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 am currently studying creative media; by doing this course I will further my
knowledge about creating different types of media. So far, I have learnt how to
create animations on photoshop, music and sound effects in beepbox and loads
more. I have also learnt how to export and upload different file formats to SlideShare
and then a blog or YouTube. By doing these things I can learn about new techniques
and ways to better and improve my work until I can make professional looking
projects, and since I want a career in something to do with computers and
creating advertisements or editing, this course is perfect for what I need and want to
learn.
18. What do you plan to do next in the pursuit of your chosen field?
Next, I think that I plan to look into various possible jobs and/or apprenticeships
which could help me get used to the workspace and atmosphere of a media-based
job, it could also help with preparing me and getting me used to working under
deadlines and a certain work standard. I also plan to get a small amount of work
experience in other types of jobs such as retail or cleaning just so I have more
knowledge around working with others etc. I could possibly look into any language or
psychology jobs because I could potentially learn another language and it could be
useful to know what a client would want and need in different areas and what
different types of people in different demographics would find useful.
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.
I went onto the Nottingham Trinity University website to find examples of courses
that I could do which would benefit me and my career (in this case I used
advertisement media as my job of choice). I found:
-Film and Television history
-Media Production
-Global studies and media
These are all very similar courses however I believe that each one has something that
I can use and/or will need, for example Film and Television History will be good as it
shows me how media has changed for the better or worse and why some things
needed to be changed. Media Production is useful because it shows me how all
things in media are made and all potential tricks for bettering work and promoting
yourself. And finally Global Studies and Media would be a good course to take as it
could show me how well each type of media does in each country and what is good
for promotion in each area. In order for someone to enrol in these courses they
would need a levels BBB-BCC or 120-104 tariff points. They could also enrol with a
BTECH extended diploma DMM-MMM.
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?
The work experience that would benefit me and my potential media career would
most likely be a technician/ assistant in ICT classes in a primary or high school, these
would be good as they help me develop an understanding of basic IT things such as
computers and iPad etc. It was also help me get used to fixing/ working with
computers when asked. Aside from work experience, I could also build a digital
portfolio, start a blog, start a podcast and make a showreel, these would all allow me
to present any existing skills I already have easily and efficiently to my employer.
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.
Some personal skills that would benefit me to develop are working in a team better,
bettering my confidence, public speaking/suggesting ideas etc. I could gain these
skills by trying to use them around college and socialising a bit more within classes
and at break times or whenever I go outside. Some industry specific skills that I
could benefit from developing are expanding my knowledge on computers in
general along side my media studies, I can experiment with computers and can also
research a bunch of random things to do with technology and handling
computers/ipads etc.
22. In 5 years time I will…
In 5 years time I plan to have found a job that I am happy with and enjoy, I hope that
it fit in with my schedule and is flexible to my lifestyle. If I still haven't found that in
five years, I will still be happy to have a rough idea of what area of computing I plan
to work in. I aim to work in a job that pays well and is something that I wont regret
and will fully enjoy, at the moment I am leaning more toa work from home job or a
night job as that would fit my lifestyle better, meaning that I would be more
productive. If I do work from home, I plan to have an office where I can work
properly, since my boyfriend also does this style of work with me he could also use
this space for his job at the time.
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.
