Should I Choose GCSE Media Studies or Creative Media Production?
How do you feel about extended writing?
The GCSE course expects you to write in detail about the texts studied.
The BTEC course has some extended writing expectations, but these are much less than in the GCSE.
How do you feel about practical, hands-on work?
GCSE is roughly 70% analysis and writing and 30% practical production.
BTEC is roughly 80% practical production and 20% analysis and writing.
How important is being able to choose your own texts?
The GCSE course has a set of specific texts with limited opportunities to choose alternative ones.
The BTEC course allows students to choose a selection of texts they will analyse and write about.
What exam board do we use?
BTECs are run by Pearson
How are marks awarded?
Non Exam Assessment = 60%
Exam = 40%
What will I study?
BTEC Creative Media focuses on the practical processes involved in identifying audiences needs and creating a media text that will appeal to them.
This will be done over three components across the two years.
Component 1: Exploring Media Products
In Section A we will look at a variety of different media forms including audio/visual, print, and interactive.
There are no set texts, these are chosen by the teacher delivering the course. Some texts used previously are to the right of this text.
We examine how these texts are designed to appeal to a particular audience, then students choose a range of texts that they will have to analyse and write about in terms of their purpose and target audience.
In Section B we focus on audio/visual texts. We look closely at how they are constructed and we examine a wide range of techniques that are used to make them appealing.
Again, the teacher will choose the texts that exemplify the techniques (my last exemplar text was ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ (left)), and the students are able to choose their own texts or genres to analyse and write about.
Component 2: Developing Digital Media Production Skills
Component 2 is where students really start to get creative. They are given a fairly open brief and tasked with coming up with ideas for, planning, filming, and editing their own short film.
Students will learn how to construct narratives, draw storyboards, write scripts, manipulate lighting, record sound, operate a camera, direct a crew and actors, film a scene, and use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the shots into an effective film.
Some of this year’s Year 11 short films are below.
St Paul's CC Media and Film Department 