FM4 - Urban Stories: Strengthening Exam Responses

Exam Responses: Guidance 

• Developing more thorough responses to exam questions is a key skill that needs to be developed in preparation for the exam. 
• Below are sample paragraphs of A and D grade responses to an Urban Stories question from the January 2012 paper. 
• These highlight the contrasts in content, detail and discussion that is required to get the highest grade possible. 
• Strengthening your exam skills and technique to create better responses is not difficult if you can recognise your weaknesses and change your approach to answering questions from a more critical perspective rather than largely descriptive.

(Question 5.)

Compare the different ways in which conflict between the poor and the powerful are represented in the films you have studied for this topic?  

'D' grade response

The early sequences of the film are set post-riot when we see the destruction of Hubbert's gym and the vandalism of police cars by Said it is clear that there is obvious conflict between poor and powerful. The police have also killed someone and Vinz's readiness to go and kill a police officer to get even clearly demonstrates how conflict is rife between people and authority, and how they resent those in power. The unrest and continuation of the riots helps visualise the unhappiness that prevails in the projects and the readiness of people to change it shows how they want to be recognised and helped.

Comments

Lacks detail - has a tendency to generalise - lacks film language - fails to discuss wider issues

'A' grade response

With the use of black and white stock footage of the riots in the title sequence the audience are made aware that conflict is a key issue from the start. The grittiness of the style exemplifies the themes of conflict in French culture of 'Liberty, equality and fraternity' in mid 90's Paris and the way that the 3 main characters express contrasting attitudes to dominant social values. A particularly powerful character is Vinz who represents 'liberty' in the narrative; he is seen displaying power in the scene when he talks to himself in the mirror in a mid-shot and adopts De Niro's posturing from 'Taxi Driver'. His lack of any 'true' identity though suggests that he is a poor character struggling to gain respect from the society that wishes to exclude or devalue his participation in French society.   

Comments

Includes detail - does not generalise - uses film language - discusses wider issues - is confident

Strong Exam Responses:

• Include detail
• Don't generalise
• Use film language
• Discuss wider contexts
• Are written with confidence
• Understand that film is a visual language