1. Unit 3: Introduction to
Professional Practice
Job Roles and
Working in the Creative Media Production Industry
2. Introduction to
Professional Practice
• Unit 3 is designed to introduce the variety of roles,
responsibilities, employment and progression opportunities
available in this sector, Media Production.
• As such you will be investigating your own options, methods of
work and planning for the future.
• Assessment in this unit is from set assignments and the
cumulative production journal at the end of the year.
• It is therefore important that you not only track the process of
how you have worked in each project, but also how you have
developed over the year
3. Assessment criteria/Task List
1. Understand progression
opportunities within the
creative media sector.
1.1 Locate, access and use
information to support
own development.
- Illustrated sector guide
- Practitioner research file
- Five Year Plan
2. Understand the skills
needed to pursue a career
in the creative media
sector.
2.1 Critically evaluate a range
of working practices and
methods.
- Music Video Process Log
- End of Year Review
2.2 Apply knowledge of
working practices to
support own
development.
- Music Video Process Log
- End of Year Review
3. Be able to carry out roles
and responsibilities
consistent with
professional practice.
3.1 Organise self and work
to meet deadlines and
targets.
- End of Year 1 review
3.2 Demonstrate
consideration and
professionalism in working
with others.
- End of Year 1 review
4. Task 1: Illustrated Sector Guide [1.1]
Research a sector of the industry that you are interested in working in [e.g. film
production, TV, radio, graphic design, etc]. Use the information you find to produce an
illustrated guide to that sector. Include facts about employment, skills needed,
workforce information, etc.
Task 2: Practitioner Research File [1.1]
Within your chosen sector identify someone who is a notable practitioner and produce
a fact file about them. Research their journey to where they are now; look at
education, experience, skillset and look for insightful quotes about them and by them
to build a picture of who they are and how they work.
Task 3: Five Year Plan [1.1]
Produce a plan taking into account where you are now, what you will need to do next
and how to go about that in the next 5 years. Outline educational requirements
[college, University, courses, etc], experience you will need/would like to gain and
personal development that will be necessary to you in your future plans.
5. Task 4: Music Video Process Log [2.1, 2.2]
Complete the Music Video Process Log to evidence how you worked technically during
the Music Video production phase. Screenshot and explain how you managed to get
your production finalised.
Task 5: End of Year Review [2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2]
Produce an end of year review looking at how you have worked across the year,
considering each stage of production, which productions have worked/not worked,
how you have managed your time, what skills you have developed, how you have
worked with others and how you organised your time, resources and equipment
throughout the year. You should then produce an action plan for Year 2 selecting 5 key
areas you wish to focus on to develop further.
7. Task 1: Illustrated Sector Guide [1.1]
Research a sector of the industry that you are interested in working in [e.g.
film production, TV, radio, graphic design, etc]. Use the information you find to
produce an illustrated guide to that sector. Include facts about employment,
skills needed, workforce information, etc.
8. What we want from you is research in to the part of the media industry that you are
most interested in. That could be films, magazines, video games, television,
journalism… whatever you are interested in.
Find out about that industry. What jobs roles are available? What skills do people
need to work in that industry? What level of education is needed? How diverse, or
not, is the industry?
We want some good facts and figures that you can take and then use in your
illustrated guide.
Write down the information that you find, and keep a record of where you found it.
It’s best to get lots of research, and then pick the most useful information from that.
9. When making your illustrated guide, think carefully about all the elements
involved.
A good guide will have:
• Concise information
• Consistent image style
• Clear, consistent typography
• A coherent colour scheme
All of these elements need to work together to create your guide.
12. Task 2: Practitioner Research File [1.1]
Within your chosen sector identify someone who is a notable practitioner and produce
a fact file about them. Research their journey to where they are now; look at
education, experience, skillset and look for insightful quotes about them and by them
to build a picture of who they are and how they work.
13. What we want from you is research a specific person that works in the part of the industry
you made your illustrated guide for. Focus on those involved in the production of media,
rather than people who just appear in it.
Find out as much as you can about them, to help you produce your fact file.
We want to know what their education was like, what experience they have and what skills
they have. Find quotes about them. Read about them. Get a good picture of who they are
and how they got to where they are.
Write down the information that you find, and keep a record of where you found it. It’s best
to get lots of research, and then pick the most useful information from that.
14. When making a fact file, think carefully about all the elements involved.
A good fact file will have:
• Concise and relevant information
• Quotes about the practitioner
• Information on their work and achievements
• Background on how they got in to the industry
• What insight you have taken from this that can help you in your
development?
This information can be presented with graphics, typography and a colour
scheme.
15. Notable Practitioner
Lee smith (film editor)
Been in the industry a long time. He started is time in the industry as a sound editor
before establishing himself as an editor.
He has worked on several (7) films that Christopher Nolan directed including:
• Batman Begins (2005),
• The Dark Knight (2008),
• Inception (2010),
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012),
• Interstellar (2014)
• Dunkirk (2017),
His most recent notable project is the war film “1917”.
- His first notable collaboration was in 1982 with American film director Peter Weir, for this film he was associate editor.
- He worked with Peter Weirs more frequent editor William A Anderson. In 1993 and 1998 he worked again with the same editor,
this time as a co-editor. - By 2003 he was the sole editor for the film “Master and Commander: the far side of the world”.
[He started editing sound before then moving up to associated editor, Co editor, and then “main” editor]
- His more recent edits are slightly dark, atmospheric films. None of them are particularly happy or aimed at young audience.
He has been nominated for several awards:
2004: Academy award - best film editor “Master and commander: far side of the world”.
2008: Academy award - best film editor “The dark night”.
2010: BAFTA award for best editing “The dark night” & “Inception”.
2010: American cinema editors award “Inception”.
In 2018 he received an academy award for his work on “Dunkirk”.
18. What are you currently doing to pursue a career in your chosen field?
I am hoping in the near future to build a portfolio of work.
During the portfolio building, I would also like to experiment with different editing
techniques and skills.
I am working on getting a job at the moment. I would like to use some of the money
earnt to invest in a laptop that can be used to practice my media skills.
19. What do you plan to do next in the pursuit of your chosen field?
My next steps are to progress my skills and knowledge of editing video in Adobe Premier
Pro.
I will look into spending time experimenting and learning techniques and features of the
software.
I am considering building up a portfolio of video, audio and photo I’ve edited myself. I can
then use this as a demo of what I can produce.
20. Select at least three potential University courses that would help you further your career
aims. You should state what the course is, which university it is run by, the entry
requirements and why you think it would help you.
Potential University courses
https://www.salford.ac.uk/cours
es/undergraduate/television-
and-radio-production
Television and Radio Production. Run by ‘The University of Salford’.
This course contains many optional modules that you as a student
have to pick between. This means I chose what do within the course,
which helps things stay interesting.
The course offers the chance to produce and edit video while learning
industry practices.
In addition to video production there are other modules that give an
insight into other areas of industry.
-This course would help me because it gives an idea about what
working in industry may be like. It also allows me to experiment with
other areas of broadcast media.
Requirements for entry:
104 – 112 ucas points. Also GCSEs I already have
21. https://www.salford.ac.uk/cours
es/undergraduate/film-
production
Film Production. Run by ‘The University of Salford’.
It focuses on the work that goes into making a film from start to finish.
This course would be beneficial to me as it focuses on producing video
from start to finish.
I can chose form optional modules in video and audio depending on
what interests me.
Entry requirement: 112 ucas points.
https://www.port.ac.uk/study/co
urses/ba-hons-television-
production#entry-requirements
Media Production. Run by ‘University of Hull’.
In the course you are taught the skills and techniques around film
making.
For me it would be beneficial because it would give chance for me to
improve my video editing skills while allowing me to gain industry tips.
The course would take me through the full creative process of making
a video.
Requirement for enrolment: 112 ucas points
Select at least three potential University courses that would help you further your career
aims. You should state what the course is, which university it is run by, the entry
requirements and why you think it would help you.
22. What type of work experience do you think you would need to help you in your future career? How might you
be able to find work experience placements? If you could pick anywhere to do work experience, where would it
be and why?
To work in the video editing side of the media industry I will need to gain
experience working with video.
In addition, I may also need to pick up on industry standard practices. I could do
this in multiple ways.
One of which is getting a job or job placement in industry.
Another way is self teaching using online resources to assist.
Although not my current plan, I could go to university and do a course about
video, and broadcast.
23. What specific skills do you need to develop? There should be a mix of industry specific skills and also personal
development points. When you identify these, come up with suggestions as to how you might make those
improvements.
• Industry Skills:
• Video editing skills improvement Practice editing video to improve. Edit video with the
aim of learning a specific technique.
• Audio Editing and music production skills improvement I would like to keep
experimenting with editing audio and creating it from scratch using programs such as Garage Band
and Logic Pro. The end result of experimenting with music production is that I can decide if its
something that actually interests me. To date I haven’t done that much of it.
• Personal skills:
• Time management & organisation break down projects so that I end up with smaller, more
manageable deadlines. I would like to be able to learn to work to deadlines as this is something that
is important in industry where you are providing for a client.
24. In 5 years time I will…
By 5 years time I don’t know what I want to do. I am currently thinking of going
into video, audio or broadcast.
I would like to be in employment of some form.
I would also like to have gained techniques and skills on the way to assist me.
Something I am considering is being self employed and editing video.
If I chose this route university doesn’t seem like something that interests me. I
may like to get a job in order to better myself before I try and work independently.
