ABOUT UNIT 8 – OVERVIEW

 This unit is a double weighted unit.  It is marked out of 72. The unit sets a task and invites you to plan a response using one of five different media – a promotional video, a website, an audio podcast, a leaflet or a digital game.

The work you have to do has to be completed in six hours of exam condition controlled assessment, and  is as follows:-

Activity 1 – The Rationale (1 hour approximately) (16 marks / 72)

Write a rationale of your ideas in response to the commission you have chosen.  Your rationale will be assessed on:

• the consideration of the commission
• interpretation of the commission
• meeting the requirements of the commission
• justification of approaches used to inform ideas.

Activity 2 – The Pitch (1 hour approximately) (16 marks / 72)

Write a pitch of your idea  which is no more than 350 words.  Your pitch will be assessed on:

• your idea and solution in relation to the stimulus material
• refinement and succinct communication of the pitch
• your understanding of the potential of the commission
• practicality of your solution.

Activity 3 – The proposal (2 hours approximately) (20 marks / 72)

Write a proposal for your idea.Your proposal will be assessed on:

• your understanding of technical media production processes
• use of the medium and targeting of audience
• communication of a plausible idea
• consideration of logistical implications.

Activity 4 – The Treatment (2 hours approximately) (20 marks /72)

Produce a treatment for your chosen commission. Your treatment can be up to six A4 pages.

Your treatment only has to cover an appropriate sample or taster of the product.

You must select pre-production materials from the table below that are relevant to the medium of your commission.

You must include one or more of these in your treatment and include justification of ideas.

• Visual Materials
  • Storyboard
  • Visuals
  • Mocks Ups
  • Layout
  • Interface or Menus
• Written Materials
  • Audio script
  • Descriptions of scenes and transitions
  • Audio descriptions
  • Body copy
  • Character description
  • Shot descriptions
  • Rules and gameplay
• Diagrams and Graphs
  • Navigation
  • User Flow Chart
  • Wire Frame

Your treatment will be assessed on:

• your understanding of media production processes
• use of the medium in targeting the audience
• communication of style
• justifications of your decisions.

 How does the assessment work?

1.  The paper is released around two weeks before the assessment window, and includes the commission, some additional material and the tasks you will have to complete.
2. You have ten hours supervised time in class to work on the commission and prepare your response. You can produce work during this time through primary and secondary research, ideas generation, detailed planning, drafting outlines and storyboards, creating or sourcing visualisations and images calculating budgets… and so on.
3. You then have two hours supervised class time in exam conditions to use the work you have produced in the ten hours preparation to create up to three sides of notes that you can take into the controlled assessment with you.
4. You then have six hours supervised class time in exam conditions to produce your work for assessment, using the three pages of notes you have produced to help you.
5. The final assessment task is divided into four sections
   • Rationale – your detailed response to the commission showing your understanding of the task, identifying and exploring the target audience, demonstrating that you have carried out research and have used it to make your plans, and your initial planning and ideas generation
   • Pitch – a 350 word written pitch for your ideas
   • Proposal – a detailed section by section proposal for your response to the commission
   • Treatment – a storyboard and a justification of your ideas and plans

You can look at the paper from January 2019 here…

Timings

There appears to be a lot more work involved in Part A – the Rationale – than Part B – The Pitch – but they are both worth the same amount of marks.

Big Issues

The exam board, their annual reports about the course, have commented that they think too many students are taking too long on Part A and not long enough on Parts C and D, which are both worth more.

The exam board publish an annual report about how the assessment went and what issues they saw.  These are the big issues that regularly come up…