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...