Unit 08 - Creative Media Industry Awareness

(08.1) Know how the Creative Media Sector is structured

1.1 Describe the industries within the Creative Media Sector

There are many different industries within the Creative Media Sector. As a young child growing up, I’ve developed interests in different areas over the years. As a keen artist I’ve always loved the idea of being an Illustrator and Writer. This has been a lifetime interest from a young age and is still my dream goal today. 

As a teenager I also had a phase of wanting to become a Games Designer. Also now I’m interested in Graphic Design and Digital Art for which I use Photoshop a lot. 

(Above: ‘Castle in the Sky’)

(Above: ‘Feline Meow’)

By working at DCAS, this has opened up further interests that are also industries in the Creative Media Sector. Filming, Photography, Animation. 

Others include: Forms of advertising and marketing, designing of products: Fashion, interior, buildings, working in TV, radio or film. It is a wide-spread industry with a lot of choice. 

1.2 Describe cross-industry ownership in the Creative Media Sector

This happens a lot in the Creative Media Industry. Companies often decide to join forces to generate more income and a wider audience. A lot of the time when this happens, one of the companies would be the more powerful, like the time when Microsoft bought Skype. 

Another example is shows and films. For example, I used to watch a series on BBC. It was produced by The Shine Group, but they obviously joined up with the BBC because they aired it on their channel. 

(Above: BBC's 'Merlin')

1.3 Explain the relevant relationships between a range of industries within the Creative Media Sector

In the process of creating a product, whether it be a magazine, computer game, movie etc. just to create that one product would involve a large number of people, all with different jobs in the Creative Media Sector. 

I’ve used my favourite film as an example. 

Film: ‘The Legend of Zorro’

Release Date: 24th October 2005

Director: Martin Campbell

Produced by: Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Lloyd Phillips

Screenplay by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio

Based on: ‘Zorro’ by Johnston McCulley

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rufus Sewell, Nick Chinlund

Music by: James Horner

Cinematography: Phil Meheux

Edited by: Stuart Baird

Production Company: Spyglass Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment

Distributed by: Columbia Pictures

Box Office: 142.4 million USD

Straight away you can see how much goes into the making of a movie and how many different jobs are essential to making it. Lots of jobs means lots of communication in order to achieve perfection.

(Above: Director Martin Campbell liaising with actor Antonio Banderas)

(Above: 'The Legend of Zorro' DVD cover)

Advertising is also an important factor in the film industry and creative media. A lot of time and effort goes into the design of movie posters and DVD covers. After the designing process, it’s down to print, publishing and social media to ensure the film is well advertised online, in magazines and generally round and about.

(8.2) Understand a specific creative media project lifecycle 

2.1 Describe the stages of a specific Creative Media project life cycle

To begin with, a project brief will be planned and created, whether it be for a new furniture design or a new piece of software. When planning the product, it would also be essential to go out and look at similar products on the market. This way it would make it easier to design, knowing what features people like the most. The next step would be to discuss further then make a start on some concept designs. This could take many stages until an idea is finalised. The team would meet again and make alterations until everyone is happy with the final idea and the project can commence. 

This goes to any creative project, whether it be the production of a movie, the writing and publishing of a book, designing a new app etc. It will all start at the beginning and work its way through many processes, team decisions and alterations. 

2.2 Explain and justify resources required for a specific project

We do a lot of projects here at DCAS so it’s important to be organised and prepared. My three main examples are: Filming projects, Art session ideas and creating marketing material for both print and social media. 

If we have something coming up like a council meeting, we first take into a measure the date it’s on and who is going to be available to film and also who can be made available to film. We make a list of all the things we are going to need and all the people going are each assigned a specific job. For the last meeting, I was in charge of making sure we had everything together that was on the list: Cameras, tripods, sound desk, cables etc. We make sure that on the day, we get there well in time to set everything up, adjust the white balance of the cameras, get the angles right and in focus. 

Because of my creativity, I’m sometimes asked to come up with group activity ideas for the art sessions. When I have an idea, I’m asked to make it to see that it’s doable, also that it’s not going to be too difficult for the young people. If the idea is successful, I have to make sure we have all the resources we need. I usually make sure we are stocked up the day before the session. This gives me the chance to go out and buy anything else we may need. It’s also important that we have the right quantities. For example, there are far more young people who go to the Thursday art session, whereas the one on Monday is a much smaller group and more focused. I set up earlier on the day of the session and make sure everything needed is there. 

Sometimes I have to design a poster or flier so for this I just need Photoshop resource-wise. I have to use the work macbook for this as I don’t have it on my personal one. Sometimes I can find it useful to have a bit of scrap paper and a pencil by my side if I ever feel the need to draw down some rough ideas or notes. It’s important to know what the design is going to be used for and as I’d mentioned in Unit 35, there is a big difference in images used for print and images to be used digitally. I tend to design a few ideas, especially if the design is for a client. This gives them more choice and the option to even suggest maybe combining a few ideas from each. 

(Above: DCAS Sticker Design)

Whatever the project is, we always ensure we have all the resources we need beforehand. 

(08.3) Understand the role of a specific team within the organisation of which it is part

3.1 Describe the vision, mission and values of a specific Creative Media organisation

As I love Creative Writing, I’ve chosen Bloomsbury Publishing.

3.2 Explain how a specific Creative Media organisation is funded, governed and regulated

3.3 Explain the role of a specific team within the organisation

I had a look on their website at the different jobs involved and jobs available. A key team in the business would be Editorial and Proofreading. This is a vital need in the publishing industry as they will receive many manuscripts. However, most publishing houses no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts so writers are best at trying their luck on getting an agent. 

3.4 Explain the relationship between the specific team and others within the organisation

Most of the jobs in this business would involve a lot of liaising. For example after proofreading and deciding that a novel is worthy of being published, this then falls to the printing team. Also, that next best-seller will need a cover designing, and a strong social media team will need to make sure that book is promoted and that information is up-to-date on their website. It’s important that all the teams in the business liaise, especially as they have the high reputation of being the publishers of the Harry Potter books. 

(08.4) Understand individual team roles and responsibilities within a specific project lifecycle

4.1 Explain the individual roles within a specific team

At my place of work, we all have our main duties and key areas. As the Creative and Digital apprentice my duties mainly involve filming events and assisting and planning the sessions, particularly the art ones. I’m line managed by the person who does all the art sessions. She also does a lot of work in Photoshop and web designing. I work alongside two other apprentices. One works in Music Production and Marketing and the other in social media. The social media apprentice uses Crowd Control to pre schedule tweets and posts. We find that a lot of our duties tend to cross over and we work well as a team, but are also able to work on our own initiative.

4.2 Explain their responsibilities and outputs within a specific project life cycle

My example is of a recent council meeting we filmed. Our centre manager put myself and the other apprentices in charge of key areas when preparing for the day. My job in this specific project was to type up a list of all the things we needed, then make sure we had everything together. 

4.3 Describe examples of interdependence between team members

In our organisation we all trust and rely on each other. It’s important when filming we all try to get the best footage possible. In order to edit using all the angles, it’s important that we all try to keep our footage smooth and focused. We all trust each other to put 100% into the work we do. Our managers trust us to go with our own initiative which gives us the confidence to work creatively and try out new techniques.