Work samples

The Arts: Media Arts

Years 9 and 10

Above satisfactory

Analysis essay

Summary of task

Students studied the use of film techniques and conventions to communicate meaning in a film genre. They watched and analysed Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) through student-led small group class discussion and analysis tasks based on production elements, genre, mood, sound and theme. An essay that was a summative task at the end of the unit was scaffolded through short, formative activities that familiarised students with the terminology required for the task.

The essay question was: How do production elements in the film establish and develop the themes/moods in the film and engage the audience?

Achievement standard

By the end of Year 10, students analyse how social and cultural values and alternative points of view are portrayed in media artworks they make, interact with and distribute. They evaluate how genre and media conventions and technical and symbolic elements are manipulated to make representations and meaning. They evaluate how social, institutional and ethical issues influence the making and use of media artworks.

Students produce representations that communicate alternative points of view in media artworks for different community and institutional contexts. They manipulate genre and media conventions and integrate and shape the technical and symbolic elements for specific purposes, meaning and style. They collaboratively apply design, production and distribution processes.

Show all annotations

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Annotations
1
Annotation 1
Identifies the genre of the film
2
Annotation 2
Identifies a convention of the film’s genre regarding the antagonist
3
Annotation 3
Lists elements in the film
4
Annotation 4
Identifies shot type and its purpose
5
Annotation 5
Provides a specific example of how a close-up shot in the film communicates a character’s emotional state
6
Annotation 6
Identifies the use of non-diegetic sound as a technical element in the film
7
Annotation 7
Describes the use of camera movement to communicate to an audience
8
Annotation 8
Describes the use of camera angle to communicate to an audience
9
Annotation 9
Contrasts the use of camera angles and how they communicate to an audience
10
Annotation 10
Identifies the director’s intent when using camera angles as a technical element
11
Annotation 11
Identifies the symbolic element of lighting and describes how it helps to communicate the film’s theme
12
Annotation 12
Identifies the use of low key lighting as a technical effect to communicate meaning in the film
13
Annotation 13
Analyses the symbolic meaning of the low key lighting
14
Annotation 14
Contrasts lighting choices and how they communicate to an audience
15
Annotation 15
Analyses the symbolic meaning of chiaroscuro style lighting in the film

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Annotations
1
Annotation 1
Describes how the symbolic meaning of lighting effects communicates contrasting characters
2
Annotation 2
Identifies sound as a symbolic element in the film
3
Annotation 3
Analyses the pace of sound and identifies it as a convention of the film’s genre
4
Annotation 4
Analyses how the use of voice-over can communicate more complexity to an audience
5
Annotation 5
Analyses the director’s use of volume for non-diegetic sound to create tension
6
Annotation 6
Asserts that technical and symbolic elements communicate meaning in the film