AS and A Level: Plays

Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

1. Do they use key words from the title or question?
2. Do they answer the question directly?
3. Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

• "Citizen Kane is often called the greatest film ever made. With close examination of the opening scenes, discuss the significant artistic features and cinematic techniques that led to this response."

  "A different example of Welles' mise-en-shot having great effect is the use of single shots from one angle for extended periods of time. This is a technique rarely employed in modern films, with directors preferring to jump to different angles frequently, showing as much as possible in a different way. This can feel strange to a modern viewer, and I found myself watching some of the interview scenes especially, just waiting for the camera to change, even just for a close-up, but it rarely does. A scene from the newsreel gives a good overall impression of the film. When Thatcher is shown calling Kane a communist, a union leader declares him a fascist, and Kane refers to himself as "One thing only- an American." These different views of Kane are symbolic of the way we only get what people who knew him thought of him, and as the newsreel director said, "what he did." We never find out the real truth, only other people's views, and although clues are given (after all, not many would believe that this cold businessman would so fondly keep his childhood sledge) we never really know the man himself. Michael Whiteman"

• Compare the Opening Scenes of the Two Film Versions of Lord of the Flies

  "In my opinion the modern film version of 'Lord of the Flies' is the most effective. I feel this way because firstly it is in colour which to me provides a clearer picture and gives a better atmosphere as you can see the change in lighting. And also the fact that not as much information was given makes the audience feel more intrigued as to what is happening. The music in the modern version was a lot more smoother in the sense that it seemed to fit better, and it wasn't just like a series of sounds put together unlike in the first film. Both directors interpreted the novel in their own way and came out with virtually totally different beginnings, showing the change of the way of thinking from the early sixties to the late eighties when the modern version was produced."

• Analyse 'drugs the facts' and 'The Score,' looking at how genres have been used and subverted in order to attract specific target audiences. How effective is this?

  "In conclusion I think that both drugs leaflets are to an extent effective at using and subverting genres in order to attract a specific target audience. However I feel that 'The Score' was the most successful at attracting a specific target audience through its use of several borrowed generic features found in teenage magazines, the Internet, scientific text books, and various others."