1. Question 1a Research and Planning

2. It’s About The Development Of Your Skills  30 second match-on-action video  Thriller film opening  Lip sync video  Promotional Package for a new artist

3. Remember The Mark Scheme  25 Marks but more holistically distributed than question 1B ◦ Clear sense of progression of skills ◦ Specific examples given ◦ Clear evaluative reflection ◦ Addressing the question ◦ Excellent use of terminology  10/10/5 – Likely but not explicitly given

4. 5 Key Areas  Digital technology  Research and Planning  Conventions of Real Media  Post-Production  Creativity

5. Top Tips  Use key words from the question (e.g. research and planning) in the first sentence of each paragraph.  Use specific examples from your AS and A2 work – you must comment on both in relation to the question.  Use comparative language to higlight the skills you’ve developed across the course (whereas/on the other hand/similarly/conversely/equally).  Use media-specific terminology and stick to the PEE method of writing an essay response.  This is a personal response so you can write in first person (I used Sony Vegas Pro...)  You do not have to cover all of the tasks completed during the course – pick 2-3 examples that best fit the question (an example from AS, an example from A2 and an example from either AS or A2)

6. When Did This Last Show Up?  June 2014: Post Production Creative Decisions  June 2013: Creative Use of Digital Technology  Jan 2013: Research and Planning Skills  June 2012: Creative Post Production Decisions  Jan 2012: How Conventions of Real Media Texts creatively informed your own media practice  June 2011: How Conventions of Real Media Texts creatively informed your own media practice  Jan 2011: Creative Use of Digital Technology

7. When Did This Last Show Up?  You’ll see that they all contain at least two of the five areas  So as you can see, the question is likely to mix and match the five  You MUST be able to think on your feet and answer the question that is there.

8. Tips for Post Production  Specific detailed examples which demonstrate your progress = success  Detailed examples ◦ What did you do? (be precise) ◦ How did you do it? ◦ Make an evaluative statement at the end  How successful was it? How did this help you improve upon your original product  Traditional Editing is a key form of Post-Production

9. What is Post-Production  Post Production means: the editing stage, where material is manipulated using software and transformed into a finished media product.  This means everything that happens after you finish filming/taking photographs

10. Tips For Post-Production  How much of your text was changed in post?  What technologies did you use ◦ Graphic creation ◦ Image manipulation (colour, lighting, contrast, brightness) ◦ Soundtrack manipulation (levels of diegetic/non- diegetic) ◦ Score creation ◦ Foley/Overdubs? ◦ Editing choices (footage used vs. footage ignored)

11. What Did You Do?  AS ◦ Editing of shot order  Includes cross-cutting ◦ Shot transitions ◦ Graphics (colour/font/placement) ◦ Score selection ◦ Mixing of diegetic/non- diegetic sound ◦ Foley ◦ Image manipulation  Colour, Light, Contrast, Speed ◦ Audio manipulation  A2 ◦ Same as AS with the following skills for the ancillaries  Greater image manipulation – Cropping  More important focus on graphics?  Object permanence

12. Exemplar Paragraph Structure  What did you do? ◦ (Specifically which technique did you develop over the 2 years)  What did you learn from this?  How did this benefit your final product?

13. What could you write about?  AS – Image manipulation  A2 – Image manipulation (video)  A2 – Image manipulation (ancillary)  AS – Graphic manipulation (video)  A2 – Graphic manipulation (ancillary)  AS – Sound manipulation (video)  A2 – Sound manipulation (video – if applicable)  AS – Cutting Room Floor  A2 – Cutting Room Floor  Conclusion ◦ Evaluate the progress you have made over the course of the AS/A2 course. How did these help you convey meaning to your audience? Be evaluative!

14. Exemplar Essay Structure  Introduction (briefly identify what was produced at AS/A2 – Main tasks) ◦ Consider any skills you may have brought into the course from GCSE Media  Paragraph 1 – Discuss skill at AS  Paragraph 2 – Develop skill at A2. ◦ Show development  Paragraph 3 – Discuss skill #2 at AS  Paragraph 4 – Discuss skill #2 at A2 ◦ Show development  Conclusion

15. Exemplar Paragraph(s)  At AS I developed my ability to manipulate the image in post-production. In my thriller opening, we wanted the antagonist (represented through point of view shots) to jar against the rest of the shots in the sequence so we manipulated this footage to a black-and-white in Sony Vegas so as to represent the character’s clash with traditional values. This was somewhat successful, although several members of my target audience were confused by the technique. However, by A2, I wanted to try something a bit more sophisticated with Sony Vegas’ colour filter opitons. As my music video is from the perspective of someone who has just had a break-up, I chose to shoot the post-break-up (present tense timeline) with colder tones (blues and blacks) emphasized and I also reduced the brightness to convey to the audience the sorrow and emptiness that the subject feels. However, when he is having flashbacks to the relationship, I brought out the orange tones in the footage, manipulated the focus to a softer focus (I forgot to do this when shooting), and increased the brightness to represent the happy feelings of the flashback so my audience will have my preferred message of a subject who is mourning the end of the relationship and is fixated on a positive (and somewhat artificial) memory of what the relationship was. Overall, this was a much more sophisticated and successful decision as my target audience understood these techniques at A2 much more than they did in AS, As such, I think it’s clear that my ability to be creative in post-production decisions clearly developed over the 2 years.

16. Homework/For Monday  For your homework: ◦ Plan a 4 paragraph (2 megaparagraph) essay on the topic of post-production  Skill at AS ◦ Proof (what did this allow you to do. A short list works better than a single example) ◦ Evaluative comment  Skill at A2 ◦ Proofs (what did this allow you to do. A short list works better than a single example) ◦ Evaluative Comment

17. Homework/For Monday  But we’re not done shooting yet? ◦ Use this as an opportunity to inspire some creative post-production decisions for either your main production or your ancillary tasks