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KS4 Art and Design: Photography

Please click on the links below to find out more about each unit.

Year Long Term Objective: To embed skills learnt in KS3 art and develop more technical experitise using a variety of techniques and media. This will enable students to create indepepdent, personalised sketchbook journeys resulting in unique artistic outcomes.
Year Autumn 1 Autumn 2 Spring 1  Spring 2 Summer 1 Summer 2
Medium Term Objective: To provide students with a variety of photographic art skills to enable them to find their strengths and develop personalised ideas.
10
Foundation Skills – Photography basics
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade
Extended coursework sketchbook project
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade
Extended coursework sketchbook project
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade
Medium Term Objective: To create personalised and unique photographic work that shows an ability to reflect and refine upon progress whilst undertaking the artistic journey.
11

Extended coursework sketchbook project
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade
Externally set assignment (ESA) – Digital sketchbook journey 10-12 weeks
Component 2: ESA 40% of grade
Externally set assignemnt (ESA) – 10 hour examination piece
Component 2: ESA 40% of grade

Foundation Skills - Photography basics
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade

Overview

An introductory project to learn new photography, editing and computer skills.

Work will focus on learning about aperture, shutter speed, iso and exposure through the DSLR cameras. Pupils will also learn how to use the Apple Macs, present work on Google Slides, basic photoshop editing and how to write and reflect upon their own work and that of inspirational photographer/artists.

Cultural Capital: Arts, learning through the artwork of others, life skills (computing)

UN Rights of the Child:
29. Aims of Education
31. Rest, play, culture, arts

Example Key Words

Aperture

A space through which light passes in an optical or photographic instrument, especially the variable opening by which light enters a camera.

Shutter speed

In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time. 1?500 of a second will let half as much light in as 1?250.

Exposure

In photography, exposure is the amount of light which reaches your camera sensor or film. It is a crucial part of how bright or dark your pictures appear.

There are only two camera settings that affect the actual “luminous exposure” of an image: shutter speed and aperture. The third setting, camera ISO, also affects the brightness of your photos, and it is equally important to understand. Also, you can brighten or darken a photo by editing it in post-processing software like Photoshop on your computer.

ISO

ISO is your camera’s sensitivity to light as it pertains to either film or a digital sensor. A lower ISO value means less sensitivity to light, while a higher ISO means more sensitivity.

Focus

In photography, focus is the sharpest area of the image. It is the area where the lens works to highlight an object, a person, or a situation. Focus is one of the pillars of photography, along with ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

You can either use automatic or manual focus. In automatic mode, the camera adjusts the focus in response to incoming light so that the subject appears sharpest. In manual mode, the photographer has to turn the lens’ focus wheel until the desired part of the image is in focus.

Reflect

When you reflect on something, you think deeply about it. In terms of art, written and verbal reflections encourage pupils to explore their own ideas about their artwork. It enables them to express their own opinion rather than summarise the opinions of others.

Extended coursework sketchbook project
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade

Overview

An extended digital sketchbook project covering the Photography Assessment Objectives leading to a final outcome/outcomes. Examples of recent starting point themes are Distortion, Fragments and Light and Dark. The work is intially teacher led where all the class investigate the same artists/photographers/skills, but it transitions to personal choice to enable students to work independently.

Cultural Capital: Arts, learning through the artwork of others, life skills (computing, opportunity to construct work around a theme of the pupil’s choice (news, culture, society, surroundings etc).

UN Rights of the Child:
29. Aims of Education
31. Rest, play, culture, arts

Example Key Words

Assessment Objective 1

Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources.

Assessment Objective 2

Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes.

Assessment Objective 3

Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses.

Assessment Objective 4

Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language.

Extended coursework sketchbook project
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade

Overview

Continuation of spring term’s work:

An extended digital sketchbook project covering the Photography Assessment Objectives leading to a final outcome/outcomes. Examples of recent starting point themes are Distortion, Fragments and Light and Dark. The work is intially teacher led where all the class investigate the same artists/photographers/skills, but it transitions to personal choice to enable students to work independently.

Cultural Capital: Arts, learning through the artwork of others, life skills (computing, opportunity to construct work around a theme of the pupil’s choice (news, culture, society, surroundings etc).

UN Rights of the Child:
29. Aims of Education
31. Rest, play, culture, arts

Example Key Words

Assessment Objective 1

Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources.

Assessment Objective 2

Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes.

Assessment Objective 3

Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses.

Assessment Objective 4

Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language.

Extended coursework sketchbook project
Component 1: Portfolio 60% of grade

Overview

An extended digital sketchbook project covering the Photography Assessment Objectives leading to a final outcome/outcomes. Pupil’s get their own choice of starting point based on previous Photography ESA papers.

Cultural Capital: Arts, learning through the artwork of others, life skills (computing, opportunity to construct work around a theme of the pupil’s choice (news, culture, society, surroundings etc).

UN Rights of the Child:
29. Aims of Education
31. Rest, play, culture, arts

Example Key Words

Externally set assignment (ESA) - Digital sketchbook journey 10-12 weeks
Component 2: ESA 40% of grade

Overview

Pupils will receive an externally set question paper from AQA at the beginning of January. It will list possible starting points to inspire their individual projects. The rest of the term is used to complete sketchbook preparation, covering AQA Art & Design’s assessment objectives in a similar way to their previous coursework projects.

All preliminary written work, photoshoots, edits, physical outcomes etc., will be presented for examination with the completed ‘examination piece’, which is likely to be a series of related images, or some constructed digitally edited scenes. Each pupil will decide on the type of response they wish to make from the choice of starting points/stimuli.

Cultural Capital: Arts, learning through the artwork of others, life skills (drawing)

UN Rights of the Child:
29. Aims of Education
31. Rest, play, culture, arts

Example Key Words

NEA

Non exam assessment

Starting point

A theme or stimulus to base initial ideas around. Starting points are generally mindmapped and visually researched before pupils start creating work in response.

Externally set assignemnt (ESA) - 10 hour examination piece
Component 2: ESA 40% of grade

Overview

A final examination piece will be made in conclusion to the previous term’s preliminary work. This will be undertaken in controlled conditions, in the art department, with a teacher and invigilator present.

The previous term’s work will lead to this point and pupils would have already designed and trialled what they make during the 10 hours if lesson time and independent learning has been appropriately used.

Example Key Words

Controlled assessment

A controlled assessment is a major piece of work completed at school as part of a GCSE course. Controlled assessment measures subject specific skills that may not necessarily be tested by external assessment. All students must sign a declaration to confirm that the work submitted is their own.

Work is undertaken in silence and the pupil cannot seek advice from staff or students on the work.

Moderation

Both the Portfolio of work and ESA are marked by teachers in the art department. The work is the ‘moderated’ by a visitor from AQA who checks if they agree with the allocated marks.