Unit 28 Corporate and Promotional Programming Production

Unit 28 Corporate and Promotional Programming Production.

A corporate film is a video enabling you to communicate and advertise a business to potential customers; the purpose a corporate film is that it is supposed to be precise and direct so it should range from about 5-15 minutes. The more precise the video is the longer you that the audience will stay engaged. By doing this it will keep the audience’s attention and that is exactly what you try to aim for when creating a corporate film.  In this essay I will be discussing the codes and conventions, current practices, legal issues and the ethical issues of a corporate film.

The corporate film I decided to analyse is a video that is promoting a new online book service ‘Bookimbo”.  The video promotes a service that you cannot buy on the shop floor; the purpose of bookimbo is so it can help people write and publish a book with all illustrations at an option. The video itself is very informative, and advertises it to potential customers who are passionate about creating stories to publish. As no one has really heard or seen Bookimbo advertised before, this is a promotional advertisement as well as instructional. The advertisement shows and informs the viewer what Bookimbo is and how to use it. It shows illustrations and sketches, which fits the film as a whole; this is because the video tells the viewer how creative you can be when creating your book using Bookimbo, and also with it being filmed by hand it shows how creative you can be when creating a book when using Bookimbo. The target audience for this online book service I would say is for creative writers and illustrators; In my opinion I don’t think that there is a specific age range on this promotional video, only those who are interested in writing a book. From the film I can see the website is easy to navigate so although there is no specific age group for this service, I would say it would be unsuitable for anyone under the age of 12 years old. When showcasing Bookimbo, the advertisement used simple drawn animation; simple illustrations are created whilst the narrator is informing the viewer what Bookimbo is all about. Whatever the narrator says, the sketches on screen match what he is saying. For example, at the beginning of the video the narrator’s first sentence is “We all love to share stories”, the illustration drawn on screen is a group of stickman talking round a fire. We know the stickmen are hypothetically speaking with the words drawn around them saying “Blah, Blah, Blah.” This is how we know as the viewer that they were “sharing stories”. The whole advertisement for Bookimbo goes from being an introduction to the website advertisement to then go further into detail. The promotional video explains more how to use it and is more instructive; as all this information is told in one minute and 40 seconds; I feel this promotional video for Bookimbo is very successful with an effective slogan to match it: ‘Tell your story, today.”

Codes and conventions

When creating a corporate film It is essential to know the basic codes and conventions. There are different types of codes and conventions and the most important subjects to reflect about are: the style of the video, the content, layout and format, the representation of social groups and the message that the film is giving off to the client/s. The style of the film is very important and plays an important part in the film you are making. Every corporate film made goes through a lot planning; when planning such a big project, you need to know how to style and layout your film. There are many types of corporate films so researching the different styles would be crucial as you want your video to match your criteria and brief. For example if the client brief stated that thy wanted to promote, educate and inform parents of a school and what their school has to offer, it is up to the production team to make sure that everything is met to the client brief. The content the layout, and the format of a corporate film also needs to be thought thoroughly before starting a corporate film. As a production team, there should be a client brief from the customer requesting what they want in the film; this will include the content and a summary of what they want to be included in the video, timings, types of shots and the length are usually mentioned in the client brief.  Layout is important as if the client doesn’t like it then the end product won’t be satisfying to the customer. However if on an odd occasion that some of the most important parts are not stated or asked for then it is up to the production manager or member of the team to ask questions to whoever is in charge about what that they actually want. The reason for this is because after film is complete with all edits cut in and there is something missing from it, the client will not be to happy about it and is likely not to recommend you to other people; it is crucial to know all the information you can possibly get before making a corporate film. This is why codes and conventions are important to know as when creating a film for a client, the project has to be finished ideally before the deadline, and to make sure that the overall message has come across clearly throughout the whole video. If the client is happy and feels that you have done this professionally then this would have been a success.

Current Practices

Techniques used to promote a corporate film can be showcased in many different ways. The most popular software used is the current webpage YouTube. This format allows you to upload any video onto the website and anyone can view it depending on the privacy setting set, however if the video is created for promotional purposes, it is very unlikely that the video won’t be available. The advantages with this is that anyone can access it, this means more viewers which means more clients. Whereas with using other techniques you may not get as many people as you would of liked. Other techniques used to transfer a film is either a hard drive, data stick or a dvd format. The advantages of using any of these is that it stays confidential and you can showcase it to customers that you want, so it isn’t as wider audience but you can advertise to how bigger audience you want; whether that being in a classroom, conference room or assembly hall, the advantage of this is that you get too choose who the film is being shown too, Youtube doesn’t give that option.

In order to make a successful film the video needs to run smooth; this all comes down to the way you edit it. A number of interviews should be used throughout the duration of a corporate video; cut away’s are used to break this up. For example, whilst interviewing an individual, when it comes to editing you can use the sound footage from this and use on top of another video, usually a cut away or a still. The most important thing to remember when creating a corporate film and when editing and filming is if the message is getting across? If this is shown clearly and the audience recognizes the reason behind the whole purpose of the video, then the video has been successful. 

Legal issues

When producing a corporate film you have to take an account of the legal issues you have to face. Laws and regulations are there for protection; it is crucial that all legal issues are followed when creating any film. An example of this would be that when hiring actors, extras or even if your interviewing a person, it is crucial that they sign actor release forms. The purpose of this is so that the company has a copy of their signature stating they agree with being showcased on TV; once they have signed an agreement the company then have permission to showcase them on television. If for some reason an actor release form isn’t signed, the company could be sewed for exposing an individual without their permission and could cause the whole production a lot of problems or even cause it to shut down. The privacy of an individual is taken as a precaution in every production.

In every production there is always something to worry about, whether that being anyone being unreliable to a bunch of paperwork going missing. One important thing that has to be thought about in every production is to avoid copyright.  Copyright is a legal write created by the law that enables a creator of an original work, rights to its use of distribution for a certain amount of time, to film, print and publish etc. If you were going to make a corporate film and you use music from a particular artist, you would have to state this in the end credits along with the logo (Small c). This is to show that you have had a legal right to use this particular song with the owner’s permission.

Newspapers, magazines and online articles always find stories about citizens or celebrities and make false accusations. This is called a Libel statement, Libel is a published false statement created to destroy or ruin a persons reputation, these are usually found in any newspaper in the country or magazine and designed in a way that if it is read, respect for a certain individual goes, depending on the story or accusation that has been made.

Ethical Issues 

No company or production ever discriminates someone on his or her gender, religion or race. Ethical issues are just as important as the legal issues and every company has to ensure that nothing offensive will be on camera. If anyone is discriminated on camera then the film could be corrupted; this is why scriptwriters and production managers have to be careful about what is shown.

Megan Duffield

Pre-production Techniques for the Creative Media Industries

Pre-production Techniques for the Creative Media Industries

Understand requirement for a specific media production

Type of production 

TV factual has specific needs as to compare to other productions; these types of programmes are created to inform, entertain and educate whatever target audience a particular factual is made for. An example of an entertaining factual would be David Attenborough - Blue Planet; as well as this being entertaining to the viewers it is also an observational documentary. This is because David Attenborough is well known for observing animals in the wild, it is also aimed at all audiences as it is appropriate to all ages. He is well known for observing different animals and the way they live, he creates these documentaries to expose to the audience what happens in the outside world. The documentary I am going to create is going to be an expository documentary; although my documentary will not be to expose wildlife, I am going to make a factual about a young boy that was attacked by a dog, Im going to film it going to be about him, his journey and when he got attacked. I am going to make this because I am going to try and make it aware to people how severe these attacks can get, and by making this will hopefully help the audience to understand the dangers of this happening to them or someone they know and expose how threatening these attacks really are.

Finance

There will be no funding needed in order to create my documentary; I am making my TV factual based on a project assignment I have been given therefore there will be no funding needed. A major part of making a TV factual piece is the process of generating funds from various sources to get it done. For example, ITV get sponsors from advertisements in order to fund their factual, but BBC on the other hand get their funding’s from a TV license. Filming a documentary for television will cost money to produce. For example some of the things that will be needed in order to make one would be: equipment. This will include microphones, lighting gear, accessories for your camera; for example for when the weather isn’t particular right or if you need different lenses, (e.g. protective rain coat, wide angle lens), travel costs, production crewe, music rights, location, etc. The paper work needed for finances whilst creating a factual programme would be check lists and budget sheets. This is to make sure that all financing is organized properly and know exactly how much money you have spent creating a TV factual piece.

Time

When making a TV factual piece, sticking to the deadline and keeping things organized are the most important things to stick too, to avoid spending more money when it is not needed. When using your funds to rent a piece of equipment for example a certain camera, you have to make sure you want to film what you need with that camera before the deadline; this saves money and gives you a bit more time to re film anything that you don’t like. It is very important to keep the people you are filming happy, and keeping this up means getting everything done on time, making sure that all paperwork is correct and professional. By getting the whole production done on time means there will be no extra costs needed to spent, and you will have made everyone in the production team happy and also you will not have to pay anything extra out.

Facilities

When filming a documentary, you have to be aware of the facilities you are using no matter what type of documentary you are creating. My documentary “Louis Story” is going to be about a young victim of a boy when he was attacked by a dog; the facilities I will be using are my house and the perimeter around it. There will be no costs or funding in the making of my documentary. Usually when productions decide to create a TV factual they will go to facility houses to get all their equipment; for example equipment might include cameras, green screens, tripods, multi cameras, lighting and microphones. As I am making my documentary based on an assignment from college I will use all my facilities from the college itself. If any equipment wasn’t available for me use I would have to wait for it on a waiting list or go to a facility house myself to then get the equipment that I need; which is what would happen when making a documentary to go on television.

Materials

For my factual piece I will use images of the victim from the Internet and also some that were taken through the whole time he was in hospital. Some of these images included him when he was in hospital after he was attacked and also graphic pictures of his wounds taken whilst in the ambulance. To find some of these images, I will not need the internet to find them, however some of the images I am going to use in my factual are from News websites where he had been in articles and how severe the attack as it was enough to make a story in every newspaper in the country. For audio materials I will use a H2 recorder, as well as the camera to get a better sound. I am going to get Louis to talk into the H2 recorder, talking about his scars and what the dog did to him. I think that by getting him to talk into a H2 recorder and showing the images on screen at the same time, I would use this as a voice over to make it more personal and dramatic. Also throughout the documentary I am just going to only use Louis voice, and my voice isn’t going to be used that much, the majority will be just Louis talking about journey throughout his experience of his time being attacked and his time in hospital and also what it was like when he got home; I think with just Louis speaking throughout the whole duration of the film; It would be much more personal and much more emotional to watch.

Personnel

From directors to producers, to Volunteers, there are many different people that make up a production team in personnel. Throughout the duration of the making of a TV factual there are a number of different people all there to do different jobs, from editing to directing, and everyone in-between. In every production team everyone is there to give a helping hand, no matter if one person is hired to one job and one job only, everybody is there for one reason, to help create a successful documentary. Depending on the length of the documentary will depend on who you need in order to make it. For example if you was to make a factual that was ten minutes long you will need less people in your production team rather than if you was to make one that was one hour long you will need a lot more people to help make the documentary a successful one to put on TV; this means hiring more people to help out with the making of the film and also ones that are sure do a good job.

Contributors

In my TV factual piece I am going to use one interviewee throughout the whole documentary. I am going to interview a victim of a dog attack, as I don’t need any extra people while filming my documentary. By doing this, I will make my film much more personal as the whole film is just about him, how he went through it and how he coped.  When keeping account of contributors in real, professional factual pieces, paperwork is needed to account how many people are actually in the film you are creating; these include actor release forms. Actor release forms have the name of the contributor, their address and a signature to certify they took part in the film. In real life situations, the producer will look for contributors with contacts numbers and email addresses to ask if they want to take part. As I am making a film for an assignment I got at college, I will need to fill out an actor release form for the victim but as Im not needing anymore people in my film, I will need contact numbers to get hold of anyone in particular.

Codes of practice and Regulations

In order to obey the codes of practice and regulations you need to follow certain rules and regulations; most of which is just basic common sense. For example, if a programme is being shown before 21:00pm, any swearing or bad language has to be blurred and censored on screen. Another example is that in order to make a good programme means everyone in the production team has to be professional. This includes everyone you talk too or interview has to act in a professional manner. In my film, in order to stay professional I will talk to the victim of the dog attack in a professional way and ask the right questions because the interviewee is a young boy, and I have to be carful what I ask with out being it being to emotional, but emotional enough to make a good film. However there are different rules and regulations in every television production and have to be followed in order to avoid the documentary being cancelled. This is so when making a factual piece, no one will get into trouble. To make sure this doesn’t happen one of the main things to worry about whilst creating a documentary is to avoid copy write. In order to this, release forms are there so you can fill them to use music that other artists have either written are sung so you can use them in your film; this is what I did to include music in my factual piece. 

My Documentary

Unit 27.1/Filming

When filming a news report, the most important things you have to include is: Studio news readers, they have to be smart, dress formally and speak professionally. Field reporters, a mode of address, Actuality footage and interviewing witnesses. On BBC News, the main presenter has to make sure that he/she presents properly. For example, as well speaking live on air, they have to make sure they do following: their posture should always be straight, for example the way they present to the camera always has to be formal; to sit up straight and not to slouch. Also the presenter always has to speak clearly so we(the viewers) can understand what he says. As well as the presenter being able to present formally and professionally

Unit 27/Actor Release Form

This is an Actors Release Form, after i interviewed my brother i asked to him to sign this for proof that i interviewed him and to show that he agreed to to interview.

Unit 27/Call Sheet

A call sheet is a sheet of paper created by a directer that is issued to a cast and crew to inform them of where and when they should report one particular day of filming. However i didn't have a cast or crew when the documentary, it was just me and my brother; so not all of the call sheet is filled because of this reason. 

Unit 27/Risk Assesment

This is the risk assessment for where i filmed Louis. There were risk assessments but not a lot; we managed to sort the spacing as i filmed in a room without no combined spaces. The animals in the house wernt in the way so this wasnt a major problem.

Evaluation for my documentary

Evaluation

It took a while to edit in Final Cut Express as it was my first time using it; however i got the hang of it really easily. First of all i recorded the interview of my brother and then i filmed the cut aways due to what he said his interests were. For example, Louis' hobbies and interest are scootering, he loves going out to skate parks and on his scooter with friends. I filmed louis on his scooter and added them into final cut later on. At first i didn't have enough cut aways for the documentary so i went out the following day to film him scootering again.  I got shots of him scootering at a skate park, outside my house and also in town. I originally wanted to interview my brother, my mum and my friend who owns a dog; however i changed my mind as i though by doing just the one interview would make my documentary a bit more personal and emotional.

When interviewing louis i asked him a lot of questions about the dog attack and how it affected his life during and after the incident. He mentioned what happened on the day and what happened during his time in hospital. What Louis didn't mention was the fact that a man actually saved Louis from the attack  and saved Louis' life. I did some research on the internet on all the articles that Louis was in and fortunately found a quote from the man himself. I put this into my documentary because i felt like i needed to mention him at some point in my film, which is why i put this quote into my documentary.

After putting the quote into my documentary and mentioning Stuart (The man who saved Louis), i then put in some of the images from Louis' dog attack. The first image is an picture of Louis right leg; the dog bit into his left leg. Whilst Louis was in hospital both his legs and both of his arms were bandaged up before he could actually go into theatre.The third image was where the dog bit him on his arm; Although the middle picture looked worse, his arm was affected the most. He was in hospital for six days and 3 of them he is in surgery. He had plastic surgery on his right leg which is the second image. it took the doctors a while to figure out how to fix up his wounds and because they wouldn't stop bleeding, he had to wait a day or two to actually go into theatre. I felt like i needed to add this into my documentary because they were so bad that people need to know how severe the accident actually was.

After i edited my documentary in Final Cut Express, I uploaded it to youtube, The image on the right tells you the title of the documentary and a description/summary of what it is all about and what you can expect in the film. This was last updated on the 19th of June and it shows how many people have viewed it. I have chosen the title 'Why dogs should be licensed" because at the end of the whole film louis explains that if dogs were licensed it would help to reduce severe dog attacks, and maybe if dogs were licensed louis may have not been attacked; however, even though louis was almost killed during this time, i feel i have created an exceptional documentary about him and made sure that when people watch they will all agree with i think and what listen to Louis story and the message behind it.

After editing my documentary i then had to create a credits to put on the end of my documentary. The reason why all documentaries and any film should have a credits is to tell the audience that that certain programme or film has ended. The credits state who edited and filmed, who directed and produced it, and also to say a special thank you to louis who let me film. I also created my own logo called "A Creative Media Production"; I made this to make the documetry professional and look as if as it has been made by and actual company. I called it this because my course is called "BTEC Level 3 Creative Media Production" and i felt like it was the most suitable title to call a production.

My plan was to interview two other people about the whole event and i also did research into documentrys that have rea-anctments. I chose not to this because i felt like if i filmed Louis doing what he loves i could use them as cut aways; i also feel as now the documentary is a bit more personal with re-anctements and with just the one interview of Louis.

Research/Paranormal Witness

Paranormal Witness is a series of documentaries that are about supernatural experiences; The actual people that have experienced these events are interviewed whilst the re enactment of the scene is being played over the persons voice. The documentary i watched was called "The Curse of Lonergan Farm"; It was about a group of friends that were around 12-13 year olds that trespassed an old abandoned farm. After trespassing they heard s strange noises coming from an old gate; A farmer that was known to be dead for 50 years suddenly chased the young boys through the farm and out the fuel then he disappeared, and while the re enactment was being played, shots of the men narrating the story now were being filmed as well as the re enactment.

I am using the same technique as this in the documentary i am going to film and edit. The documentry is going to be about my brother and when he was attacked by a dog. My brother (Louis) will be narrating the story as a reanctment of the attack is being played at the same time. I will be interviewing my mum and my brother and ask them very similar questions, however i know i will get two very different answers as on them actually experienced it as another is just a witness. I will be asking Louis what the whole experience was like, what it was like in hospital for the amount of time he was there and how he coped with the whole situation. I will be asking my mum what it was like to to be in hospital with louis for so long, what affect it had on the family and she coped with the situation.

Images

These are just a couple of images rom the the attack; the first picture is an image of louis's leg. During his time in hospital, louis had to have 3 operations to clean and disinfect his wound, as well as try to stitch it up. The stitches he had were dissolvable stitches so they just went on their own. However everywhere else were just normal stitches so they had to be taken out. He still has a huge scar round his leg which will never go away.

The second image is a picture of louis arm; although this wound doesent look as bad as the first picture of his leg, it was in fact worse than the first picture. The wound went straight through his arm near enough to other side. I have used both images and more in my documentary to show people how severe the attack really was.

Newspapers

The articles are borther appeared in with his story are: The Sun, Manchester Evening News. Daily Star and Daily Express.

Filming an interview

When filming my documentary I made sure I followed these rules to make my interview look good:

Camera must always be on the person your interviewing, however make sure they are not looking at the camera; that they are looking at the interviewer.

All the power is down to the interviewer

The interview has to feel relaxed

Make sure questions are relevant to the subject

Makes sure interviewer looks cosy/relaxed 

Interviews can get emotional; to the point where the interviewer might leave

Any good interviewer has to build

Research

Research

Just some of the news websites that the story was on; He was also on Granada and BBC news as well in early januray 2013.

Daily Mirror

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Granada News

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The Times

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Manchester Evening News

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Daily Star

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BBC News

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Unit 27.1/Format/Target Audience/Concept

Ideas for My documentary

Format

The format for my documentary is going to be an expository documentary. Expository documentaries are used to expose a person or topic; in this documentary, i am going to create a documentary about                                                                                                                                                 dog attacks as i have done all my research for it, and i can interview my brother who was attacked last year and my mum who witnessed it all.

Target audience 

the target audience would be anyone over the age of 15. I think this because i do not think anyone younger than this would have interest in a documentary about dog attacks and how it can affect people for the rest of their lives; i also think that anyone younger wouldn't understand the purpose of making the documentary.  Even though my brother is only 13 years old, and the target audience is targets for young adults aged 15 or over; he understands himself how dog attacks can potentially affect peoples lives because the dog attack has affected him in so many ways.

Concept
I have chosen to this idea because i have done all my research for this in my previous unit. The subject is quite serious, My brother was attacked in late December 2012; He was in hospital till early January 2013 and the attack was quite serious.The doctors said he was lucky to have survied it and louis has scars to proove it. Another reason why im doing this is to tell people tokeep their dogs under control, and i feel that by making every dog have a licesnse is right, and i believe it will reduct he risk of dog attacks.
I will ask all my interviewees the same question, "Do you think if all dogs were licensed, it will reduce the risk of children louis's age at the time or even younger being attacked?". Hopefully i will get response i am looking for, as well as a detailed explanation. 

Unit 27/Map/image

This is the area where my brother was attacked by the dog, the house on the right (brown windows and doors) is the home of where the dog lived, the corner across the road from the hosue was where he was attacked.

Unit 27/Recces

This is my recce information. It shows where ill be shooting, wether or not the lighting is going to be a problem, also with the power. There should be no problems whilst interviewing as i am interviewing inside, with easy access to the majority of the equipment i will use on the day.

Unit 27/Production Schedule

This is my production Schedule, i the assignment was set on the 8th May 2014; the deadline is on the 6th June. I will be filming and editing in between these times.

..

Story

This is the boy I will be interviewing for my documentary,  also my brother. Both his legs and his arms were bitten and also his face. He was in hospital for 6 days and needed 3 operations including plastic surgery on his right leg. Louis was very lucky to survive as to get away from the dog that attacked him, he had to climb on top of a car but the dog didn't stop as it dragged him down. It had a massive effect on him as it took him 8 months to finally start getting back on his feet. 

The dog that attacked him was a pit bull and was a family dog that lived around the corner from my house. It also had an affect on the family as well as Louis him self. My mum almost lost her job due to the amount of time she had to take off work and look after Louis. This meant I had to stay away for a week as my mum couldn't take care of us or afford to feed the family. Even-though it was very hard for my mum at the time she has agreed to be interviewed and talk about the past events and how she felt.

As much as an effect the attack had on Louis, it also caused many problems in the family, which is why I feel a new law should be put in to license all dogs.

Interview Questions/Louis

What happened on the day of the dog attack; how and why did the dog attack you?

Do you feel as if the attack wasn't your fault?

Do you speak to the owner of the dog and her teen child, or did you before?

Do you feel as if the the owners child could of done more to stop the the attack?

What was the experience like in hospital, did anyone important visit?

How do you feel your family helped with the situation?

Do you remember what it was like to stay in hospital for the amount of time you was there, what was your experience like?

Did the attack as a whole affect you after coming out of hospital?

- How did you over come your fears?

And finally, if all dogs were licensed, do you think it would help reduce the risk of children your age getting attacked by dangerous dogs?

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The questionnaires I design will be for different people, this questionnaire is what i will ask my brother that was attacked by a dog himself earlier this year.

Q1 - First of all do you feel comfortable about talking about the dog attack?


Q3 - What is your opinion about having a dog in a family home, would you ever like to have a dog at home?


Q2 - Do you think all dogs are dangerous?

        What is your reason?

Q5 - To bring the risk of a dog attack from happening to another child like you, do you think all dogs should be licensed, do you think you would feel safer if dogs were checked over by the police?

Q5 - When dog attacks happen, the majority of dogs target young children your age. Do you think the reason behind dog attacks is by how the dog has been brought up by the owner?

Q6 - If this new law came in the future, would you feel safer around dogs?