Section A , Question 1a – Skills Evaluation of Production

Breakdown of Section A question 1a

Section A, question 1a of the A2 exam is worth 25 marks

You will be evaluating your AS and A2 coursework in terms of the skills you have developed over the 2 years

You will have 30mins to answer this question

How is it marked?

20 marks - Explanation, analysis, argument20 marks – Examples10 marks - Terminology

Section A: Skills Evaluation of Production

Question 1(a) describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work – this can include the preliminary tasks, your actual c/w, ancillary tasks and any other pieces you have created in the past year.

In the exam 1 or more of the following areas will be selected for you to write about:

Digital Technology Creativity Research and planning Post-production Using conventions from real media texts

Jan 2010 June 2010 Jan 2011 June 2011 Jan 2012

1) Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of example in your answer to show how these skills developed over time

2) Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by research into real media texts and how your ability to use such research for production developed over time

3) Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills.

4) Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.

5) Describe how your analysis of the conventions of real media texts informed your own creative practise. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills have been developed over time.

What is it about?

What did you do? How did you do it? How did your skills develop? All supported with specific examples In relation to the area(s) in question

Critical Reflection

Reflective practice is a skill that is much sought after and is highly regarded by universities and employers. This goes beyond evaluations of the outcomes; we are not simply thinking about strengths and weaknesses.

This is probably the most difficult part of the A2 course.

Section A: Skills Evaluation of Production There is some cross over between the 5

areas e.g. for Research and Planning you had to research other film openings/music magazines, which clearly links to “Using conventions from real media texts” , the final bullet point.

Your task will be to produce a detailed evaluation of your coursework using all 5 areas. The documents you produce will be vital revision aids for the exam this summer.

Digital Technology-hardware, software and online For this topic, you need to consider

the impact of the new technologies you have used on your consumption and production of media texts.

Consider how you have presented your work; have you used blogs?

How has the internet supported your skills development?

Consider the pro’s and con’s of the digital technology you have used

ICT/Digital Technology

How did AS compare to A2? Blogs/websites Slideshare Flickr Facebook questionnaires Film and upload to YouTube (audience

questionnaires and feedback) Vlogs Post it note film/stop frame animations Digital photography Software and hardware

Digital Technology

You need to consider the skills you have learnt during AS with the following software:

Adobe Photoshop. The image manipulation program allowed you to manipulate graphics necessary for the magazine. E.g. crop tools such as Marquee (magic wand), Lassos, and colour converters such as Red Eye Corrector, Colour Variations, Colour Dropper, Dodge and Burn, text tools, picture boxes, shape tools, photograph manipulation, layers etc.

Adobe Indesign CS5. The print construction software allowed you to create a realistic product through layout/font/logo/colour manipulation etc.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. The editing software allowed you to add specific transitions/sound effects/manipulate time (temporal relations)…etc.

Weblogs e.g. blogger which allowed you to regularly post about your research & planning, progress and to display your final piece. It also enabled you to leave comments (audience feedback) on each other’s blogs….

Digital Technology

You need to consider the skills you have learnt from AS to A2 with the following hardware:

Digital stills cameras Lighting Mini DV cameras Tripods PC Mini DV tape

Digital Technology

What are the pros and cons of the software and hardware you used at AS and A2 in terms of skills development?

How did you use your skills to aid the construction of your task?

Be really really specific with your examples

Creativity

It is important not to assume one answer to any question!

Rather than ask yourself the question, " How have I become more creative during my A level course?", ask yourself, "Have I become more creative?".

If you answer the second question, then you will evaluate your progress much more thoroughly.

Consider the pro’s and con’s of the technology you have used and how this has impacted on your creativity

Creativity

Creativity involves thinking or behaving imaginatively. It might involve challenging conventions or replicating / furthering knowledge of them – what did you do in your c/w?

You need to think about the decisions that were made for you (the restrictions put on you by the exam board) e.g. you must make a music magazine or film opening. Then consider the creative choices you made e.g. which type of music magazine or genre of film? Etc.

Creativity

How creative do you think you were in the decisions you made when creating your c/w?

Did the technology enhance your creativity or not? What ideas did you communicate and what

stylistic techniques did you use? How did it relate to your interests/vision of identity?

Was your product influenced by your social environmental?

Was this original or did you add something extra to an original media text?

Would you take any creative skills into future projects or have you been influenced to engage these skills in any other projects?

Research and Planning

Consider the following: How you reviewed real text examples

and discuss conventions Analysis of old student work and

discuss marking criteria How you planned the micro elements Research into audience expectations How you reviewed your own progress

and update your plans.

Research and Planning

Think about the types of research you carried out:

Primary – films, magazines, internet, questionnaires, audience feedback

Secondary – internet, textbooks, blogs for theories

Advantages/Disadvantages of your sources: Cost of magazines etc Accessibility – easy to find? Time consuming? Reliability of sources? Accuracy of sources? Usefulness of sources?

Research and Planning

How did you organise your research and planning? E.g. labels, blog etc

What did you research? How did drafting help you? How did audience feedback improve your

planning? How organised were you? What did you learn about working as part

of a group or independently? How did you present your research and

planning? E.g. wordle, moodboard, flickr, scribd, slideshare etc

Post-Production

Consider the following: How you made decisions about

editing and layout Influence of audience expectations Photo manipulation

Post-production

Post Production at AS might have consisted of editing the material and putting all the titles and music together on Adobe Premiere Pro or editing images and putting text together on Photoshop/Indesign. This is very similar to the software listed as part of Digital technology

You need to identify all of the steps you took once you had either filmed or photographed – to do this accurately it will be helpful to look at your work and make a list of everything you did in order to get to the finished stage.

Post-production is everything that happens after filming/photographing

Using Conventions of Real Media Texts Each of your 3 practical projects had a specific

set of conventions. For this topic, you need to consider how your

understanding has developed over the course. Begin by make a note of the conventions of

each of the genres you created. Then pick 2 or 3 of these conventions and say

how you used them within your own work Don't forget to ask yourself how useful it is to

understand and apply real conventions AND why your ability to apply this understanding has improved over the course.

Using conventions from real media texts What conventions of music

magazines/film openings did you apply to your c/w?

Identify real media texts and explain how your text is similar and different.

“Creativity is always constrained by generic conventions”. To what extent did you adhere to or subvert generic conventions in the creation of your media products.