BTEC Level 3 Creative Digital Media Production
Unit 4 Assignment C
Title: Review pre-production of a digital media product
You should write a detailed report which analyses the success of your pre-production planning in relation to your magazine product. The report should cover all of the aspects listed below and fully consider the impact of each upon the end product. Throughout the report you should reflect on your ability to plan effectively and discuss this constructively. You should discuss any issues that affected the production and how you addressed these issues, and fully consider how you could improve in future.
When you are writing the report, remember that you were working both as a production team with your peers and individually to produce the finished magazine. You should keep this in mind as there have been a number of issues you could discuss – eg some people have not met the deadlines which means that the magazine cannot go to print as planned!!!! Is there a legitimate excuse for this or not? The print production has had to be delayed because of this – consider what would happen in industry if this happened!
Learning aim D: Review pre-production of a digital media product
D1 Elements of pre-production • Logistics. • Finance. • Creative processes.
D2 Project management • Personnel management. • Resource management. • Time management. • Professional Practice. • Monitoring progress. • Risk management. • Crisis management. • Maintaining documentation. • Problems/difficulties with project management. • Identifying ways of improving project management in future productions.
Learning aim D grading criteria
For distinction standard, learners will make direct correlations between their project management of logistics, finance and creative processes during pre-production and the overall success of the planning for the digital media production.
For merit standard, recommendations for improvements to the project management must be relevant and related to financial, logistical and creative processes specific to the project. The analysis will make reference to one or more elements of pre-production and will include different aspects of project management such as time management, monitoring progress and personal management.
For pass standard learners explanations of project management will make reference to aspects of logistics, finance and the creative processes. The explanations will be limited and may not address fully the different elements of pre-production and project management.
Title: Review pre-production of a digital media product
As an introductory paragraph, give an outline of the project.What were you asked to do as a team? What were you asked to do as an individual? Outline the audience, purpose of the product and the intended format eg printed format and e-magazine.
(Remember that the project involved both team working and individual production. Individual production of one dps and cover to eventually combine with others to form one product. There were some team activities such as research and meetings to discuss ideas before individual project management began so you should consider this)
Onset of the project
Discuss the initial team meetings and decisions made. Were they productive? Were all members pro-active? Were duties delegated well? How did this impact upon the project? How could this be improved?
Research process
Discuss how initial research was conducted? As a team? Individual? What did you need to find out and how did you do it? Was the research purposeful? Did it help the project overall? How could you improve?
Personnel management
Explain the personnel involved (other class members) and how the project involved trust in each to take individual responsibility for certain elements. Discuss the difficulties in managing personneleg absence, lack of commitment, lack of involvement? How did this impact upon the project? How could this be improved next time?
(You could mention the loss of three production team members and how this impacted upon the production eg six pages less in the printed product = adjustments to print production costs leading to re-evaluation of individual contribution)
Think about your own dps and cover – did you have any issues with personnel? What were they and how did you overcome them? (IT technician/photographer/proof reader/model/interviewee) How did this impact upon the production? How could you improve this in future/what would you do differently?
Resource management
Did you plan the resources you needed efficiently? Did you forget anything? Did you book them in time? Did you have access to everything you needed? (camera, computer with software, internet, usb back up, access to location, costume, props etc) What problems did you encounter? How did this impact upon the production? What would you do differently next time?
Time management
How well did you manage your time? Did you meet all deadlines set by the team and your own individual timescales? Why not? How did this impact upon the production, both individually and for the team production overall? What could you do differently next time?
Professional practice
How would you rate your personal performance in terms of professional practice? Was your contact and dealings with your interviewee professional? Explain your answer. What about your contact with the target audience during research? Did you communicate well with your team? Did you seek interim feedback and make amendments – did you listen to others or just plough on regardless? Did you consider copyright fully? Gain relevant photo consent? How did this impact upon the project? What would you do differently next time?
Risk management
Did you make sure that all risks were fully considered? Explain what the risks were eg H&S hazards for your photo shoot – what were they and how did you ensure safety?
Risk of poor quality writing/spelling issues – how did you overcome? (egemploy a proofreader) Equipment breakdown or unavailable – how did you plan for this? How did any of this impact upon the production? What would you do differently next time?
Crisis management
Discuss the things that went wrong and how you overcame these issues. Model cancelling photo shoot – did you have an alternative? Interviewee not responding – did you have a contingency plan? Not being able to access original photo shoot location – did you have an alternative? Photos not suitable? Unable to photograph as planned? How did these impact upon the project? What would you do differently next time?
Maintaining documentation
First of all explain that all team members were able to access document templates from a shared area but that files could only be downloaded from this area and not uploaded.
Did you use the templates provided or create your own? (remember… some documents were completed as a team during meetings eg contacts lists etc and some individually) How well did you maintain your documentation and your portfolio? Did you store and insert minutes efficiently? Did you complete all relevant documentation and insert into your portfolio? Did you update documents when needed? Did you have to delete any documents and update or renew? What impact did this have on the project? How could you improve?
In your own words…
Explain that it was impossible for you to give open access to your portfolio to the team as the Academy security systems prevent access to appropriate methods for file sharing due to safeguarding rules. This meant that regular verbal communication in the studio and communication by mobile phone was crucial to ensure that all members of the team could share progress, discuss ideas and seek feedback. This caused some problems for the project overall, especially when reassessing print production options and associated costs. In an ideal scenario, there should be a facility for uploading relevant team information such as contacts sheets, schedules, costings etc)
Difficulties with project management and ways to improve
Summarise your difficulties and explain what you would do next time to overcome each issue you have identified.Eg difficulties in team members meeting deadlines which affected the production – how could you deal with this?
(You may find that your own production went well however the overall production has experienced a number of issues – loss of three team members, slower workers, absences, technical issues, deadlines not met etc. Try to discuss the impact of this diplomatically and relate this to industry practice when everyone is relying on each other to get the job done)
Consider…
Would it be better to divide into smaller teams?
Delegate specific roles? Eg Project manager, minute taker, researcher etc to drive forward the production?
Hold more regular team meetings? More structured with agenda and Chair person?