btec level 1/2 tech award in creative media production · save the final media product in an...

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BTEC Level 1/2 Tech Award in

Creative Media Production

Sample Marked Learner Work

External Assessment – Additional

Sample Assessment Material

Component 3:

Create a Media Product in Response to a Brief

Publishing sector

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Set Brief

You are applying for a work experience placement at Harmonica Media, a media production

company that specialises in media products for music enthusiasts of any age.

As part of the application process, Harmonica Media have asked you to produce a short

media product to showcase your skills.

Your media product should:

create impact

include positive representations

be entertaining

showcase a wide range of skills.

You must create a product from one of the following sectors: Audio/Moving Image,

Publishing or Interactive.

Audio/Moving Image sector

Produce an audio or moving image media product. You should:

create a product that is 60 to 90 seconds

include original recordings for an audio product or original footage for a video product

make appropriate use of sound and/or sound effects

use innovative editing techniques

save the final media product in an appropriate digital format.

Publishing sector

Produce a publishing media product. You should:

create 2 or 3 pages

include original images and graphics

make appropriate use of innovative page layout and design techniques

include written content appropriate to the brief


Interactive sector

Produce an interactive media product. You should:

create 2 pages, screens or levels

include original assets

use innovative interactive features

include appropriate navigation between pages, screens or levels


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Activity 1: Ideas Log

Carry out research to support you in the generation of ideas in response to the brief.

Complete an Ideas Log on the development of your chosen idea for a media product in

response to the brief.

You must complete a log providing information on:

your initial ideas and how your ideas will meet the brief with reference to:

o your target audience

o how any other media products have influenced your ideas

the content of your idea and how it will be structured into a narrative, running order,

pages or screens and how the content meets the requirements of the brief

the style that will be used in your idea.

You will be assessed on your interpretation of the brief, development of ideas and

consideration of target audience.

You have two hours to complete an Ideas Log, under supervised conditions, during the time

scheduled by your teacher/tutor.

(Total for Activity 1 = 15 marks)

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Effective Response

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Learners are asked to interpret the client’s needs and engage in the process of

ideas generation, selecting and refining ideas until they have an idea that

meets the requirements of the brief.

In a more effective response, learners will respond effectively to the

requirements of the brief. They will generate and explain a highly effective idea

for a media product. They will provide details and give reasons and/or evidence

to support an argument in favour of their chosen (and rejected) ideas.

In a more effective response the learner will demonstrate an effective

understanding of how their proposed idea will meet the requirements of the

brief and will demonstrate how they have been influenced by other media

products by undertaking research to broaden their understanding of the client

brief and existing practice. The learner will use this research to develop a range

of ideas and will justify the selection, rejection and development of these ideas.

The learner will make effective decisions about the content and style of the

proposed product with logical connections to the requirements of the brief.

Learners have two hours to complete their Ideas Log and are not allowed to

bring notes, research materials, or have access to the internet during this time.

In this response, the learner has begun by defining a target audience from the

information provided in the brief. Rather than simply re-stating the target

audience, the learner has provided an audience profile, detailing aspects of the

audience’s lifestyle, attitude and behaviour. The learner has then selected and

rejected ideas in relation to the defined audience.

There is an explicit consideration of the requirements of the brief, which

includes an engagement with media issues such as representation and accurate

use of media terminology, such as mode of address.

The learner has generated different content ideas for the magazine, all of which

are appropriate for the identified audience and purpose, and by considering the

images from both primary and secondary sources that would accompany each

article, the learner demonstrates effective idea development.

The style of the proposed magazine has been considered in relation to existing

media products, which together with the selection and justification of fonts and

colours, demonstrates a good understanding of media production processes.

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Ineffective Response

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Learners are asked to interpret the client’s needs and engage in the process of

ideas generation, selecting and refining ideas until they have an idea that

meets the requirements of the brief.

In a less effective response, learners will respond competently to the

requirements of the brief. They will generate and describe an appropriate idea

for a media product.

In a less effective response, the learner will demonstrate a basic understanding

of how their proposed idea will meet the requirements of the brief. They will

demonstrate how they have been influenced by other media products by

undertaking some basic research into existing practice. The learner will outline

ideas and will give a basic justification for the selection, rejection and

development of these ideas. The learner will make appropriate decisions about

the content and style of the proposed product with logical connections to the

requirements of the brief.

Learners have two hours to complete their Ideas Log and are not allowed to

bring notes, research materials, or have access to the internet during this time.

In this response, the learner has generated two different ideas in response to

the brief, which clearly relate to aspects of the requirements of the client brief.

Although the content and style of both ideas are developed through the Ideas

Log, the learner does not select or reject each idea based on a consideration of

the requirements of the brief and the outcomes of research activities, such as

exploring similar existing media products and current trends in the publishing

sector.

Appropriate decisions have been made about the content for each product and

the idea to use the band London Grammar as content for the proposed music

magazine has been justified in relation to the brief.

It is clear how decisions regarding the style of each proposed media product

have been influenced by other media products and there are also some logical

connections to conventions of the publishing sector, such as contrast, scale

and white space.

Although there is evidence of how the learner has interpreted the brief, there

is a lack of clarity and detail regarding the content and style of the final idea.

Overall, this response represents a basic understanding of how to develop an

idea for a media product in relation to the requirements of a specific client

brief.

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Top Tips for Responding to Activity 1

Learners need to understand how to read a brief to extract key information about the client, the product and the target audience.

Learners should clearly define the target audience for their media product based on the information provided in the brief.

In preparation for Activity 1, learners should undertake targeted secondary research to get ideas for media products, their content and style.

Learners should use the knowledge and understanding of media products they developed in Components 1 and 2 when developing their ideas and refer to media products, theories, concepts and media production techniques – such as audience uses and gratifications, genre, representation and mode of address - in their Ideas Log.

The reasons provided for the selection/rejection of ideas should relate to the requirements of the brief.

Task 2: Activity 2: Planning Material

You must develop your ideas by producing Planning Material in order to visualise the content

and style of your media product.

Publishing

Produce the layout and design for the pages of your publishing product.

The page layout and design should include:

headlines and straplines

the positioning of copy, images and any other assets

notes on design features.

You have three hours to produce the planning material, under supervised conditions, during

the time scheduled by your teacher/tutor and/or invigilator.


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Effective Response

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Learners are asked to develop their ideas by producing planning material in

order to visualise the content and style of the media product.

In a more effective response, learners will produce detailed and relevant pre-

production materials, which will be complete in all aspects. The planning

material will be suitable for use as working documents during production,

revealing a clear understanding of the production process.

In a more effective response, a learner will be able to effectively develop their

idea outlined in Activity 1 and demonstrate how it will be realised. The learner

will make effective use of page layout and design conventions to clearly

communicate how publishing skills and techniques will be used creatively to

effectively shape the initial idea into a print media product.

Learners have three hours to complete this task and may have access to the

work completed in Activity 1 while they complete it.

The learner has produced a detailed plan for the proposed magazine pages that

effectively takes the ideas established in the Ideas Log and transforms them

into a page layout and design.

The page layouts advance the initial ideas and demonstrate how the idea will

be realised, for example how the purple colour will be used and how content

ideas are translated into headline, straplines and cover lines.

The page layouts demonstrate an understanding of magazine codes and

conventions, such as the inclusion of a running head, pull quote and folio. The

learner has also made appropriate use of boxes to represent the positioning of

images on the double page spread, which have not been produced yet.

The page layouts are also complemented by notes on the design and content of

the pages, such as a description of the fonts and images to be used on the

front cover, which help to explain how the page layout and design have been

developed in response to the brief.

Although the artwork is rudimentary, creativity is shown through the effective

composition of the pages, which demonstrate an understanding of design

principles, such as consistency, balance and hierarchy.

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Learners should annotate their page layout and designs with notes on ideas for the design and style of the pages.

The planning materials should be produced with sufficient detail to enable a third-party to understand how to create the product – although in the context of this external assessment, the learner will create the media product themselves.

Learners should indicate on their planning materials if copyright, clearances or permissions are required on material/assets from secondary sources.

Learners should make it clear in the planning materials, the assets that will be required to create the media product, which will support learners in the preparation period where they will create and source the assets.

Learners are asked to develop their ideas by producing planning material in

order to visualise the content and style of the media product.

In a less effective response, learners will produce some appropriate planning

materials, most of which will be complete and workable. The planning material

will reveal a basic understanding of the production process.

In a less effective response, a learner will appropriately develop their idea

outlined in Activity 1 and demonstrate some understanding of how the idea will

be realised. The learner will make some appropriate use of page layout and

design conventions to convey the relevant use of some publishing skills and

techniques, which will adequately shape the initial idea into a print media

product.

Learners have three hours to complete this task and may have access to the

work completed in Activity 1 while they complete it.

The learner has drawn a layout for their magazine pages, showing the

positioning of unspecified images and copy. The page layout also indicates the

position of pull quotes and graphic elements. However, there are no notes on

design features.

There is some appropriate understanding of how the idea will be realised

because the page layout illustrates how elements of the magazine page layout

will be combined together on the page. The page layout also demonstrates use

of appropriate publishing skills and techniques that will shape the final idea, such

as the inclusion of a drop cap, text wrap and breaking up the column of text with

pull quotes.

However, apart from the unimaginative headline and use of the colour red, there

is no indication of what the content or style of the pages will be.

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Activity 3: Final Media Product

Use your ideas from Activity 1, Planning Material from Activity 2 and material, footage and/or

assets that you have collected/generated to create your media product in response to the

brief.

Save your product in an appropriate digital file format.

You will be assessed on the skills and techniques used in your production and on how

closely your product meets the requirements of the brief.

You have a maximum of four hours to create your media product, under supervised

conditions, during the time scheduled by your teacher/tutor.


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Effective Response

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The learner is required to generate material, footage and/or assets under low

control conditions. In a more effective response, learners will be adept at using

skills and techniques to carry out practical tasks and will be able to gather

effective content for their production. Learners will demonstrate effective use of

skills and techniques and sophisticated use of equipment.

Learners must then spend a maximum of four hours creating the final media

product. In a more effective response, the final product will be imaginative and

technically proficient in order to meet all of the client’s needs and appeal to the

target audience. It will demonstrate sophisticated use of the conventions of the

publishing sector and will consistently engage with the audience. It will be

comprehensively realised and will fully meet the technical requirements of the

brief.

Learners may engage others to support in the creation of original material, such

as models, but must produce the final product individually.

The learner has produced a front cover and double page spread for a

magazine.

The accomplished final product is the result of the sophisticated use of

photographic, image editing and desktop publishing equipment and software.

There is evidence of the effective use of skills and techniques to create

original assets, such as the effective photography and image manipulation

techniques used to produce the images for the front cover.

The combination of the assets on each page, especially the highly effective

positioning of the images and caption on the double page spread and the

refinements made to the planning materials, such as the introduction of the

body copy on the double page spread, have led to an accomplished

interpretation of the client brief and planning materials.

The final magazine pages fully meet the requirements of the brief and make

sophisticated use of design principles. For example, the use of colour is

consistent, creates a good contrast between foreground and background

colours and emphasises significant information. In addition, the use of white

space and proximity effectively groups similar assets and separates the

headline, pull quote and body copy.

Finally, the written copy will hold the interest of the reader and the

combination of images, text and graphic design combine to form a

sophisticated final product that consistently engages the target audience.

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The learner is required to generate material, footage and/or assets under low

control conditions. In a less effective response, learners will use skills and

techniques competently to carry out practical tasks and will be able to gather

appropriate content for their product. Learners will demonstrate competent use

of skills, techniques and equipment.

Learners must then spend a maximum of four hours creating the final media

product. In a less effective response, the final product will contain suitable

content, which should be suitable to meet most of the client’s needs and have

some appeal to the target audience. It will demonstrate mostly effective use of

the conventions of the publishing sector and will partially engage with the

audience. It will be adequately realised and will meet some of the technical

requirements of the brief.

Learners may engage others to support in the creation of original material, such

as models, but must produce the final product individually.

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Learners should create original assets for their media product, such as taking photographs and creating graphics, in order to demonstrate skills and techniques in creating material and/or assets.

Learners should combine their understanding of the conventions of their chosen media sector with a wide range of practical skills and techniques, developed throughout the qualification.

Learners should monitor and refine the idea established in the planning materials throughout Activity 3, in order to improve the final outcome.

Learners should develop a media product that is tailored to the specific audience and purpose established in the brief and ensure that it meets all the technical requirements of the brief.

The learner has produced a magazine double page spread.

There is evidence of the competent use of skills and techniques to create and

gather material through the written copy and selection of suitable images from

secondary sources. However, there is no evidence of original photography,

image manipulation or original graphics, which would have provided an

opportunity for the learner to demonstrate the use of more extensive practical

skills and techniques.

The learner has demonstrated relevant skill in the use of desktop publishing

software. The images are all in proportion and there is some control over

aspects of the typography, such as font, font size and leading. There is also

evidence of the proficient use of skills and techniques to combine text and

images on the right-hand page.

The final product is an effective interpretation of the brief: a positive

representation of a band that creates impact, aimed at an audience of music

enthusiasts. However, the interpretation of the planning materials has not

improved the outcome, as the page layout and design included features and

skills absent from the final product, such as a strapline, pull quotes and text

wrap.

There is some effective use of conventions, for example there is an

appropriate hierarchy to the information on the pages, a suitable balance

between text and images and the effective use of captions.

Overall, the final product is mostly effective and partially engages the target

audience. Although the images and page layout are effective, there is no

consistency in the use of colour and the written copy does not engage the

reader.

btec level 1/2 tech award in creative media production · save the final media product in an...

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