Genre and representation

The most important preparation you need to do is to design a fantastic website page for your Rhymix genre and make sure you can draw it out, colour and annotate it in 20 minutes. However, these tasks focusing on genre and representation will also help you prepare for the exam:


Research the history and origins of your genre of music:

• How has it evolved and changed over time? Have the fans also changed?

What is your USP? Research websites from your music genre. 

• What will you include on your that will make it stand out to fans?

Draw a typical fan of your music. 

• What stereotypes are associated with your genre of music? 
• Identify 1 positive and 1 negative representation.

Investigate positive and negative representations of your genre:

• Pick a key artist or band that will feature on your page (and that you will mention in your pitch). 
• Find photos and coverage of them online. 
• Sort these pictures into positive representations on one side and negatives representations on the other side. 
• Consider why they are represented this way (where is the representation taking place, who is going to be looking at the image? 
• Is there a story that changes the representation? 
• How will you represent them on your page?

Writing in-role

To achieve the top levels in the exam, you need to respond to the brief in-role. This means pretending that you are pitching for a real job in the media. Using the wording from the brief will help you with this - and remember the original brief will be in the exam paper you are given. Try these sentence starters to help you:

• Firstly, thank you for taking the time to consider my pitch for the launch of Rhymix…

• I am excited about this opportunity to use my passion for (MUSIC GENRE) and contribute to this unique new venture…

• I’d like to tell you about the ways that I will provide independent and informed comment on all that is trending in the (MUSIC GENRE) scene…

• After conducting extensive focus groups and market research I have decided to include the following sections and content…

• Like Revolutionary Publishing, I believe it is important for the music press to create opportunities for fans to connect with bands and artists. My webpage will do this by…

• My page will provide opportunities for creative talent from all over the country to be seen and heard. My page will support new bands/artists whose talent and creativity deserve recognition by…

Exemplar answers - Tasks 1 and 3

The key to preparing for this exam is to make sure you can answer each style of question in 20 minutes. For typical Task 1 and Task 3 questions, this means writing three well-developed paragraphs full of examples from music magazines and websites. Here are some exemplar answers to help you:

Task 1 - distinctive voice

Task 1 - comparing print and online

Task 3 - making money

Task 3 - interactivity

Use these to make sure you are fully prepared for whatever question might come up - we don't know what will be in the paper! You should also complete all the practice questions in the revision booklet, giving yourself 20 minutes for each one.

Good luck!

Exam preparation

You should all now be well on your way to preparing for the Music Press (Print and Online) GCSE Media exam on Thursday 6 June (PM).

The most important thing to be doing is working through the whole revision booklet and creating a detailed proposal for your Rhymix website page. Designing website pages on A3 paper will also be very helpful.

I'll be posting up some exemplar answers and other tips here so keep an eye out.

Good luck!

Assignment 3 - Evaluation guidance

Evaluate your video production

Word count: 800 words (10 marks)

Optional essay plan

You may find the following useful. However, you do not have to follow it exactly and will be credited for alternative or original responses that are convincing and highly effective.

Introduction (100 words)

• Introduce your brief and who you worked with (if applicable).
• Give a brief introduction to your TV programme: what is it about? What other programmes were you inspired by or did you watch as part of your research? On which channel, day and time would your programme be shown? How does your programme suit the style and audience of the institution?

Target audience (100 words)

• Outline your target audience (using detailed audience demographics: gender, age, social class, education or employment etc.)
• What Psychographic or Youth Facts groups (Armchair Rebels, Free Sprits etc.) do your target audience belong to? Why did you choose these in particular?

Close textual analysis of production (300 words)

• How does your TV show opening meet the key conventions of teen drama?
• Choose three or four key moments from your TV show opening and complete a detailed textual analysis justifying your creative decisions and explaining what the camerawork, editing, sound or mise-en-scene communicate to the audience.
• Explore the strengths and weaknesses of the key moments you have analysed and how you could have made the production more professional.

Representation (100 words)

• What representation of young people did you create in your production work? Was it a stereotypically negative representation of teenagers? (E.g. violent, involved in bad behaviour or crime etc.)
• Did you try to create a certain representation of young people? (E.g. positive, negative, shocking etc.) How would your target audience respond to your representation of young people?
• Did you create particular representations of any other groups in your production? (Men, women, age, race or ethnicity etc.)

Regulation and control (100 words)

• How did you make sure your TV programme could be shown before the watershed?
• How did you use your knowledge of Ofcom and the Broadcasting Code to ensure your TV programme didn’t cause offense? Was there anything you decided to leave out for these reasons?

Overall effectiveness/conclusion (100 words)

• How effective was your production overall?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of your project as a whole?
• Did you meet your brief?

Mark scheme:

Level 6 (9-10 marks)

They evaluate their products making cogent and critical connections between the experience of carrying out the production and all the key concepts. Evaluation responses are communicated using accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.

KEYWORDS and CONCEPTS to use in your Evaluation:

Genre: hybrid, sub-genre etc.

Representation: of people/places/events; stereotypes, negative/positive representations.

Connotation: of colour, fonts, logos, institutional name and graphic, mise-en-scene, camera shots, camera movement etc.

Mise-en-scene: use of costume, lighting, actors, makeup, props, setting, (and what all these tell us about the characters/narrative).

Iconography: how does your TV opening use the iconography associated with the genre (e.g. character types, setting, props etc.)?

Institution: Who produces the drama? What channel broadcasts the drama?  What expectations will the audience have as a result?  Is the producer/channel famous for broadcasting any other popular teen dramas?  How will this attract a teen (or possibly wider) audience?

Target Audience and demographics: age, gender, social class (and how you know), audience theory (uses and gratifications).

Regulation and Control: watershed, Ofcom, Broadcasting Code, offensive content, protecting young people.

Show title and Tagline/Slogan: how are the titles and/or taglines used to anchor meaning and help you understand what the drama is all about?

Useful phrases to use when analysing or evaluating:

• This tells the audience...
• This could signify...
• A possible interpretation of this is...
• The audience could infer that...
• This shows the audience...
• The objective of this shot was…
• This suggests to the audience...
• From this, the audience will understand that...
• This connotes...
• This is significant because...
• This creates...
• This emphasises...

Existing product research

For your existing product research, you need to complete the following:

Research a minimum of five TV programme openings (aimed at a teenage audience).

Watch around two minutes for each show. If you can find the beginning of season 1, episode 1 for any programme that will be particularly helpful. YouTube is an obvious place to start to find clips but Art of the Title is also a brilliant resource to watch iconic film and TV opening sequences.

For each clip, you need to focus your research and analysis on a particular area:


Clip 1: NCIS analysis
Clip 2: Camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene analysis
Clip 3: Target audience analysis
Clip 4: Representation of young people analysis
Clip 5: General/combination of the above

Remember: your research is individual. You need to complete all of your research independently of your group.

Assignment 3 - initial tasks

You should now have a good idea about who you working with for Assignment 3 and what kind of TV programme opening you plan to make. The first stage of the project is Research and Planning and is worth 15 marks. You'll need to complete the following over the next two weeks:


- Research into similar products (annotated screengrabs from existing TV opening scenes aimed at teenagers
- Research into your target audience, which must include audience research (interviews, focus groups or questionnaires)
- Clear organisation of project schedule and mise-en-scene: casting, costumes, props, lighting and locations.
- Clear drafting: script, storyboard and shot list.
- Note: Research and planning is entirely individual and no more than 12 pages of research and planning can be submitted.

Initial tasks

In today's lesson you need to complete the following three tasks:

Task 1: Start your production blog

This will help you keep a record of all the work you have completed. Your first blog post needs to cover the following:

1. What your initial thoughts are about the brief: what kind of TV programme do you plan to make?
2. Who you plan to work with
3. What you hope to achieve in this assignment

Task 2: Planning your planning

Make a list of all the research and planning work you need to do for your project. Remember: this is individual. Example:

1. Research existing TV programme openings
2. Decide on target audience and design audience profile
3. Design and use audience research questionnaires
4. Write script...

Task 3: Project schedule

Produce a project schedule for the next seven weeks. You need to be organised and make sure you complete every part of the project: Research & planning, filming, editing and evaluation. The Excel spreadsheet template is on the VLE in Media Studies > Shared documents.