The OCR exam board have changed and re-vamped the syllabus; now there will be two Units per year:
OCR AS Level: Unit 1 - Foundation Portfolio in Media
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The purpose of this unit is firstly to assess candidates’ ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills (AO3);
secondly to assess candidates’ application of knowledge and understanding in evaluating their own work, showing how meanings and responses are created (AO2);
and finally to assess candidates’ ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research (AO4).
The unit requires candidates to engage with contemporary media technologies, giving them the opportunity for development of skills in these technologies.
This is a coursework unit, internally assessed and externally moderated. Candidates produce two paired media artefacts in response to briefs set by OCR plus some appropriate evidence of research and planning.
Set briefs are paired in order to provide progression from a pre-production, preliminary exercise to a more fully realised piece and will be in the same medium. This offers the opportunity for skills development to be assessed, as well as a final finished piece.
Video
Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.
All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.
Each candidate will evaluate and reflect upon the creative process and their experience of it.
Candidates will evaluate their work electronically, this evaluation being guided by a set of key questions on a proforma to be completed by the teacher. The format of the discussion has some flexibility and its form can be negotiated between teacher and student: it may take place with individual candidates or with the production group as a whole, or each individual candidate or production group may make a formal or informal presentation to the whole class.
The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more, of the following:
• a presentation using slideshow software such as Powerpoint;
• a blog or website;
• a podcast;
• a DVD with ‘extras’.
In the evaluation the following questions must be answered:
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
• How did you attract/address your audience?
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The production element and presentation of research and planning may be individual or group work (maximum group size is four candidates). Where candidates have worked in a group, the
evidence for assessment may be presented collectively but centres will still assess candidates on an individual basis for their contribution to aspects of the work, from planning, research and production to evaluation.
G321 is marked and internally standardised by the centre and marks are submitted to OCR by a specified date, a sample is then selected for external moderation. The unit is marked out of a total of 100 marks: 20 marks for the presentation of the planning and research; 60 marks for the construction; 20 marks for the evaluation.
AS UNIT 2:
Key Media Concepts (TV Drama)
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The purpose of these units is first to assess candidates’ media textual analysis skills and their understanding of the concept of representation using a short unseen moving image extract (AO1,
AO2);
second to assess candidates’ knowledge and understanding of media institutions and their production processes, distribution strategies, use of technologies and related issues concerning audience reception and consumption of media texts (AO1, AO2):
The examination is two hours (including 30 minutes for viewing and making notes on the moving image extract) and candidates are required to answer two compulsory questions. The unit is marked out of a total of 100, with each question marked out of 50.
There are two sections to this paper:
Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation (50 marks)
Section B: Institutions and Audiences (50 marks)
Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation
An ‘unseen’ moving image extract with one compulsory question dealing with textual analysis of various technical aspects of the languages and conventions of moving image media. Candidates
will be asked to link this analysis with a discussion of some aspect of representation within the sequence.
The moving image extract will be provided by OCR in DVD format, with full instructions for the administration of the examination, viewing conditions and note-making time. Centres must prepare candidates in advance of the examination, using a range of examples from texts from the genre stated below, to demonstrate textual analysis of all of the following technical areas of moving image language and conventions in relation to the unseen extract:
• Camera Angle, Shot, Movement and Composition
• Mise-en-Scène
• Editing
• Sound
The focus of study for Section A is the use of technical aspects of the moving image medium to create meaning for an audience, focussing on the creation of representations of specific social
types, groups, events or places within the extract. It is not necessary to study the history of the genre specified. Centres should use examples of the genre specified with their candidates to prepare them for undertaking unseen textual analysis.
For examination in 2009, 2010 and 2011:
The unseen moving image extract will be four to five minutes long and will be from the following genre:
TV Drama
The sequence will be taken from a contemporary British one-off or series or serial drama programme.
Guidance is given below regarding the administration of the examination. There will be viewing and note-making time for Section A. The timings and rules for viewing of extract and note-making will
be explained.
Section B: Institutions and Audiences
One compulsory question to be answered by candidates based upon a case study of a specific media industry, from a choice of six topic areas offered by OCR.
Centres should choose one of the following topic areas, in advance of the examination. Through specific case studies of the centre’s choice, candidates should be prepared to demonstrate understanding of contemporary institutional processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange/exhibition at a local, national or international level as well as British audiences’ reception and consumption. There should also be some emphasis on the students’ own experiences of being audiences of a particular medium. Centres may choose to focus on one of the following media industries:
• Film - we are doing this option
• Music
• Newspapers
• Radio
• Magazines
• Video Games
Set Topic Content
The content below represents what candidates should learn and is also provided as the source of the questions in the examination papers.
Section A: Textual Analysis and Representation
Candidates should be prepared to analyse and discuss the following: technical aspects of the language and conventions of the moving image medium, in relation to the unseen moving image extract, as appropriate to the genre and extract specified, in order to discuss the sequence’s representation of individuals, groups, events or places:
Camera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition
• Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.
• Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
• Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.
• Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.
Editing
Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.
• Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert.
• Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.
Sound
• Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects; sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective.
• Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.
Mise-en-Scène
• Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.
• Lighting; colour design.
It is acknowledged that not every one of the above technical areas will feature in equal measure in any given extract. Therefore examiners are instructed to bear this in mind when marking the
candidates’ answers and will not expect each aspect will be covered in the same degree of detail, but as appropriate to the extract provided and to the discussion of representation.
Candidates should be prepared to discuss, in response to the question, how these technical elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to
articulate specific messages and values that have social significance. Particular areas of representation that may be chosen are:
• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Sexuality
• Class and status
• Physical ability/disability
• Regional identity
Section B: Institutions and Audiences
Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as the nature of audience consumption and the relationships between audiences and institutions. In addition, candidates should be familiar with:
• the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;
• the importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing;
• the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, distribution, marketing and exchange;
• the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;
• the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;
• the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international or global institutions;
• the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.
This unit should be approached through contemporary examples in the form of case studies based upon one of the specified media areas. Examples may include the following:
Film
A study of a specific studio or production company within a contemporary film industry that targets a British audience (eg Hollywood, Bollywood, UK film), including its patterns of production,
distribution, exhibition and consumption by audiences. This should be accompanied by study of contemporary film distribution practices (digital cinemas, DVD, HD-DVD, downloads, etc) and their impact upon production, marketing and consumption.
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