Unit 1: Task 2
- Unit 1: Task 2
- Be able to prepare pre-production documentation for a specific media production
- In this task, I will cover some of the main procedures and documentation I had to focus on whilst in the pre-production process in order to create my concept art for a 2D side-scroller game.
- Procedure: identify finance available; identify personnel needed; identify personnel available; identify resources needed; identify resources available; prepare budget; contract personnel; book resources; prepare schedules; identify health and safety implications; identify legal implications; identify risks to project
When engaging in the pre-production phase to create my 2D side-scroller, I had to go through a very important procedure in order to ensure I had everything I needed to begin working quickly and to high standards. In order to do this, I first had to consider things such as how I was going to finance my production, what resources and personnel I would need and schedules.
I needed to acquire a sketchbook and some drawing resources such as pencils and a rubber to begin the production of my concept art. In order to obtain these resources, I had to first ensure I had the funding in place - which I didn't. I later consulted my mother who agreed to help fund me so that I could purchase the sketchbook and drawing resources. I was then able to purchase these resources and was ready to start sketching ideas. However, I did also have some other resources that I would later use available. For example, I already had a USB that I could use to back up all of my work and a computer that I could use to later digitalise my concept art.
As I only had to create concept art for a 2D side-scroller I didn't need any personnel other than myself , however, if I were in a professional environment working on a larger project it may be useful to have a larger group of people working on the concept art as it may speed up the overall production and allows for different ideas to be shared and reviewed.
This image gives an example of the roles of many of the personnel you may expect to find working on a larger project such as a AAA game.
I also had to consider schedules when creating my concept art. In particular, it was important to me to have set deadlines for different parts of my concept art set out so that I could work toward different objectives. In order to do this, I had to ensure that on the different days I would come into school I had already planned what part of my concept art I was working on.
I also had to identify legal implications as part of my procedure. This meant that I had to do extensive research into things like copyright laws and intellectual property infringement and how violating these laws may get me into serious legal trouble. This was useful as it meant I was aware of what I could and couldn't do within the process of creating my concept art without acquiring any legal implications.
You can visit this website to gain a deeper insight into what copyright laws are and how they may affect your work: https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary
I also had to look at some risks that could affect my project. For example, whilst working on my concept art there could be a risk for work to be lost. So in order to combat this risk, I had to make sure that I had ways of keeping work backed up in multiple places so that it isn't lost. I made sure I had a safe place to store my work so that I could access it - for this, I had set up a One Drive account and I also utilised an external USB drive so I would have at least two copies of my work.
Health and Safety wasn't really something I had to consider in great depth as the only personnel working on this project was myself. For my own health and safety, I had to ensure I worked in a safe area and that all of my equipment was safe to use. I also had to consider things such as my personal health to ensure my overall safety. For example, I needed to ensure that I was getting enough rest and have easy access to food and water so that I don't risk exhaustion which could then jeopardise my health and lead to time having to be taken out of my project in order to get back to good health. Furthermore, as I decided to do the majority of my project within my college, it meant that I have to consider transport and travel. This meant that I had to ensure I would have a safe and reliable route to get to the college, but also that I had planned for any disruption or inconvenience to my journey. For example, if there were a diversion on the bus route I use to travel to the college I would have to consider other safe routes I could use to travel to the institution. In order to avoid such inconvenience, I decided to check the TfL website daily in order to remain informed of any sudden changes to the transport I would need to take so that I could arrange another mode of transport in advance. Luckily, I live within walking distance of the college so if I were to experience any kind of travel issues I had the additional option of walking.
On the other hand, if I were working as part of a large team for a project with personnel in many different sectors I may have to take further consideration into the health and safety of everyone present. This may mean looking into the equipment we would be using and if it poses any risk to anyone as well as considering the environment we are working in. For example, it may be important to consider that when working with a lot of electrical equipment, there may be a chance of electrical fires or other risks and so it is important to look at ways in which these things can be avoided.
This image (https://www.slideshare.net/Baileyboy/health-and-safety-risk-assessment-for-filming) gives an example of a typical health and safety risk assessment that may be used within a film production:
I needed to acquire a sketchbook and some drawing resources such as pencils and a rubber to begin the production of my concept art. In order to obtain these resources, I had to first ensure I had the funding in place - which I didn't. I later consulted my mother who agreed to help fund me so that I could purchase the sketchbook and drawing resources. I was then able to purchase these resources and was ready to start sketching ideas. However, I did also have some other resources that I would later use available. For example, I already had a USB that I could use to back up all of my work and a computer that I could use to later digitalise my concept art.
As I only had to create concept art for a 2D side-scroller I didn't need any personnel other than myself , however, if I were in a professional environment working on a larger project it may be useful to have a larger group of people working on the concept art as it may speed up the overall production and allows for different ideas to be shared and reviewed.
This image gives an example of the roles of many of the personnel you may expect to find working on a larger project such as a AAA game.
I also had to consider schedules when creating my concept art. In particular, it was important to me to have set deadlines for different parts of my concept art set out so that I could work toward different objectives. In order to do this, I had to ensure that on the different days I would come into school I had already planned what part of my concept art I was working on.
I also had to identify legal implications as part of my procedure. This meant that I had to do extensive research into things like copyright laws and intellectual property infringement and how violating these laws may get me into serious legal trouble. This was useful as it meant I was aware of what I could and couldn't do within the process of creating my concept art without acquiring any legal implications.
You can visit this website to gain a deeper insight into what copyright laws are and how they may affect your work: https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary
I also had to look at some risks that could affect my project. For example, whilst working on my concept art there could be a risk for work to be lost. So in order to combat this risk, I had to make sure that I had ways of keeping work backed up in multiple places so that it isn't lost. I made sure I had a safe place to store my work so that I could access it - for this, I had set up a One Drive account and I also utilised an external USB drive so I would have at least two copies of my work.
Health and Safety wasn't really something I had to consider in great depth as the only personnel working on this project was myself. For my own health and safety, I had to ensure I worked in a safe area and that all of my equipment was safe to use. I also had to consider things such as my personal health to ensure my overall safety. For example, I needed to ensure that I was getting enough rest and have easy access to food and water so that I don't risk exhaustion which could then jeopardise my health and lead to time having to be taken out of my project in order to get back to good health. Furthermore, as I decided to do the majority of my project within my college, it meant that I have to consider transport and travel. This meant that I had to ensure I would have a safe and reliable route to get to the college, but also that I had planned for any disruption or inconvenience to my journey. For example, if there were a diversion on the bus route I use to travel to the college I would have to consider other safe routes I could use to travel to the institution. In order to avoid such inconvenience, I decided to check the TfL website daily in order to remain informed of any sudden changes to the transport I would need to take so that I could arrange another mode of transport in advance. Luckily, I live within walking distance of the college so if I were to experience any kind of travel issues I had the additional option of walking.
On the other hand, if I were working as part of a large team for a project with personnel in many different sectors I may have to take further consideration into the health and safety of everyone present. This may mean looking into the equipment we would be using and if it poses any risk to anyone as well as considering the environment we are working in. For example, it may be important to consider that when working with a lot of electrical equipment, there may be a chance of electrical fires or other risks and so it is important to look at ways in which these things can be avoided.
This image (https://www.slideshare.net/Baileyboy/health-and-safety-risk-assessment-for-filming) gives an example of a typical health and safety risk assessment that may be used within a film production:
- Documentation: production documentation, eg scripts, storyboards, mood boards, thumbnails, properties, contact lists, location recces; production schedules; budget; clearances; plans, eg location plans, studio plans; health and safety assessments; risk assessments; contingency plans
When considering production documentation, mood boards, in particular, were very useful to me. I created multiple mood boards for the digitalisation of my concept art character and their environment. This is an example of one of the mood boards I created for the digitalisation of my environment:
By creating things like mood boards, it gave me a deeper insight into what I hoped to create for my concept art and allowed me to consider what things I wanted to use in my own work and what I thought might not work as well. In fact, the mood boards gave me so much to work with that I realised I needed to narrow down the images I used as they were originally quite broad and unspecific. So in order to give a better representation of what I wanted to create, I made a new environment mood board that was more specific and this informed me greatly about how I wanted the environment to be laid out and other factors such as what colours I would use.
This is an image of my improved mood board that gives a more direct and clear idea of the kind of environment I aimed to create:
Furthermore, it was important to look into properties and contact lists within the documentation. I was aware that I'd spend a lot of time working on my concept art at college, so for this, it was important that I knew when the college and its facilities were open and if I could access them. (https://www.conel.ac.uk/library-opening-times.html) After looking at the college website I found that the premises were open and available for me to use every Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm and the library was also open at multiple different times:
Focusing on schedules, although I did have set deadlines for certain pieces of work to be completed, I didn't have to create a strict schedule in written form. In a professional environment, a schedule will most likely be written out and accessible to all members of the personnel. This is important because it allows for members of personnel to remain organised and will encourage them to meet all deadlines for any work.
This is an image of my improved mood board that gives a more direct and clear idea of the kind of environment I aimed to create:
Furthermore, it was important to look into properties and contact lists within the documentation. I was aware that I'd spend a lot of time working on my concept art at college, so for this, it was important that I knew when the college and its facilities were open and if I could access them. (https://www.conel.ac.uk/library-opening-times.html) After looking at the college website I found that the premises were open and available for me to use every Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm and the library was also open at multiple different times:
I ensured I had the contact details of the college such as their email and phone number in case of any issues. Here is the link to the contact details of the college: (https://www.conel.ac.uk/contact-us.html). If this were part of a much larger project, such as a film, it would be important to obtain permission to use certain premises. For example, if a film crew wanted to operate in a busy public space, they would most likely have to contact the council - which would require them firstly to get their contact details such as an email address or phone number - and ask for permission to use that particular area for a certain amount of time. Once they have permission from the council they would then be able to work in that area without any negative/ legal implications.
The below example shows a location release form that may be used in order to verify that a filming company has been granted access to use a public area:
You can easily obtain a template for a Location Release Form here: Location Release Form Template
- Above is an example of a schedule that may be created within the pre-production phase to be later used whilst in the production of a game. There are dates for each part of the game's production to be completed and displayed on the left-hand side are all of the individual parts that must be completed in order for the game to be created.
I also didn't have to consider a budget for my production as I already had all the resources and materials I needed at hand. Within a larger establishment, it would be important to have a budget set up clearly so that producers are aware of how much money they have available, and know what they can afford based on that sum of money.
As I was going to work on my production within my college, many of the health and safety/ risk assessments had already been carried out by members of staff within the college which meant that it wasn't really an area of large concern for me personally. Within a professional production, however, a health and safety/ risk assessment would have to be taken to try and prevent anyone working on the production from being harmed, but also to ensure there is a clear plan in place for what action should be taken if anyone is harmed in any manner.
This is an example of a health and safety/risk assessment that may be used whilst producing a piece of film: 
Carrying out a health and safety/risk assessment also acts as a contingency plan as they aim to provide information and solutions for anything that may arise within the production process. In particular, the solutions area of the form will be able to inform members of the production team on how to react if any of the Hazards/ risks were to occour.
To conclude, engaging in the pre-production process has allowed me to consider how I will go about the production of my own concept art in future and how people working on much larger productions may have to take specific factors; such as the personnel they need and what schedules must be set, in order for them to be successful with their production.
Zalika English
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