Tips for Question 1A

There are five possible areas that can come up;
Digital technology
Research and planning
Conventions of real media
Post-production
Creativity
The question is likely to mix and match the five.

What production activities have you done?
This should include both the main task and preliminary task from AS and the main and ancillaries at A2 plus any non-assessed activities you have done as practice, and additionally anything you have done outside the course which you might want to refer to, such as films made for other courses or skateboard videos made with your mates if you think you can make them relevant to your answer.

What digital technology have you used?
This should not be too hard - include hardware (cameras, phones for pictures/audio, computers and anything else you used) software (on your computer) and online programmes such as blogger, youtube, etc.

In what ways can the work you have done be described as creative?
This is a difficult question and one that does not have a correct answer as such, but ought to give you food for thought.

What different forms of research did you do?
Again you will need to include a variety of examples - institutional research (such as how titles work in film openings), audience research (before you made your products and after you finished for feedback), research into conventions of media texts (layout, fonts, camera shots, soundtracks, everything!) and finally, logistical research - shots of your locations, research into costumer, actors, etc.

What conventions of real media did you need to know about?
For this, it is worth making a list for each project you have worked on and categorising them by medium so that you don't repeat yourself.

What do you understand by 'post-production' in your work?
For the purpose of this exam, it is defined as everything after planning and shooting or live recording. In other words, the stage of your work where you manipulated your raw material on the computer, maybe using photoshop, a video editing programme, or desktop publishing.

For each of these lists, the next stage is to produce a set of examples
so that when you make the point in the exam, you can then back it up with a concrete example, You need to be able to talk about specific things you did in post-production and why they were significant, just as you need yo do more than just say 'I looked on youtube' for conventions of real media, but actually name specific videos you looked at, what you gained from them and how they influenced you work.

This question will be very much about looking at your skills development over time, the process which brought about the progress
most, if not all, the projects you have worked on from that list above, and about reflection on how you as a media student have developed. Unusually, this is an exam which reward you for talking about yourself and the work you have done!

Final tips: You need some practice - this is ver hard to do without it. Have a crack at trying to write an essay on each of the areas, or at the very least doing a detailed plan with lots of examples. The fact that it is a 30 minute essay makes it very unusual, so you need to tailor your writing to that length.