A powerpoint slideshow for York College

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.

6. Illustrated Sector Guide

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.

10. Film production – pre-production
• Screenwriter - produces that script, either from an original idea or by adapting an
existing text. The screenwriting process often carries over into production when the
director requests rewrites on set.
• Executive producer - sources and secures the financing for a film production, either
through an independent financing company, through a studio, or by financing it
themselves. Act as the liaison between the film’s financiers and the producers who
ultimately run production and oversee postproduction.
• Film director - involved in each of the three stages of filmmaking and shepherds the
entire creative process. Assembles the core production crew, creates a vision for the
film, makes casting choices, directs actors, and oversees all departments, and gives
notes on the edit in postproduction.
• Casting director – helps the director assemble the cast.
• Line producer - works in both preproduction and production. In charge of the
physical execution of a film, from location scouting to keeping the production
budget, to handling the logistics of daily catering for crew members. Their work
begins long before filming starts.
• Location manager - secure filming locations and obtain necessary permits.

11. Film production – mid-production
• Production manager - works under the line producer and oversees all
aspects of physical production.
• Production designer - reports directly to the film's director and oversees
all visual design elements of a film, from set design to costumes to hair
and makeup to props.
• Art director + Set designer – Work with the production designer to produce the
film’s visual representation.
• Costume designer – create appropriate costumes for the actors. Also
works with Makeup artist and Hairstylist to complete character
representation.
• Production sound mixer – supervises sound recording on the set.
• Stunt coordinator – works to execute stunts safely and convincingly.
• Special effects coordinator – help ensure that shots are set up to allow
for special effects to be added in post-production.

12. Film production – post-production
• Post-production supervisor – functions as a producer for post-production
tasks.
• Visual quality jobs:
• Editor – takes raw footage and edits to form a coherent film, work closely with directors to
produce the product.
• Colourist – performs colour correction to give the film a professional, artistic veneer.
• Visual effects producer – in charge of adding visual effects in post.
• Sound quality jobs:
• Sound designer – add sound effects and atmospheric sounds.
• Dialogue editor – assembles all the dialogue captured on set, may oversee rerecordings of
some lines.
• Composer – create an original score for the movie, one of the last jobs done for the
creation of a movie.
• Music supervisor – in charge of getting rights to existing recordings for a film.
• Music editor – works for the composer to synch and edit the music.
• Sound editor – combine all sources of audio – dialogue, music and sound effects – into
one multi-channel audio track for the final film.

13. Practitioner Research

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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
This information can be presented with graphics, typography and a colour
scheme.

17. George Lucas

18. Overview
• Born 14th May 1944, George Lucas is a film director, producer and
screenwriter since the beginnings of his career in the 1960s.
• Lucas is best known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones
film franchises, as well as founding Lucasfilm, where he acted as
chairman before the company’s sale to the Walt Disney Company
in 2012.
• He had also founded the private film company American Zoetrope
alongside fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, which produced
The Godfather trilogy as well as two of Lucas’s early works, THX
1138 and American Graffiti.
• He is currently semi-retired, though continuing to have
background involvement with the Star Wars sequel trilogy and
The Mandalorian streaming series. He is said to partake as
executive producer of the 5th Indiana Jones film set for 2022.

19. Education
• Before his introduction to filmmaking, Lucas had a major interest
in a racing career until a near fatal car crash at 18 years old left
him suffering with his lungs bruised from severe haemorrhaging.
• He began using an 8mm camera at college to film car races, and
became interested in Canyon Cinemas through his friend John
Plummer. He also met with another race enthusiast Haksell
Wexler, who would go on to work with Lucas as a
cinematographer.
• Lucas transferred to the University of Southern California School
of Cinematic Arts to focus on filmmaking. He was classmates with
Randal Kleiser (Grease) and Steven Spielberg among others. He
was mostly influenced by the Filmic Expression course, which was
focused on non-narrative elements of film such as light,
movement, space and time.

20. Employment – Part 1
• Having been exempted from military service in Vietnam due to diabetes, in 1967 he worked with
Verna Fields in teaching US Navy students being taught documentary cinematography. He
directed the short film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which won a first prize at the 1967-
68 Student Film Festival. He was awarded a student scholarship by Warner Bros. to observe and
work on the making of a film of his choosing. He chose Finian's Rainbow, directed by Francis Ford
Coppola, revered among film school students of the time as a cinema graduate who had "made
it" in Hollywood.
• He and Coppola would go on to co-found American Zoetrope, a private film studio kept away
from the oppressive control of the Hollywood studio system. When his first full feature length
film THX 1138 (1971) didn’t succeed, Lucas created his own studio called Lucasfilm and directed
American Graffiti (produced by Coppola) in 1973, which received critical and financial success,
making over $200 million in Box Office and home video sales, and an Academy Award
nomination for Best Picture.
• His vision of Star Wars came about as he tried to adapt adventure serial Flash Gordon, but was
unable to obtain the rights for the characters. Star Wars was originally turned down by all, but
Alan Ladd Jr. of 20th Century Fox struck a production and distribution deal for the film after the
company’s financial flops. Despite overrunning on many deadlines and Lucas fearing a heart
attack at one point, 1977’s Star Wars (now referred to as A New Hope) became the highest-
grossing film ever for its time - $775.5 million (which would be $3.04 billion adjusted for
inflation).

21. Employment – Part 2
• Lucas negotiated with Fox for the ownership of licencing and merchandise as well as the
arrangements for sequels, which had earned Lucasfilm millions of dollars
• For the sequels Lucas took a back seat from directing and instead focused on the Producer role
for The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return Of The Jedi (1983), both of which received mass
critical and financial appraisal. He would also produce the Indiana Jones films throughout his
break from directing – Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), Temple Of Doom (1984) and The Last
Crusade (1989).
• Lucas’s return to film directing would come in the late 1990s, with the Star Wars prequel films –
The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack Of The Clones (2002) and Revenge Of The Sith (2005) – the
final of which would be his last directing credit to date.
• In 2012 he announced his retirement from producing large blockbuster films and decided to
refocus his career on smaller, independently budgeted films, though he would work as a creative
consultant for the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015-2019). Later that year, Lucasfilm was acquired
by The Walt Disney Company, with Lucas becoming Disney’s second largest single shareholder
(after the estate of Steve Jobs)

22. Notable works
As Director:
• 4 Star Wars films – Episodes I-IV
• American Graffiti (1973)
As Producer:
• Star Wars Episodes I-VI
• 4 Indiana Jones films

23. Quotes
• “You simply have to put one foot in front of the
other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow
right ahead.”
• “Working hard is very important. You’re not going
to get anywhere without working extremely hard.”
• “The story being told in Star Wars is a classic one.
Every few hundred years, the story is retold
because we have a tendency to do the same things
over and over again. Power corrupts and when
you’re in charge you start doing things that you
think are right, but they’re actually not.”

24. How he links to me
• Apart from being a personal fan of his work on Star
Wars and liking the Indiana Jones films a lot, I am
very intrigued in his body of work and creative
mindset regarding the Star Wars lore. Narratively
speaking, I find it to be a long tale of war, family
and ultimately power, which I tend to find
interesting anyway. Additionally I have lots of
respect for his work considering the health issues
he has been through in order to get projects done
and films finished, which inspires me to believe
that with true dedication and enough hard work
and effort, anything can be achieved.

25. 5 Year Plan.

26. What are you currently doing to pursue a career in your chosen field?
I have been doing media-based studies for the last 4 years, through GCSE and A-level Media
Studies. I decided to study Creative Media here at York College as I wanted to enhance my skills
with numerous editing software such as Photoshop for photo editing and more particularly
Premiere Pro for video editing. I also thought that the Media Studies I did from Years 10 to 13
was much more general as it focused more on Media Literacy and the increasing influence of
media throughout history. I felt Creative Media was a much better subject to do in order find my
specific niche (or branch) of media that was slightly lacking in my previous years.

27. What do you plan to do next in the pursuit of your chosen field?
I do hope to continue using the software I currently use, possibly venturing further into creating
original content on YouTube or other forms of social media that gives benefit to content
creation. I’d also like to look towards potential University courses that work well with creative
media or just the general creative path I’d like to go down.

28. 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.
University of Salford – Film Production, 3 year course, requires A-level – B, B, C or A,
B, B, I’ve been recommended to go to Salford to study in creative media in the past.
Warwick University – Media and creative industries, 3 year full-time course, requires
A-level – A, B, B
University of Huddersfield – Creative Media and Production, 3 year full-time course
(4 years including placement), requires A-level – B, B, C, is a viable nearby option
from York.

29. 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?
I feel that working within the media in general would be a beneficial starting point for me and
my career. I am aware of possible work experience opportunities at the BBC, including BBC
Radio York and in MediaCityUK Salford, where ITV and other well-known UK media giants also
have opportunities.

30. 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.
I would like to improve my skills regarding editing, whether it be for photo editing or video
editing, which would require learning, continued practice and continued personal projects on
software such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Also watching tutorials and viewing already
existing works such as films and artwork would also help me to learn.
Personally, I would like to improve my attitude towards doing projects and motivating myself to
doing them. This kind of mental skill would require me to avoid distracting myself within a
working environment for a start.

31. In 5 years time I will…
In 5 years, time I will hopefully have more than just the 2 videos uploaded onto my YouTube
channel (both were made about 4 years ago too), and I hope for those quality of videos to be to
the liking of an audience at the very least. I think my niche towards a YouTube channel would be
more towards the narrative ideas and plots of video games, particularly Sonic The Hedgehog
because I’ve been a fan of that series for a very long time and I believe it is still a gaming series
worth talking about to this very day and even in 5 years.
I will hope to have better knowledge of how to work with a camera as well as editing photos
and videos alike. This knowledge may alternatively lead on to a career as a cameraperson of
somewhat. I do like to think that I have numerous options out there for me to accomplish in the
future.

32. Music Video Process Log

33. 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.
There is a specific pro forma that you will use for this as part of your music video
production. Ensure that is completed with your Music Video project, to complete this
task.

34. End of Year Review

35. 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.
Complete the following slides to review your year. You can add images if you want to.
You can get screenshots from any part of your previous projects to support your work
on this.

36. Which productions have worked/not worked?

37. How you have managed your time?

38. What skills you have developed?

39. How you have worked with others?

40. How you organised your time, resources and equipment
throughout the year?

41. Produce an action plan for Year 2 selecting 5 key areas you wish
to focus on to develop further.
Area to work on Actions to take