BTEC Assignment Brief

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Creative

Qualification
Digital Media Production
Unit number
and title Unit 16: Factual Production & Unit 4: Pre-Production Portfolio

Unit 16
B: Source and prepare materials for a factual programme
C: Produce a factual programme for a digital media sector.
Learning Unit 4
aim(s) (For NQF B: Carry out pre-production for a digital media product
only)
C: Produce a pre-production portfolio for a creative media
Production
D: Review pre-production of a digital media product
Assignment
Producing a factual programme
title
Assessor Sophie Blount, Phil Middleham
Issue date 22/01/18
Hand in
28/03/18
deadline

A local media organisation is commissioning factual productions to

stream from its website about current and trending topics within
society.

Vocational They want ideas for short (five to ten minute) documentaries that
Scenario or can engage their target audience of 18-25 year olds. You will need
Context to propose an idea for a factual documentary. Your proposal will
need to include the duration and format of the production as well as
identify what components and contributors will be used in the
production and to what purpose in terms of communicating with the
audience.

Task 1 To begin with, when proposing your documentary idea, you will need
to consider the legal and ethical implications associated with your
Planning & project such as:
Producing a
Documentary: ● filming in public or semi-public places
Research, ● permission to use copyrighted material
Planning, ● clearances for contributors
Treatment & ● balance
Production ● accuracy and objectivity
● privacy and representation

You will need to demonstrate how you have researched your

subject and include evidence that you have access to and have
checked the validity of the sources of content (background of the
main contributors and their credentials, secondary research into the
subject through, permission to use archive material etc.).

You also need to explain how you intend to produce the programme
in terms of style (what background music will be used, what
montage footage will be collected, will the programme be presenter
 led, narrated or told through the eyes of witnesses etc.).

Once you have researched and developed your idea, you will need to
propose your idea to the commissioning editors in the form of a
professional Treatment.

Once your treatment has been approved, you will then need to
produce content towards the documentary.

Through a production diary or blog, record the processes and

planning that you undertake to record, interviews, actuality footage,
montage as well as producing graphics, narration, dramatisations
etc. This needs to be supported by the necessary planning
paperwork that would accompany this work such as production
schedules, location recce, risk assessments, budgeting sheets,
scripts, contingency plans and production meeting minutes.

For this task you need to submit:

● research into contributors and the subject (including
checking the validity of sources);
● your documentary treatment covering the purpose, format,
content and style of production;
● planning documentation towards the factual programme
production;
● a production diary detailing what you achieved over each
stage of the project.

When decisions are made in this project, these should be fully

justified, particularly in relation to the way the audience would
respond to the inclusion if each element.

Checklist of You should submit your work towards this task in the following
evidence digital formats:
required
● research
● a treatment;
● planning documentation;
● a production diary or blog;

All work for Task 1 must be uploaded and published to your

Weebly webpage titled ‘Factual’.

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria
To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
reference
Consistently demonstrate professional practice in developing and
Unit 16 / B.D2
preparing content for a factual programme.
Develop effective material, applying appropriate considerations for a
Unit 16 / B.M3
factual programme.
Unit 16 / B.P3 Source appropriate material for an idea for a factual programme.
Unit 16 / B.P4 Develop relevant content for the production of a factual programme.
Unit 4/BC.D2 Manage pre-production procedures consistently to produce
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 comprehensive pre-production planning material, showing
professional practice throughout.
Manage pre-production procedures and requirements effectively for
Unit 4/B.M3
a specific media sector.
Produce and maintain an organised and systematic pre-production
Unit 4/C.M4 portfolio to enable effective planning and delivery of a specific digital
media product.
Apply pre-production procedures competently to prepare for
Unit 4/B.P3
completion of pre-production tasks.
Carry out pre-production requirements appropriately for a specific
Unit 4/B.P4
media sector.
Produce a pre-production portfolio in an appropriate format to enable
Unit 4/C.P5
the planning and delivery of a specific digital media product.

The organisation would like to see a finished edit of your production.

Using the collected archive material and produced content from task
1, create a finished and edited documentary between five and
Task 2
ten minutes in duration. This should be exported into a format
that can be accessed on the web.
Editing a
Documentary
For this task you need to submit:
● the final edited documentary (between five and ten
minutes in duration);

Checklist of You should submit your work towards this task in the following
evidence digital formats:
required ● the final production MP4 video format

Uploaded to YouTube as an ‘unlisted’ video and embedded into your

Weebly page under the ‘Factual’ webpage.

Criteria Covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
reference
Unit 16 / C.D3 Create a factual programme that applies creative production
techniques and consistently adheres to codes and conventions.
Unit 16 / C.M4 Create a factual programme using effective production techniques,
adhering to codes and conventions.
Unit 16 / C.P5 Create a factual programme using appropriate production
techniques.
On completing the production process, you are required to evaluate
Task 3 and review the success of the different project management
activities undertaken and discuss specific examples of how
Reviewing
effectively they impacted upon the planning and pre-production of
Project
Management & your documentary production.
Effectiveness
of Final You must consider the project management of logistics, finance,
Product creative processes, and factors such as how well you maintained the
documentation, minimised risks and complied with regulatory issues.

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 You should also consider how you managed any problems or
difficulties that occurred during the project. You should draw
conclusions to identify ways in which the project management
processes used may be improved upon in future productions

You should then review your documentary. The review must discuss
the effectiveness of the programme in communicating its intended
message to the audience and make justified recommendations for
improvement.

For this task you need to submit:

 An evaluative review of your project management and
the final product and its effectiveness.

Checklist of The evaluative review could be presented in a:

evidence  written format e.g. essay or report
required  a digital format e.g. audio-visual report
OR
● as a presentation

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria
To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
reference
Evaluate the effectiveness of the project management, referring to
4/D.D3
its impact on pre-production.
Analyse the project management of your media product with
4/D.M5
reference to specific elements of pre-production.
Explain how logistics, finance and the creative processes were
4/D.P6
project managed during pre-production.

Sources of Books
information to ● Kindem G – Introduction to Media Production (4th edition),
support you Focal Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0240810829
with this This is a textbook that covers all media sectors and the
Assignment requirements of producers.
● Stradling L – Production Management for TV and Film (1st
edition), Methuen Drama , 2010, ISBN 978-1408121801
This book gives a comprehensive account of the tasks
associated with managing a range of TV and Film projects.

Websites
● www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/Filmmakingguide – BBC
information about film making
● www.bectu.co.uk – BECTU Broadcasters Union - roles in the
media industries
● www.celtx.com – free pre-production software
● www.primary-film-focus.co.uk/filmpreproduction.html –
information about film production techniques
● http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-
radio/interactive/2013/sep/25/reader-tv-pitch/review - The
Guardian examples of film pitch and proposal

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