My media coursework came to over 10,000 words. My advice would be to back everything you say up with a quote and an analysis, but don't count the quotes in the word count. Quoting lots of stuff in an essay then coming really close to the word count just looks like you're trying to pad it out too much. If you've put something simply in a few words, you could try to re-write it with more complexity if you want to make the point clearer.
Thars your problem. Never go under or over the word count req (ie, if it's minimum, never go under. if it's maximum, never go over). You get fucked in the ass.