Careers Handbook

Task 1:

     " I’m good at working in groups"                                               

1. Perform in shows with casts of 50 people

2. I have created many media pieces in small groups

3. I can pitch ideas to groups in lessons

"I’m creative"                                               

 1. I have a portfolio of work I have done

 2. I’m a self taught artist

 3. I’ve taken many creativity based courses

" I’m proficient at using ICT"                                              

   1. I’m good with programs such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop

 2. I’m confident working on different devices

 3. I run several social media accounts for small businesses

Task 2:

I am currently studying A Level English Literature and BTEC level 3 Film and TV at Sixth Form. To get into my chosen college I would need 240 UCAS points, which is equivalent to C/B and Merit grades. I do not currently have a full time job but have worked Part-Time as a party entertainer and Photographer.

Task 3: 

  

1.      Costume Design- Freelance, but could be possibly permanent if it’s with a particular company. Would involve pitching ideas and researching heavily, creating mock ups and designs and assisting with creating the pieces. Experience needed depends on the scale of production.

2.      Storyboard Artist- Would involve looking at the script and working out how scenes would looks on screen, would probably need a form of creative degree. Likely a member of staff if it’s for one company or show.

3.      Theatre Design- Involves measuring out stages and areas to see what will fit, working out what backdrops or props are needed and how they should. Would probably need a degree in Design and would work freelance. 

Task 4:

·         National Press* National Press refers to Newspapers that cover a large range of topics, but are sold in a particular area. They would likely include job adverts with companies advertising themselves.

     

·         Trade Press* Trade Press refers to newspapers or magazines that cover a particular area or field. For example, art magazines. These will likely have people advertsing their recruitment.

·         Internet* (for recruitment) Many companies have their own websites and social media accounts and may often post about upcoming recruitments there, websites may also have a way for people to apply.

·         Trade Fairs* Trade fairs are exhibitions created so that companies can show of their latest products. It is possible for people to get more information about the companies they want to apply for.

·          

·         Word of Mouth: This just refers to anything spoken. It can be that you heard about a job opportunity from someone or if you mention that you’re searching and somebody happens to know of a place.

·         Personal Contacts & Networking: If you know someone that works for a company, it’s possible that they would be able to get you an interview by recommending you to people higher up.  You’d also likely hear about job opportunities if you’re connected to people in your trade.

·         Internal Promotion: If you work a smaller job, such as an intern or runner, it’s possible for you to be promoted to a higher position if your employees believe you’re capable of doing it or if they 

need extra people working on something.

Task 5:

Xene Morrison

Xenemorrison@gmail.com

Key Skills

---

·         Proficiency in all areas of Microsoft Office, including Access, Excel, Word and PowerPoint

·         Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

·         Large amount of experience working in groups

Employment History

---

Party Entertainer, Just Kids Parties

(April 2014 –2016)

Achievements and responsibilities:

Planning transport and Travel to locations

Organising Payment and Bank accounts

Working in partners to run a party

Education

---

Benjamin Britten High School

 (September 2012 – June 2014)

GCSE

·         English – B

·         Mathematics – C

East Norfolk

 (September 2014 – June 2016)

A Level in English Literature, Btec in Film and TV

Hobbies & Interests

---

I am involved in several amateur Dramatics groups where I both perform onstage and work offstage, which has allowed me to become very confident working with other people.

References

---

References are available upon request.

Task 6: 

·         Portfolio/e-portfolio:  A portfolio is a collection of all the work you’ve made that is relevant to what you’re applying for. For example, if you want to apply for work in the art industry it would likely contain drawings or photos of sculptures. I have used portfolios in applications to universities. An E-Portfolio is similar, but it is online which is better for work such as videos.

·         Showreel: A showreel is a short video of the applicants work. This is usually for people applying for acting roles, as they can broadcast their previous acting jobs.

·         Personal website: If you create a personal website it’s fully yours to edit, so you can upload any work on there. Also, being able to code for a website would lend you extra skills if applying to a relevant job. 

Task 7: 

 ·         Interviewing skills: Asking and answering questions well, dressing appropriately, being polite

·         Presentation skills: Appearing confident, knowing a lot about the topic, being able to answer queries,

·         Self‐presentation

o   linguistic codes: Speaking clearly, not mumbling, not being inappropriate i.e. no swearing

o   dress codes: Right level of formality, clean, shoes you can walk in,

o   interpersonal skills: Hand shakes, eye contact, good posture

References: Well organised, relevant


Task 8:

·         Training on the job & continuing professional development: Training that takes place in a working environment. It can involve first hand experience or observing other workers.

·         Self‐training: When someone teaches themselves a skill without the intervention of someone higher.

·         Sources of information

o   Trade unions: An organisation of people within a certain trade created to protect their rights.

o   Sector Skills Councils: An organisation that is employer led which helps support employees

o   Careers services: Is a service within an educational environment where people can help students and staff further their careers.

Task 9: 

Ownership and Funding

Public Service Broadcasting refers to programs that are shown simply to appeal top audiences rather than to make a profit. This can include art programs, religious broadcasts and local news. This can also refer to the BBC, as it does not make money from other companies due to it not having advertisements.

Commercial Broadcasting is the opposite of this. It is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, intended to gain profit for the company. It can also be called private broadcasting. The channel ITV falls into this category as it makes money from the companies broadcasting their shows and from the adverts shown during breaks.

Corporate ownership is when a company is owned by a larger company and Private ownership means that something is owned by an individual, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Private ownership means that the company is a lot more flexible as it does not have to fit the rules of people higher up, but it is reliant on one person. If this person is unable to run the company it is likely that it will fail, whereas Corporate owned businesses have many people in charge of different areas. An example of this is Newsworld International, which was owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Association.  The channel was purchased by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 2005 and changed it's name, therefore coming under private ownership.

Global companies market their products by using the same coordinated image/brand in all markets. There is usually one corporate office that is responsible for all production. Their focus is efficiency and management. An example of this is Disney, which makes a large range of medias and encompasses many smaller companies such as Marvel and Star Wars, yet these franchises still have Disney logos and branding on them to show they are part of the company.

Vertical Integration is when one firm combines two or more stages of production, rather than having both sections be operated by state firms. An example is Warner Brothers, which not only produces films but makes, distributes and shows them. This means that they don't have to pay other companies.

Horizontal integration is when one section of a company increases production of their service or product. This may be to due to an expansion of the company. The process can lead to a ‘monopoly’ if the company conquers a large amount of the market for the product. An example is Odeon cinemas whose key goal is to show films as it does not make or produce them. The company works to be the biggest in the area to make the most money.

Licensing Fee is when you pay money to a company in order to watch a certain channel. A channel that uses this is BBC, as they do not show advertisements for products, this is how they make money.

A subscription is when you pay a sum of money towards a company that covers a particular amount of time, so that you can immediately have media without having to pay every time. An example is Sky, you can pay for a subscription that allows you to watch hundreds of TV channels without having to rely on paying every time.

Pay per view is when you only pay for the episode you watch, this is seen in sports where someone will pay a small amount of money to watch one match without having to pay for using the channel. Boxing often uses this.

Sponsorship is when a product company pays money towards a media product in exchange for advertisement of their product. This means that the product can get publicity for adverts and the media company can gain more money to improve their work. For example, Game of Thrones is sponsored by Volvo

Advertising is a way of a company showing their products to the public. These can be clips shown in between tv shows, trailers shown before films or prints in magazines and newspapers. 

Product placement is when a product is clearly seen in a film or TV show but not explicitly talked about. This could be as simple as a character holding a can of drink. But it allows the company to show off their products while not being overly obvious. An example of this is the frequent use of Sony products in recent James Bond films.

                                  

Private Capital is money that is provided as a loan by private individuals or groups who have made investments. They are not regulated by the government.

Crowd Funding is when someone posts a prospective idea on a website such as Kickstarter or Indigogo that people can donate to. The project backers often receive rewards such as posters, based on how much they donate. The most successful Kickstarter campaign was the film 'Lazer Team' that was released earlier this year. Started on Indiegogo it was aiming to raise $650,000. In the end it gained over $2000,000, nearly 400% of their original target. this just shows how much using this platform can pay off.

Development Funds are used in an indirect sales channel. It means that funds are made available by the company ro give to affiliates and distributors to sell its products and allow for greater awareness and sales of it's products. An example of this is the UK film council which gives funding to film pitches to allow them to be made.

Understand Developing Technologies in the Television and Film Industries

Letter in response to 'Digital Video Production Producer' advertisement

To whom it may concern,
 
I'm writing to share my thoughts on the advert you recently produced for an 'apprentice digital video production producer'.  I feel that there are some issues with the way it has been presented, and that changing these issues will help to create a more ethical work placement that will then attract ore applicants. I feel that even the description of the job is far too vague, it gives no indication of what the applicant may do. You've stated that it's a 'broad role' and a 'great opportunity to grow' while listing some possible jobs yet are never explicit about which the applicant will actually be involved with. With the title of 'producer' it would appear that they would only work with production and budgets yet you expect them to do many jobs out of their implied skillset. There is also no mention of Confidentiality Clauses, which is worrying when you mention how the salary can includes 'benefits' without any indication of how much this could entail.

The Equality Act, placed in 2010, was created to ensure that everyone has fair opportunities when it comes to seeking work. However, you wish to have an applicant that is 'male/female, aged under 30, Christian' which already limits a large amount of people. You're denying many people the right to apply due to things such as age and religion, which is illegal. There are also issues with the brief given, as the applicant would not have any cover for health and safety problems as they would not be under employer's liability and would be unprotected. They also likely wouldn't be part of a trade Unions which furthers how unprotected they would be in case of an accident.

Furthermore, I feel that the brief given for the application faces issues with the representation, showing a lack of acknowledgment for a large range of people. You wish to see a video that focuses 'female victims and male offenders' which would portray all the boys in it as criminals even though their are many cases of male victims. Showing only one side perpetuates the stereotypes and wouldn't create a realistic documentary.

Also, there are many legal problems with this task. You've stated that this is to be shown 'to children at a high school' yet you want to show 're-enactments and Dramatisations'. it's very likely that showing footage of this nature would be upsetting to younger people. OFCOM broadcasting code has clear regulations about media that is shown to under 18's. OFCOM states that "Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast" so showing scenes in your campaign that may be upsetting to children is going against this. It also states that "broadcasters should also be particularly careful not to provide clues which may lead to the identification of those who are not yet adult and who are, or might be, involved as a victim, witness, defendant or other perpetrator in the case of sexual offences." so showing "teenagers and other individuals who might be/have been affected" is illegal and goes against the code.

If you're broadcasting to highschool students, they are going to be between the ages of 12-16. However, this proposed film would have to be under a 15 rating. According to the British Board of Film Classification, this is due to the use of

  portrayals of sexual activity

  strong verbal references to sex

  brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

Strong Violence

Which immediately limits your audience to anyone above 15, meaning you cannot show it to a majority of High School students.  

Finally, there is a problem with the copyright. You ask for 'a popular music soundtrack' which would imply that it needs to be something current. This however means that it is protected by copyright. To use it without permission is illegal so you would need to pay, yet you're only offering £20 for the entirety of the video production.

Overall, there are many issues with legality, ethics and employemant that need to be resolved before anyone can apply.

Yours Sincerely, Xene Morrison

The nature and purposes of research

Primary and Secondary Research

Primary and Secondary Research are the two ways of gathering information.  Primary Research is when the information doesn't yet exist, so you go out an find the information yourself. Secondary is when it already exists and you need to find the research someone else has conducted. 

Primary Research involves interviews and surveys. I did this for my animation, when I found out about what kind of animated films people liked and what they liked about them. This allowed me to create something that I knew would be well received by my target audience.

In my E Sting, I also needed to do Primary research to find out how people felt about current idents on the channel and opinions on my own idea. To do this, I created a survey that contained a link to the animation and asked questions about what the genre and style was, to make sure ours reflected the original ideas well. We also gathered information from classmates when they were shown the video and gave their opinions.Secondary Research is when the information already exists, so you go and find it from alternate sources such as the internet or magazines. 

Secondary information involves looking at pre existing information, such as sales figures or reviews. 

This was used in my Unilever advert, before creating the video I researched the company and previous advertisements that existed for the product and saw which were the most popular. I did this by looking at the amount of views and likes on the company's YouTube videos. When I worked out which were the most popular videos, I could create something that sells whilst still keeping aspects of Unilever's image. This was using elements of sports, with him being in a gym and references to popularity, with him attracting attention. This kind of imagery is seen in the videos for products such as Lynx as it specifically appeals to Teenage boys.

Quantitative and Qualitative 

 Quantitative and Qualitative research refer to what kind of information has been gathered and how it can be interpreted,   

Quantitative Research is when information is in specific categories and can be organised numerically, focusing on the quantity,  for my advert, I also needed to find out how popular TV shows were by looking at their viewing figures. This allowed me to see what kind of time I would show the advert on a channel, depending on how likely it would be for my target audience to be watching.


Qualitative research is when where information can be observed but not measured, such as reviews. For my Screenplay project I needed to come up with ideas for a plotline, so to do this I looked at news article from the last few years to see if their were any important articles that could influence ideas and characters. This is qualitative because I could look at what kinds of articles were popular, but could not split them into categories because they were all so different.




Data Gathering Agencies

Data like this is gathered through companies such as BARB and RAJAR. BARB stands for Broadcaster's Audience Research Brand. The point of this company is to find out what certain households watch on Television. The information is gathered using remotes, that are given to a specific group of designated families over a variety of target audiences. This remote links to the TV and the main point of it is to record when someone is watching, this is done by a member of the household pressing a button when they're watching what is currently playing. There are some issues to this, due to the small sample sizes and the possibility that people may forget to press the button, but it provides an average viewing amount that can then be applied to the rest of the area. RAJAR is the radio equivalent, that finds out how many people are listening, they ask people what stations they are most likely to listen to.

IMDB is a website that has information on TV shows and films, including previous viewing figures for popular episodes and reviews from critics and the general public. This is a good way to see how everyday people responded to the product 

Market Research

You also need to research specific details about products you're creating, such as how well it will appeal to an audience. When researching for my rebranding a product unit, I chose to aim mine at teenage boys. to work out the specific audience I was targeting, I create a profile using psychographic and demographic sections to apply to them. This included looking at the range of ages, class and deciding who the secondary audience would be.
When I'd decided on the full audience, I needed to see what appealed to them, so I looked at adverts that already existed and read opinions that people had given. I also created a survey for both the primary and secondary audiences that asked about them as a person, so that I could work out which group they'd fit into, and questions discussing their preferences in adverts and how likely they were to use the product.



Production Research

Production Research is the information you need to work out for filming, such as where and what will be involved and the legal issues you need to cover. 

When filming my Documentary, I needed to make sure I was allowed to film the entirety of it. So this involved collecting signed talent releases from anyone who was going to appear in the footage and location releases and recces for anywhere that I planned to film. This was to make sure that I was legally allowed to film in these places and that the people were comfortable appearing on film.

Music Video pre Production

Shotlist: Wonderland Music Video
Location: Rabbit Hole

1. Looking up towards the Rabbit (Low Angle)

2. Rabbit extending hand (Medium Shot)

3. Alice grabbing hand looking lost (Close up)

4. Alice rising to her feet (Medium shot)

5. Rabbit looking on (Close up)

6. Alice pulling out phone (shot reverse)

7. Rabbit looking at watch (Shot reverse shot)

8. Alice bringing up a photo of her friend (Medium shot)

9. Rabbit begins running (Medium shot – long shot)

10. Alice follows, dropping phone (Long shot)

11. Phone falls to the floor, showing the photo (Extreme close up)

Location: Woods

12. Quick shots of Alice Running (tracking)

13. Rabbit Lip-syncing (Close up)

14. Alice trying to catch up (tracking)

Queen’s area

15. Queen from behind (Longshot)

16. Queen’s lips (Extreme closeup)

Location: Woods

17. Alice chasing the rabbit (tracking)

Queen’s area

18. Faceless shot of the Queen (Close up)

Location: Tea Party

19. Alice against a tree (Medium Shot)

20. Looks to see the Tea Party with Hatter and the March Hare (Long shot)

21. Alice stands up (Pan)

22.Hatter and Hare share a look (shot reverse shot)

23: Alice walking to sit down, looking curiously at both of them. (Tracking)

24: Hatter offers her a cake, while lip-syncing (medium shot)

25: Alice goes to take it, but the Hatter retracts her hand at the last second. (Medium shot)

26: She looks towards the hatter who smiles (Panning shot)

27: Teapot pouring tea (Close up)

28: Offers her a tea, same happens. (Medium shot)

29: Alice become angry (Close up)

30: Mad Hatter climbs onto the table (Tracking Shot)

31: Alice looks up at her as she lip-syncs (Low angle shot)

Location: Trees

32: Cheshire Cat in the trees, lip-syncing. Her face is obscured. (Long shot)

33: Shadowed Cheshire cat’s face, smiling (Extreme close up)

34: Cat jumps down in front of Alice (Wide shot)

35: Alice pushes past (Longshot)

36: Cat grabs her hand and begins dancing with her, while lip-syncing (Crab shot)

37: Shot Reverse Shot of the two of them (Close up)

Location: Queen’s area

38: Side of Queen’s head (Close up)

Locations: Caterpillar’s Area

39. Caterpillar draped across a log (Long shot)

40. Shot of her lip-syncing (Close up)

Location: Queen’s area

41. Alice approaching the Queen (Long shot)

42. Queen lipsyncing (Close up)

43. Alice’s face (Close up)

44. Queen lipsyncing (Medium shot)

45. Queen turning and yelling (Close up, moves to long shot)

46. Alice moving back (Close up)

47. Queen walking towards her (Medium shot)

48. Alice running from her (tracking shot)

Location: Through the woods

49. Caterpillar lipsyncing (Long shot)

50. Alice running, looking back (medium shot)

51. Queen lipsyncing, walking through forest (Close up)

52. Alice running past the Cheshire Cat (Long shot)

53. Cheshire cat grinning (Extreme close up)

54. Hatter offering tea as she goes past (medium shot)

55. White Rabbit jumping out the way as the two run past (Long shot)

Location: edge of Woods

56. Alice falls as the Queen approaches her, holding her hands in front of her face. (Close up)

57. Shot of the Queen looking aggressive (Low angle shot)

58. Close up of defensive Alice. A hand extends towards her (Close up, high angle)

59. Shot of a girl stood there, the one who’d been playing all the wonderland characters but now dressed regularly. She looks worried. (Low angle.)

60. Alice stands up, mimicking the start of the video. (Medium shot)

61. The two stand, talking and grinning at eachother. (Medium shot)

62. They turn and begin to walk away from the woods. (Long shot)

63. The camera pans to show a Crown, top hat, pocket watch on the floor as they walk into the distance. (pan, extreme close up)

64. (fade out)

Location Release

Lily Talent Release

Charlotte Talent Release

Timeline

Budgeting

Recce