Final preparation... URGENT half-term task list!

Complete the following tasks to make sure you are FULLY prepared for your Media Studies exam on the Music Press (Print/Online).

1. Ensure you have read and completed EVERY page in the revision booklet. Make sure you understand each key concept and how it links to the music press (print/online) – if you’re not sure, ask someone or Google it!
2. Find at least three of your own, original examples from the music press (print/online) that we HAVEN’T covered in class. These can be music magazines, websites, fanzines etc. Concentrate on the genre you have chosen. Write these on revision cards.
3. Research your chosen genre in depth. Who are the biggest artists? Who are the next big things? What do the fans of your genre like about the music and lifestyle? You need to know it INSIDE OUT.
4. Go on an online forum for your genre of music and see what the fans are saying. What kind of language do you they use? What are their interests? Write these notes on revision cards.
5. What representation of your genre or typical fan will you offer? Stereotypical? Unusual? Dangerous? Fun? Make a revision card with the heading ‘Representation’ and add these notes.
6. Read the brief again and makes notes on the key words and phrases.
7. Practice writing in-role. Use the language in the brief and example sentence starters to develop phrases that will help sell your idea to Revolutionary Publishing and Rhymix. 
8. Draw your Rhymix website page at least three times on A3 paper. By the end, you need to be able to design and colour it in 20 minutes. You also need to annotate it with the key conventions of a website (leave space around the side for adverts and annotations).
9. Make sure you have specific examples of audio and video content. Decide the actual video (artist/song) that you will have as embedded content. Decide what song you will have playing on a Rhymix Radio player. 
10. Storyboard a TV advert/online viral advert for your Rhymix website genre page (remember the logo, homepage design, colour scheme and featured artists would be the same as your current idea. However, you would have to add music, voiceover and camera shots/transitions). We don’t know what will come up in the exam so it is best to be prepared.

FINAL CHECKLIST...

Final check: do you know your idea for a Rhymix genre section in great detail? Is it original with a clear unique selling point (USP)? Can you confidently explain your idea in 15 minutes?

Final check: have you got a Rhymix logo, colour scheme and design style that you are absolutely confident on and can draw quickly?

Final check: do you know the key conventions for a website and can annotate them quickly?

Final check: have you written 20 minute answers to EVERY practice question in the revision booklet, using examples where appropriate?

Final check: are you confident writing in-role as if you were applying for a real job in the media?

Key phrases in the brief... and possible ideas

Here are your collective ideas for addressing the key phrases in the brief...


“Independent & informed comment on all that is trending in the music scene”
• Live Twitter Feed
• Follow me
• Video/Audio of the day (embedded content)

“We are interested in uncovering creative talent and supporting new artists” 
• You Tube – new artists performing and opportunities to comment
• Follow/Like new artists (Twitter etc)
• Competitions and features about new artists (interviews, gigs etc)

“Opportunities for fans to connect with bands/artists”
• Live Twitter Feed
• Follow me – social networking
• Forums
• Fran sites (connect with other fans)
• Competitions – meet them in person etc

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...