A2 Level Course Outline
There are three modules:
- Advanced Production (worth 40%)
- Critical Research Study (worth 30%)
- Media Issues and Debates (worth 30%)
Unit 2733 - Advanced Production
This module assesses your practical media skills. You are not just being tested on your production skills but also your ability to plan, research and evaluate. The production should consist of three elements:
- Planning and Research (25%)
- Construction (50%)
- Critical Evaluation (25%)
Planning - In this section you should show evidence (where appropriate) of drafting, storyboarding, notes on props, actors, details of materials to be used and so on. Initial research into the target audience is expected, as is investigation of existing media practice.
Construction - You must produce a piece to professional standards with attention to detail. There should be clear evidence that the product is targeted at a particular audience. Appropriate technologies should also be used competently.
Critical Evaluation - The log records all stages of the production, including an account of the decisions made and any revisions. It should also evaluate the success of the finished product. It should be up to 3000 words and divided into four parts: the first part isn’t included in the word count; the final three each have a maximum limit of 1000 words.
- Introduction - In this section students must explain how thier production work is different from the Foundation Production. This is a requirement as students aren’t allowed to use the same medium twice.
- Part One - A record of the production from brief through planning to a technical account of decisions and revisions.
- Part Two - Analyses the finished product in terms of how decisions about form and content have affected meaning. Where appropriate explicit reference should be made to aspects of theory encountered elsewhere on the course.
- Part Three - This section places the product in a wider media context and analyses the ways in which the piece compares with real media output. It also considers audience feedback.
Unit 2734: Critical Research Study
This module is assessed by a 2 hour examination, divided into two questions of equal value.
- Question One: Research
- Question Two: Analysis and Presentation
For this unit students are expected to undertake individual and independent research. You will be allowed to take into the examination room 4 sides of A4 research notes.
Set Topic: Women and Film
You are required to ‘research into the relationships between female filmmakers and the industry, as well as between their films and their spectators and/or female spectatorship of the film’. Filmmaker is defined as director, actor, producer, screenwriter, editor, production designer, director of photography etc. Issues to do with gender are important: equality of opportunity; representation; audience reception; and feminist critcal pespectives are all possible avenues of investigation.
Unit 2735: Media Issues and Debates
This unit is examined by a 2 hour examination with three sections. Students must answer two questions. The question areas you will be prepared for (subject to alteration at the discretion of individual teachers), are:
- Broadcasting: News and current affairs
- Film: The concept of genre in film
For the examination you will be expected to use detailed and specific examples to support your answers.
