Film Studies Reflective Analysis - Guidance

This is following my marking of Year 13 Reflective Analysis essays but some of it applies to those of you in Year 12 as well. The people who have done WELL tend to have the following:

• A short introduction outlining their intentions when they started the project.
• A good outline of their target audience.
• A clear understanding of the codes and conventions of their chosen genre and discussion of how they used/developed/ignored them.
• A focus throughout on how successfully their film achieved what they set out to do, through specific references to micro elements.

People who have done LESS WELL have generally done so for the following reasons:

• There is little or no focus on their specific role in the production and its impact on the finished film.
• They have purely written a description of the production process with little or no analysis of micro elements.
• They have failed to identify a target audience or mention audience feedback; therefore failing to assess the success of the finished film.

The focus for this essay at A2 is very much on how well your film achieves what you set out to do in terms of communicating meaning/eliciting response in an audience (micro analysis) and on showing your understanding of the conventions of your genre and how your film uses them. The specification suggests focussing on particular, key parts of your film rather than attempting to do the whole thing and analysis of the impact of your particular role (even if it's a fabricated role) is crucial.

At AS the focus is purely on how the film uses micro features to make meanings for audiences. It is just another micro analysis!

Hope this is helpful to you.