Planning: Reflection on moderators report

• General Overview

1. The strongest work had clearly been supported by focused research, detailed planning, attention to detail and a strong, sustained central concept based solidly on the requirements and details of the brief.
2. Candidates who do not seem to have practiced using the technology earlier in the course were significantly disadvantaged.
3. Candidates should not use images or text created or written by others in order to bulk out their own work.
4.  Where the convergence was well-considered it was effective e.g. logos, colours,  themes, etc across products . As well as promoting one product across the other form e.g. ‘call to action’ to direct  viewers to content on the website.
5. Websites were very effective in their use of cross media links e.g. featuring the front page of the current edition, embedding the video, radio show and highlighting specific content in the partner product. There was also consideration of how to interact with the target audience e.g.  contact forms, subscriptions, exclusive offers, social media feeds , etc. 
6. Generally the linked pages tended to be less successful than homepages, often lacking technical sophistication and, in many cases, lacking in content or being divorced from the larger project. 

• Statement of Intents

1. Many statements were unbalanced, with a great deal of detail about the offline product but very little about the online.
2. The weakest statements tended to repeat the brief without explaining how the requirements and production details were to be achieved while others had clearly been based on a centre-devised model.

• TV

1. There was usually a lack of awareness of appropriate mise-en-scene, framing and composition; most of the weakest productions were in a school setting. 
2.  Using a running banner at the bottom of the screen, with web address, Twitter and Instagram details , etc., was an effective way of demonstrating understanding of digital convergence.
3. Well-rehearsed performances were key to the successful outcomes so casting is clearly something important to consider.
4.  Controlled camerawork and lighting, animated title sequences, strong editing of both visuals and sound.

• Magazines

1. Lack of reference to the website, or failure to draw attention to this either on the cover or the contents page. 
2.  Magazines where the front cover image was either a medium close up or a close up of a model’s face and so had no focus on fashion.
3. Failure to place the models in different settings on the cover, even when the backgrounds had been Photoshopped, or in inappropriate settings: mise-en-scene too often featured school fields, classrooms, uniform.