Evaluating Your Practical Media Production Piece

Evaluation is a very important part of your practical work in Media Studies. It should be an ongoing part of your production process, and not just some quick thoughts scribbled down at the end. Don't be afraid to make both positive and negative comments about your project as a whole. Highlight elements you're pleased with as well as commenting on aspects that didn't turn out so well. An honest, thoughtful evaluation is essential for a top grade.

Research is Vital

In your written evaluation, you have to demonstrate an understanding of the process you have undertaken and how that compares to real industry practice, whatever your production may be. This is where good planning and research during your pre-production phase is invaluable – how much do you know about how the professionals do it? If you've studied industry practice, and can make references to real media productions (use plenty of examples!), you'll be able to show that you have a good understanding of the media form you were producing. Your initial research will also help prove that you had a definite target audience in mind throughout the process.

Be Critical

You need to critically examine your finished work, be aware of where improvements could be made, and suggest ways you would do it differently next time. How have you learned from your mistakes? What do now you know about the technological tools you used that will change the way you work in the future?

You should state your original aims (did you achieve them? If not, why not?) and briefly describe the process you underwent (explaining the creative decisions you made and the problems you encountered) when establishing those aims.

Your evaluation should also include careful consideration of the following:

1. Audience

• Who is the preferred audience for your media text?
• How did you address them?
• What specific features of the text are designed to appeal to your preferred audience?
• Comment on how your audience will react to your finished production (entertained? informed?). Use audience theories in your explanation.
• Does your production include a 'call to action' (e.g. you want your audience to buy a product, or adopt new lifestyle habits)? How effective do you think it is?
• How will your production be distributed to your audience? How will you get their attention?

2. Context

• Have you followed the conventions of of the named publication or programme where your production will finally appear?
• Who did you represent? Why did you pick them (age, ethnicity, body type etc)? How did you represent them? How do your representations compare to others within this genre?
• Did you challenge or conform to stereotypes? Why?
• How might your article or video be promoted to your target audience? Is it something that can be teased on social media?
• How could you measure its success (e.g. YouTube views, Facebook 'Likes', Tweets, hits, copies sold or downloaded etc)?

3. Content

• Use media language to formally evaluate what you did - use technical terms to describe your camera work, page layout etc.
• Refer to specific details within your finished text to support your statements e.g. "In the birds-eye shot where...", "Underneath the masthead..."
• Discuss the denotation and connotation of the creative choices you made e.g. a specific typeface or costume color.
• Make concrete suggestions for revision

Make sure you know how many words your evaluation should be, and stick to the limits. Throughout, your language should be formal and use specific media terminology. Use the glossaries elsewhere on this site to help you.

• Key Terms Glossary
• Advertising Terms Glossary
• News Terminology Glossary

And, finally, as with any piece of work, PROOF READ every sentence carefully before you turn it in!