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 Philippa Llewellyn

Disciplines Moving image/video

(primary/secondary Music
) Photography
(e.g. video, – studio
animation, sound,
photography
Project (e.g. short Dance installation
narrative film,
experimental short
film, experimental
animation,
cinemograph, time-
lapse etc.)
Section 1: Rationale (minimum of 100 words)

In the first unit for Michael I struggled to complete the work on time, as I tried to
add more quality work of over getting my work finished then making it better after,
so for the rest of the units 2-7 for Michael and my other lecturers, I made sure I got
the base of my work complete so it could be submitted, and then with the leftover
time for each project, I went back over it making it better. An example of when I did
this was for Animation, Trevor gave us our sun and cloud project and I made the
base of the animation from start to end and afterwards I went over and made it
better by adding more definition to the faces, and adding extra animations like my
rain drops – this way it added more affect to my animation but I didn’t have to
worry about not having a completed animation. Throughout the 7 units, I learnt
how to be more time efficient, but also I learnt new ways to get research which I
wouldn’t of thought of before, which I could now use in my FMP to help me;
another way in which I can research to help me is using YouTube videos to find
information or to give me ideas, another way I can research differently is using
surveys from people I would aim my finished product at to see what they like so I
can then use it in my product to interest them more.
Before I started this course, I knew a little about advertising from my business
gcse, but during this course it has helped me develop my knowledge and know I
know more about it which can help me use my new skills in my project. Also,
before this course, I didn’t know too much about videography or how to edit a
video on any software, but I have been tough the basics and this has influenced
me to stretch my skills further and use video and the editing to help me get my
skills stronger and use new ones. Overall, everything I’ve done on this course has
been in a stepped order creating a pathway for me to pick up skills to use, which
has influenced me to widen my creativity ideas/skills and to test myself within a
project so if something goes wrong, I can test my skills to recover from the
problem rather than being safe. One of the things I’ve learnt on this course is to
make sure my project idea is fully thought through and planned before jumping into
the practical side, so I’m going to use that to make sure my proposal is thought
through and has enough detail to it so it’s easy enough to imagine the finished
idea in others minds.

Section 2: Project Concept (minimum of 200 words)

The concept of my project, is to have a dance installation – For this I will be
dancing to three pieces of music combined together, playing in order from their
release dates, combining them together by a time fast-forward audio to infer the
speed of time into the next song, these two ideas for my concept are including the
movement and time theme. Then to include the colour theme I will be dancing with
powdered pint (or coloured flour to give the same effect) I will do this by having
piles of the four colours I want around my dance space so I incorporate them
within my dance and get the colours in my hands for movements without having to
stop and start the recording etc. as it wouldn’t create a smooth final piece. I also
will have moments within the choreography where photos are taken of the powder
being thrown are done, so when editing it all together where the fast forward
audios come those images from the previous song appear adding in showing the
colour in a higher brightness to make it stand out more and see more of the
colours.
My overall aim of the piece is to create a dance choreography which involves
different generations songs, so it’s a way to get people to look and have interests
with people they wouldn’t of thought of before, but to also have a cool interesting
piece to look at while it having a positive look towards it with bright colours and
music which have different styles.
A lot of ideas on YouTube videos and reels of Pinterest/ Instagram will be helpful
for me to see what I can to and how to improve my already thought of ideas, this
will support the development of my piece by helping me find easier ways to carry
out some things, like using flour instead of paint powder as it will turn out to be
cheaper with the amount I would need.

Section 3: Evaluation – How you plan to record your progress (minimum of 100
words)
I intend to record my decision making by making ruff notes when I am making my
ideas and then recording them neatly in my FMP note book so I can go back and
look on them when planning more if I forget the ideas I made, but also putting the
up on my Weebly to show my production diary pf what I’ve done each time I work
on the project. I will make sure I leave time to upload my production diary on
Weebly on the day I do parts of my work so it’s fresh in my mind and done straight
away.
When I make changes within my ideas, I will make sure I clearly put that in any
notes I make, or within my production diary and say what I’ve changed it from, so I
can look back on it when needed and see what’s change and be able to reflect on
it at later dates to see if the new ideas are better or worse than my previous ideas.
Throughout my process of researching and making the project, while I’m doing the
work, I want to keep notes a side of how I felt throughout it and write anything
important down I think will be useful to highlight in my evaluation and to highlight in
my production diary, this way in can keep those ideas fresh and if something didn’t
go well, I can note it down so I know not to do this in the future.
To make sure when I am reflecting on my work, I’m analytical I will always make
sure I put why I thought this, for example why I thought something wet well or not,
this way it’s showing how I felt within the work and not just me saying things were
good or bad. – If I do this continuously through my work, I won’t have to rush
putting an evaluation at the end because il work through it step by step.

Proposed Research Sources

Primary:
- Discussions
- Survey / Questionnaires
- Experiments
Secondary:
- YouTube
- Google
- Instagram
- Pinterest
- TikTok
Equipment Required
 - Video camera
- Photography camera
- Tripod
- Lights
- Mac/laptop
- Premier pro
- After effects
- Lightroom

Resources Required
- College green screen studio
- Powdered paint
- (Chair?)
- White two piece – halter neck top, wrap around mesh skirt with shorts
combined
- Plain base make-up with bright eyeshadow (matching blend of colours used
from powder paint) Glitter on eyeshadow to give a glimmer on camera
- Black tape – to mark staging on floor so don’t go out of camera shot

Skills to develop/learn
- How to turn on and change the lights in the studio – the different effects
they do like spotlights and change, and different brightness in colours
(Going from a spotlight to fade into a wide white light through the duration of
the piece until the end again going into the same spotlight.)
- How to rewind part of a video in premier pro or after effects

Personnel and responsibilities

- I will need 2 people to help throw powdered paint at me at certain points in
my piece. My responsibility for this will be to work out when I want the
powder thrown, how much, the colour, and at what level I would like it
thrown at so I can create a clear plan for the people throwing the powder so
I can get what I need but also make it easier for those helping me so they
have something to look back on if they forget. This will just help the filming
and practice run smoother than me having to repeat explaining it to them
every time we practice with the powder.
- Another part of help I will need, is someone to press play on the music
before I start so I don’t have to press play and run to my starting position
and then edit it out as it may be a struggle to get there before the music
audio starts.
- Thirdly I will need someone who can take photos within my as its recorded
to get action shots but also shots of strong positions to add within my final
project piece, to help this person know what type of photos I want and when
I will need to make them a plan of when I want the shot photos taken but
also show them the positions I want photos of so they know before I start
and give them a run through of what is up-coming movements are so they
can be prepared.
Altogether I will need 3 to 4 assistants to help with the process and footage taking
of my piece as I am in my project, but is till need to work to create plans for them
and figure out when I can get them in to help me and make sure they know what
they’re doing.

Intended audience and context

My piece has a wide audience to who its intended to as I have songs from three
different generations, so different part will be directed more to the different ages,
being aimed from people growing up around 1973 to people growing up around
2010. The reasonings behind my songs will be inferred to the audience through my
exhibition display, adding pictures etc to show why I chose those songs but I will
also explain in detail about it on my Weebly in my research, diary and evaluation to
show my idea as it is really effective idea for my piece.
My project is intended to be gender neutral, so it isn’t targeted to a certain gender
– anyone can watch it, this way it’s easier to plan as a project and I can aim it to a
wider audience to get more of a variety of information when completing surveys
etc to collect research.
My piece is targeted to people with more of an interest into dance/movement
because that’s what the base of my project is on, so I will target those people more
and see what will interest them in it more, however it can be targeted at a range of
people due to it involving the creativity of colours and paint. I’ve done this to
challenge myself than just having it targeted to a small audience group.

How my project will ‘loop

My piece will start with me in the centre if the camera, my hands in fists crossed
over my heart and my head looking down – to the end of my piece I will get myself
back into this position and then throw my hands out so the side throwing powder
and then stopping the recording there, to then have those last few seconds from
my hands crossed and going out rewound so it goes back to the starting position
and I bring the powder back to me, so it then starts the piece again looping it by
starting and ending in the same position. To make the loop even clearer, I will
have the two ending positions overlap each other as it will help the looping be
smoother.

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.