Project Stages - Are you on the right track for a level 4?

Use the list below to help you see whereabouts you are on your way to a successful Advanced Portfolio.

Stage 1: Individual research tasks, including
- research for potential tracks and comments ... Final choice +reasons
- research into similar products (artists and record labels, album covers, artists websites, music videos)
- exploration and analysis of the forms and conventions of similar products
- target audience research

Stage 2: Group or Individual research and planning - the focus by this stage should be specifically on the choices you are making with your track including:
- the style of artist you are intending to work with
- the type of music video and other materials you are planning to produce
- the genre of music you are intending to work with
- the audience you are planning to target (demographics, tastes and habits, pleasures, other music/media consumption etc). Think about all the ways to conduct Audience Research discussed in class (and remember it is usually an area of weakness for many students)
- the actual track you have selected - genre, tempo etc...
- your ideas for branding your artist or band
- your ideas for mise-en-scene, location, special fx, costume, actors etc

Stage 3: Group or Individual Pre-production - your plans and ideas must be firmed up. - - Pitch
- Treatment, storyboards, photographs, shot list, a shoot schedule, emails sent / received etc.
- Search for locations and recce shots
- Test shots and comments
- ideas dor costumes, props etc and pictures of all this.
- list of (who? what? where?)
And anything else to lead to a smooth shoot. Take pictures along the way (kind of behind the scene...)

Stage 4: Group Production/post-production:
- shoot and edit music video,
- shoot publicity stills, (make sure you do a photo shoot of the artist / band on the day of the shoot; you might need it for the album cover or the website)
- design album cover,
- designadvert/website

Stage 5: Individual Follow-up work.
- Audience feedback at several stages, including after pitch
- Evaluation activities.

Note that some of your evaluation answers can be posted at any time during the project. You can add to your responses as you go along (alonside other stages) which could be a much more effective way of tackling your evaluation than leaving it until the end of the project. Particularly look at Audience Research and Audience Feedback.

Your Assessment booklet contains all the evaluation tasks as well as examples.