Component 3
 

Cross-Media Production
30% of qualification
60 marks
Non-exam assessment: internally assessed and externally moderated by WJEC
 

Content

This component synthesises knowledge and understanding of the media theoretical framework gained throughout their course by requiring learners to apply their knowledge and understanding of the media synoptically to practical production. In Components 1 and 2, learners gain a detailed understanding of the theoretical framework in relation to a range of media forms. In this component, learners are required to apply their knowledge and understanding of media language, representation, audiences, media industries and the digitally convergent nature of the media in an individual production for an intended audience. The production must be based on two media forms and completed in response to a choice of briefs set by WJEC.

The set production briefs will change every year. The precise requirements of the set briefs will differ each year and learners will be required to create a production for a different intended audience and industry context. Learners must develop a response to the specific requirements of the chosen brief by selecting a genre/style (or topic/issue) appropriate to the specified intended audience and industry context
for their cross-media production.

The briefs will be released annually on 1 March in the year prior to assessment, and will be published on the WJEC Eduqas website.

The following media forms will always be set:

Television
Create a cross-media production to include a sequence from a new television programme and related print or online* products.

Advertising and Marketing: Music
Create a cross-media production to include an original music video for a new or local/unsigned artist or band and related print or online* products.

Advertising and Marketing: Film
Create a cross-media production to include a print marketing campaign for a new film,
and related audio-visual or online* products.
The cross-media production must not include a complete short film, film sequence or trailer.

Magazines
Create a cross-media production to include a new print magazine and related audiovisual or online products.

In order to ensure that an undue amount of time is not spent on the production, all phases of the production – aims, research and planning and the production itself – should be completed over a period of no longer than sixteen weeks.

*Website production
Learners are not required to create websites through programming languages such as HTML. It is acceptable for learners to use web design software or templates in the online options. However, learners must be responsible for the design of the website and all content (such as language, images, audio-visual material) must be original. Learners must acknowledge any software or templates, and details of how these have been used, on the cover sheet.

Statement of Aims and Intentions

Learners will be required to complete a brief outline of their aims and intentions for the crossmedia production that must be submitted with the production. This will be assessed with the cross-media production and will enable learners to explain the ways in which they will apply knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework to the production and target the intended audience. This is a compulsory component of the non-exam assessment and learners must complete the statement of aims and intentions in Section B of the cover sheet using approximately 500 words. A template is provided on the WJEC Eduqas website for guidance.

Research and Planning

Learners will undertake a substantial amount of preparatory work for their intended production that must be guided, monitored and authenticated by the teacher. The cross- media production must be conceptualised as a complete package of interrelated products in two forms, reflecting the nature of the contemporary media and the importance of different platforms in distributing,and enabling audiences to access, the media.

The research and planning will not be assessed but learners will be assessed on the production outcomes that result from these stages.

Learners should undertake research to develop their understanding of the theoretical framework in relation to their intended production including:

 Analysis of the use of media language in similar media products to identify the codes and conventions of the particular genres and forms. Analysis should focus on

 how specific techniques such as: layout and composition; editing; sound, etc. are used to create meaning,
 the way in which representations of events, issues, individuals and social groups (as appropriate) are constructed, considering how the choice and combination of elements of media language influences meaning and conveys viewpoints and ideologies.

 Research into how the industry context – the media organisation, production processes, distribution and marketing, scheduling/positioning, regulatory issues etc. – impacts on a production. Research into the ways in which media industries use digital convergence across different platforms – how media products are interrelated and how different media platforms can be used to promote and distribute products, and engage audiences in different ways. Identify examples from similar products analysed.
 Research into the methods used to target and address audiences, including analysis of the techniques used to appeal to, engage and position an intended audience.
 Identify examples from similar products analysed. Research into audience responses to, and interaction with, media products.
 Secondary research - academic theoretical research appropriate to A Level to develop understanding and support analysis.
 Primary audience research such as focus groups research prior to completion of production work.

Learners should also plan their production work carefully to ensure that they apply their understanding of the theoretical framework to the cross-media production in different forms.
The planning work may include:
 A pitch or treatment for the cross-media production, considering the convergence of the products in two forms and how they will be interrelated, but also distinct, to engage the intended audience in different ways.
 A project plan including a timeline and the planned use of, for example, resources or equipment.
 Planning documents appropriate to the form/product undertaken such as: a step outline; a shot list; a storyboard; a script; draft designs; mock-ups of composition and layout.

Assessment

Component 3 is internally assessed and externally moderated. It assesses AO3: Create media products for an intended audience, applying knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework of media to communicate meaning.

The total number of marks available is 60:
 10 marks for the statement of aims and intentions
 20 marks for creating a media production that meets the requirements of the set brief, including suitability for the chosen form, genre, industry context and audience
 30 marks for creating a media production which uses media language to communicate meanings and construct representations.

The assessment of this component will be based on the statement of aims and intentions and the cross-media production. Learners who do not submit a production will be awarded zero marks for the statement of aims and intentions.

Teachers must use the assessment grid and guidance provided in Appendix A when conducting internal assessment of Component 3.

Learners are advised to consider the requirements of the marking criteria (Appendix A) when planning and creating their cross-media production. Learners will be assessed on their ability to create a cross-media production for an intended audience and industry context by applying their knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework to the cross-media production in the following ways:

 responding to the requirements of the brief, including using conventions appropriate to the chosen form, genre and industry context and engaging the intended target audience
 completing all tasks detailed in the chosen set brief
 creating an appropriate cross-media production of products that are clearly interrelated
 using media language to communicate meanings
 using media language to construct representations of particular events/issues/groups and individuals.

 

Assessment Evidence and Authentication

Every learner must complete a cover sheet to be found on the WJEC Eduqas website. This
form must be signed by both the teacher and the learner to authenticate the work undertaken.
Work should be reviewed for authentication purposes at four key stages of the process:
 when the planning stage is complete - review of the learner’s planning documents to
verify that the work has been completed by the learner
 at two suitable points during the production process, to monitor both tasks within the
cross-media production. This might include a review of, for example, footage that has
been shot for an audio-visual task and a full draft of a print or online task including the
main images/ written text, to check that this is the learner’s independent work
 when the cross-media production is complete – review of the finished production.
At each authenticating stage, teachers must sign and date the appropriate section of the
cover sheet. It is important that the completion of the production is rigorously monitored by
centres to ensure that learners' work is their own. Teachers must sign the completed cover
sheet to validate the authenticity of learners' work.

Learners must submit:

 A cross-media production.
 A statement of aims and intentions for the production, outlining the ways in which knowledge and understanding of the theoretical framework will be applied in response to the brief and how the intended audience will be targeted.
 A completed cover sheet available on the WJEC Eduqas website. Section A must be completed by the learner detailing key aspects of the work, including the software used in its construction and crediting any non-original music used and non-assessed participants who assisted with the cross-media production. Learners and teachers must sign to authenticate the work at four key stages as detailed above. Section B is to be completed by the teacher detailing their assessment comments and the marks awarded.

Research and planning work should not be submitted but learners and teachers are required to authenticate the process on the cover sheet. Centres must retain all learners’ research and planning work, and all learners' production work, until December of the calendar year in which the assessment has been taken, and make this work available to WJEC should this be requested.

Original and Non-original material

Learners are required to create original material for this component. The use of existing brands or products is not permitted and the images, footage and text used in the cross-media production must be original (i.e. created by the learner).

It is acceptable for learners to use an existing song by a band or artist for the music video production option, provided the track chosen for the music video does not have an existing video. It is also acceptable for learners to use existing music for sound-tracks (e.g. for an audio-visual sequence). In this case, music must be copyright-free. All other aspects of the cross-media production must be the candidate's own, original work.

Any non-original music used as a soundtrack or in a music video must be acknowledged on the
cover sheet (available on the WJEC's Eduqas website).

Independent Work
The learner must complete an individual cross-media production. However, the learner may use unassessed students and others as follows:
 To appear in their media products, as actors or models for example.
 To operate equipment, such as lighting or sound recording equipment, under the direction of the assessed learner.

All non-assessed individuals involved in the production must be credited on the cover sheet.
Learners can be credited only for work completed by themselves, or under their direction, and teachers will be required to sign to state that this is the case.

Equipment/Software

Learners need to have access to suitable equipment and resources for production work in Component 3 in order to apply media language appropriately (including the appropriate codes and conventions of media forms, genres and/ or styles) to the products they create for Component 3.

As noted on page 21, learners are not required to create websites through programming languages such as HTML. It is acceptable for learners to use web design software or templates in the online options. However, learners must be responsible for the design of the website and all content (such as language, images, audio-visual material) must be original.

The software packages used in the creation of the cross-media production must be listed on the cover sheet with a brief explanation of how they have been used. The assessor will take this information into account when marking each production. Where there has been over reliance on pre-existing templates, this will result in a lower mark being awarded, as detailed in the mark scheme.

Re-sitting the qualification: non-examination assessment

As noted in Section 4 below, learners may re-sit the qualification. Components 1 and 2 must be re-taken whereas marks for Component 3 may be carried forward. Should a learner choose to re-take Component 3, they must follow the brief set for the relevant year and be subject to all the authenticating conditions of the production.