Exemplar candidate work -- Introduction
OCR has produced these simulated candidate style answers to support teachers in interpreting the assessment criteria
for the new Creative iMedia specifications and to bridge the gap between new specification release and availability of
exemplar candidate work.
This content has been produced by senior OCR examiners, with the input of Chairs of Examiners, to illustrate how the
sample assessment questions might be answered and provide some commentary on what factors contribute to an overall
pass. The candidate style answers are not written in a way that is intended to replicate student work but to demonstrate
what a “good” or “excellent” response might include, supported by examiner commentary and conclusions.
As these responses have not been through full moderation and do not replicate student work, they have not been graded
and are instead, banded “good” or “excellent” to give an indication of the level of each response.
Please note that this resource is provided for advice and guidance only and does not in any way constitute an indication
of the pass/fail boundary or endorsed answers.
Learning outcome and related
assessment criteria
Comments
1 Exploration
Good (covers key points but little detail)
2 Planning
Good
3 Creating the final work
Excellent
4 Review/evaluation
Good
Digital media skills for asset production
Exploration of digital media (Task 1)
Assessment Criteria
 Investigate a range of uses and sectors in which digital
media is used
 Research target platforms and methods of
broadcasting/distribution
 Investigate the capabilities/limitations of software
applications for editing and repurposing digital media files
 Identify the properties/limitations of file formats for audio
 Identify the properties/limitations of file formats for still
images
 Identify the properties/limitations of file formats for moving
images
 Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a range of
compressed file formats
Uses and sectors for digital media
Sectors – media is used in:
 Radio (audio products only)
 Television (any format)
 Press/Journalism (any format)
 Print/publishing (still images only)
 Computer games (any format)
Uses of media
 Advertisements (a big market always needed more)
 Entertainment
 Providing information
 Websites (constantly being developed and
enhanced)
Target platforms for distribution
These include personal and business use
 Personal computer
 Mobile telephone
 MP3/MP4 player
 iPad, Kindle and other book readers
 Radio (broadcast, Dab and internet)
 Television
 PDA
Methods of distribution
Digital broadcast (radio/television)
 Website use and web downloads
 Email
 Social networking eg facebook
 CD/DVD
 iTunes
 YouTube

Print distribution
For example - newspapers, magazines
 Digital media can be used in the
production of the print product (but only
still images, not sound or video)
 This means that the original
photographs for example, might need to
be modified or repurposed for different
uses and applications
Capabilities of audio software
Software application
Characteristics and
Capabilities
Limitations
Audacity
Basic audio track editing A bit clunky when
Mono/stereo
combining multiple
Free download
tracks
Soundbooth
Basic sound editing,
easy to use with user
friendly interface
Not many advanced
editing tools for multiple
track authoring
Garageband
Easy to use, lots of built
in libraries and effects
Apple Mac only
Capabilities of image software
Software application
Characteristics and
Capabilities
Limitations
Photoshop
Professional level image None in CS versions
editing software,
advanced tools and
multiple layers for
creative graphics
Fireworks
Originally Macromedia
image editing
application, now Adobe.
Aimed at web and
animation graphics work
More focussed on web
and animation use than
Photoshop
iPhoto
Basic image editing and
exporting in different
formats
Apple Mac only.
Limited tools and
techniques available
Capabilities of video software
Software application
Characteristics and
Capabilities
Limitations
Movie Maker
Basic audio and video
editing
PC only
Few advanced tools and
effects
Premiere Elements
Wider range of tools
than Movie Maker. Easy
to use and less complex
than Premiere Pro
Aimed at home users,
not as powerful as
Premiere Pro
iMovie
Good range of tools and
effects
Apple Mac only
Properties/limitations audio
formats
File format
Characteristics and
Properties
Compressed?
MP3
Popular, widely used
format for distributing
music on portable
players
Yes
Wav
Large files without loss
of quality
No
Ogg Vorbis
Similar to MP3 but
slightly better
performance. Not widely
supported
Yes
Properties/limitations of image
formats
File format
Characteristics and Properties
Compressed?
Tiff
High quality format for print and
archiving
No
Jpeg
Commonly used and supported by all
devices, software and web
Yes
PSD
Proprietary format for Adobe software
applications
No
PNG
Alternative to jpg for web use
Yes
GIF
Limited colours, commonly used for
web
Yes
BMP
Bitmap format developed by Microsoft
No
Properties/limitations video
formats
File format
Characteristics and
Properties
Compressed Y/N?
Limitations?
WMV
Windows media video
format for playback on
computer
Yes
File size and playback
Mpeg-1, Mpeg-2
Mpeg-4
Compressed format for
distribution of good
quality/small file size
video
Yes
Picture quality limitation
with high compression
Mov
Apple QuickTime movie
format
Yes
Requires QuickTime
FLV
Flash video for any
moving image product
including animation
Yes
Playback support
needed
Compressed/uncompressed file
formats
Uncompressed file formats contain the
full quality of the original work. They are
much bigger file sizes and best used for
archiving and storage as the masters
 Compressed file formats discard some
information so the quality is not as good.
The benefit is that file sizes are smaller
so better for distribution and storage on
target platforms

Planning (Task 2)
Assessment Criteria
 Identify client requirements based on their brief to include
the target audience
 Identify appropriate equipment and software for audio, still
image and moving image asset editing
 Identify appropriate file types and
compressed/uncompressed formats for audio, still image
and moving image assets in line with the brief
 Produce a work plan for the repurposing of an audio, still
image and moving image files; to include,
 workflow
 timescales
 resources needed

Identify any legal issues for all assets to be used, whether
sourced or created.
Client requirements
I have been supplied with three files (audio,
still image and moving image). These are
taken from the archive library and must be
repurposed for a different platform.
 The audio file must be trimmed to 6
seconds and converted to a mp3 file
 The still image must be converted from
TIFF to Jpeg at 600 pixels wide
 The moving image file must be trimmed to
10 seconds and converted from avi to wmv

Identify appropriate equipment
I will use a computer with the following
software applications:
 Audacity – for editing the audio file
 Photoshop – for editing the still image
 Movie Maker – for editing the moving
image file
I am using these because each application
is dedicated to each type of digital
media file
Identify appropriate file types and
formats
Original file
Output file
Properties
Audio:
Wav file format 15
seconds
Mp3 file format
Trimmed to 6 seconds
Still image:
Tiff file 3000x4000
pixels
Jpg file
600 pixels wide at
72dpi for web use
Moving image:
Avi file 15 seconds
Wmv file
Trimmed to 10
seconds
Work plan
Activity
Duration
When?
Where?
Resources?
Load digital media
assets
15 mins
Wednesday
Edit
suite
Computer
Edit and export
audio file
20 mins
Wednesday
Edit
suite
Computer &
Audacity
Edit and save still
image
20 mins
Thursday
Edit
suite
Computer &
Photoshop
Edit and export
moving image
30 mins
Thursday
Edit
suite
Computer &
Movie Maker
Check/test final
work
30 mins
Friday
Edit
suite
Computer
Supply and review
with client
15 mins
Friday
Office
Memory stick
with files
Workflow - audio
Open Audacity software
 Import audio file
 Listen to audio track
 Identify part of file to cut out
 Trim to required length
 Check length
 Export as mp3

Workflow – still image
Open Photoshop
 Import image file
 Check properties (pixel dimensions and
dpi resolution)
 Use crop tool to change pixel
dimensions and dpi
 Check new properties
 Save as jpeg

Workflow – moving image
Open Movie Maker
 Create new project & import video file
 Watch/listen to video clip
 Identify part of file to cut out
 Split the clip and delete unwanted parts
 Check length on timeline, render and
preview/playback
 Publish as wmv file

Legal and ethical issues
The files were supplied by the client who
will deal with any copyright issues
 I will check to make sure that the content of
each file supplied does not break any laws
eg violence, dangerous driving etc.
 I will also review each file to see if there will
be any ethical issues such as
discrimination, the environment or anything
that is immoral
 If so I will discuss this with the client before
starting my work

Edit and test media files (Task 3)
Assessment Criteria
 Use identified software applications to edit,
repurpose and save files in planned formats to meet
client requirements from a supplied
 audio file
 still image file
 moving image file




Save and export the files in line with the plan
Create a list to include file names, types and
properties of edited files
Develop and use a basic test plan to test the files
Correct any identified faults and apply improvement
based on the test plan
Edit and repurpose audio file
Audio file trimmed to 6 secs
Edit and repurpose still image
Cropped to 600 x 400px
Edit and repurpose moving image
file
Trimmed to 10 seconds
Save and export
Files exported and their
properties
Original file
Output filename
Properties
Audio:
Wav file format 15
seconds
Audio.mp3
MP3 file
Trimmed to 6 seconds
Still image:
Tiff file 2000x3000
pixels
Moon eclipse.jpg
Jpeg file
600 x 400 px at 72dpi
for web use
Moving image:
Avi file 16 seconds
Woodpecker video.wmv
Wmv file
Trimmed to 10
seconds
Test plans
Test/check
Pass/Fail
Result
Audio file duration
6 seconds +/- 0.5s
6.0 seconds 
Audio file format
Must be mp3

Audio file playback
Playback in media
player

Still image size
600 x 400px
 600 x 400px
Still image resolution
72dpi
 Suitable for web
Still image file format
Must be jpeg file

Video duration
10 seconds +/-0.5s
 10.0 seconds
Video format
Must be wmv file

Video playback
Playback in media
player
 See screenshot
Checking still image size
Testing video playback
Correcting faults and making
improvements

I did not find any faults as part of the
testing although I did notice the image
file was cropped wrong at first. This is
because I cropped it to 600 x 400pixels
but still at 300dpi. I corrected this to
72dpi before saving the jpeg file
Review (Task 4)
Assessment Criteria
 Critically review the finished products with the
client and record feedback
 Describe the quality of the finished products
 Explain the fitness for purpose of the finished
products
 Identify parameters and constraints that
influenced decisions made
 Produce accurate written records of relevant
information about assets obtained such as
source ownership, any restrictions on use
where they are located, filenames given
Critically review the finished
product with the client
Each file meets the client requirements
as shown in the testing
 The audio file volume is good and can
be heard clearly
 The still image is a little bit blurry but
that is not my problem. The client knows
this but doesn’t have a better picture
 The video shows the bird clearly but
more footage would be useful

What areas would you improve
and why?
The audio file volume level could be
adjusted – it is not quite loud enough
and needs more gain applied
 The still image needs sharpening to
remove some of the blurriness
 The video would benefit from changes to
the audio track – maybe remove what is
there and replace with a natural sound
or some music

Why is your finished product fit
for the purpose you created it for
Because the properties and file format of
each file exactly match what was asked
for.
 The sound file is 6.00 seconds and the
video is 10.00 seconds
 The still image is saved at 72dpi so it is
suitable for use on the client website

Parameters and constraints that
influenced decisions
Limited choice of video editing software.
I was going to use Premiere Elements
but it kept crashing. So I used Movie
Maker instead.
 Originally I didn’t have the lame decoder
plug in for Audacity. This was installed
by somebody else so that I could export
it as mp3 format. This meant that it took
a bit longer to do.

Assets used
The client supplied me with the original
files and informed me that there are no
restrictions on their use
 The copyright for each file is held by my
client
