender stereotypes and a move away from style advice to self-expression.
  
  
• Paragraph 2 content: In contrast, students may point to the Francis Ford Coppola feature on The Godfather as reinforcing a more traditional masculine interest in gangster films and violence. Similarly, the Jonathan Bailey fashion suit certainly subverts traditional masculinity in many ways (alongside the actor’s discussion of his sexuality in the interview) but it could also be argued the costume of suits and jackets, the formal shoes, the serious expressions and the low-angle shots to signify power actually reinforce some masculine stereotypes.
  
  
• Paragraph 3 content: The Gentlewoman magazine has bucked the trend when it comes to the decline in print media but perhaps reflects changes in social and cultural contexts with regards to rebranding print as a luxury product in an ethical lifestyle. It is published just twice a year which is perhaps the consequence of the digital revolution in society. It’s worldwide distribution (many copies paid by subscription rather than newsstand) reflects the change in the way audiences buy and consume their media.
  
  
• Paragraph 4 content: In contrast, it could also be argued that these features do not represent a huge social and cultural change and in fact offer more of a reflection of The Gentlewoman’s upper middle class, wealthy typical reader. The Gentlewoman Club reinforces this, an exclusive series of events where attendees are hand-picked by Penny Martin and take place in conjunction with luxury brands. The pretension and privilege in the Gentlewoman is nothing new, just repackaged for a new generation.

5) Finally, identify three key skills/topics you want to work on in A Level Media this year before the final exams in June.

Timing

Memorisation of key essentials in Magazines CSP

Myth