UAL Level 3 Diploma

Unit 8: Developing a creative media production project 

The Final Major Project (Year One)

STATEMENT OF AIMS

Unit 8 is the summative unit in the first year of the two-year qualification. It will
provide students with a measure of self-directed learning through the
completion of a substantial creative media production and technology project. 
 
The unit requires students to apply the skills, knowledge and understanding
developed in Units 1–7, to complete a creative media production project. It will
provide students with a measure of self-directed learning, and an opportunity to
begin to clarify their longer-term goals through their choice of an activity to explore in
greater depth

Name
Callum Smith

Disciplines I have chosen to do Video/Sound because I would like a

(primary/secondary combination of the two for my FMP. This is because I
) believe both work well together and make sense to do.
(e.g. video,
animation, sound,
photography
Project (e.g. short
narrative film,
experimental short My FMP will probably fall under Short Narrative Film, due
film, experimental to the idea I have in mind.
animation,
cinemograph, time-
lapse etc. )
Section 1: Rationale (minimum of 100 words)
This section provides you with an opportunity to reflect on, review and summarize your
progress and achievements through the first 7 units, and the knowledge, skills and
understanding you have acquired. What you know now, and what it means to you, compare
with what you knew and could do before you stared the course and how this has influenced
your choice of pathway and your project proposal. 

Before I started this course I had already gathered a decent amount of knowledge
into Video skills and Theory as I had done the Level 2 Course the previous year
however, I had little to no knowledge in Photography and Animation. Due to this I
have learnt several new skills within both of these subjects, such as learning things
like tweening and keyframing in animation and shutter speed and portrait blend in
Photography and figuring out how to execute these new skills within my work. I
had also leant a lot about advertising this year thanks to Theory, Photography and
Video Skills ranging from learning how advertising is done, what the purpose of
advertising is, how certain aspects of the advertisement can influence parts of it
such as the camera angles/imagery. Thanks to this new knowledge I have
obtained due to these subjects I am able to now use some of them within my FMP.

Section 2: Project Concept (minimum of 200 words)

This section provides an opportunity for you to clearly explain the concept and aims of your
project, the research and ideas that will support its development, what you anticipate
producing, the levels of and types of resources that you will need and an indication of the
form in which you will complete and present your project realisation within the allocated
timescale. 

The concept I have currently is quite simple, A man will be extremely bored, sitting
in his room with nothing to do and the video will be in slow-motion to reflect this
boredom as “time moves slower when your not having fun”, However, once the
man decides to go out and ride on his bicycle and do other fun activities, the video
would start to exit slow mode and become faster due to the man enjoying it “time
moves faster when your having fun”. I will most likely also include a simple
question the man receives which will in turn show us what could have happened
regarding on how the man answered.
I believe I will not require much resources for this concept due to it being so simple
in my mind, however I am sure I will figure out in time.

My FMP will definitely require previous knowledge I have gathered into video
editing with the use of Adobe Premiere Pro as it will most likely be used for a lot of
the effects that happen with my Final Piece.

Research will most likely be done by looking at possibly other concepts similar to
mine if they exist and conducting surveys regarding people’s thoughts and
opinions on the concept and how it should be filmed. I will likely be researching as
I go along with the project instead of all in one go.

I will definitely try to have a plan for how I will do this project such as a schedule so
I know when I need to do a part of the project and when I should be completing it.

Section 3: Evaluation – How you plan to record your progress (minimum of 100
words)
This section provides an opportunity to explain how you will reflect on, and evaluate, you
work as both an on-going activity and at the conclusion of the project. You should describe
how you intend to record your decision making and how you will document changes to your
ideas as work progresses. The evaluation should be referenced to your stated aims and be
reflective and analytical rather than a description of actions completed. Remember, you are
consistently evaluating and reflecting on your work throughout the process, not just at the
end.

I will be recording my progress through the use of the production diary I have on
my weebly page. I will be showing off what I have been doing each day when I
have done development within the project there, this will be shown in information
such as text and screengrabs of the work. I can also apply my previous knowledge
into my production diary from doing it in animation to know what to say when
evaluating my work for the day. This will most likely primarily consist of a simple
evaluation e.g. what I’ve done, how I feel it’s going, what I plan to do next, any
errors/issues I have encountered and how I’ve possibly solved them if I have.

Proposed Research Sources

These will be resources and influences to inform your project, which may include audio-
visual texts, articles, websites etc. 
One of the inspirations for my project concept currently was one of the other
student’s examples which has been shown to us (George Guest).
I will most likely look into videos people have done similar to my concept and
definitely do surveys into asking questions such as thoughts and opinions on my
concept.

Equipment Required
e.g., cameras, computers, software etc. Be as specific as you can with regards to software
as you may need a variety of programs.

Computer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Camera for recording, Bike.

Resources Required
e.g., props, locations, costumes, make-up, sounds  (where applicable)

Locations (The college, at my house).

Skills to develop/learn
Appropriate skills for chosen pathway (this will be helpful for staff to know to organise
particular workshops).  Be as specific as you can with the skills you might need to develop.

I may need to improve on my use of camera, sound and Adobe Premiere Pro
skills, this is because in previous projects I wasn’t usually the person who filmed
the work, I usually can mess up with sound and I feel as if even though I’m
confident with the software, it will be very important to improve my skills within it for
this project.

Personnel and responsibilities

The Final Major Project is designed to be YOUR personal project. You are working
independently but may require some assistance or include models, actors, crew etc. Identify
all personnel involved. If it will just be yourself, please make this clear.

Time management will be a huge part of this project for me as I can tend to be
distracted quite easily.

Intended audience and context

Be specific about your intended audience. Try to consider age, interests etc.  
 
The context will be how and where your finished product will be used for; e.g., an art gallery
installation which requires some degree of ‘interactivity; from the audience.

My intended audience will most likely be teenagers aged 15-18, aiming to show
them how time can be a huge factor in their life and how different things could
happen even depending on a simple question.

How my project will ‘loop’

Be as specific as you can with regards to how your 2-minute project will loop. This might be
having matching images at the start and finish of your project or perhaps a sound which will
loop.

My project will most likely loop by at the start me saying “how can time change
depending on a situation/choice?” and at the end saying “so” causing the so to link
with the how can time change creating loop.

How to successfully complete a final major project

1. Do something you enjoy – look back on projects this year and think about
what skills you’ve learnt and which you have really enjoyed. What job would
you like to do in the future? How can you apply it to your project? Pick an area
which you can connect with.
LOVE YOUR PROJECT

2. Do lots and lots of research – primary and secondary are both essential.
Use a wide range of methods and resources, such as questionnaires,
surveys, interviews (Primary), and researching the work of professional
practitioners and techniques (Secondary).

3. Manage your time – 9 weeks of practical work is not long. Just think how
fast this year has gone so far. Plan ahead and don’t fall behind. MAKE USE
OF INDEPENDENT STUDY TIME.

4. You must document everything what happens as you go along. Your entire
journey from start to finish should be fully recorded. Describe and analyse as
you go along. Every aspect of your project should be fully considered. Your
Planning and Schedule will be vital to the success of your FMP

5. Research, design, experiment, build, evaluate. Your project should evolve

over the allotted time. Be flexible and adaptable if your FMP decides to go in
a different direction than first intended. Ensure you record all developments as
the project develops.

6. Critically analyse and evaluate – this will refer to the research you undertake,
the pre-production, production and post-production. Don’t just describe but
analyse, interpret, research and evaluate.

7. Listen to advice from your lecturers in formative assessment sessions

throughout the project. You might just find that as we are used to marking
work we know what the requirements are to make good/exceptional projects.
Remember, your work will be graded at Pass, Merit or Distinction, so aim
for the best grade you can and take advice on board when given.

8. You are being graded against FOUR Learning Outcomes, so you need to
ensure that you do the very best in each of them to achieve the grade you
may require, so pay close attention to all parts of the FMP. Remember that
the lowest awarded grade for any Learning Outcome will be the final grade
for the FMP unit.