Courses — BNDS A-Level Programme

Production Craft

AO3 is 40% of the whole A Level and sits entirely inside the two portfolios, so production weeks are the highest-yield weeks of the course.

You build skills through short, discrete, self-contained exercises before the assessed production begins, not through one large project. A phone camera is enough for all of them.

Camera exercises

Each of these combines a technical element with a story element:

  • a slow tilt up to reveal character and create suspense
  • an establishing shot to set the scene
  • a close-up (CU) to indicate significance (or extreme close-up if particularly significant)
  • a canted angle / Dutch tilt to indicate dissonance
  • simulation of point of view (POV)

There is also a shoot-from-a-storyboard drill: you are given some frames of an existing or pre-prepared storyboard and asked to shoot from it. Results are presented and critiqued in class.

The design principle: each exercise pairs a technique with a meaning. None of them is “practise a close-up.”

Editing exercises

Start small — just two or three shots — then develop into short sequences:

  • someone looking off-screen followed by the object they are looking at
  • shot / reverse shot for a conversation between two people (an opportunity to see the 180-degree rule)
  • a cut from an exterior establishing shot to an interior, suggesting spatial continuity
  • cross-cutting between two different actions to suggest a connection

Sound exercises

  • Foley — incidental sound effects created artificially to enhance the drama, but which are diegetic, e.g. footsteps, gunshots, punches and kisses
  • Post-production voice: voices (breathing, gasping, for example) may also be added in post-production
  • Non-diegetic demonstration: present short edited sequences, then discuss the effect of different music choices
  • Re-cut trailers — the fastest way to prove that editing and music construct genre; the impact on perception of genre is clear
  • Photograph a new music magazine cover, then present it with a rationale, experimenting with various angles, poses and post-production treatments
  • Devise a title for a new magazine and discuss the connotations of the title
  • Given a title, devise a strapline, with rationale
  • Devise coverlines, then draft the opening paragraphs of those articles

Layout drills: a terminology matching game, box-mapping where text falls on a page, and a mood board for house style, use of colours, formatting of page numbers, fonts and images.

House style is the print equivalent of continuity. For the magazine option you must present a clear house style; it is a mark-bearing requirement and it appears on the peer-feedback form.

Story before shooting

Even for a two-minute product, do some basic work on story along with genre. You should be able to explain what sort of film this is; who the main character is; what the central conflict is likely to be; and the questions or enigmas the opening creates — that is, what information is given, what is withheld, and what clues are provided.

Build order for storyboarding: plan the narrative, then the mise en scène / generic conventions, then the camera shots, sound, movement and finally the transitions.

A useful planning tool is a table with rows for Elements / Symbolic codes / Technical codes / Genre / Mise-en-scène / Transition against each sequence. It helps you avoid a narrative approach and engage with the media strategies required at this level.

The research-to-production rule

“The production plan should draw on the research stage and should evidence decision-making based on media techniques, codes and conventions that have been identified.”

Creative choices should be based on research, and evidenced and justified in the blog. If you challenge conventions, you must justify and document it in both your blog and your creative critical reflection work.

Every production decision should be traceable to something researched. This is what criterion 4 of the mark scheme rewards.

Peer review

There is a six-prompt feedback form for screening drafts, including “What might stop this product being viewed as a professional product for publication?” and “If you were to re-edit this product what would your top three priorities be?”

Reserve time for the re-edit: two or three hours should let you re-film a sequence after feedback and complete a reasonable level of editing before submitting. This is advisory, but losing the re-edit window costs marks in criteria 2 and 3.

Two rules that constrain the room

  • Acting is not assessed. Because acting is not a skill assessed in media studies, your group may use people from outside the group to appear in productions in photos, video or audio. Your ability to direct actors is part of the assessment. You may cast anyone; you are marked on direction, not performance.
  • Teachers do not design the product. A teacher will not offer suggestions for production, but may recommend relevant materials to support your critical engagement. The line is: recommend sources, never solutions.

Originality

For C1: all images and text original; sound “predominantly original”; music from an acknowledged source is permitted. For C3: images and video should be original material only; sound should be predominantly original.

There is no specified format, placement or credit rule for how music must be acknowledged.

Generative AI: Cambridge International has a policy on the use of generative AI by candidates in coursework. The inappropriate use of AI should be treated as a form of plagiarism. Under the 2028–30 spec AI images become permitted with documented prompts and justification — see Media Studies.