10 ways to improve your Mark1. Keep it simple!

We are interested in quality so don’t over complicate your project with lots of time consuming shots/special effects etc without seeking advice during planning to find out if you are being realistic for the time scale you have to work in.

2. Plan, plan, plan first! The key to any successful project is to make sure you are organised and that all your bases are covered. How organised are you?

Does everyone in the group know what’s going on? Do people have roles and responsibilities? (document this in Minutes of

Meetings) Is your paperwork detailed enough so that if you are not there that

everyone will understand what needs to be done? Does everyone have access to the paperwork so that if you are not there

the work doesn’t grind to a halt? Is there someone making sure you stay on track with your project time-

wise, plot etc?

3. Fill in your booklets and paperwork completely- your answers should reflect your knowledge on the subject. Show us you know what you’re talking about!

4. Make sure your work is in the correct order- Be logical, research should be together, primary and then secondary etc.

5. Use the templates provided! Scripts & Shooting Scripts-they should all follow the template. Storyboards-fill them in completely!

6. Use the Shooting Log- it’ll help when you are logging footage and with your EDL

7. When creating graphs from your research- include how many people you surveyed in your information and percentages with your graphs.

8. Annotate all secondary research- Was it useful to you? How?

9. When writing evaluations don’t just tell us what you did- tell us why you made you made your decisions, how you fixed problems or how you will avoid them next time around. Be critical of your work.

E.G. If something went well, tell us why, was it because you planned well? Understood how to pull off a complicated camera move? Did your research help you with it? Tell us.

If something when wrong, why did it go wrong? What did you do to correct it, if you couldn’t then say so but then next time how will you make sure it doesn’t happen in your next project.

10. Check the marking grid in your brief while working on your project and critically analyse your work- does it meet the criteria for a Pass/ Merit/ Distinction?

Finally, do not hesitate to ask for help if you need it. We are here to help you BUT try to be aware of your issues and ask within a reasonable time. It is very hard to help a day before the deadline if you need to edit an entire project and don’t know what footage you have or in what sequence it needs to be in!