As the course progresses, this page will fill with hints and tips on how to score the most out of the assessment. Be sure to check the exemplar page for links to examples.

Key Milestones and Timeline

Mid-January 2025 Component 1 Completion Plan

Understanding Component 1

Component 1 is a portfolio with two parts:

1. Supporting studies

2. A proposal (e.g., pitch, presentation, final ideas)

Both parts are assessed together and given a single mark out of 100. The focus is on the process of developing a creative solution to a brief, not just the final outcome.

We will continue to use lesson time for practical skills development, such as storytelling and editing – with a continued focus on filmmaking – but you need to make extensive use of the course handbook, official course text book, Google site (especially below) and general research sources.

The plan below provides a path to secure the best chances of achieving a high mark.

Phase 1: Induction and Skills Development (October - November)

• Milestone 1: Review and understand the assessment objectives for Component 1.

• Complete your understanding of the following using all of the resources available to you:

  • Design theories

  • Contextual referencing

  • Visual language and communication

  • Evaluation and testing

• Milestone 2: Demonstrate basic technical proficiency in your chosen area of study (digital photography, moving image, or mobile/multimedia applications).

  • This is where you will make use of the lessons on cameras, lighting, etc

Phase 2: Theme Selection and Research (November - December)

• Milestone 3: Choose a theme from the syllabus that interests you and aligns with your chosen area of study.

• Conduct in-depth research on the chosen theme:

  • Explore various aspects of the theme.

  • Research relevant artists, designers, movements and philosophical theories (such as absurdism, nihilism, etc).

  • Gather inspiration from diverse sources (books, films, online resources, art works, etc.).

• Milestone 4: Produce a documented research section, in your supporting evidence, that includes critical analysis and contextual understanding.

  • The course handbook gives much more detail here and the exemplars demonstrate approaches you can take

Phase 3: Idea Generation and Exploration (December)

• Milestone 5: Generate at least three distinct ideas for your chosen theme.

• Explore each idea through sketches, experiments, and visual brainstorming.

• Experimenting with and Selecting Appropriate Media:

  • This involves trying different media (photography, video, illustration, graphic design, animation, etc.) and techniques (lighting, composition, colour palettes, editing styles, etc.) to see how they can best express your ideas.

  • Consider the strengths and limitations of each medium and how they align with your creative vision.

  • Document your experiments and explain your rationale for selecting specific media for your final proposal.

• Milestone 6: Select the most suitable media for your chosen idea and produce a series of experimental pieces.

  • Responding to feedback, noting and responding to constraints (limitations) along with iteration (developing and improving) is critical to achieving high marks in AO3

Phase 4: Proposal Development (December - January)

• Milestone 7: Select the strongest idea for your proposal based on your experimentation and feedback.

• Develop your idea into a detailed proposal:

  • Refine your concept and visual direction.

  • Plan the execution of your idea.

  • Consider the target audience and presentation format.

• Milestone 8: Create a compelling presentation of your proposal, including visual mock-ups, storyboards, or prototypes.

Phase 5: Portfolio Preparation and Submission (January)

• Milestone 9: Organise and present your supporting studies in a clear and concise manner.

  • CAIE do not want a wall of text, as many pieces of evidence should be visual and self-explanatory

• Finalise your proposal presentation.

• Review and refine your portfolio to ensure it meets all assessment criteria.

• Milestone 10: Submit your digital portfolio by the deadline.

Important Considerations

• Time Management: Allocate sufficient time for each phase of the project.

• Documentation: Meticulously document your research, creative process, and decisions.

• Feedback: Seek feedback from teachers and peers throughout the process.

• Originality: Ensure your work is original and reflects your creative vision.

• Technical Proficiency: Demonstrate a good understanding of the technical aspects of your chosen area of study.

This refined plan, with its specific milestones and expanded explanation of media selection, should provide a clear roadmap for completing Component 1 by mid-January 2025.

Useful Key Points

What do I produce?

Two documents (video evidence is fine)

1. Supporting evidence (your journey, intentions, experimentation, etc)

2. Final outcome (final version of supporting evidence along with the required outcome)

Remember, this is not a finished product but a complete design. Good enough that it could be handed over to somebody else to make, and it would be exactly as you have planned.

The Proposal

This is an extract from the specification regarding your proposal.

Based on their supporting studies, candidates produce a proposal for their final idea. The proposal should be a presentation of ideas, concepts or prototypes. The focus of the proposal is on the ideas, rather than a fully resolved outcome.

Candidates should carefully select work for the supporting studies to show:

• research and recording of ideas, observations and insights

• critical reflection on work and progress

• exploration and selection of appropriate media, materials and technology

• review and refinement of ideas as work develops

• development of ideas and concepts through investigations

• that investigations are informed by feedback and understanding of constraints

• a personal digital outcome that realises intentions and makes appropriate connections between ideas and digital media and design.

The supporting studies will be marked against the same criteria as the proposal. Candidates should select and present work for assessment that meets the assessment criteria for Component 1. Candidates submit the Portfolio to Cambridge International digitally. Candidates are required to submit a Portfolio showing 10 pages/screens of supporting studies or the equivalent and a final presentation of their proposal. Moving image work should not exceed 5 minute’s duration and can be shorter.  Done as a video, you could get away with 15 slides.

Considerations and Check Sheet

Consider these points when going through your Component 1 work. This list acts as both a checklist as well as a help guide. Some of this could be done through narration in your supporting studies. Take the points that are relevant to your own work and that reflect your style. Meeting all of these should assure you of a strong mark, but this isn't essential.

Marking comes from the four assessment objectives (AOs). AO1-3 is mostly contained in your supporting evidence, whereas AO4 is significantly pulled from your digital outcome evidence. However, both documents together contribute to your total marks. 

General Comments (covers things that span multiple AOs) 

• As stated already, these aims are fairly discrete when presented in the AO sections. However, your evidence may blur the boundaries.

  • For example, you talk about an artist, give reasons for selecting and then judiciously select key parts from their work for scrutiny and exploration.

• An example of one aspect could be in set design or scene location for a horror film (both would probably be separate analyses). Location is only relevant if the location will appear, otherwise, you would focus just on the set design (part of mise en scene).

  • AO1 will have found some useful artists (possibly cinematography stills, games, etc). You'll demonstrate that you're able to look beyond the obvious for inspiration whilst remaining critical of any approach.

  • In AO2 you will have selected appropriate examples and explored them with analysis, comparisons across different media. What is similar, different. The greater the depth of analysis, using design terminology, the stronger your marks. You may take some photographs of locations, stating how these compare with what you have found, and what might need improving. Equally, what locations did not work and why, going back to possible research on psychology, symbolism, etc.

  • AO3 you would work to improve the set or location, possibly through experiments with lighting, digital manipulation, etc.

  • AO4 you would show your final location and reflect on whether it was effective.

• Just because you might chose moving image, doesn't mean you shouldn't be experimenting with photography. 

• Swap your work with a peer, and give each other feedback.

  • What's missing

  • What isn't clear

  • What's lacking in the supporting studies

• When trying to determine the strength of the mark in each AO, consider the following simple example as a guide to your skills and demonstration. This level of understanding is applied throughout your work in areas critical to the success of your intentions. Being able to identify these areas is part of your research and development.

  • For you to show a confident understanding of the shutter speed function, you are able to set it on their camera. You should be able to discuss the task with confidence crediting a number of visual examples where photographers have explored a similar theme. Use of technical language is confident and mature.

  • For a weaker response, you would show a more basic understanding of the visual effect created by changing the shutter speed when the subject is moving. You would have a basic knowledge of the shutter speed functions and how to set them on their own camera, and this could be evident through your exploration and development. You will be able to discuss this knowledge, exemplifying this using other photographer’s work, albeit in a less confident and reliable way.

Research and Scope (AO1) 

Many points overlap, but from a different perspective

• Which artists are influential in the sphere you are investigating, why, how and detailed analysis of examples of their work (scenes, work, pieces, buildings)

• How much breadth is there in your research

• Have you discussed the various ways you approached the selected theme, with some brief details of your motivation?

• Have you been specific with what your intended outcomes are and how they meet the brief?

• Does all your work link back to your outcomes, which in turn is linked to the brief?

• Who is this work for? Not CAIE but who is your target audience 

• What is the best way to convey your story? Journey? How are you going to create a path that will meet your intentions in a form that is best received by your audience?

• Where will your work be shown? Who is the audience? Why is your design suitable for your audience and with what evidence?

• How will my work be shown? If in a showing room, for example, what does this room look like? Who is in the room?

• Is there demand for your work? Where does this demand come from and how will it be addressed?

  • for example, if doing a documentary on bullying, what statistics can you point to that shows it is a problem that needs solving

• Which artists (and works) have you selected to study? What about their work do you like or dislike (while remaining relevant) 

  • These could be musicians, sound effects artists, animators, computer game designers, cinematographers, directors, sculpture artists, architects, photographers, website designers, etc.

• Are the artists you have selected relevant to your work (your intentions)

• From your research exploration, what are you finding in their work, how does it compare to other works

• Did you analyse artists' work in a critical way?  Critical doesn't mean negative, but subjective, honest and reviewing their intent and meaning

  • How will you use elements from this in your own work (if not, why not)? These studies need to impact your work. 

• Higher marks are gained when you are able to compare the work of one artist with others. Areas of visual interest will be identified and visual examples to support them will be demonstrated and clearly used in planning your own work. 

  • This can include your own work

• Is your analysis connected and linked to the selected theme? e.g. emotion. If your analysis of the selected media is generic, you are going to attract very few marks. 

  • e.g. if talking about camera movement, how is this relevant to your Comp 1 chosen theme?

• Typography is really important at any point you are looking at text. The font, style, kerning, size, weight, colour, etc., might pass you by, but consideration of font styles and their place in your work attracts points. Consider comparing different fonts and justifying their selection.

• Have you included your own primary research, such as some photography

  • Why is your own photography useful? You may have a building you pass that looks very unusual that you want to further explore and compare with other secondary research

• Have you analysed your own images/film to show how you are exploring the artistic styles found in AO1?

• Have you written a biography of the artist(s)? DON'T! Unless their life story is deeply relevant to their work, and yours, it's unimportant. Stick to important facts and details of the artist

  • You need to determine what's important in the context of your study

  • See the main components page to see information given by CAIE

Selecting & Exploring (AO2)

• This AO asks students to look at what media, materials and technology they might use in their own work in order to produce their desired outcomes. 

• In terms of technology, etc. 

  • Media: This refers to all print, digital, and electronic means of communication. Examples of media include software, digital images, digital video, video games, web pages and websites, social media, digital data and databases, digital audio such as MP3, electronic documents, and electronic books. It can also include textbooks, novels, poems, diagrams, photographs, drawings, posters, graffiti, sounds, speech, television programs, YouTube clips, and 'talking heads’.

  • Materials: In the context of digital media and design, materials could refer to the physical items used in the creation of media content. For example, in film production, materials could include costumes, makeup, props, and set designs. Materials can also extend to choice of fabric, 

  • Technology: This can refers to the tools and machines used to create, distribute, and consume media content. Examples of include cameras (different types), lenses, lighting, etc.

• Within this section, you could also get marks for selecting your models/actors (if applicable) and describing why and how they will be used. Any refinement or testing would also come under AO3.

• You should state how these items are appropriate to YOUR needs, what have you learnt from this exploration. e.g how you can use it in your own work, etc.

• This is asking you to explore media and technology that is relevant to your ideas and your proposed final outcome.  This exploration of media and technology should have an element of analysis and evaluation (e.g. how appropriate it is to their needs, what have you learnt from this exploration, how can you use it in your own work etc.)  which allows you to refine and extend your ideas.

• You are demonstrating your ability to select (from AO1's research base) useful data to analyse and take forward, for the purpose of meeting your intent. What media and technology are you using, why is it appropriate to your intentions (outcome idea).

• You may wish to take your own photographs/film to compare with an artist's, similarities, what complements them and what separates them. Why this could be relevant to your intentions. - This is your exploring the media you have chosen

• AO2 is technically different from work you would undertake for AO3. The focus is on selecting relevant base material and exploring it, from a methodical, artistic, design focus,  further before throwing it away (with reason(s), or selecting it for development in AO3.

  • As discussed many times, if you are discarding it because it isn't relevant to your intention, why did you study it to begin with?! This will likely result in an examiner considering your research skills or selection skills poor.

Iterating & Refining (AO3)

There is a lot of overlap (in terms of your work) with AO2 and AO3, but this is about testing and refining your selection through critical analysis. Thus, critical analysis is more critical than just experimentation. Each development MUST have a purpose, and you show and reflect how it is helping you achieve your desired outcome.

• Have you picked ~5 (suggested) developments (learning milestones) - Key to AO3. There is no set number of developments, but this number seems to secure marks in most cases. 

  • Technically, your experimentation begins in AO2 by selecting materials, technology, etc.

• This work comes from your AO2 work, which gets you to explore your own ideas and find ways in which they can be achieved. E.g. what media, what technology, what is the best way to tell your story. All of AO2 links back to your primary research.

• Each development should show progression in learning, what worked and what didn't. Each development is learning!

• For photography, you should print your contact sheets and annotate them, demonstrating your selection process.

  • You should annotate the contact sheet(s), paying close attention to purpose and connection to the work of others (from AO1)

• Some examples of developments in your work are below. Developments do not need to show everything, just evidence of your trial and error work. You then make your film, or plan it, based on these experiments.

  • What framerates work best for a particular scene, might you need a different framerate for a fast action sequence? 

  • What transitions work well with your story?

  • What lighting looks out of place? What works well? Do gels make a difference to the mood, or make it look artificial

  • If you are working with a horror theme, how did you come about designing the makeup. Did you make your own blood because traditional stage blood doesn't look good in monochrome? Show the stages and what you did to make it, linking back to secondary research.

  • When designing the costume (from your research), you testing it with a focus group, and re-designing based on feedback

  • Experimenting with colour and seeing what effect it has

  • Trying a gimbal and testing different camera movements for a particular shot/scene, to spark ideas, or simply the best way to tell your story

  • Feedback from CAIE regarding analogue work (physical and not digital) is: Analogue work can form a crucial part of creative work. In the case of makeup, for example, learners would not necessarily be rewarded for technical competence in makeup art, but would be rewarded for the degree to which the visual aspects of the work (visual language) communicates the ideas/emotions/message. 

• Show short clips, screen recordings of you changing settings, photographic evidence, etc. 

• Your developments are key to showing progression, have a slide for each development detailing your work and critique

• Do your experiments include feedback (teacher, peers, experts, general public, etc)?

• Have you shown your critique (or that from the feedback) in summary form? e.g.

  • "this film clip was too blurry, so I increased the frame rate while keeping the shutter angle at 180°"

  • "This photo came out too dark, so I increased the exposure by 1 stop to let in more of the light, by changing the ISO from 400 to 800. I didn't want to change the aperture settings, as this would affect the depth of field"

• Did you show how the feedback ties into your experimenting progression? Iterating the design.

• If something didn't work, do you show development and iteration to a working solution or realisation that a different approach is needed

  • This can lead to a different, but linked, development

Produce (AO4)

Marks gained here are for how effective your outcome is against the brief and your intentions.

• Is your work convincing enough to be included in an exhibition?  How and why?

• What worked well, what could be further improved?

  • This is making a judgement about your work.

  • Comment on whether you realised your intention (did it do what you set out to do)

  • If not, how could you make it better?

Presentation and Communication

• Your evidence should not span more than 5m video, or 12 slides. The same is true of your final outcome document.

• Is your font size, layout and text consistent across your two documents?

  • This is principally a design course, presentation is very important

• If your visuals are clear enough, there is no need for a wall of text in your supporting evidence

• Have you used appropriate terminology and key terms, both correctly and with confidence

  • The specification (found on this site) has general design terms you should incorporate, as well as key knowledge for each of the three focus areas (moving image, photography and multimedia)

What is the final outcome?

• Purpose: The final presentation isn't just a summary; it's where you showcase the results of your work, demonstrating how your ideas have evolved and how your research has informed your proposal. It’s the culmination of your creative effort. This is all important but where it can be found is up to you. I would suggest you decide on the style of your final outcome and then section the appropriate parts to supporting studies or final outcome documents accordingly. Some of this is not a specific section, but the curation of your actual work.

• Presentation Styles: The final presentation can be a pitch, a more formal presentation, or a collection of final ideas, allowing you to choose the best format for your project.

  • A pitch aims to persuade an audience of the value of your ideas.

  • A presentation formally showcases your work with visuals and explanations.

  • A collection of final ideas presents design concepts, mock-ups, or prototypes that represent the final project.

• Critical Reflection is Essential: The presentation must show evidence of critical reflection on your design process. This means thoughtfully considering your project's stages, from initial research to the final proposal. It's about analysing why you made certain decisions, and what you have learnt, using annotations to explain your design journey.

• Show the Journey: You should demonstrate a clear and cohesive journey, showing how your ideas evolved from the initial research and how this influenced your design decisions.

• Visual Communication is Key: Prioritise visual elements such as images and videos over text. Use visual language to communicate your ideas effectively. I think your creative use of media should be at the forefront rather than written descriptions.

• Design Connections: Demonstrate a connection between your digital response and understanding of design principles. Could you show how your choices of layout, typography, and colour contribute to the effectiveness of your proposal? This is how you realise your intentions.

• Personal Response: The final proposal must be a personal, authentic expression of your creative vision, demonstrating that you have realised your intentions through digital design.

• Keep it Concise: The presentation should be focused, avoiding unnecessary material. Everything presented should contribute to your overall message. It needs to be a purposeful and concentrated presentation.

• Integrate All Elements: Bring together your research, development, and design into a clear, coherent whole, showing the connections between each element.

• Demonstrate Understanding: Show a strong understanding of your intentions, and how you have realised them. The visual material you present needs to demonstrate your understanding of the design process.

• Use Feedback: It's vital to show that you have gathered feedback and used it to improve your final outcome.

In short, the final presentation is where you critically showcase your creative design journey, presenting your proposal with insightful, compelling visuals while reflecting on your entire creative process. The presentation needs to be a focused and well-structured showcase of your skills and creative vision, demonstrating substantial work. While this is ostensibly AO4, it is marked holistically and evidence for other AOs can also be gained, where appropriate. 

A suggested approach

This is merely a template from which you can form your own style and format. 

Supporting Studies

1. Begin by talking about your theme and the different aspects. What is motivating you into this exploration?

2. Mention any constraints that will limit your creative freedom, such as time, budget, etc.

3. Bring in some secondary research by artist that are known in a certain area (e.g urban street art, Claymation). 

4. For these artists, discuss what they bring to the theme's exploration, what inspires them, etc. Use of strong artistic terminology is essential, such as their style, movement, ideology or beliefs. Any claims should be backed up through references. Who is their audience and how is this relevant to yours and why. 

5. Do you have any primary research you need to mention as inspiring further development? Talk about this, why it's important and how it could be useful in your final outcome. 

6. Talk about what, within all this research and analysis work, you will take forward in your own work. Is it the use of colour, lines, photography style (e.g. double exposure), imagery, sound, etc. If there's nothing to be inspired by, why are they taking up space? 

7. At this stage you can undertake a series of developments. A development is a learning stage, taken from the research and analysis carried out previously. You could dedicate one page to each development (or more)

8. With each development, you should critically appraise your successes and failures.  Take a look at an example from CAIE, where the candidate has very clearly explained their learning development and its success, etc. https://learning.cambridgeinternational.org/classroom/mod/book/view.php?id=139106&chapterid=90

9. If at any time your experimentation causes you to discover a new artist, you can add an extra page and discuss their work in contrast with your own and how it is drawing you closer to your final result, or, further experimentation (development).

10. If any artists are providing you a strong style you wish to follow and develop from (NOT COPY), while also mixing in the inspirations from others, you should document this, explain why and what form their style is going to feed into your work.

Final Outcome (this work is split across your two documents)

Digital photography example https://learning.cambridgeinternational.org/classroom/mod/book/view.php?id=139107&chapterid=101 

1. You should start with a summary of your focus, the theme and the motivation to proceed into making your final outcome.

2. Summarise the key influences in your work as you showcase the final outcomes of your earlier research and experimentation.

3. This work should reflect your final versions (such  as photography, or scripts, storyboard, music, etc) and why they are relevant, what inspired your work, constraints that affected your outcomes, artistic influence, etc.  

4. At all times, be honest about your achievements, what could be improved and what worked really well. Did some technological or constraint prevent you from producing what you really wanted? Explore this if you feel it is important. This can go into the evaluation of your outcome (in the same slide, but separate from the professional pitch), or in your supporting evidence

5. How does your work fit into the requirements of the brief. E.g. an exhibition. How would it be presented, along with justifications. Not only when talking about your successes or failures, make this relevant to your initial intentions AND the brief! If you were asked to make a presentation/pitch for an exhibition, this must be featured prominently in your final outcome.  Some things to consider:

   1. How does it relate to your intended audience?

   2. How successful did you make your project (references to direct feedback from supporting evidence helps here)

   3. How would you show off your work at this exhibition

   4. What should the audience feel, and how did your design choices affect this 

6. If you have produced the final work, show this too. 

Final Outcome Checklist

This is a suggested list of checks if you were producing a moving image presentation for the 'emotions' theme.

1. Clear Statement of Intentions: The pitch should start with a clear articulation of the project's purpose and what you aim to achieve with your film/exhibition. This includes the specific emotion(s) you are exploring and your personal interpretation of the brief.

2. Visual Storyboard: Include a visual storyboard that demonstrates the development of your ideas for the film. This should show how you intend to translate your ideas about emotions into visual language.

3. Key Visual Elements: Outline your approach to key visual aspects, such as camera techniques, mise-en-scène, lighting, and use of colour. This section should also demonstrate how these choices align with your intended emotional communication.

4. Reference to Relevant Works: Showcase your understanding of film language and its relation to your chosen theme by referencing relevant films, documentaries or other visual media, and how these have influenced your creative direction. You can pull this from your AO1 research.

5. Evidence of Experimentation: Provide evidence of experimentation with different techniques and visual elements. This could be in the form of short clips or stills demonstrating your final exploration of media, techniques and technology. This isn't essential but could be relevant if you are trying to give the person an idea about what they are investing in.

6. Concise Summary of Research: Include a brief, focused summary of your research into the chosen emotion(s) and how it has informed your work. This section should explain why you have chosen your particular approach to the theme and demonstrate insight.

7. Estimated budget, time and constraints: If you have the information, a list of constraints, possible budget and timeline (this can include a brief plan from 

8. Other Design Elements: Scripts, shot list, etc.

9. Demonstration of Design Skills: Show your skills in areas such as typography, editing, and digital manipulation, and how these contribute to your film's message and emotional impact.

10. Target Audience Awareness: Indicate an awareness of your target audience and how your film aims to engage them.

11. Reflection and Evaluation: The final pitch needs to show that you have critically reflected on your process, from research to production, and evaluated how effective your choices are in meeting your intentions. This is crucial to demonstrating your understanding of the project journey. This isn't a slide, but the holistic evidence present in your outcomes document. 

12. Personal Digital Response: The pitch, as a whole, should be a personal response to the theme, showing how you have realised your intentions through digital media and design.

13. Clear Conclusion: The pitch should end with a clear summary of your project, and bring together all elements concisely.

14. A Million Dollars for Mr Minett: Not really, I just wanted to see if you'd read this far!

Emotions

Here's an example of the research (AO1) focus for a horror-themed project

1. You decide you are making a horror short on the theme of abandonment. It will be 4 minutes long and be edited in Premiere Pro, After Effects and Adobe Audition

2. You determine your audience and the outcomes from your movie

3. Now you start researching

   1. What works in films/short films, music, sfx, photography

      • How do you evoke fear in an audience

      • What is the psychology behind horror and how can it be exploited

      • What doesn’t work and why

   2. What locations do films/photography use, why

   3. How do different cultures react to horror

   4. What common camera techniques are used

   5. How do short films tell a convincing story in a short period of time

   6. Take photographs of some creepy buildings near you and explore these

   7. You hold a focus group with your target audience and elicit information to use in your film