1.1
The creative media industry is a worldwide industry with many different workplaces creating content in many different countries. Because of the sheer numbers of companies in the industry, there is sure to be a great diversity of cultures and environments within these companies.
Some companies will work in a more relaxed environment than others. This can be a result of many different factors. One company may have 'bigger' clientele than another meaning they present themselves in a more professional manner like having a more business-like attire or conversing in a specific way. Another company may have staff that have a more laissez-faire attitude and their workplace may be more relaxed because of it. It's important to note that even though some may be more laid back than others, all of them will have some degree of professionalism otherwise they wouldn't be taken seriously.
In the workplace I work at we have a fairly laid back environment. There's no set dress code so you can wear pretty much what you want. We are asked to look somewhat presentable though so we don't tend to come in in our pyjamas. We joke around in the office from time to time which can good for team morale. We'll also have the occasional communal lunch where someone will buy food for the rest of the team and we'll sit down together. As long as we're producing great content and things are getting done there's always time for some chill out time.
Overall you'll find many different companies that will have different kinds of workplaces, some being strict and some being more laid back. However they will all try to paint a good image of themselves as being professional so that they can continue to win work and produce quality content.
1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Throughout your working life there will be times you come across many different personalities and behaviours in the workplace. Some you will jell with more than others. It's always great if you can get along with someone in the workplace; you can have a good chat here and there and you feel comfortable around each other which is good for if ever you need to work together on a task. On the other hand there may be people who have attitudes that do not bode well in the workplace. Behaviours showing lack of work ethic or directly being rude to coworkers or clients can be challenging to work with. Other disputes to do with work can also occur for example, two people may disagree with a particular idea such as a camera shot or storyline but this is quite a minor disagreement. More often than not these problems can be easily rectified if the employee/s is/are willing to be compliant but there may be situations where more serious behaviour needs to be dealt with in a different manner. An example of this could be if someone is continuously being rude or harassing someone with racist and/or sexist insults. This is obviously bullying and is not condoned whether it's inside or outside of the workplace. Employees are responsible for preventing harassment and/or bullying in the workplace so should take measures to make sure this does not happen. Many workplaces will have a code of conduct in place which you should abide by. If you are constantly breaking these rules by being rude, being late or just not being professional then repercussions might take place. If you yourself are a victim or if you witness someone else being a victim of abuse you should tell your employer or person/s that are handled to deal with the problem. In the unfortunate and rare case that the person you should report to is the one that's harassing someone, there are external organisations that can offer advice on what to do.
All in all it's best to get any problems sorted as swiftly as possible and before it becomes a major problem. Not sorting it out can lead to a stressful work environment and can even indirectly affect others in the company due to them not feeling comfortable which will end up being a hinderance to the efficiency of the company.
2.1, 2.2, 2.3
Good time management is a very important skill to have. Knowing the timescales for when things need to be completed by can be especially useful because it means you can prioritise certain tasks in your workload. While knowing deadlines is important, there are also a number of tools you can use that can help with completing your work. To-do lists are a good tool because they show specific tasks that should be done to add to the progress of a project or workload. If you're someone who has trouble being disciplined when working and sticking to a task it can usually be a good idea to break down more complex tasks into smaller, simpler ones. This can seem less daunting and can even be more rewarding because completing a task (even if it's small) psychologically makes us feel good and can motivate us further. Monitoring your progress is just as important as planning what you have to do. At certain intervals in a project you should check back to see if the tasks that need to have been completed have been done so. If you have missed a task then it's good to get that finished before progressing further. If you're to use all these tools then any project can seem less daunting and more doable.
Having the skill to manage your time and plan your workload is great but how can you agree these tasks with others and are they realistic given the available resources and budgets. When you're given a project to do whether it be from a client or your boss it's important to understand what needs to be done, what resources you have to use, your budget and when things need to be completed by. Discussing these things and making note can be useful for managing tasks. As for your budget, what funds are available to you and are you going to need any extra equipment or assets? This can be a task in itself if you need to make the time to organise a purchase things for a project. This goes hand in hand with resources. What's going to be needed for the project and is it something you have to hand or are going to need to purchase/hire specially for this project? After these two things are discussed you're going to need to look at timescales. When do all these tasks need to be completed by and if there is a deadline, can it be met given the resources and budget you have? All three factors are important and need to be discussed extensively with a client to that everyone has an understanding of what needs to be done and when by. After these things are all agreed, a plan can be put into place.
After the project has been discussed the next task is to put a plan in place. It's usually good practice to make this as detailed as possible so that nothing is left out and it's understandable by anyone that reads it (incase anyone else needs to pick up a task). You will have been given a brief by the client so you can use this to plan your pre-production, production and post production. You should plan things like organising resources and material that will be used in the project. You should give pre-production time for making storyboards and mindmaps to generate ideas. You could also produce some kind of schedule for days of shooting including the equipment and people that will be needed. If the client needs to be involved with this then you can discuss this scheduling with them. A list of tasks should be made for post-production also. There may be additional assets that you need when editing so you should plan how you're going to acquire these. The final thing would be to note when the deadline is. Knowing this helps you to prioritise bigger tasks so that everything will be finished by the set deadline.
2.4
Contingency plans are the ones which are put into action when your initial plan goes wrong or isn't going to work. Having this backup plan means you can carry on with most of what you originally set out to do. It ensures that you can still get the majority of footage for your project and that it's not going to affect your schedules and deadlines. Although having a plan B isn't necessary it's usually good practice because it shows good preparation and if things do go south, you're not going to waste any time trying to find solution and end up stressing yourself out. It also shows a degree of professionalism to your client which is what they want to see so they know they're getting a good service.
2.5
As you work it is good practice to keep backups and store work correctly so it isn't lost and can be easily retrieved at any point. It can be useful to have a specific naming convention for your assets and folders to keep things organised and consistent. For example our project folders have a specific layout which we use to organise the content we've captured.
2.1, 2.2, 2.3
Good time management is a very important skill to have. Knowing the timescales for when things need to be completed by can be especially useful because it means you can prioritise certain tasks in your workload. While knowing deadlines is important, there are also a number of tools you can use that can help with completing your work. To-do lists are a good tool because they show specific tasks that should be done to add to the progress of a project or workload. If you're someone who has trouble being disciplined when working and sticking to a task it can usually be a good idea to break down more complex tasks into smaller, simpler ones. This can seem less daunting and can even be more rewarding because completing a task (even if it's small) psychologically makes us feel good and can motivate us further. Monitoring your progress is just as important as planning what you have to do. At certain intervals in a project you should check back to see if the tasks that need to have been completed have been done so. If you have missed a task then it's good to get that finished before progressing further. If you're to use all these tools then any project can seem less daunting and more doable.
Having the skill to manage your time and plan your workload is great but how can you agree these tasks with others and are they realistic given the available resources and budgets. When you're given a project to do whether it be from a client or your boss it's important to understand what needs to be done, what resources you have to use, your budget and when things need to be completed by. Discussing these things and making note can be useful for managing tasks. As for your budget, what funds are available to you and are you going to need any extra equipment or assets? This can be a task in itself if you need to make the time to organise a purchase things for a project. This goes hand in hand with resources. What's going to be needed for the project and is it something you have to hand or are going to need to purchase/hire specially for this project? After these two things are discussed you're going to need to look at timescales. When do all these tasks need to be completed by and if there is a deadline, can it be met given the resources and budget you have? All three factors are important and need to be discussed extensively with a client to that everyone has an understanding of what needs to be done and when by. After these things are all agreed, a plan can be put into place.
After the project has been discussed the next task is to put a plan in place. It's usually good practice to make this as detailed as possible so that nothing is left out and it's understandable by anyone that reads it (incase anyone else needs to pick up a task). You will have been given a brief by the client so you can use this to plan your pre-production, production and post production. You should plan things like organising resources and material that will be used in the project. You should give pre-production time for making storyboards and mindmaps to generate ideas. You could also produce some kind of schedule for days of shooting including the equipment and people that will be needed. If the client needs to be involved with this then you can discuss this scheduling with them. A list of tasks should be made for post-production also. There may be additional assets that you need when editing so you should plan how you're going to acquire these. The final thing would be to note when the deadline is. Knowing this helps you to prioritise bigger tasks so that everything will be finished by the set deadline.
2.4
Contingency plans are the ones which are put into action when your initial plan goes wrong or isn't going to work. Having this backup plan means you can carry on with most of what you originally set out to do. It ensures that you can still get the majority of footage for your project and that it's not going to affect your schedules and deadlines. Although having a plan B isn't necessary it's usually good practice because it shows good preparation and if things do go south, you're not going to waste any time trying to find solution and end up stressing yourself out. It also shows a degree of professionalism to your client which is what they want to see so they know they're getting a good service.
2.5
As you work it is good practice to keep backups and store work correctly so it isn't lost and can be easily retrieved at any point. It can be useful to have a specific naming convention for your assets and folders to keep things organised and consistent. For example our project folders have a specific layout which we use to organise the content we've captured.
This is on our backup service at the office. Keeping a consistent naming convention means that any of our staff can look up any content they need easily. There's more often than not metadata added to the files which further helps with organising and finding files. This data often includes the date and time of creation and copyright information. We often name our rendered files with a version number so we can identify which is the latest version. To make sure we don't overwrite and of the backup data, once it has been backed up to the NAS server we copy it back to the desktop and edit from there.
3.1
Continuous professional development describes the process people take part in to keep themselves up-to-date with the industry they work in. Keeping your skills and knowledge topped up can be beneficial to both yourself and the company you for work or area you work in. For example in the film industry there are new cameras and softwares that are being released all the time. Knowing what's new and how to use these things means you can potentially be ahead of others in the industry and use equipment that other companies may not be able to. This can be a good for the profitability for the company your work for as they have more skilled staff. There are also secondary skills that can be constantly built on such as communication, functional and team working skills. These are usually developed by doing group tasks and taking part in dedicated sessions.
3.2 and 3.3
Creating your own personal development plan can be a beneficial process. It allows you to not only give you a chance to learn or develop new skills but to look at what you already know and develop on those skills also. Knowing what you have and what you're missing can be valuable to progressing further in a given field. Here is a process or steps that you can follow to help you achieve a new skill
1. Assess what skills you have and what you need to develop
2. Why will this benefit you
3. What learning is available
4. Carry out learning
5. Assess what you have learnt
I have included a table below with an example to show how you might fill out a CPD plan
It's always a good idea to be trying to improve or learn new skills whenever you get the opportunity. These opportunities for learning can be in a number over forms. The most simple way would be just to conduct some research or active learning while you have no work to do. If you're left without a task and/or have completed everything you need to do you can always read online or watch YouTube tutorials to try and learn something new. An employer may be more inclined to set you specific tasks instead of leaving you with free time. This can be useful because they may see a skill that you need to develop that you might not necessarily see. Your boss might also suggest sending you on a course if they feel it will be beneficial to your work. At Page One, my colleague was sent to a course that was about learning the ins and outs of illustrator and design. She found it very beneficial and her work quality increased as a consequence. As well as your employer sending you on a course, they may be able to offer their own knowledge and teach you about something you may not know or need to brush up on. My boss Doug will often speak to me about the latest camera and video gear and their specifications. This beneficial because it keeps us both up to date with the latest technology and having this extra knowledge over the competition means we have an extra edge during production and filming. Delving into a book can be a good option also. You're able to work at your own pace and read something over and over so you're able to get it perfect.
