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.
17. What are you currently doing to pursue a career in your chosen field?
I have recently started an online portfolio using Behance. I use this to post and publish my work
using Adobe After Effects. I have been using After Effects for around 1 year now and I have been
editing a video game called Rocket League. I chose to edit this game as I had been playing it for
around 4 years prior to editing it and new my way around the replay system. This allowed me to
practice both my visual effects and cinematography as it requires you to gather your own cinematic
footage. As I've been using After Effects for round a year now, I have a pretty good understanding o
the software and I am now able to branch out to other types of editing If I wanted to. For example, I
tried content editing for a short while during the summer holidays which was a completely new
style of editing for me. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this too much as it felt really slow, and I had no
creative freedom as it was just pre-recorded footage. It has been very enjoyable for me and it has
also been rewarding to see the progress and improvements I have made to my work over the last
year.
18. What do you plan to do next in the pursuit of your chosen field?
I want to start using 3D software such as Blender and Unreal Engine to start creating 3D footage of
Rocket League. This means that I would be staying with a familiar game but also experimenting with
something new and much closer to that of what is used in industry standards in Visual Effects. This
means I would be able to create my own digital scenes to enhance my work even further. This would
be really beneficial to me as digital environments are made in all movies currently as it allows visual
effects artists to create structural damage in their simulations rather than in the real world. If I can use
this software comfortably, I will be able to take this knowledge into University and expand upon the
knowledge and also be able to use the industry standard software such as Nuke and Houdini to create
even more realistic digital environments.
19. 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.
Visual Effects, BA (Hons), Teesside, Middlesbrough
-Teesside University in Middlesbrough
-96-112 points and portfolio entry requirements
-Ranked 4th in the UK and 15th in the world in the in the Animation Career Review International Animation School Rankings 2021. Uses
industry standard software and goes over fundamentals of VFX. Has expert speakers and option workplace practice year.
BA (Hons) Visual Effects (with Foundation Year option), Bournemouth University
-Bournemouth University
-112 - 128 UCAS tariff points including a minimum of 2 A-levels or equivalent, including 32 points in one required subject. +Portfolio
-One of the best Visual Effects Universities in the Country. Graduate career-ready with 90% of graduates in employment within 15
months of graduation. Uses industry software such as Maya and Nuke. Has foundation year if you don’t meet entry requirements.
Visual Effects BSc (Hons), De Montfort University Leicester
-De Montfort University In Leicester
-104 UCAS tariff points.
-Industry-standard software such as 3ds Max, Maya, Nuke, After Effects. Hands on experience.
20. 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?
Work experience within a visual effects house would go extremely far in helping me to find work
placements in the future. Most Visual Effects courses at Universities offer work experience to et some
hands-on experience within the industry to try make the process of transitioning from university into the
work place that bit easier. I would love to get experience working in a big visual effects hose such as ILM,
Weta Digital, Scanline VFX as they're industry leading visual effects houses but that is probably unlikely.
21. 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 will need to develop my understanding of as many types of visual effects industry standard software such
as Maya, Mudbox and Nuke to increase my chances of getting into the universities I want to go to as well
as increasing my chances of finding work. I will also need to work on communication and teamwork skills
as in the industry I would be working in a team to create the final product.
22. In 5 years time I will…
In 5 years time I hope to have successfully completed university to the best of my ability and to have work
experience in the industry and possibly a job within the visual effects industry. However, if this isn’t the
case, I hope I'm still trying to better myself and my abilities within the industry standard software and still
looking to et into the industry.
24. 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.
26. 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.
