This course is for you if you love finding out what happens “behind the scenes”, what the media means and how it is made! You will develop your analysis and research skills through a series of workshops that are designed to explore media theories in a creative way.
This course is for you if you love finding out what happens “behind the scenes”, what the media means and how it is made.
In year 12 you will develop your analysis and research skills through a series of workshops that are designed to explore media theories in a creative way. Your analysis work focuses around media terminology, representation, genre, codes and conventions and the construction of media products. There is an ONLINE EXAM for this in year 13, but it is embedded throughout all of this course.
You will also experience the stages of pre-production in a variety of short projects. This means you will be set a brief and will need to generate ideas in response to the brief through research, analysis and idea development. You will pitch your ideas and move the projects forward by developing storyboards, considering legal requirements and even mocked up versions of designs. You will need to be creative and prepared to share ideas within the group. You will also sit an EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT that requires two weeks of research and idea generation to prepare for the exam in which you finalise and write your proposal, pitch, rationale and treatment (usually storyboards and mock layouts).
In year 13, you will continue to develop your subject knowledge and analysis skills. This will be developed through a series of workshops, discussions and short projects. This is when you will work on your internal assessment units. The first one investigates how pre-production documents and processes work to achieve positive outcomes for a range of different media products. You will prepare these documents following correct industry practices and formats. This leads into your second internal assessment.
FILM MAKING! You have a practical project to complete for a CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT. This will be the production of a short film and will require you to show you have the knowledge and understanding of genre conventions and how films adhere and subvert them to communicate meaning to the audience. You will then investigate the entire production process from idea through to filming, editing and screening. You must also create a body of pre-production documentation to show how you have developed your ideas and managed the production, resulting in a completed short film that can be entered into real film festivals.
Finally, you will sit your second EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT; a 2 hour online exam exploring how various media products convey meaning, drawing upon many of the key media theories studied throughout the course.
2 x Exams, 2 x Controlled Assessment Projects (one is a short film).
The course is assessed through assignments, project work and two exams. Changes to BTEC mean that 60% of the course is assessed externally. Under the new BTEC regulations, once students submit final work at the end of each project they can’t go back and improve them so students must manage their time well, respond to feedback in lessons and submit work of the highest quality on time at all times.
601/7467/5
Mrs N Elliott/Mr S Martin
Pearson
Students are expected to have 3 Grade 5 GCSEs including:
Grade 4 English Language
GCSE Media would be useful
A keen interest in media and popular culture would be an advantage to attain higher marks in this course.
This course does not just provide knowledge and skills to take you further in the Media industry, but provides a host of key skills that could be used in various subjects and career paths. The course is a good basis for HND, Foundation and/or degree courses such as Multimedia, Film and Television, Foundation Art and Design and so on, which can lead to exciting careers in the Creative Industry such as Film Maker, Animator and Production Artist.