Coursework Brief Notes

You have been given an opportunity to prepare a pitch for development funding and so will need to present sample production work.  The programme will have a target audience similar to E4’s demographic (15–35) and will be suitable for pre-watershed broadcasting.


Produce the opening few scenes of your TV programme establishing narrative themes, 
characters and location.  You could include a title sequence and your finished product 
should be approximately two minutes long.


 5-6 A4 pages of research and planning material. This could include a 
'statement of intent'
 The products created for the two selected tasks:
– Printouts of print work
and/or
– A DVD containing moving image work (playable on a domestic DVD)
and/or
– A disc or pen drive containing an audio file (mp3) if possible
and/or
– A disc or pen drive containing the e-media work (converted to open in a 
browser)
and/or
– A URL giving access to moving image and/or audio and/or e-media work
 A 1500 word evaluation
 A bibliography


Media Language/Forms
Students need to make specific media language choices and should be able to show 
how these choices influence the meaning/reception of the products being created. 
They should use the appropriate media language choices that allow them to emulate 
their chosen media form. Knowledge and understanding of this will come from 
researching existing products and analysing the conventions used in their 
construction. Students would also need to consider genre and demonstrate their 
knowledge in selecting appropriate media language.

Audience
All briefs will give some indication of audience. Students should consider how best to 
identify their target audience and the creation of products that attract them, appeal to 
them and address them appropriately. Some products may be gendered and/or have 
a specific age group as the identified target audience. Students can research into 
existing products and see how they identify and address their audience group. 
They should analyse the products themselves as well as looking at corporate 
statements. They should be able to see connections between audiences and the 
way real media products are constructed. They should use this understanding to help 
make their own production choices. 


Productions
Good quality productions will use the knowledge and understanding gained from the 
research undertaken to inform the media language choices made in production. 
Students should use this knowledge but higher level marks are rewarded where 
conventions are not simply replicated but where students also show creativity and 
flair in their approach. 


Broadcasting Task (i) Opening Scenes/Title Sequence
Students can choose the form of their broadcast – opening scenes with or without a 
title sequence. They should replicate codes and conventions, so the form and genre 
are recognisable. Creative approaches are to be encouraged. 
Research could investigate how themes, characters and locations are identified early 
in a broadcast. HBO/Showtime dramas use a range of methods. For example, Game 
of Thrones travels across a map of the fantasy world the audience will find 
themselves immersed in whilst Dexter uses a montage of familiar domestic images 
(cooking breakfast, getting dressed etc.) in extreme close-up, destabilising the 
familiar and tying it into the violence of the story-lines to follow.   
The production should carefully consider mise-en-scene, lighting, costume and 
location as part of the planning process. Students who use a variety of camera shots 
in their work tend to make more interesting moving image work. Post production 
effects may also be appropriate and use of the camera and editing software allows 
marks to be awarded for technical ability. In the evaluation students should be 
prepared to talk about the reasoning behind their media language choices. They
should consider the choices in light of the requirements of the brief/task