Creating Media Content: SQA Higher Media assignment overview

Creating Media Content is the coursework component of SQA Higher Media: the assignment. Where the question papers ask you to analyse and discuss media, the assignment asks you to make it. You plan and produce your own media content in response to a negotiated brief, applying the key aspects of media literacy you have studied. This page is the index for the module; the dot point covers the assignment in depth.

What the assignment requires

The assignment is assessed in two sections and submitted to the SQA for external marking:

• Section 1: Planning (20 marks). Research the relevant key aspects and plan your content with deliberate, justified decisions tied to the brief.
• Section 2: Development (30 marks). Produce the content, applying the key aspects with control so it is fit for its purpose and target audience.

Together these reward the practical application of everything the course teaches about how media texts create meaning.

The negotiated brief

The assignment starts from a brief negotiated with your teacher. It sets the type of content (print, audio, moving image or online), its purpose and its target audience. Research, planning and production are all judged against the brief, so a clear, well-understood brief is the foundation of a strong assignment.

The key aspects in reverse

The assignment applies the same key aspects you use to analyse texts, but in the other direction. Instead of explaining how an existing text creates meaning, you make content that creates meaning for a defined audience and purpose:

• Categories. Use the conventions of your genre appropriately.
• Language. Apply technical and symbolic codes with control.
• Representation. Construct representations deliberately.
• Audience. Address your target audience effectively.
• Institution and society. Reflect how comparable content is produced and what it means in context.

How to study this module

1. Understand the brief fully. Keep its purpose and audience in view at every step.
2. Research with the key aspects. Investigate the conventions, codes and audience practices relevant to your content.
3. Plan with justified decisions. Tie every planning choice to the brief and the key aspects.
4. Produce with control. Apply the codes purposefully in the finished content.
5. Use SQA exemplars. The Understanding Standards materials show the standard expected.

For the official course specification

The SQA publishes the full Higher Media course specification, the coursework assessment task, and exemplar materials at sqa.org.uk. Always work from the current specification and assessment task.