January assessment learner response

 1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

Total = 21 Grade = 5

WWW - There is lots to credit here : your argument for Q6 is just superb and exactly what we're looking for. You now need to add all the depth and consistency across the whole paper to reach the 8+ grade we're aiming for.

EBI - Revise terminology : media codes, vertical integration etc.

       - For Q6, the argument is brilliant but you need more detailed reference to the CSPs for the top level :                         distribution, marketing methods etc.

2) Read the mark scheme for this assessment carefully (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access this). Write down the mark you achieved for each question:

Q1: 1 mark

Q2: 0 marks

Q3: 5 marks 

Q4: 0 marks 

Q5: 2 marks

Q6: 13 marks 

Where you didn't achieve full marks, write WHY you think you missed out on the extra marks. Use the indicative content suggestions in the mark scheme to help with this. If you got any media terminology wrong in the assessment you can make a note of it here.

I mistook the words for other media terminology and therefore achieved no marks.

3) Look specifically at question 3 - did you successfully write about both the preferred and oppositional readings? Did your answers match any in the mark scheme? Copy in one answer from the mark scheme that you could have used.

The target audience might find the image patronizing because it uses the word ‘We’ and suggests that the only way a woman can be successful in the work place is by appropriating male characteristics / changing.

4) Now look at question 4. Write a definition of vertical integration plus the benefits of it to revise this key industry terminology. You may find the blogpost on ownership and control helpful here.

A business strategy in which a company controls multiple stages of its production process and supply chain this allows it to reduce costs of production.

5) Finally, look at your 20-mark essay - question 6. Read this exemplar answer to help give you an idea of what a top-level response looks like. Then, write a new essay plan for this question, using the suggested answers in the mark scheme and the exemplar to help you. Use a format like this:

The statement in the question is difficult to refute in purely financial terms. Marvel, for example, will spend upwards of $200 million on global marketing campaigns and production budgets, expecting billion-dollar returns on their investment. Hollywood cinema is now a multi-billion dollar industry. On the other hand, it could be argued that low-budget films like I, Daniel Blake, directed by Ken Loach, are not attempting to compete with Disney and Marvel but rather attempting to exist independently.

Veteran independent filmmaker Ken Loach made the low-budget British film I, Daniel Blake, which cost £2 million to make. The purpose of the film, which is very political, is to show how the government's austerity and benefits cuts were hurting ordinary people from working class Britain. Ken Loach, the film's director, and Entertainment One, its distributor, employed innovative and low-cost strategies to spread word of the film. It had already won the prestigious Palm D'or at the Cannes Film Festival, which brought in a lot of attention. #WeAreAllDanielBlake social media campaigns followed. In addition, the film had a premiere in Newcastle, where it is set, and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Labour at the time, attended the London premiere. Finally, despite the film's limited marketing budget, guerrilla marketing strategies were employed to pique interest. Buildings throughout the United Kingdom, including the Houses of Parliament in London, were illuminated with the title and key lines from the film. This was one of Ken Loach's most financially successful films thanks to the worldwide box office haul of £11 million made possible by all of this.

In contrast, despite earning significantly more money than I, Daniel Blake, Marvel's Black Widow may have disappointed in terms of box office performance. The $200 million Marvel film received mostly positive reviews and positive feedback from fans. Sadly, the film did not do as well at the box office as other Marvel releases because of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The Disney+ premium streaming release will have contributed slightly to the $389 million worldwide box office total, but in the end, it will have fallen far short of the billion-dollar expectations of parent company Disney. This was despite the fact that Marvel's marketing machine employed every strategy at its disposal, including the star power of Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson, interviews with television shows all over the world, promotion via social media, Marvel website features, IMAX-exclusive footage, billboard advertising, and numerous other methods.

In conclusion, it's hard to believe that Hollywood blockbusters and low-budget independent films are the same industry because they are so different. Because the films are competing for very different audiences and using very different success criteria, it is crucial to evaluate their success in different ways. In this regard, I, Daniel Blake is undoubtedly the more commercially successful film.