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
Ben Wilkin

Disciplines Animation
(primary/secondary
)
(e.g. video,
animation, sound,
photography
Project (e.g. short Dreamscape animation
narrative film,
experimental short
film, experimental
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. 
Over the course of the first 7 units, I have learned different technical skills in
animation, video production and photography, and researched examples using
theory to analyse information and explain it in my own words. I enjoyed the
animation unit as it allowed me to develop new skills that I might want to use
outside of this course.

From what I experienced in this course I would produce my final piece in animation
because I want to take ownership of my work rather than working in a team as that
makes me stressed about the production that me and the group go through when
producing our project.

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. 
I aim to create a dreamscape animation with no dialogue as the ambience,
soundtrack, and the actions of characters will help support the story of my final
piece. I will be using the themes of colour, movement, and love as I feel that my
current abilities can tell a story based on these themes.

I will need to create mind maps and character designs for my animation and use
primary research to gather feedback on any characters I design and how I can
improve them. I would also look at pre-existing examples to understand and
consider what elements I could use during the planning and production phase of
my FMP.
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 record my progress by using my production diary to reflect on any work I am
currently working on such as; research tasks set by my lecturers, include rough
sketches of character designs, backgrounds and objects during the planning
stage, reflect on any changes made during the planning and production of my final
piece, to identify skills and techniques I have learned to use for the research and
the production of my project and explain about what I did today and what I plan to
do next over the course of the FMP. I will also check in with my lecturers on a
regular basis to ensure that my project is on a good trajectory.

Proposed Research Sources

These will be resources and influences to inform your project, which may include audio-
visual texts, articles, websites etc. 
I use surveys to gather responses for character and background designs, and for
the produced final piece to use to reflect and analyse feedback to improve and
evaluate my work as my source of primary research.

As for my secondary research I will look at videos, articles, designs, and audio
produced by other people to consider elements for inspiration to use when
producing my FMP.

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.
I will require access to a drawing tablet and a computer to work on the following
programs such as; Adobe Animate to produce my final piece, Adobe Premiere Pro
to edit and arrange my animation files together, Microsoft Word to spellcheck any
spelling, punction and grammar mistakes and Microsoft Forms to create surveys
and gather responses for creating and evaluating my final piece. I also need
paper, pencils, and “some form of a mat” to design my characters and
backgrounds.

Resources Required
e.g., props, locations, costumes, make-up, sounds  (where applicable)
I will need to source ambience, music, and sound effects by using foley where I
will need a microphone and any incidental items to source the applicable sounds. I
will also use royalty-free audio websites such as; the YouTube Audio Library and
Freesound.

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 would need to develop the following skills such as;
how to use rotoscoping, improve my communication skills, allocate my time
management well, to stay motivated while researching, producing work, and
evaluating myself, and prioritise which tasks need to be completed first.

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.
I will take ownership over the entire project on the practical side of the FMP while I
will need assistance with producing written work as I have difficulty expressing my
opinions when writing on my work and to spellcheck to make sure that what I have
written is to a good standard.
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.
I would aim my work at an audience of children aged between 4 and 10 who are
drawn to cute and colourful characters.

I would display my product at children’s art exhibit, at a school, or at a similar

location.

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.
I would have two of the same images at the start and at the end of my animation,
so it loops back to the start. I would ask my lecturers for help explaining on how I
can achieve this.

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.