Skills for Life: Digital Film and Media
Digital film and media is a Skills for Life unit in which learners plan, shoot and edit a short film of their own, from a simple image sequence with a text title at Entry 1 to a researched, storyboarded film of three to four minutes at Level 2. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma, achieved at one level from Entry 1 to Level 2. Assessment is internal. Digital demand is high: every level requires learners to take their own images or footage and make a film with editing software, adding titles, audio and effects, and to keep a process log of planning and production.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- High
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: demonstrate digital media skills and techniques to make a short film on a topic set by the teacher, from 8 to 10 of the learner's own images at Entry 1 to 18 to 20 images with a storyline, audio track and effects at Entry 3, with a simple process log. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, with Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: develop digital media skills and techniques (and at Level 2 digital media conventions) to produce a short film on a chosen subject, one to two minutes from a storyboard or shot list at Level 1, and three to four minutes with more than 10 of the learner's own shots, researched and planned, at Level 2, with a process log. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, with Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Digital rights, licensing and ownership
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Using only original footage and acknowledging sources
All shots and images must be taken by the learner, and learners must certify the work is their own and reference any sources and AI they use. This applies at every level and is a condition of the evidence.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils discuss why they cannot use other people's photographs in their own project without permission and list where they could take their own instead.
- Year 8
- Pupils find a royalty free music track for their film and record the title, creator and licence in a credits list.
- Year 9
- Pupils add end credits to their film that name the music source and any AI tool they used, and explain why this matters for creators.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 6, Essential information for assessment decisions, page 36; Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 37
“The film should consist of more than 10 shots, all of which must have been taken by the learner”
Progression step 3
I can understand that copying the work of others and presenting it as my own is plagiarism.
I can cite sources when researching and explain the importance of this, e.g. create simple lists for the referencing of digital and offline sources.
Progression step 4
I can act responsibly as creator and user of creative work, e.g. exploring decisions that creators make when exercising their creative rights and responsibilities, giving consideration to ethical, real-life issues.
Good to know
- The unit is "Unit SfL 6: Digital film and media" with 20 guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5).
- A unit counts once: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Assessment of units, page 9).
- All footage must be the learner's own: at Level 2 the film needs more than 10 shots, "all of which must have been taken by the learner" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 36).
- Software is flexible: Entry levels use "easy-to-use software", and at Level 2 "Any software which is appropriate to the experience of the learners can be used" (Essential information, pages 35 and 36). Centres need cameras or devices and editing software, though "No resources are explicitly prohibited" (page 37).
- Effects are not needed at every level: at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Level 1 "Audio-visual effects may be used but are not essential for assessment purposes" or similar, while Entry 3 requires some effects (Essential information, page 35).
- Teachers set the topic at Entry levels; at Level 1 and Level 2 learners choose their own subject (Assessment criteria, page 34).
- AI may be used only if acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (page 37).
- The unit page says cross-cutting theme evidence is "mapped and can be found in Annexe E" (page 37), but Annexe E has no row for SfL 6, jumping from SfL 5 to SfL 18 (Annexe E, page 172).
Links with other qualifications
Digital film and media links most closely with GCSE Digital Media and Film, which goes much further into media analysis and production, and with the WJEC VCSE and Foundation in Creative and Media Production, and Technology. Planning and editing also connect with GCSE Digital Technology, and the creative aim with GCSE Art and Design and GCSE Drama. The WJEC Digital film and media unit is also 20 hours but has four learning outcomes, including analysing how media products communicate messages and evaluating the finished product with feedback; the Pearson unit has one criterion per level focused on making a film to set image counts or running times, with a process log and no separate media analysis or evaluation outcome.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications Specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 6: Digital film and media.