Unit 2730 A/S Practical Production

The medium for this year’s brief is television and the brief is: Create the opening sequence of a new
children’s TV programme of any genre, to include titles, aimed at an audience within the range 5-12
year olds (approximately two minutes duration.)

You will be marked in three sections

1. Planning and research (30 marks)
 you must research the medium (television), the genre (children’s TV) and do some initial research
into your target audience. You can do this by
a) watching and deconstructing programmes aimed at your target audience
b) creating a questionnaire (favourite TV programmes/why?) and asking either parents or children to
fill it in
c) doing a focus group with a group of children and taping it
 Also- your contribution as an individual to the task (teacher’s observations and yours in your
production log)
 Storyboarding-will go into an appendix with other evidence of planning ( such as your
deconstruction of programmes and planning)
 Evidence of research into and knowledge of current regulations and restrictions on Children’s TV
Note-the Appendix is a section at the back of your production log where you put all you notes and
evidence of planning. You refer to it in the main body of your Production Log (see exemplar essay).

2. The construction of your film (60 marks)

 holding a steady shot
 framing a shot
 using a variety of shot distances
 shooting material appropriate to the task
 editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
 using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and where appropriate for the
set task
 using sound with images

3. Production Log/ Report. Maximum words 2,000 –500 per section

Part 1- The brief and research into similar texts/target audience
Part 2-Planning the production
Part 3- Constructing the production –technical decisions and revisions
Part 4- Evaluation of finished product

Rules
You can work in pairs but will be marked individually
This unit counts as 40% of your AS grade

Timeline
Your aim should be to follow this timeline as closely as possible. The majority of your lesson time will
be yours to use, although there will be short input sessions at various points. Remember if you are not
present you may lose marks.

 22nd Jan – 2nd Feb = Introduction, theory and skills teaching

 5th Feb – 23rd Feb ( includes work over half term) = Planning, research, Storyboarding (2
weeks in school)
 26th Feb-9th March = Filming (2 weeks)
 12th March – THURS 29th March = Editing and Evaluation (nearly 3 weeks)
 These dates are the maximum time you can spend on your work. If you finish earlier, then of
course you can move onto the next stage.
 There will be mini deadlines in this time – you MUST meet these deadlines or you will lose marks.
 Your final work must be handed in before Easter. The deadline is therefore Friday 30th March.
There is no leeway on this. Your work will be marked and moderated during the Easter break and
the two weeks after Easter.

To gain good grades you must plan carefully to allow time to rectify problems. If you lose footage or
discover that your footage is not suitable or good enough, you must have time to re-film. If the editing
system breaks down, you need to have time to re-edit after it is fixed.

Your production log should be completed after each meeting of the group – be that in lesson or your
own time. Show your work (plans/ footage/ edits/ written work) to your teacher as often as possible
for feedback and be prepared to receive criticism. Remember that we know exactly what is needed for
the top grades. The more we see your work, the more chances you have to improve it.

Reasons for reduced grades for some students in the past have been:
a) poor time management (you are marked down for this)
b) not handing in a complete draft of the evaluation and subsequently writing one section poorly
c) absence from lessons – if you miss an editing session for example you will forfeit marks

EQUIPMENT
You will be expected to take responsibility for the use of cameras/ tripods/ batteries/ films/
chargers/ adapters. Equipment has to be signed out by a member of staff and should be negotiated
before the night on which it is required. All equipment must be returned first thing the following
morning.