The document provides guidance for students on completing an evaluation assignment for a media studies course. It includes 7 questions to answer about the student's media product and process. Students are instructed to answer the questions using a variety of digital technologies and platforms. Examples of possible technologies to use are provided. Marking criteria emphasizes excellent communication skills and use of technology. Students are to submit draft answers to each question by a given deadline and provide final draft answers afterwards.

1. G321 FOUNDATION
PORTFOLIO
REEPHAM COLLEGE MEDIA STUDIES : FEBRUARY 2014
Evaluation:
•Decide what electronic
forms your evaluation
will take. You need to
use seven different
technologies (e.g.
videopodcast,
Voicethread discussion
wallwisher, whizzy
powerpoint, prezi, edited
piece to camera, Bubbl,
Glogster, Pixton,
Scrapblog, Voki, Wordle
etc. It can’t be just a
written post on your
blog.
•Film, edit, create the
evaluation and get it
onto your blog. You
could do each question
as a separate post.
However, better would
be to combine them all
as a prezi and just post a
single link on your blog
to the prezi.
Set Questions:
1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
2. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institutions might distribute
your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience for your media
product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from
the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do
you feel you have learnt in the progression
from it to the main task?
continued on page 2
Marking Criteria:
You should all be aiming for Level 4. You are all capable of excellence.
L4 example: http://prezi.com/uolomjd09nvc/untitled-prezi/
Level 4 (16–20 marks):
Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation,
forms and conventions in relation to production.
Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.
Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task.
Excellent ability to communicate.
Excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation
Level 3 (12–15 marks):
Same as above but replace excellent with proficient.

2. Possible Things to Cover:
•••
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
•
conventions of real media products?
Clearly, you need to able to demonstrate that you have an understanding of the
conventions of the thriller genre and any specific sub-genre within that. Briefly analyse
the research you did, illustrating with screen-grabs from your blog, Youtube, IMDB etc
to show the ‘real’ media products referred to in the question.
•
What impact did research have on your ideas and final film?
•
How does your work adhere to these conventions? Why? Pick out some specific
examples and illustrate them visually – again, screen grabs or selected video can be
very powerful to really make your points clear.
•
Have you been unconventional in any way? How? Why? Why not? Be specific and
illustrate it.
•
If you can, talk about narrative theory and how they apply to the Thriller genre.
Discuss how, in turn, you used narrative theory ideas.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
•
•
•
•
Think about what groups you have chosen to show in your film – teenagers, adults,
different classes, genders and ethnicities. How have you shown them – think about
clothing style, language choices (dialogue), locations, use of colours, the actions of
these groups etc.
Explain why you chose to represent things in the way.
What stereotypes are you using, which are you challenging? Why?
What messages are you trying to give the audience? Why?
3. What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
•
•
•
Find out about different companies that produce and distribute films, especially
Thriller films.
Decide who you would like to produce and distribute your film – a conglomerate, an
independent, a UK or US based company.
Come up with reasons for why you would use that particular company or companies.
What would be the advantages (and possible disadvantages).
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
•
•
•
•
Describe them in detail.
Talk about age range, interests, media usage.
Explain why you selected this target audience (relating back to existing thrillers).
Talk about research that you might have done into this target audience.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
•
Talk about the audience research that you did before you started your film especially
any surveys you completed and how you used this information to construct your
product.

3. •
•
•••
Pick out some specific examples and illustrate them visually.
Discuss why attracting a specific target audience is so important.(£££££)
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
•
•
•
•
•
This is the time to show how far you have come in terms of your ability to use a wide
range of technology.
Talk about the technologies you have tried. Which were the best ones? Why? Which
ones did you try and then not use? Why
Which technologies are best for what? Why?
How have new technologies changed media production?
How did you learn to use these technologies?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the main task?
•
•
•
•
Think about the mistakes you made while making your preliminary tasks. How did you
avoid making the same mistakes in your Thriller film?
How has your understanding of editing techniques improved as a result (think about
the editing techniques you learnt about)?
Talk about how you have become better at planning, storyboarding, creative decision
making, camerawork etc.
Make yourselves sound amazing.
FINALLY:
Go back and look carefully at the last
two points in the marking criteria. Are
you communicating clearly? Is there
obvious skill in your use of digital
technology? Is it engagingly and
informatively presented? Is it
interactive? Does it flow?
Script what you are going to say and
think how you are going to display it
visually as well.
Make sure at least one of your
answers involves digital video
editing.
DEADLINES:
First draft (of EACH question) - P3 Monday
24th February. You have my lessons and hwk
time to complete.
Final draft (of each question) - date to be
confirmed. Amendments will be completed as
hwk only.
Links to different programmes:
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Animoto (make short videos with clips and photos)
Authorstream (upload and share ppts)
Bubbl (mind map creator)
Evernote (upload photos with notes and annotations on
top)
Gliffy (flowchart creator)
Glogster (poster creator)
Prezi (interactive presentations)
Pixton (comic creator)
Slideshare (upload and embedd ppt & word docs)
Spicy Nodes (organisational tool)
Vcasmo (synchronize ppts and videos)
Voki (convert text to speech)
Wall Wisher (comments board and display)
Word it Out (like WORDLE - makes word clouds)