The evaluation is worth 20% of the student's overall grade. It requires watching the media product multiple times, getting feedback from an audience, and answering 7 questions that evaluate how the product uses or challenges conventions, represents social groups, would be distributed, targets audiences, and what the student has learned about technologies and the filmmaking process. The student must discuss conventions, social groups, target audiences, and technical skills and can further analyze representation, distribution channels, and improvements from preliminary work. Overall, the evaluation comprehensively assesses the film across production and post-production elements.

1. AS Media Studies
Foundation Portfolio
Evaluation
The evaluation is worth 20 marks out of the total of 100 – the quality of your
evaluation will have a big impact in determining your overall grade for the
coursework unit, and subsequently for the AS overall.
To do the evaluation, you need to:
• Watch it yourself a number of times
• Show it to an audience – either a real audience or virtual (you can post
to Youtube if you wish) and get some feedback about what they like
and dislike about your work
• With the feedback in mind, start planning your evaluation
• Write up your answers
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
• YOU MUST - discuss in what ways your sequence looks like
other films from within your chosen genre and in what ways it is
different to them. You should refer to 2 or 3 films from within
your chosen genre.
• YOU SHOULD discuss why you have kept to the conventions of
the form (how your film looks / feels / behaves similarly to
professional films)
• YOU COULD discuss ways in which you have challenged the
conventions of the form.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
• YOU MUST - discuss at least 2 social groups (such as
teenagers, older adults, males, females, a range (or not) of
people of different ethnic origins) are featured in your sequence
and how you have chosen to represent these groups.
• YOU SHOULD - discuss use of positive and negative
stereotypes where they occur in your work.
• YOU COULD - give comparisons to representations of different
social groups studied for the work on TV Drama, giving specific
examples from programmes studied
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and
why?
• YOU MUST - discuss what media institution (major
independent) might distribute your pour product
• YOU SHOULD- consider whether this product would be
distributed in Britain only or might be distributed internationally.
• YOU COULD – consider what the best means of distributing
your product – cinema first, TV first or internet

2. http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/distribution/distribution1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_film_studio
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
• YOU MUST – identify the demographic groups you are seeking
to target as your primary audience– is this for teenagers, older
adults, all ages, is it for males or females or both? Is it all for all
teenagers or just for some?
• YOU SHOULD – consider psychographic factors such as tastes
in films and popular culture are Does your audience feedback
suggest you have produced something that would attract this
target audience?
• YOU COULD – identify secondary audiences for your product
and discuss how you would reach these secondary audiences
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
• YOU MUST – discuss how the mise-en-scene should be
appealing to your target audience
• YOU SHOULD – discuss what your audience feedback reveals
– did your decisions help the audience to engage as you
wanted?
• YOU COULD – discuss how various elements of narrative
theory have informed the decisions you have taken in the
construction of your sequence
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
• YOU MUST - Discuss what you have learnt about how to use
the camera, how to work in front of the camera and what you
have learnt about how to use the Mac and iMovie to edit your
work.
• YOU SHOULD – discuss how your skills in production work
have developed since the start of the course
• YOU COULD- consider what you need to improve upon with
regards to use of technologies in production work
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt
in the progression from it to the full product?
• YOU MUST - Discuss how you have(or not) made your planning
and preparation for shooting more effective than was the case
with the prelim task
• YOU SHOULD - discuss how you have(or not) improved the
quality of the footage shot (using tripods, different angles,
filming several different good takes from different positions)
• YOU COULD - discuss how you have(or not) improved the
quality of the edited piece – more use of features within iMovie,
use of music.