6 Tips For Writing
"A" level Media
Essays
The Dark Knight
Tip No. 1:
Always read the question fully.
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Choose a key scene or
sequence from a film or TV
drama* which creates
excitement or tension.
Describe what happens in the
scene or sequence, how the
tension or excitement is
created and explain why this
scene is important to the film
or TV drama as a whole.
Let's think about what is
being asked of us here and
what we have to do:
Tip No. 2:
Always Plan Ahead
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Planning ensures that your
essay will display a clear
line of thought. Not
bothering will make your
essay messy and may lead
to you wandering off-topic.
Take the previous essay
question and create a 3minute plan as to how you
would answer it.
You cannot impress a
marker unless you have
clearly thought through how
to answer the question
Tip No. 3:
Avoid retelling the story!
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If you simply fill your
essay with narrative (the
film's plot), you will
basically be shooting
yourself in the foot.
Instead, you should be
thinking about what this
scene tells you about
the characters/theme.
Save any storytelling for
the ACTION part of
PATE.
Tip No. 4:
Analyse techniques as you would quotes.
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It's simply not enough to pick
out a technique and identify it.
That's as useless as writing
that "It is a moon wrapped in
paper" is a metaphor and then
saying nothing else. You must
comment on how effective the
use of technique is and what it
adds to the scene.
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TASK:
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Think about a camera shot in the
film that you found particularly
striking or effective and comment
on why the director used it and
analyse its effect.
Tip No. 5:
Consider the bigger picture.
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You have to be able to show
how the scene fits in with the
film as a whole. With "The
Dark Knight", this should be
easy as the film really comes
together as you reach the end.
Try to connect things you see
earlier on with what happens
later.
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TASK:

Think about some of the
themes of 'The Dark Knight'
and pick 3 moments of
symbolism that tie in with
those themes.
Tip No. 6:
Impress the Marker.
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These are the SQA marking
instructions for Int 2 critical
essay. The better your
understanding, analysis and
evaluation skills, the higher
your mark. You will also
notice expression has its
own column. This shows
how important it is.
TASK:

Take an essay that has been
marked and I want you to
select one paragraph to
improve. Everything you
write must make perfect
sense on first reading. Does
your essay do this?