Essay Workshop

Objective Explore techniques to answer essay questions successfully in Section C of the FM2 exam

Exam recap FM2 = 2 hours 30 minutes 50 minutes per section Answer one question

Making comparisons – Essays should cover... 1.Characters 2.Messages and values 3.Cinematography 4.Macro issues - genre and narrative 5.Context – political, social 6.Production 7.Target audience 8.Critical and popular response

What your answer needs to do to get an A: You show very good knowledge and confident understanding of your chosen films and you make detailed and accurate reference to them. You engage well with the question and points of view will be developed very effectively. You will show a very good knowledge of narrative, genre and representation issues and how meaning is constructed. Very good comparisons will be made and there will be confident knowledge of context. Your work will be well-structured. There will be a clear and confident 'voice'. Quality of written communication will be fluent, well-structured and accurate with clear references to the chosen films. Total Marks = 40

Questions 15. How important is place in contributing to key themes in the American films you have studied for this topic? [40] or 16. Discuss similarities and differences in the representation of masculinity in your chosen American films. [40]

Exemplar paragraph – Place question The choice of cities in both ‘Crash’ and ‘Do the Right Thing’ is important. Brooklyn is a district of New York City, and Crash is set in Los Angeles. Both these cities are cultural melting-pots, where large groups of diverse ethnic minorities live together. However, in Lee’s film, action centres around one main street in Bed-Stuy, allowing the audience to see the tight sense of community between characters. Through the central character of Mookie we see how characters are related to each other and how they react to the day’s events. Characters wear Bed-Stuy t-shirts and congregate in front of the famous murals in the area. Whereas in Haggis’s film, action moves around in the city, so that any connections between characters becomes arbirtrary and sometimes forced. We see this notably when Graham and his mother identify his brother Peter’s body at the hospital, where Persian nurse Dorri just happens to be working. There is little to identify anyone with the area they live in.

Questions 15. How important is place in contributing to key themes in the American films you have studied for this topic? [40] or 16. Discuss similarities and differences in the representation of masculinity in your chosen American films. [40]

Task Choose a question In pairs, plan an answer to the question Aim for 6-8 main points, with 2 to 3 sub-points per point You will be using this plan on Wednesday by yourselves, to write exemplar paragraphs, so make the most of your time!