[Unit 08]

 Unit 8 - 

1.1 - There are many different industries within the creative media sector. 

• Film and Television – Most will see these industries in action every single day. Whether it's watching a YouTube video on your PC, going with a group of friends to the cinema to see a film, or sitting down to catch up with the latest TV series episode, the film and television industries play a massive part in the content we see digitally. 

• Computer Games – This industry has grown significantly over the past decade. It's a kind of interactive entertainment. The gaming industry can be found in many forms. You can play games on a PC, on a gaming console in your living room and even on your phone. Huge amounts of money are invested in the development of games and the most successful products go on to have their own live tournaments hosted around the world. 

• Radio – Radio has been around for over a century and is widely used around the world. It is most often thought of as the programs that are broadcast from radio stations to your car or home stereo but it also used in the military and can be for personal use in the form of walkie talkies. They all share the same principle that waves are broadcast through the air to transmit data to a receiver. Usually this signal contains data that's interpreted to sound on the receiving end. 

• Publishing – This industry is responsible for much of the physical material you read. This material is generally in the form of newspapers, magazines, books and databases. Recently newspapers have been trying to adapt to the change in the public's viewing habits and technological advancements so a lot of published content is becoming electronic as you're now able to buy a newspaper online. 

• Animation – Graphics and CGI you see in video will most likely have come from an animation studio. This industry usually goes hand in hand with Film and TV because they all incorporate moving images. Animation is a very time consuming process and entirely animated films can take a considerable time to finish. More realistic looking animations can take even longer. The animations themselves can be either 2D or 3D. Physical models are usually made first and are then digitised into 3D animations. 

• Photo Imaging – Taking photos and editing them is the primary focus of this industry. Photographers will have to job of taking an image and then either editing it themselves or passing it onto someone more competent at photo editing in a program such as Photoshop. Images may then be provided to newspapers or publishers for a price. 

• Interactive media – Interactive media can be thought of as any digital product that you can interact with. Videos, websites and games can all be interacted with in various ways. With the increasing popularity of social media we see many instances of interaction on websites. These interactions can be uploading videos / photos, watching them, posting blogs and many more. 

• Facilities – accompanying industries such as film and TV there are specialty industries that provide their own service. Companies that specialise in audio or SFX or equipment all play a roll in the creative media sector and without them many products couldn't have been made. 

1.2 - Cross-industry ownership is basically where a single corporation or person owns many businesses across a sector, in this case the creative media sector. These businesses can be part of any of the industries that were previously mentioned. An example of a large corporation involved with cross ownership would be Sony. Sony Corporation owns studios in the film industry, gaming industry and music industry. These studios are, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment, respectively. As you can see an individual or company can own several businesses in many different industries and they branch out like this as it offers the potential for increased revenue and therefore profit.  

1.3 - Many industries within the creative media sector share relations and work together to make a product. For example, the film industry may be known for making video but how are people going to know about it if there is no marketing. This is where the publishing industry would come in and provide some form of marketing to generate interest in the film. However, those tasked with marketing would need some form of graphics or pictures to produce an effective advert. Again, this is where another industry would be brought in such as photo imaging or animation to provide images that publishers can use in their marketing. As you can see, industries by themselves cannot always thrive without the input of other industries. 

2.1 - There are various stages a creative media project will go through throughout its life cycle. Some take longer than others, however all of them could be considered as important as each other.

Pre-Production

This is the preliminary stage that should take place before you actually start creating your project. Here is where you begin your brainstorming and idea generation using things such as mood boards and spider diagrams. Once initial ideas are made then the next task would be to start organising/making these ideas into another form such as a storyboard so you can plan what the final project should look like and in what order it should run.

Production

When pre production has been completed it is time to start creating the content you have planned. Following your storyboard and project plans you can start to record your content ready to be edited in post later. It is beneficial to keep any audio, video or pictures you have recorded organised and easy to find later. This could mean files named sequentially and/or any flash cards used, labeled and kept safe.

Post Production

Once production has finished the next stage is to consolidate all your material ready to be edited. Editing would be done in the appropriate software to match the kind of material you're handing. For example any video would be done in a program such as Premiere Pro or FCPX. Audio can also be handled in these two programs however you are offered more flexibility with a program such as Audition which will allow you to manipulate audio to a greater extent. One everything has been edited and brought together into a single composition you now have your first version of the project ready for reviewing. It is generally a good idea to bring everyone together who has been working on the project to have a look at it completed. This is an opportunity to see if there's anything that has been missed, could be added or if there's anything to be amended such as spelling or editing errors. If there are any changes, the project can be brought back in to the editing stage until it is deemed complete and ready for distribution to a client.

Distribution

The final stage is distributing the content.  Here you have the task of deciding where to publish the finished project. If the video you have made is for a company to use internally then all that needs to be done is for it to be sent to the client. However if the client is unsure where to publish; deciding where can be an important factor. Video hosting sites like YouTube and Vimeo offer a good platform to host videos due to their high traffic. They also allow for a range of different video qualities to be uploaded.

2.2 - If you were to take a film project for example, there would be various resources that you would need to use in order to complete said project.

Camera Equipment

To actually capture any footage you're going to need some form of camera equipment. There are various forms you can choose, from camera phones to DSLRs. Each choice has their pros and cons. Using the phone on your camera is quick and easy but you get very limited control of the camera. As technology advances this will most likely improve but for now they don't offer great control. The next option would be a hand-held camera of sorts. There more than likely won't be a great difference between using this method and just using a camera phone. You may have more inputs for audio and peripherals but you probably won't use this to justify buying a hand-held when you can just use your phone. DSLRs offer great control when recording because you get all the controls that are used when taking photos in your video as well. There are also various inputs that can be used for things like audio or lighting. Being able to change different lenses and adjust focus manually is also a big plus to many users. There are also various other materials that you'd need in addition to the lenses and the main equipment. Compact flash cards, batteries and tripods are all materials that are required to run the cameras. Having more than one is also a good idea because it means you're more flexible on the job e.g you can record for longer because you have more space available and more battery life. There will be certain people that will be able to handle this equipment more efficiently than others. As camera equipment is used in the pre production stage it would be more effective to use the people that can operate the camera in the pre production crew. 

Audio Equipment

Audio can be argued as being just as important as the film you are watching. It can go a long way to have good audio quality but this can often be expensive. Built-in mics is probably the worst way to capture audio. The range of frequencies they can capture is often very limited and you're left with very tinny sounding audio. Investing in a shotgun mic that can plug into a DLSR, or even just a recording device with its own mic built in can be a vast improvement over a built-in mic on a phone or hand held camera. You're going to be able to capture audio with much more depth and therefore better sounding. You can go the extra mile and purchase a 'deadcat' to get rid of any wind noise if you're recording outside. This may be justifiable if you're outside filming but otherwise you can just get away with the naked mic.

Lighting Equipment

Good lighting can greatly lift the look of the film. More light will generally give a much nicer recording than one done in low light. In lower light, the ISO of a camera needs to be increased so you're able to see a picture. This however introduces noise which is a very undesirable effect and makes a video look very 'unclean'. If you're recording outside during the day, you're going to have enough light for a clean looking video. If you're inside you may have to purchase some form of lighting equipment so you have adequate light for the scene you're filming. Soft boxes are a good solution as they give a soft white light but there are many different types you can chose from that fit with different scenarios.

Editing Software

It's all well and good recording footage but having software to edit it together is quite useful also. Choosing the software you use is an easy task and comes primarily down to what someone is comfortable with. There are various free editing software packages that can be used to string together clips in to a film but their simplicity may not suite everyone. If your film is going to include fancy looking cuts and colour corrected scenes then it may be justifiable to purchase a more powerful editing software. Programs like FCPX and Premiere Pro offer a very good range of tools that can be used in countless way to produce a film but is this extra functionality worth the price you pay.

3.1 & 3.2 & 3.3 & 3.4
A big creative media organisation that comes to mind is DreamWorks. DreamWorks is an animation company that works within the film industry. They have a very large mission statement starting off as follows.

"At DreamWorks Animation we believe that the animation we put out onto the marketplace is only as good as the talent within the company that creates it. We are committed to fostering a culture that embraces innovation, creativity, collaboration, and a solid dose of fun." From this you can see that DreamWorks looks to employ the best talent that it can find and strives to put out the best quality animation that it possibly can. DreamWorks also has several core values that they adhere by to keep themselves so highly rated as an animation company.
Their company is driven by a culture that's 'dedicated to providing the best work environment for the company's artists, engineers and everyone in between'

They keep their employee's inspired by offering education programs that help their workers develop or learn new skills.
They offer health programs to help their employees stay fit and healthy and also provide free breakfast and lunch everyday so workers are energised and awake to work.
There are also special events that take place throughout the year which give workers the opportunity to socialise and keep/form good relationships with each other. This is important because it means everyone is comfortable working with their peers.
It's obvious that DreamWorks believes that it should offer services to it's employees that will keep them fit and healthy, motivated and in top form. Their mission statement shows they want to produce the best product quality they can and their culture offers programs and activities that will keep employees motivated to achieve this statement.
DreamWorks has been funded by different organisations over the years and relies on funding from external companies to keep it functioning. In 2005 Paramount Pictures purchased DreamWorks for $1.6 billion. They also received co-funding from Walt Disney Studios in 2009 after a 30-picture distribution deal was made. This funding allows the company to keep on producing the films they want. This is a sort of private ownership/funding but there are other ways that organisations can be funded. Take the BBC for example. They're publicly funded through the television license which is £145.50 each year. It is classified as a tax so avoiding to pay it is a criminal offence. The annual report in 2013/14 showed that £3.7 billion was collected from the TV license fee. This is obviously a substantial amount and allows the BBC to carry on making high quality radio and tv. On top of funding, there must also be some form of regulation that a company has when releasing content. The BBC has it's content regulated by the BBC Trust. All of the BBC's output is regulated by this trust. There is also an external body that regulates content of the BBC. Ofcom is the Office of Communications which is the regulatory body in the UK, regulating radio and tv. The BBC should adhere to the standards set by Ofcom. Things like protection for under 18s and having a degree of responsibility when broadcasting content about religion should be thought about when outputting content.
There are also other regulatory bodies that look at different kinds of content. The ASA is the Advertising Standard Agency which is a UK independent regulator that makes sure all ads are legal and decent. Another is the PPC (Press Complaints Commission) which runs alongside editorial industry and handles complaints from members of the public about editorial content.

At Page One we have five employees that do various numbers of tasks. Although we only have 5 people we are sort of split into a number of teams. We have two people that mainly handle the marketing and sales while myself and the other two don't have a great deal of input. They also handle advertising however another person in our team works on advertising too as she provides designs and graphics that are incorporated into the advertising. As well as the MD handling marketing, sales and advertising, he also works in the field taking photo and video. The other employee and I also work in the field. I usually assist with equipment and video filming while he takes most of the photos and video. All 5 of us have some sort of input on post production. As you can see there are separate teams which have separate tasks, however we will usually consult with each other so we know what's what and can give our input on something to give a better result. 

4.1 & 4.2
Each member in a team has their individual roles. 

Sales and Admin
The people involved with this role have the responsibility of advertising the company they work for and winning the work. Analysing a client's needs and providing a quote based on what they want is another task they have to do. On top of actually getting work they would usually have to follow up with the client once a project is completed. This is will most likely be chasing invoices or communicating with the client to see if any changes need to be made or feedback given.

Pre-production
Those involved with pre-production are involved with storyboarding, mind mapping, script writing, organising roles for the project and sorting out health and safety. These individuals are basically getting a project ready for the production teams later on. The production teams use the resources laid out by the pre-production team so they know what needs to be captured and how things should be edited to best fit with the initial ideas.

Production
These guys will be the first ones to capture footage and audio after the pre-production stage ends. Their main task is putting the plan (set by the pre-production team) into action, recording footage how it's envisioned by the storyboard. Handling the equipment such as DSLRs and audio recorders is a big part of their job. Also knowing how to get the best out of the kit they have is essential if they want a high quality final product. The pre-production team and field production teams will work closely with one another so the all media is captured correctly and is in line with the brief ready to be edited later on in post.

Post Production
Here is where the project starts coming together as a whole. Those that are tasked with post production have a lot of organising and editing to do. They must consolidate all the media that has been captured out in the field ready to be imported into editing software. Each individual in the post production team might have a specialised area that they excel in. Some may work with solely editing the audio while others will create graphics and actually edit clips together on a timeline. The pre-production team may also work closely with the editors to make sure that the final product resembles the initial plan as close as possible.

Quality Testing
This can either be a specified number of people or it could be individuals across all the teams working together to see if a product has been produced that resembles the brief that was set by the client. Checking for spelling errors, readability and if colours match brand guidelines are all things that need to be correctly done so the client receives a high quality product. 

4.3
For a company to run successfully there must be some form of interdependence between team members. Like mentioned above certain teams work closely with others to make sure what's being produced is to script and is what envisioned by the client. An example of interdependence between teams in my company would be when I have to remove unwanted sounds from interview audio to make it much clearer. I need to work closely with the people who are video editing so that I know which clip needs to be edited and at that the audio is going to match correctly. If I splice out obvious sounds that the subject in the video is making then the viewer is going to notice the lack of audio at points where the subjects mouth is moving. It is for this reason that I should keep referring back to the video editors to make sure the audio and video sync nicely.