Assignment 3 Aardman Animations Report

Contractual
Types of Contract
There are a lot of different types of contracts whether that will be a fulltime contract, a part-time contract, a permanent contract, a temporary
contract, a freelance contract, a shift work contract, and a zero hours
contract. A full time contract is full-time employment is where you work
full hours for a company that has hired you. Full-time employment is
different to part-time jobs as you work all the time, and secondly you get
more perks, for example, higher pay and other such items that you will be
given, for example, if you are working in a delivery service, you will be
given a company car or if you are working in an office you will be given
your own office, if you have worked there for a while and are doing a good
job. Part-time employment is where you work less hours than a full-time
job for a company that has hired you. Part-time jobs are different to fulltime jobs as you dont work as much, you dont get anywhere near the
amount of pay as youre supposed to get. A permanent contract is
someone who works full time for a company that has hired you and they
pay you a wage. A permanent contract worker is very similar to a full-time
worker but instead of working more hours in a week, they work the
minimum hours in a week, which is 36 hours. A
freelance is someone who isnt hired by a particular
company, well they are, but they are hired by multiple
companies to make a particular item for them or just
do something for them. Shift work is very different to
full-time, part-time and freelance because of working
full hours you wont be working original hours instead you
will be working evenings and also nights. Aardman Animations will have
these exact same contracts for their company because they will need
these types of workers for their company to keep going.
Time Management
Time management is key when working in a company because if you dont
get your work and jobs finished on time you will be letting the company
down as whatever they were supposed to do at that particular time wont
be done to that time so you have let the company down and you might
get fired if this is a recurring pattern in your line of work and you will also
be letting your co-workers down as if you arent working up to the
deadline they cant finish their work because they need you to finish. A
big part of being good with time management is you have to be
committed. You can say you are committed but they will check up on your
background to see if you were reliable through college and university.
Being committed to the job can be perceived in many ways, one way it
could be perceived in is doing your work on time, meeting deadlines is key

when working for a company, if you dont work to deadlines you will be
fired and they will find someone who can. Another way it could be
perceived is making sure your work is done to a high quality, making sure
your work is high quality is essential when working in a job because if you
dont then you are going to have a very tough time trying to keep your
job, its one thing to meet the deadline but its another to make sure the
work is done to a high standard. Another way it could be perceived is
punctuality, if you arent punctual why should they hire you? They will go
through your entire college and university history to see if you are
attending lessons on time and then they can hire you if its good. This is
key when working for Aardman Animations because you are
constantly working on animations and you have to finish on time
because if you dont the animation wont be able to come out in
time and thus making Aardman Animations lose their reputation
of being a good animation company and you will be fired and
since Aardman Animations are such a big company you will find it
hard getting a job as they will be your reference
Risk Management
Once you are making a company or you are hired by a company they
must always understand the risks of hiring an employee and the risks
around the office. You must think of all the possibilities that can occur in
an office like environment, whether it may seem stupid and not one
person can do that you still have to put that in just because it may happen
and even though it is not likely, it can still happen. If you dont have the
correct risk management then your company can be shut down rather
quickly because you are failing as a company because it is a law that you
must have the correct risk management otherwise your company is in
trouble. This will not just be choosing what to risk theyre around the
office, you have to put that into practise, for example, if a
hazard is tripping over a wire, then you must make sure
all wires are tucked away safely. Aardman animations has
a lot of risk management because they are handling
delicate models and are using very high tech equipment.
They have risks like swallowing plasticine and tripping
over wires, but a risk that ruined a lot of their models and
ruined their building was a fire. Aardman Animations headquarters had a
serious fire and this was no ones fault, it was just a freak accident and
there are some risks that cant be stopped or helped.
Working to a Brief
When making or working in a company and when you start a task you are
working to a brief. This brief will explain what the task is, who is helping
you working on the task and what other people are doing who is working
on this task and also how much time you have in order to complete the
task. On the work brief it has the objectives and aims for the task that

needs completing. When working for a company you are making work for
your boss which will then be given out to the client who has asked for this
particular thing that you are making and then it will be sold to the world or
used by the client for their own personal use. You dont just have to be a
company that is well known because someone will still ask you to make
some work for them and it doesnt matter if youre not a company, you
could be an individual worker (Freelance) you will still be hired by a client
to make some work for them. When a company takes on work given to
them by client they will then be given a brief to work from,
now depending on the client the brief can be very lenient
and you can change the deadline for a couple of days or it
wont be lenient and you will have to meet the deadline to
that specific date, any later then they will find another
company and you will then get a bad reputation. When
working at Aardman Animations you are always working to
a brief, and this brief is made by the company leaders as they dont have
the need to get clients and they make their own work, so the brief is the
exact same as any other brief but it is not lenient and things cannot be
changed especially the deadline.
Regulatory Issues
Copyright Law
Copyright design and patents which was made in 1988 - act was made
for two purpose, and two purpose only. Making sure people got rewarding
for all the hard work they are doing, and also the creator of whatever that
may be, i.e. logo, protection so it cant be stolen. Before the act, there was
nothing people could do, to stop people from stealing their work. This law
applies to people who copy software, videos, mp3 songs and images. If
you take a something that is not yours, you can get in serious trouble
without the permission of the creator of whatever it is
youre taking. That is today, if you steal something off
someone and without asking, you can go to jail for a very
long time. Or if it is your first time doing and you plead a
good case and dont get jailed, you will be fined. When
working at Aardman Animations you have to be very careful
when making your movies because you dont want your
movie to get copyrighted and if this happens the company
could be shut down or fined a huge amount and then the company will
lose a lot of reputation and they will find it very hard to work with another
company again.
Trademark
Trademarks are used so that a company or another person that are trying
to use something knows that they cant use that without permission.
Trademarks can be a great deal of things you can put a trademark on an

image, text or anything you have made that is your original. Something
that is trademarked means that you cant use that particular item without
their permission but the company or person who has made said item, can
use it all they want. Every single company has trademarked items and
tends to be their logo, on most products when something is made they
put their trademarked item there to let people know they made that item,
an example of this would be Sony, when they make a TV or a phone they
put Sony on it to let people know that they have made this item. You can
be in a lot of trouble for using an item that is trademarked without
permission you can be sued thus causing you to pay a lot of money in the
process, this has happened to a lot of companies in the past and this
causes you to lose reputation and also lose a lot of company money that
you have stored in order to work on new projects. Aardman animations
have a lot of trademarked items, for example, they have trademarked
their logo so no one else can use this without permission, they have also
trademarked some of their models so no one else can use their models in
their animations.

Censorship
Censorship is when something is said that can be considered harmful,
sensitive or whatever is deemed hurtful by the government, or media
outlets (BBC or something like that). Media censorship takes many forms
in the way they may blur things they dont want you to see or they will
bleep swear words that have been said or anything else that is
inappropriate. The news is often edited for a great deal of things gut they
edit it for length normally so the news isnt too long for people watching
not just that its also to keep you from knowing all the
bad things that are happening, for example, they may
not want to show an entire clip as something very hurtful
is said or done in that clip. Normally these decisions are
made to keep the public safe and dont want them to
worry or panic and also if something is personal to a
particular someone they will cut that out to keep them
safe from other social media and things along those
lines. Aardman Animations dont have to worry about censorship as
everything they make is for children so they dont have to sensor anything
that is in their animations or anything that is said.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the self-regulatory
organisation (SRO) of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The
Advertising Standards Authority is a non-statutory organisation and so
cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising
practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances. The Advertising

Standards Authority is not funded by the British government, but is paid

by advertising industry. This is one to be wary of because if you use an
image which is copyrighted then the person who owns the image finds out
he can then report it to the Advertising Standards Authority. They can then
take down your multimedia product and then they can get in touch and
fine the person in charge (client) and the company who made it. Then you
will have a 5-year ban of making anything to do with websites and
multimedia products. That will then reflect badly on the client, but that
won't have happened so you don't have to worry. When working at
Aardman Animations they have to be careful of the advertising standards
authority because if they do anything that is against their rules and is a
major rule break they can be shut down from making
anything for 5 years, so you need to be very careful.
Office of Communication (Ofcom)
Aardman Animations needs to be careful of the office of
communication or Ofcom for short. This company search the entire
company from top to bottom and see if you have broken any laws of the
Ethical terms. Other companies react to complaints. If your multimedia
company gets a complaint they wont check it, if they get another they
will check it to make sure these accusations are real.
If the
accusations are real, then they will get in contact
with your company and they will proceed to shut
down the company or you will either receive a
caution or be fined. Or if its extremely bad, you can be put in prison. The
main company that deals with complaints and checks the entire
multimedia product is Ofcom. Ofcom is a government company that, as I
said before, deals with legal and ethical laws. In 2002 they made their
own act called Office of Comminutions act and then in 2003 it got full
authority and then it was called the Communications Act.
Taste and Decency
When beginning a company and you want to well-known you need to
make sure what you want to create isnt offending anyone in way shape or
form so you need to be careful when started a company. You cant please
everyone and if add something you dont find offending and you think its
fine, its likely someone else does think its offending and so you need to
take other peoples concerns in to account. There are lots of things that
can be classed as indecent, here are some examples of some things that
people may not consider decent; Obscenity; Sedition; Blasphemy;
Violence; Bad language; Explicit pictorial or video images; Bigotry; Nudity.
When Aardman Animations first began and they wanted to start making
animations they wanted to make adult animations so they needed to think
all about the things I have mentioned otherwise their company wont get
very big and they would fail as a company, they tried this but they
realised that their animations were very plain and adults didnt like them,

but children did, so they decided to make children animations and this is
where there company really took off, so now that they are making children
animations they dont need to think about the indecent things because
they dont belong in a childrens animation.
Professional Bodies
Professional Body Codes of Practise
There are many companies that cover this such as: The Office of
Communication (biggest company), The Press Complaints Commission,
the Advertising Standards Authority, and the British Interactive Media
Association. But as I said before, the Office of Communication is the
biggest one. The company has to be aware of these companies otherwise
if they dont and dont follow their rules they can be sued and can lose a
lot of money which they have made up over the years or if this continues
to happen they could shut your company down completely, these rules
consist of being indecent in anyway, here are some of the rules they take
very seriously unless you ask them permission; Obscenity; Sedition;
Blasphemy; Violence; Bad language; Explicit pictorial or video images;
Bigotry; Nudity. If you dont follow these rules in a multimedia
company, then they will be talking to you and if you do break any
rules and you are working with a bigger company they could also
get in trouble as they will blame them for hiring you for working
with them so its better to stay away from those indecent
examples. Aardman Animations need to be very careful when
working with these companies because they can be shut down or
sued, but since Aardman Animations make children animations they
dont have to worry at all so they can they can just carry on doing what
they are doing without any problems.

British Interactive Multimedia Association (BIMA)

With offices in England, Scotland, Wales and with regional representatives
spread across the country BIMA exists to do four key things: Support and
promote the British digital industry, share knowledge and best practice,
Reward great work, Encourage the next generation. With hundreds of
organizations and individual members from all sectors of the market, BIMA
provides a valuable way to keep up with developments in a fast-moving
sector. BIMA provides access to market data and intelligence through links
with government departments, professional bodies and holds regular talks
and conferences on key industry issues. BIMA is active in discussions with
Government, leading industry players and other partner associations, and
globally, represents and champions the UK multimedia industry. They also
punish for breaking rules in the multimedia world, this tends to be if you
do anything indecent. Aardman Animations need to be careful when
making animations because if they break any rules they will have trouble

with BIMA, but if they make very good animations and are keeping to the
rules they will reward them so they can grow as a company.
Ethical
Representation of Gender
This applies to any multimedia company because if they discriminate on
gender people wont watch the multimedia company to and they want get
a good reputation, they will get a reputation for being sexist so they need
to be careful otherwise the company will fail, and even if they make a
good animation or product next time, people will always remember them
for being sexist so no matter what they wont be able to change it. So
they need to be careful. Because if someone finds something
offensive in any way shape or form and they make a complaint
they can be in a lot of trouble. There are many types of ethical
laws about this such as: Decency. Decency is where you cannot break the
rules. The main one is the Obscene Publications Act.
This can happen when you include in your
multimedia companies animations or product
impolite information. Aardman Animations need to be
careful with this otherwise their company could be in
serious trouble even though they are may clay
animation animations they still to make sure they dont make an
animation that is sexist because although a child wont notice it, adults
will and companies who review animations will.
Ethical Requirements
Working in any kind of social media products e.g. Facebook and Twitter,
there are rules that apply depending on what you say or what youre
allowed to do on it. They do this to protect people from hurtful comments,
which could cause huge problems for themselves in the future. For some
reason people think these rules apply in the world but not on the internet.
But saying that its a lot easier to get away with it online. However, IP
addresses can be tracked from the people who say these nasty
comments. They get tracked if they see these comments and do not
tolerate it, or the person receiving these nasty comments tells about it. It
all depend on how bad the messages are; everybody has a troll which is
someone who says things to annoy you up but people who say really
nasty things are not trolls. If you get caught doing this, you can get put in
prison for a certain amount of time. There are many types of ethical laws
such as: Decency. Decency is where you cannot break the rules. The main
one is the Obscene Publications Act. This can happen when you include
in your product impolite information. Another one is Libel. Libel is where
you cant make a written report or statement about a certain individual
which could be deemed harmful towards their reputation or just them in
general. You have to be careful what your write if you are lying about what

you write you can get into serious trouble. Another one is Slander. Slander
is where you cant make a spoken statement about a certain individual
which (once again) can be deemed harmful towards their reputation or
just them in general. This once again is very serious topic especially when
you say it to the wrong person. The main extreme type of slander is
racism. If you are caught being racist you can be thrown in prison. But it
also can be many different types such as: gender, disability, sexuality and
nationality. So this applies to Aardman Animations because they cant put
anything hurtful in their animations otherwise people can get offended
and then someone could complain and put Aardman Animations
reputation and security at risk and they could collapse because of it.
Representation of Religious Beliefs
The main type of ethical law for religious beliefs is Slander.
Slander is where you cant make a spoken statement about a
certain individual which (once again) can be deemed
harmful towards their reputation or just them in general.
This once again is very serious topic especially when you say
it to the wrong person. The main extreme type of slander is racism. If you
are caught being racist you can be thrown in prison. But it also can be
many different types such as: gender, disability, sexuality and nationality.
Another one is Libel. Libel is where you cant make a written report or
statement about a certain individual which could be deemed harmful
towards their reputation or just them in general. You have to be careful
what your write if you are lying about what you write you can get into
serious trouble. Another one is decency is where you cannot break the
rules. The main one is the Obscene Publications Act. This can happen
when you include in your product impolite information. This applies to
Aardman Animations because they need to make sure that they dont
offend any religions when making an animation otherwise they will get a
lot hate towards them and they wont be able to recover from it, so its
best to be careful by not adding any religions into their animations
because then they cant offend anyone.
Cultural Issues and Language
Within the multimedia industry its important to understand that people
have different cultural issues and language before anything is done. When
creating an animation or a product for the industry it needs to be checked
so that there is nothing that will discriminate anyone. The main type of
ethical law for cultural issues is Slander. Slander is where you cant make
a spoken statement about a certain individual which (once again) can be
deemed harmful towards their reputation or just them in general. This
once again is very serious topic especially when you say it to the wrong
person. The main extreme type of slander is racism. If you are caught
being racist you can be thrown in prison. But it also can be many different
types such as: gender, disability, sexuality and nationality. The main type

of ethical law for language is decency. Decency is where you cannot break
the rules. The main one is the Obscene Publications Act. This can happen
when you include in your product impolite information. Another one is
Libel. Libel is where you cant make a written report or statement about a
certain individual which could be deemed harmful towards their reputation
or just them in general. Aardman Animations would of need to make sure
that all of their animations are acceptable to the professional body codes
of practice teams and also most importantly all of the characters that they
were creating wont offend anyone.
Social Issues and Sensitives
Working in any kind of social media products e.g. Facebook and Twitter,
there are rules that apply depending on what you say or what youre
allowed to do on it. They do this to protect people from hurtful comments,
which could cause huge problems for themselves in the future. For some
reason people think these rules apply in the world but not on the internet.
But saying that its a lot easier to get away with it online. However, IP
addresses can be tracked from the people who say these nasty
comments. They get tracked if they see these comments and do not
tolerate it, or the person receiving these nasty comments tells about it. It
all depend on how bad the messages are; everybody has a troll which is
someone who says things to annoy you up but people who say really
nasty things are not trolls. If you get caught doing this, you can get put in
prison for a certain amount of time. This applies to Aardman Animations
because they must be careful when making their animations that dont
offend anyone by being mean to someone, although this wont happen
with Aardman Animations, its still needs to be said.