Unit 2 Revision

 Unit 2: Revision

Type of Product for Brief and Planning

The type of product you're making will have varying implications for the pre-production stage - An educational website will have different implications within the brief than a music video designed for teens. Regardless some pre-production stages will be similar.

Things that will appear on different briefs or would be appropriate to respond with would be examples like staff, resources, constraints like time or lack of staff/resources and funding.

Examples of what products would be asked to make:

• Interactive - Website, Game, App
• Print - Magazine, Newspaper, Advertising
• A/V - Film, TV show, Trailer, Advert, Radio Ad

Requirements - what are you being asked to make and what features will it include (I.E. an educational app that teaches 7-12 year old's about programming which features a vibrant color scheme).

Personnel - Staff/crew (job roles) are fundamental to making a product. Within your personnel you'd need to consider:

• How many people you need
• Job roles - producer, editor, director, graphic designer
• Skills
• Experience 

Questions could include - Identify a management tool that could be used to create a meeting. 

• Skype
• Zoom
• Teams

Sol is a video editor. List as many jobs/responsibilities someone may have as a video editor. 

• Video editing
• Audio editing/effects
• Special effects design
• Organizer - Footage log organization
• Experience in Adobe Premiere and Audition
• Computer experience
• Making sure colours/text appeals to audience
• Creating visuals and audio which match the product/brief

Research

Primary Research - Your own research - 

Takes more time and effort (takes more staff) but more reliable - can be difficult to access (if audience is children - safeguarding codes and permission from parents) 

• Questionnaire
• Focus Group - Asking a group people (with the same background as target audience) questions.
• Interview - Asking one person questions of the same background as target audience.
• Survey

Secondary Research - Research which already exists - 

Quick and accessible but could be outdated or contain misinformation/biased - could require to buy data

• Books
• Newspapers/magazines
• TV
• Internet (forums, articles and survey results)

Marketing and competitor research should be conducted.

Costs and Constraints

Example costs:

• Talent
• Skill
• In house staff
• Consumables - Film/lighting gels/batteries
• Power
• Locations
• Insurance
• Catering

Constraint examples:

• Time
• Budget
• Weather
• Staff
• Availability - Talent, location, resources

Regulation - What is overseen

Regulation Bodies

• ASA - Advertising Standards Authority - Adverts
• BBFC - British Board of Film Classification - Film
• PEGI - Pan European Gaming Information - Games
• OFCOM - Office of Communications - TV and Radio
• PRS - Performing Rights Society - Music
• IPSO - Independent Press Standards Organization - Magazine and Newspapers
• W3C - World Wide Web Consortium - The Internet

Relevant Facilities, Locations and Resources:

Dependent on the product, the locations, resources and facilities will differ. Based on the brief you will have to consider what you will need to make the product.

These will include:

Video

• Cameras
• Filming locations
• Actors
• Editing Software (Premiere Pro)

Print

• Camera
• Studio
• Editing Software (Photoshop)
• Models

Interactive

• Software (Unity)
• Computers
• Cloud Storage

Laws & Ethics

Laws are set in place by the government and must be followed.

Ethics are placed in morals and are dependent on an individuals morality. - Representations within media product being negative would be an ethical issue or representation of crime or provocative/inapropriate content. Working conditions are safe for all crew.

Health and safety laws - Risk Assessments Must be Taken (eye strain when working on computers or loose wires). 

PRS (performing rights society) - You cannot perform a piece of copyrighted media (e.g. a pub playing background music) without a PRS license. However, educational industries (I.E. schools) are exempt from this. 

• Copyright - To not use an intellectual property as your own to protect the creator.

• Defamation - Using an IP to tarnish it's reputation

• Libel - Writing about an IP within something like an article online or in a newspaper to tarnish its reputation

• Slander - Speaking about an IP to tarnish its reputation such as on the news or via video format

• Breach of Contract - Disobeying one of the agreed upon terms within a contract and therefore, breaching it

• Non-Disclosure Agreement - An agreement in which during any stage of a product's creation must not be discussed outside of those within the agreement and to establish any discretion within the contract.

Legal Acts

• Freedom of information act (2000) - allow public access to information held by public authorities (not allowing public to see something declared for the public)

• Intellectual property rights - All use of product is beneficial for creator and prevents copyright for a given time.

• Data protection act - Controls how organizations can use your data.

• Copyright act (1988) - Fines or gives jail-time to any who breach intellectual property rights.

Client Briefs

• Standard - Informal agreement to work on a project

• Formal - Formal agreement with rules to work on a project/brief (scheduled meetings with client and producer to be professional)

• Tender - A client will put out an advert for production companies to come and work for; the brief contained within the ad. 

• Contractual - An agreed upon form which has rules that must be followed.

• Commissioned - Independent company hires for a project to create a proposal and conduct research

• Negotiated - Pitching your own ideas for a brief to a company which will be agreed upon and scrapped during discussion before anything is formally written 

Types of Planning Docs

Generic

• Mind map
• Mood-board
• Production Schedule

Specific

• Visualization Diagram - Print/static
• Storyboard - AV and interactive (anything moving)
• Set plan (TV, Moving Ad, Film)
• Wire frame - interactive/web
• Site map - Interactive/web
• Decision Tree - Interactive

Pre-Production Documentation

• Proposal - Outlining what your product is or will be to a client
• Production Schedule
• Call Sheet - Crew list
• SWOT analysis
• Asset Log - Log of items which you need or own
• Risk Assessment - Assessing/listing potential dangers in production - Activity-Risk-who is at risk-Measures in place-who fixes risk
• Storyboard
• Script
• Shooting Script
• Concept Art
• Character Design
• Visualization Diagram - Print or website
• Wireframe/flat plan
• Prototype
• Page mock up
• Set designs/Maquette
• Site map
• Permission and consent forms

Job Roles

• Project Manager - Staff member who keeps any project running to the given time and budget.

• (Graphic) Designer - Roles cover the visual design of the project.

• Coder/Programmer - Technical creators of interactive products who require a clear structure to work from alongside the designer.

• Producer - In TV/Film - Staff tasked with ensuring the production is on schedule: staff are hired, both are paid; funding is managed.

• Director - In TV/Film - Tasked with the creative direction of a piece: the director assesses production + development of the project from idea into finished piece.

• Director of photography/cinematography - Work under director to 'set up' shots + film sequences; also directing the start of the VFX, SFX, props, costumes and set teams (can be planned via set plan). This is to ensure the product looks right.

• Editor - In any media product, the editor will make decisions on the inclusion or omission of content. They're responsible for turning the planned production into reality using the given footage (log) or pictures/photos.

• Copywriter - The staff responsible for text in a production such as: advertising slogans, brochure or web page content; not a journalist.

The Revision 

Universal Pre-Production Planning Docs:

• Mind-Map - main node - sub node - satellite node

• Mood-board

• Production Schedule

• Treatment

• Risk assessment

• Budget 

Specific Pre-Production Docs

• Visualization Diagram - Print - location and lighting, text, font, colours

• Shoot Schedule - Print

• Equipment List - Asset List

• Set Plan - A/V

• Script - A/V and games - cast names and locations/actions

• Storyboard - A/V and Games

• Location Recce - A/V (Finding Locations)

• Location Release Forms - A/V

• Call Sheet - A/V (informs actors when and where they should be)

• Decision Tree - Games

• Level Design - Games

• Character Design - Games

• Test Plan - Games and Web

• Wire-Frame - Web - Map out navigation/features of web, give idea of function, before adding of graphic design. - Where images, buttons, features, videos,  layout, font types and colour.

• Site Map - Web - 3 sub-pages following 'home' - 1 content page 

• Asset List - Web

• Risk assessment (3-4 examples) - activity (photo shoot) - risk (loose wires) - who is at risk (photographer) - measures against risk (Tape down wires) - responsible for measures (Don Pedro) - measures in place (yes)

20 Mark Assessment Plan

• Analysis or evaluation
• Needs to present a balanced argument (I agree to this extent)
• If only 1 doc is mentioned, write down another as suggestion (alternative) 
• Write why documents are suited to jobs of team mentioned (production schedule useful for producer and why)

1. State your position (agree or disagree).
2. State one side of your argument (I.E. advantages/positive features or disadvantages/negative) and explain in relation to brief.
3. Identify the key features of the document (why are they good and why are they useful to the brief?).
4. What would your alternative pre-production document be? (Linked to product/brief)
5. Explain why document would be useful to included staff on brief.
6. Comparison + analysis: make judgements in comparison of documents
7. Conclusion: what opinion do you have? How do the documents fit and not fit the brief?

Drawing Questions (7/8)

1. Annotate - link to brief
2. Read the questions carefully (what pre-production doc, what requirements?)
3. Include 4-5 Technical Elements (conventions - Shot types on a storyboard or sub nodes on a mind-map)
4. Use whole space
5. Don't take too long

Target Audience Factors

 Target Audience Factors

Psychographics and Demographics

Psychographics - The psychological factors which affect an individuals perception of themselves; this affects their opinions, attitudes and interests/lifestyles. These are a factor for target audiences as media products can cater to the interests of people i.e. psychographics.

 Examples of psychographics would be:

• Mainstreamer (mainstream products)
• Explorer (different genres)
• Succeeder (believes they exceed in everything)
• Resigned (not working)
• Struggler (introverted)

Demographics - The physical attributes which affect a person such as age, gender, ethnicity, class and location therefore, their interests as a demographic are dictated by this. 

Examples of demographics would be:

• Socio-economic class
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Psychographics
• Geographic location
• Sexuality
• Mainstream
• Niche

These are targeted because they make people what they are.

Your social grade (ABC1/C2DE) is determined by your disposable income and occupation. ABC1 audiences are targeted because they have enough disposable income to afford media products.

Legal and Ethical Issues

 Legal and Ethical Issues

Laws

• Copyright - To not steal intellectual properties and use them, claiming them as your own. Protection of intellectual property for user and creator for a set period of time.

• Defamation - To not use an intellectual property or brand and tarnish/defame its reputation

• Libel and Slander - Libel is written information (magazine or newspaper) which tarnishes something's reputation; Slander is verbal attacks (e.g. the news) against something, speaking ill of it. The law is the tarnishing of something's reputation due to misinformation

• Breach of Contract - Breaking one of the agreed upon terms within a contractual agreement.

• Non-Disclosure Agreements - A legally binding contract which establishes confidential agreements regarding the work within the contract. 

To Avoid Copyright Claims:

• Create all content from scratch - original designs, music, characters, narratives etc.

• Request Permission from copyright owner - can be free dependent on contexts but may cost dependent on project nature

• Use of copyright free/Creative Commons or public domain assets - are usable without permissions

Media Permissions - The Last of Us HBO

HBO will have had to acquire rights from Sony as they own The Last of Us game IP; this in addition to music rights from the game, other artists like Depeche Mode (Never Let me Down Again), Erasure (Chains of Love) and Fleetwood Mac (Coming Home to Stay). This is in addition to assets from the game (characters) like Joel, Ellie or the infected. Due to the recent release of The Last of Us game (in 2013).

How would contracts/Non-disclosure agreements affect pre-production?

Not disclosing anything about the product before production. Taking on contractors which have a proven track record to not leak or discuss the product before production. 

Moral Issues exist such as:

• Treatment of talent and staff

• depictions of social groups

• adhering to local customs if filming abroad 

Ethical Issues in:

• Production of a short film - Fair hours and pay for staff

• Creating a fashion magazine - Fair hours and pay for staff

• Initial programming of a game - Fair hours and pay for staff

LO2: Client Requirements

 LO2: Client Requirements

Different Client Briefs

• Formal - Professional (scheduled meetings with client and producer where client outlines requirements)

• Standard - Informal: could be a friend's request to work on something (client and producer will come to a verbal agreement, could be over the phone)

• Negotiated - Pitching your own ideas into the brief (editing the brief and adding your own terms). Aims and objectives will be agreed before anything is formally written down

• Contractual - Obliged to do what the client requests due to contractual agreement.

• Tender - Client will post an advert for what needs to be produced and production companies will respond. 

• Commissioned - Client hires an independent company to create a media product where they will conduct research and give a proposal to the client.

Similarities

• The client will request a company or another person to produce a piece of work for them in which requirements and timescale are discussed before production

• The producer will create a product for the client

• Working relationship between client and producer

• Tender and standard are more informal

• Commissioned and all others are dependent on relationship and reputation with companies/clients

Differences

• Each have different levels of formality between client and producer

• Tender is the only one where clients will send out a request that many companies can view and accept before interacting with the client

• Commissioned can target independent companies/producers and see new producers with clients

• Negotiated is the only brief which allows the producer to influence the client, completely opposing contractual which is the most strict

• Contractual requires (with evidence) for client and producer to follow what they have both agreed on (such as pay date)

Types of Requirements - COEI

1. Constraints - limitations (cost, legal, ethical, time)
2. Open - Freedom of ideas/decisions
3. Explicit - Clearly stated and must be met
4. Implicit - Implied/suggested 

• Requirement - To produce a social media app which targets an age demographic of 14-24 

• Implied/Interpretation - The colour scheme and layout will be more mature (low-key and streamlined like social media such as discord or instagram) to appeal to a teenage/young adult demographic

• Constraint - Deadline is the end of April

Analysis of Client Briefs

• Mind Map

• Mood board

• Blue-Sky Thinking

• Swot Analysis  (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the brief)

SWOT Analysis

• Strengths (Internal) - Staff for the project (that fulfil requirements), resources, clear target, audience
• Weaknesses (Internal) - Lack of needed staff, too wide target audience
• Opportunities (External) - Production company can grow to make other projects
• Threats (External) - Competitors and deadline being too short

Tender Brief

Strengths - Target audience is specific in disposable income, graphic designer for a design brief (staffing)

Weaknesses - Wide target audience (age and gender)

Opportunities - Allows Graphic Designer to expand and gain experience, tourism in South Wales

Threats - Competitive Market, Short deadline (2 weeks)