TASK 1

WHO AM I? - WHO ARE THEY?

Based on the principles that have been introduced in lecture 1 of the Enterprise module, investigate who you are as a creative in relation to who is out there looking for creative talent.

What skills do you have and who needs them?

or

What skills are needed and how do you go about developing them?

What are your professional/creative aims and how do they relate to the needs of the world at large?

It is essential that you make references to the 4 Ps which formed the core learning of your first Enterprise Lecture. This is an exercise in applying that theory – it is not appropriate to write about the theory itself. Demonstrate your understanding of it by actually using it.

ANSWER 1

I believe my skills are listening, diplomacy and conscientiousness many skills that I would say go in to making a good documentary. But all of which and more need to be built upon and to do this I need as much experience as I can get.

My service is documentary film and to make a good documentary I need skills such as great organisation, being prepared for the unexpected, able to sell my idea to a client and the team I work with, an ability to make interviewee's feel comfortable and most importantly engaging an audience. What could help is getting work placements at successful production companies and learn these sorts of skills from the more experienced on the job but these sorts of skills come with time and can't always be taught so I have to be willing to teach myself.

Whats important to me is that in most documentaries the narrator, interviewer or director does not preach the message that they are trying to get across to me but leaves a gap for my own critical thinking. I think this relates to the world as a whole where people generally appreciate the idea of being given the chance to make up their own minds on society, environmental and political issues rather than being told.

Someone who does this well is Louis Theroux;

And someone who is far more subjective is Michael Moore;

My service is to create truthful, thought provoking documentaries that allow the viewer to be emotionally provoked to have their mindset opened to new cultures, beliefs and ideas so that they can gage their own opinions on fact and not fiction. These are the documentaries that I find most effective and there aren't that many that have done it successfully.

Everybody likes to get a message across but not everyone likes to be preached at so by leading an audience into coming to their own conclusion they feel like they have the upper hand and the knowledge to have worked something out for themselves, as there are far too many types of negative media influencing society and I would like to change that.

The way I'd go about promotion is by enabling my product to be viewed and to influence as many people as possible. I could have the luck of a viral low budget film being internationally recognised through social sites such as YouTube, enter it into film festivals and various competitions or approach successfully recognised companies such as the BBC with my documentary pitch.

When considering the 4 P's, Price and Place are vague one's to discuss with Film documentary as the Price depends on many factors and the Place could be a make shift studio in your spare room or on top of a mountain in Japan.

The Price of a film depends on either how much finance you personally have to work with and/or how much someone is willing to invest in your film. You then can licence your film to a distributing company who will hopefully then do most of the promotion for you. You then have to make sure that the Price you licence it for covers the cost of your production and leaves you some profit to carry on with your next bigger and better project.


I found a daily rate production card from a successful video production company that will help me develop my own rate card, however this company has been around for over 30 years and I'm sure their prices have increased with their experience so I will  reduce my rates to match my experience.


TFG tv
http://www.tfgtv.com/rates.html

My pricing strategy is cost plus pricing.

This involves adding a fixed percentage to my production costs but as it is difficult to estimate my costs I have based my rates between the minimum set by the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph & Theatre Union and an established production company’s rate card called TFGTV.

For instance I will pay a single camera operator for a 10 hour day the minimum rate of £310 I will then add on 20% to include cost of equipment and another 20% for profit which would give me a total charge to my client of £434.00

Another form of pricing strategy I will use is tendering as most large clients such as the BBC and ITV operate on a tendering system. Tenders are offers made by suppliers concerning the price and terms and conditions of supply. The tender offered is never usually set in stone however and negotiation will be made between the client and supplier to finalise the terms of the deal so here the percentage of profit I add on could be in negotiation.

However, unless my client has a strict budget to work to, the price should not be that important to them as what should be most important is the concept that I’m supplying them so I should be awarded a contract initially on my concept and secondly on price.

When considering Place, as long as I am willing to travel, anywhere goes as a documentary can take place anywhere in the world but I would want my base to be within travelling distance of places to gather equipment, my camera crew and be close enough to arrange last minute appointments with production companies and investors all of which are generally situated in major cites such as the UK; London, Manchester, Leeds and on a more global scale; Paris, Hollywood and Bollywood.  I don't initially intend to have a studio base as I don't believe it to be necessary when starting out but this is something I would definitely plan for in say 2 - 3 years. My base for meetings with my director and crew will be in my own home which currently is strategically located 20 miles equally to major cities such as Manchester and Leeds but meetings could take place effectively anywhere thats suitable for a group briefing and discussions as the freelancers carrying out the post production will do this from their own home.