PDP and Production Exercises
All things that are to be reviewed MUST be easily accessible by the reviewers, who are not aware of your school's network. Things that are reviewed: production Exercises including documentation; production design plan; the production itself.
These things must be kept together, and for ease of reviewing, they should be carefully labelled and packaged. Burn student work to CD or get them to export an extra copy to tape. If it is kept on computer it becomes hard to find and also there is a greater risk of the work getting wiped and therefore being lost forever. Get students to label very carefully everything that relates to Production Exercise 1 with "Production Exercise 1", and everything that relates to Production Exercise 2 with "Production Exercise 2", this makes it easy for you to mark and also for the assessors to find when they come in to review. Therefore, documentation must be separate, however, productions may be linked in some way. If production exercise 1 related to the sound of a production, and the editing of the same production related to production exercise 2, that is fine but it should be clearly labelled as such and stated again in the relevant documentation.
The production exercises are worth 5 marks. They should be small - little snapshots of student learning - one or two specifications associated with the design plan. You may have one exercise for all, or a different exercise for each student.
Separate the teaching and learning phase from the assessment stage. Teach the skills that they need, then have a small and discreet assessment task.
Each production exercise consists of three parts:
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Intention - a written document (or a verbal recorded piece - they would need to do this "diary" style and add to it throughout the process)
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Exercise (you may have 2 exercises dealing with equipment; or one on equipment and one on a script for instance)
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- Equipment and/or
- Processes and/or
- Applications
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Realisation - written document
Things to be aware of
Students can't be assessed twice for any work they have created. Beware of saying that students can produce a titles or credit sequence or opening sequence to their film, as they cannot use this work as a part of their final production. You may however say that students could create a credit/opening/title sequence in the style of the production they wish to make for their final SAT.
Beware of setting a "mini production". Some students run out of puff, having put all their efforts into the production exercise, which is worth 5 marks. They then have no energy for their design and production, which is worth 30 marks.
The production exercises are a chance for students to strut their stuff. They are exploring and learning as they go, showing then what they have found. What are you able to do with the technology you have access to? If a student only has access to a black and white photocopier and they are doing print - then they have to explore the possibilities with that.
Each exercise is worth 2.5 marks including the documentation. There is no set way of administering the task, it needs to be set in a way you feel you can manage it and be assured that the work they are submitting is in fact their own.
Tips
Mark the production exercises when they come in.
Don't give feedback on what the mark is (apart from S or N) - not even a good idea to say this is the mark but it is subject to review.
Do give them the sort of informal feedback that will help them create a great production.
Look at the Assessment Report - it is a report that comes out of the reviewing process and relates to work from across the state. (found here: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/media/mediaindex.html)
Leave the onus of the demonstration that a student's work is their own with the student themselves. If they can't prove work is theirs - that is their problem to solve.
Production Design Plan
The production design plan is to be prepared before the production process is embarked on. During the production process, the production design plan should be written on, crossed out, used, developed etc. It is a working document. Students should not be allowed to print out a neat version of their PDP when they have completed their production because they can't bear the thought of handing in the version with the scribbles on it. Scribbles, post it notes and changes assist in the verification process and show that the student has in fact used the PDP as a working document.
Teaching and learning should be separated from the production design plan itself. There is no need, for example, to put in photocopies of how to use equipment etc. If it does not relate to the creation of the production specifically, then it should not be put in. Hitchcock once said that once the design of the film is done, the designer of the film should not have to be present.
Statements of audience can be overly broad. Students must be specific in their statements of audience. Teenagers are not all the same and therefore do not constitute an accurate description of an audience.
You may choose to photocopy the production design plan, however this increases your workload dramatically and is not necessary if each page of the PDP is signed.
Don't be afraid to steer students away from ideas that are impractical, unethical and particularly the illegal. If you feel uncomfortable or if you feel that this cannot be done while they are under your duty of care - say no. It is ok to say no, you are the teacher and you know best. Steer them towards something that is practical, ethical and legal. If you have a particularly difficult student pick the topic for them! It is fine to give rules such as no moving vehicles unless mum is driving. Health and safety regulations are online through the arts alliance website - let them have a look at that and see their ideas fall into line.
Scriptwriting
www.dependentfilms.net in the files and tools section, there is a script maker - very easy to use and it formats automatically. It is a zip file that unzips to a word document. Important to have a go yourself first as there are some quirks.
Notes
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Students are allowed to put their name on their work these days
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Sign and/or stamp the bottom of each page of the PDP when it gets handed in at the end of Unit 3 - this is your authentication.
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Glitter is not a markable element of the design plan.
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If students are afraid of storyboards - take dig pics plug the camera into the TV and get student to trace the picture with a whiteboard marker, flick to the next channel (a blue screen) presto! An instant storyboard. The marker rubs right off.