GCSE Specification: Practical Production

Introduction

25% of your GCSE grade depends upon your practical production, together with a supporting account of 700-800 words.

As well as being a new way of working for most students, it is an opportunity to find out first hand exactly what the problems are facing real-life media producers, and it will give you an invaluable insight into production processes across all media.

Download the Moving Image production guide

Download the Print production guide

• Examples of permissable projects
• The supporting account
• Group work
• Timescales
• Getting started
• More guidance
• Mark scheme

Examples of permissable projects include:

• A selection of magazine pages (for example, front cover, contents page and double-page spread).
• A movie trailer - allow about 1 minute of edited footage per team-member.
• A television commercial, or advertising campaign
• A poster campaign advertising a product relaunch
• A website homepage and selection of subsidiary pages
• A radio feature

2008 candidates please note: you may not produce anything to do with television or radio situation comedy.

The supporting account

In addition to producing a sparkling media product, you need to write 700-800 words in a supporting account. This will cover the decisions that you made (as a group and as individuals) in pre-production, production and post-production, and your evaluation of the final product.

You will need to include pre-production work such as research, scripts, story boards, mock-ups etc. in your coursework file. You will also need to connect everything you write to the key concepts you have learned about in Year 10. The examiners are not just interested in raw talent - you must show them that you understand the forms and conventions of mass media texts, and have a clear sense of target audience and institutional context.

Follow the supporting account guide.

Group work

You may work individually (although that can be very hard work) or in small groups (no more than three per group).

• Each group member must produce an individual supporting account and have evidence of the pre-production planning.
• Agree before you start how decisions are going to be made - one person may act as the leader in the same way that a director or editor takes responsibility for a film or newspaper. Another approach is to be democratic with everyone having an equal say and votes being taken on key decisions.
• Establish individual roles. Responsibilities need to be sorted out from the start and written down, so that everyone is clear what they are expected to do, and has a broadly equal role in the production process.
• Agree a timetable.
• Make sure you stick to what you have agreed!

Timescales 2007 (DAA students)

Pre-production	September
Production/post-production	October-November
Evaluation/supporting account	January
Final deadline: practical	Friday November 30
Final deadline: supporting account	Friday December 7

See the full week-by-week schedule.

Getting started

With your practical project, be it video or print based, keep the following in mind at all times:

• Who are my AUDIENCE?
• What is the PURPOSE of this text?

Media production is all about communicating ideas, and before you start, you have to be absolutely clear what those ideas are and who you are communicating them to.
 

Planning and pre-production

You will need to...

• Complete a production proposal form: what do you plan to produce, and in what medium?
• Conduct audience research: who are they, and what do they want from your media product?
• Complete pre-production plans: scripts, storyboards and equipment lists (for film), text and mock-ups (for print) and so on.
• Persuade Mr Allison your idea is worthwhile, feasible and properly researched.
   

Production

• Take notes as you work to refer to them later
• Keep examining your work as your progress, and allow yourself time to re-do things that don't work first time.
• If something goes wrong, learn from your mistakes, but don't agonise over them.
• Be patient with IT: spend time with the software, and don't be afraid to experiment - or ask.
   

Post-Production

This can be the most time-consuming part of the process, so don't get too bogged down in every detail or you'll never finish. If something doesn't look or sound right, don't be afraid to cut it out altogether. Also don't be afraid to ask for help, but ensure you have a specific question, such as "how do I make it look like..." rather than presenting a general wail "It looks all wrong..."

You will need to spend time outside lessons to complete the editing process. You can ask to use the room at lunchtimes and after school providing you see a media teacher or Mrs Haynes first to arrange it.

More guidance

For more detailed help with completing this project, try the following:

Peter Wall's Media Studies for GCSE pages 204-207 and 219-225

Website development:

• Website planning
• Website design
• Website layout comparisons
• Website evaluation

Magazine development:

• Magazine journalism handout

Mark scheme

To help you meet the assessment requirements of Section B, download the student-friendly mark scheme.

MediaEdu The new Media Know-All - a terrific site for revision, full of resources produced by teachers from across the country. MediaKnow-All An excellent web-guide to Media Studies produced by another Media Studies teacher. Media History timeline Every major event in the development of the media, 3500BC to present day!

IN THIS AUTUMN'S MEDIA MAGAZINE...

Broadcast Fiction Fantasy and the Police: Ashes to Ashes

Media in context When subversion becomes the mainstream

Audience Torchwood: The Doctor Who spin-off and its fans Theories of fandom, and the power of audience Cults and the film industry

Media skills Analysing media texts

And much more!

Available now in the Sandringham Library, Subscribe through school for £10 (pay to Sandringham School), or... Subscribe to your home address for £12.95