Review of Year 12 AS Media Coursework

Throughout year 12 I have learnt and utilised many new skills which became particularly useful during my coursework; where I used my improved editing and filming skills. My editing skills were used to help add music, change framing position, light composition, title sequences and special effects. If this had not been added to the coursework, the quality would have been considerably less and therefore I was proud of my input towards the editing of the coursework. Also my filming skills improved throughout the coursework task, as the first coursework draft filming was not as high-quality or polished as our groups’ final piece was, which signifies the improvements myself and the group made during that time period. I found the coursework a significantly stressful part of the year due to the time constraints and work load; I felt the workload in our group was not evenly shared and therefore found myself doing more work than some members of my group, which I did not feel was very fair. However this taught me a useful lesson for year 13 as I will try to ensure the workload for coursework is more evenly spread between members of my group; which will make it a much less stressful time and mean I can fully contribute my skills without them being compromised. I also learnt the importance of time constraints; during the beginning of coursework the group did not focus on the time constraints, which meant we fell behind quickly. Although this was not a problem at first, when the final deadline was due in there was a large amount of pressure to get the coursework finished in time, which meant some of the coursework – I felt – was slightly rushed and possibly not done to the best of my ability. Therefore another target for the future and year 13 would be to not fall behind as it can quickly spiral and the pressure is greatly increased.

Another useful set of skills I have learnt in year 12 were the analytical skills, which were used during the deconstruction of adverts, extracts from TV and films during my coursework. This helped me as I noticed the significance of the uses of different editing, lighting, costume, camera movements and shots, and the connotations they have for audiences. It also improved my essays as I was able to use technical terminology of media terms confidently and describe the importance of them; so for my exam and the two essay questions I felt more confident writing them, whereas before year 12 I would have struggled. For the exam I ensured I revised a lot, which also helped boost my confidence and therefore I was happy with my efforts, as I tried my best. I think generally throughout year 12, my approach to independent work has been positive as I managed to meet deadlines consistently, and attempted to do the work to the best of my ability. This meant I also mostly had a positive attitude in my media class as I have a genuine interest and am now also eager to learn more in year 13, particularly for the coursework. I think media has helped me to become a more creative and imaginative person because throughout the year I was constantly having to think of new, innovative ideas; whether this was during writing an essay and interpreting the different codes and conventions, or for my coursework task; to make my coursework original and be of a high quality.

Overall I have been happy with my performance during media year 12 and felt I developed my creative and analytical skills well. For year 13 I will make sure I always – to the best of my ability – stick to time constraints as it is very easy to fall behind. Also I will ensure the work load for the coursework is more evenly spread out to decrease the pressure. Another skill I feel I could develop is my input into class discussions as sometimes I feel I could contribute more, so in year 13 I will make a conscious effort to contribute more in class. Finally I will try to stay as diligent and dedicated as possible because this will improve the quality and consistency of my work. If I manage to complete these targets I think year 13 will be a successful and productive year, and hopefully my A levels at the end of year 13 will also reflect this.