Unit 6.1 - Understand hazards and risks in the workplace
1.1 Define hazards and risks
Hazard - A chance of being injured or harmed ie danger
Risk - The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger
Some of the most common hazards and risks in the workplace tend to be the ones you look past every day, but these actually are big accident causes in the workplace. Obviously many workplaces will differentiate in terms of what they do and whether they operate machinery or not.
I'll start off with wires these are an obvious hazard for people tripping over, cable ties and wire guards are the best way to keep these safe and also tidy. Spillages are also an important one and to always remember to clean these up once established it's not a dangerous chemical. Another main risk is injuring yourself from lifting incorrectly.
1.2 Outline key hazards and risks in own workplace, describing safe working practices
At my workplace we have a health and safety policy in place with a first aid kit and trained first aider. As I work in a home office environment you obviously don't have signage that is required in an office building, such as 'fire exit' however I feel common sense has to prevail in this circumstance as I would react with instinct the same way for any fire I was in.
At my workplace one of the biggest risks was wires and battery backups being on the floor in one of the offices, however recently me and the producer removed the danger by organising this onto a shelving unit.
1.3 Outline key hazards and risks within own job role, describing precautions
As mentioned before the biggest hazards and risks within my job role would be tripping over wires and precaution used would be wire guards and cable ties. Also lifting heavy equipment the precaution is lift from the legs and never from the back and if you still don't feel comfortable lifting on your own then get someone to help you. Spillages are rule of thumb with the precaution that if you spill something then you should clean it up to prevent anyone slipping and causing injury. During Production we obviously had a lot more hazards and risks, that meant we had to fill in a risk assessment 'The process of determining the likelihood that a specified negative event will occur. Investors and business managers use risk assessments to determine things like whether to undertake a particular venture, what rate of return they require to make a particular investment and how to mitigate an activity’s potential losses.'
Unit 6.2 - Understand own responsibilities for health and safety in the workplace
2.1 Identify own responsibilities for health and safety in own workplace and job role under health and safety legislation, explaining the importance of personal presentation and behaviour
And
4.2 Manage any health and safety risks within own capability and responsibility
Under my current job role as a Production Assistant, in legal legislation terms I do not have a responsibility to ensure the workplace is kept up to scratch, however as a professional individual I always keep an eye out for potentially dangerous situations (despite me hating the red tape culture that we live in today). As an individual it's very important to eliminate these risks from the workplace to avoid any injuries to myself or other colleagues. When I was working at Waitrose we had a strict regime in health and safety, with multimedia videos and questions involved to make sure you knew the correct protocol for each emergency this would be done every three months. Also as Waitrose deal with the general public it's very important to enter any accidents into the 'Accident Book' which is a 'Bound book in which employers in certain businesses are required to record all small or big accidents which occur on their premises, or to their employees while at work off site.' I also learnt about COSHH 'Control of Substances Hazardous to Health', that I found very interesting to know and has helped me ensure that my present workplace is a safe working environment.
2.2 Describe procedures for dealing with risks outside the scope of own responsibility, identifying the appropriate personnel with whom to liaise in own workplace
When something falls outside your scope of responsibility this doesn't mean that it's 'not your problem', it's very important to work as a team and to support one another. And this includes spotting these potentially dangerous health and safety issues. In the larger of workplace you should usually have a Maintenance Book this is a written acknowledgement of say - a plug socket not working or a leaking pipe in the bathroom. Despite the fact your not expected to fix these problems it's always good to ensure that you report it as firstly it could pose a serious risk to someone else and secondly if you don't report it, then whats to say that someone else will (vicious circle of maintenance issues).
However in smaller places of work such as mine (home office environment) I would report said problems with equipment to either the Director who's home it is or to the Producer who also works at the office with me, and from there we could organise a way to promptly fix the problem.
Unit 6.3 - Be able to evaluate hazards and risks in the workplace
3.1 Identify workplace instructions relevant to own job
In my workplace we have health and safety policies in place to ensure no one is put at any unnecessary risk. This includes knowing where are fire assembly point is (as we're in a house, depending on where the fire is we would assemble either at the front or the back of the house).
Also it's always best to only tackle a fire with the relevant fire extinguisher (water, foam, CO2) when you feel confident and it's safe enough to do so, without putting yourself or others at risk). This is the reason you should have a fire marshal at bigger companies who will conduct a register of employees in and also hold a first aid kit and specified mobile phone.
3.2 Identify any unsafe practices in own workplace and job role
In my current job with Cyclops Vision Ltd we have a tested and proved health and safety policy in place, despite the fact we operate from the directors home. The home has fire alarms placed on each level of the house, ensuring safety if there was a fire. Also in the kitchen there is a fire extinguisher and fire blanket making sure no food burns anything.
3.3 Check which potentially unsafe working practices present the highest risk to self and others
The most unsafe working practices that spring to mind in the world of health and safety are -
Obstruction of the fire exits in a workplace, these should never have equipment blocking them and fire doors should never be propped open.
Another one involves spillage's and wiring in the workplace, these present a high risk in regards to people having falls.
Also funnily enough other people can present a large accidental endangerment to yourself, this could be someone leaving a hot cup of coffee by your hand without you realising.
3.4 Take action to address any hazards in accordance with workplace procedures and legal requirements
The best way to enable you to make a safe judgement of your workplace would be with a Risk Assessment. This gives a legal standard judgement on whether or not your abiding to the current regulations in place. After filling in this document you will then be able to address whether or not your workplace is up to a legal safety standard.
Unit 6.4 - Be able to reduce risks to health and safety in the workplace
4.1 Work safely in accordance with own level of competence, relevant instructions and legal requirements, following environmentally friendly practices
In regards to this question the one word that sticks out is competence 'The quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity'. Generally this question makes me think that we should no undertake a task if we haven't had the appropriate training to deal with said task, this could involve using machinery that we haven't been shown how to use. Many companies have training cards that they will use to show the employee how to use certain equipment or protocol ie using a foul drain to pour away stale milk.
4.3 Suggest ways of reducing risks to health and safety to the appropriate personnel
In my personal experience I have found that workplace health and safety training is a great way for your employees to be in the know on the potential risks in their work. This could involve making sure they are aware of COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) and also regular refresher training to ensure employees have the knowledge to deal with hazardous situations.
4.4 Report any differences between workplace and suppliers' or manufacturers' instructions
THIS IS AN AMBIGUOUS QUESTION. PLEASE VERIFY!!!
Friday, 18 November 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Unit 8.2 - The Life Cycle of a Creative Media Project
Production
Pre Production –
One of the most important stages of the of production process, this is the stage when the ideas have more a less come together after the initial development. During this stage you can expect to have the pink pages to the script and to have started to crew up for the film.
From my experience of pre production this was the period of crewing up and also helping art department source props, in my case being action vehicles, televisions and bicycles. We also had the First AD (Assistant Director) finalise the schedule and the producer finalise the budget with programs like MM (Movie Magic) Budgeting and MM Scheduling. Planning and organisational skills are very important during this stage as without it the Production has the odds stacked against it.
Production –
Well, well, well this is the stage when you actually start shooting and have your cast, crew, locations and equipment. The shoot should run efficiently if you’ve had a smooth pre production and a reliable crew. You may also have pick up days (specific shots, such as establishing) after the initial shoot has finished.
Post Production –
At this stage of Production, you will have all your rushes (shots) and will most likely have started having your editor piece them together with the help of the sound reports and continuity reports (these allow the editor/s to know what shots are worth using and what ones have sound issues and so fourth). This is always an exciting stage to see the film come to life, and has a direct impact on the final version of the film.
We have just finished Production on our feature film, so we are still having a transition into the edit, although this was being partially edited as we were still in production, for reasons such as showing some shots to distributors and so on.
I’m very excited to see the final product especially with sound effects and a soundtrack added.
Marketing & Exchange –
A very important stage in the film life cycle, as without the marketing available films will struggle to get people to see their film, unless it has talent attached (and even in this case they can still struggle to break even, let alone make any revenue). So it’s a very important stage to target your audience and sell the film to them, especially if you’re targeting a very niche audience. This can be done with tactics such as hoarding, adverts, trailers, posters, competitions and magazines and I’m sure there are many more.
Distribution –
This is the physical aspect of getting people to see the film. This basically involves having a company get your film out there to the audience, either by giving the cinema the reel, or supplying the retailer with the DVDs, finding TV channels that wish to acquire the film rights or getting the film onto Video On Demand (VOD). Generally with distribution you will sell certain rights to certain countries and also decide the period of time they hold these for. The Distribution area is also a very important way to enable you make sure your film is targeted at the specified audience, including having the film play at certain film festivals and not at a specified genre that isn’t relevant to your product.
Audience Consumption
A very important stage in making sure your product is targeted at the correct audience before you start, if you haven’t got a target audience then generally speaking your not going to be able to sell it.
If your film doesn’t have a specified target audience with hard evidence on how there your audience then most distribution companies won’t want to go near your film. The reasons for this are mostly because they need to know how their marketing strategy is going to run, for example an action film with an all male cast, guns, explosions etc won’t be targeting that male audience is advertised in Heat magazine.
With companies that have a past catalogue of say action films and then have one in the marketing stage that is a romantic drama it is very important for the audience to know that this is the situation and made clear, otherwise you could have the problem of losing your existing audience for being deceitful.
A lot of the time film companies will do select screenings to the general public, to allow them to voice there opinions and concerns on a film, whether it being to graphical for there target audience, or having a very slow scene, this feedback is taken into account and has a big persuasion on what is then cut or added to the film.
Pre Production –
One of the most important stages of the of production process, this is the stage when the ideas have more a less come together after the initial development. During this stage you can expect to have the pink pages to the script and to have started to crew up for the film.
From my experience of pre production this was the period of crewing up and also helping art department source props, in my case being action vehicles, televisions and bicycles. We also had the First AD (Assistant Director) finalise the schedule and the producer finalise the budget with programs like MM (Movie Magic) Budgeting and MM Scheduling. Planning and organisational skills are very important during this stage as without it the Production has the odds stacked against it.
Production –
Well, well, well this is the stage when you actually start shooting and have your cast, crew, locations and equipment. The shoot should run efficiently if you’ve had a smooth pre production and a reliable crew. You may also have pick up days (specific shots, such as establishing) after the initial shoot has finished.
Post Production –
At this stage of Production, you will have all your rushes (shots) and will most likely have started having your editor piece them together with the help of the sound reports and continuity reports (these allow the editor/s to know what shots are worth using and what ones have sound issues and so fourth). This is always an exciting stage to see the film come to life, and has a direct impact on the final version of the film.
We have just finished Production on our feature film, so we are still having a transition into the edit, although this was being partially edited as we were still in production, for reasons such as showing some shots to distributors and so on.
I’m very excited to see the final product especially with sound effects and a soundtrack added.
Marketing & Exchange –
A very important stage in the film life cycle, as without the marketing available films will struggle to get people to see their film, unless it has talent attached (and even in this case they can still struggle to break even, let alone make any revenue). So it’s a very important stage to target your audience and sell the film to them, especially if you’re targeting a very niche audience. This can be done with tactics such as hoarding, adverts, trailers, posters, competitions and magazines and I’m sure there are many more.
Distribution –
This is the physical aspect of getting people to see the film. This basically involves having a company get your film out there to the audience, either by giving the cinema the reel, or supplying the retailer with the DVDs, finding TV channels that wish to acquire the film rights or getting the film onto Video On Demand (VOD). Generally with distribution you will sell certain rights to certain countries and also decide the period of time they hold these for. The Distribution area is also a very important way to enable you make sure your film is targeted at the specified audience, including having the film play at certain film festivals and not at a specified genre that isn’t relevant to your product.
Audience Consumption
A very important stage in making sure your product is targeted at the correct audience before you start, if you haven’t got a target audience then generally speaking your not going to be able to sell it.
If your film doesn’t have a specified target audience with hard evidence on how there your audience then most distribution companies won’t want to go near your film. The reasons for this are mostly because they need to know how their marketing strategy is going to run, for example an action film with an all male cast, guns, explosions etc won’t be targeting that male audience is advertised in Heat magazine.
With companies that have a past catalogue of say action films and then have one in the marketing stage that is a romantic drama it is very important for the audience to know that this is the situation and made clear, otherwise you could have the problem of losing your existing audience for being deceitful.
A lot of the time film companies will do select screenings to the general public, to allow them to voice there opinions and concerns on a film, whether it being to graphical for there target audience, or having a very slow scene, this feedback is taken into account and has a big persuasion on what is then cut or added to the film.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Unit 8.3 -Know how the Creative Media sector is structured
1.3 Explain the relevant relationships between a range of Creative Media industries
For this post i'll be talking about three of my fellow apprentices comments on their chosen creative media industries. The task required us to select two industries that we felt we were in the 'know about. Below are my comments on these.
Gaming and the Internet – Robert
After reading through Rob’s post on the gaming industry it is obvious that he knows his stuff and is one with games. In particular he has spoken in great detail about the evolution of gaming consoles from consoles such as the Saga Megadrive (I use to frickin’ love playing on mine) and also the Nintendo Entertainment System. Rob has importantly spoken about the vast history and the growing trend for gaming consoles that haven’t ceased to be slowing in trade.
I found what Rob had to say very interesting and also filled me with nostalgia of the good ol’ days (for a nineteen year old I sound like I’ve lived a life) but as new consoles keep flying off the shelves and prices fly into the hundreds the question is who is behind it all?
Well as Rob address the gaming industry now has ‘artists and designers, programmers, voice actors and motion capture teams, audio teams and composers’ and even full orchestra’s behind these ‘general’ games as such, making it all very hard to believe this all started from things such as board games.
One thing I would have liked to see in Rob’s gaming post is sales figures and how much the gaming industry is worth (I’m one of those people who find that stuff, well interesting). And also what games were around before consoles, especially in terms of board games – monopoly, cludo, KERPLUNK!
The interlink between games and the Internet also was an interesting read, especially the findings on how film advertise through this platform. I really enjoyed reading about the Dsitrict 9 and Blair Witch Project marketing strategies that helped create rumours among the networking community.
One problem with exploring the internet as a Creative Media Industry is where on earth do you begin, it’s so vast and therefore not an easy industry to sum up without writing a book.
It would have been good to see something on the Internet’s link with Television; as for me personally that’s the biggest viewing platform for me at the moment, with things such as on demand. Obviously this has been a developing issue over the past few years with cable provider Virgin having an on demand service accessed from your television and satellite provider SKY launching anytime that has a similar catch up service.
But all in all Rob you smashed it!
Advertising and Film – Joy
I enjoyed reading Joy’s findings on advertising and the history behind this, always good to know how the Egyptians rocked it back then. I also found it interesting to read about how weight gain products use to be advertised, as this was the key for a healthy woman (oh how times change). Generally I find advertising a very interesting industry that target’s basically the worlds population with different adverts for race, sex, language and so on. So I feel Joy could have got a lot meatier with advertising, and maybe also speak about some of these monster-advertising companies like C21, London Creative, and DDB Worldwide (to name a few). Also just to be picky I would have loved some of Joy’s humour in regards to the advertising that we have today.
Also Joy’s flowchart image of the advertising industry looks lovely, but unfortunately I cannot read it Joyous ☺.
Moving onto Joy’s analysis of the film industry, I found this very insightful and felt it addressed the way’s that we view film with technology always evolving and viewing formats such as VCR, DVD, BluRay, TV and Cinema. Obviously with this multi billion pound industry there are many big corporations to talk about Disney, Pixar, 20th Century Fox and so on, I feel Joy could have addressed some of these companies in her writing and expanded on how they are run and what they do inside these corporations. I also couldn’t see Joy’s comparison between advertising and film and how they both benefit one another.
Otherwise I enjoyed reading Joy’s comments on both advertising and film and think she’s given a good overview of what they are composed of.
Literature and Television - Cherokee
Literature one topic that isn’t a strong point of mine, sure I read newspapers, magazines and other Internet content, but when it comes to books I get a bit bored unfortunately (unless it’s a compelling story, as you do). However after reading Cherokee’s comments on the literature industry revives my enjoyment of a good read. I did find that Cherokee focussed on the more newspaper/ magazine aspect of this industry, rather than the book side as for me when I think of literature I think of books.
I found Cherokee’s comments on the Daily Mail ideology very interesting, and unfortunately true, my personal opinion on that paper isn’t high favourable but I still read it (how fucked up is that!). When it comes to certain Magazines also Cherokee’s comments on branding and being ‘there to sell a lifestyle’ are so true, many people will buy Vogue or Tatler to give off this pretentious persona to society (despite the fact 80% of the pages are adverts – where’s the literature people?).
Reading Cherokee’s article on Television was much ‘fun’ and I felt her perception on reality TV shows was very true, despite my guilty pleasure for reality TV such as ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and ‘Crimewatch’ (Crimewatch being more serious and bringing many idiots ‘*****’ to justice).
Obviously it’s strange to think about societies obsession with other peoples lives, especially with shows such as ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, which in my view is a pile of processed shit, with no likeability to there scripted mischief (and yes I realise TOWIE is the same).
However with other reality TV programs ‘XFactor’, ‘Come Dine with Me’ and ‘Four in a Bed’ I can see the obvious phenomenon regarding their popularity and at the end of the day they cross over into entertainment (we all love a good laugh, even if with XFactor it’s at someone else’s expense – how sick are we!).
I liked the context behind the two big game players in the reality TV industry ‘Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire? (I do)’ and ‘Big Brother’, most definitely the two modern day kick starters of reality TV.
Also the use of an Andy Warhol quote was a nice touch and emphasised Cherokee’s argument with an external source.
I have no critique here, and enjoyed to read about the predominantly reality Television industry, if this is the damage Cherokee can do to reality tv, I would love to see how take on politics ☺.
For this post i'll be talking about three of my fellow apprentices comments on their chosen creative media industries. The task required us to select two industries that we felt we were in the 'know about. Below are my comments on these.
Gaming and the Internet – Robert
After reading through Rob’s post on the gaming industry it is obvious that he knows his stuff and is one with games. In particular he has spoken in great detail about the evolution of gaming consoles from consoles such as the Saga Megadrive (I use to frickin’ love playing on mine) and also the Nintendo Entertainment System. Rob has importantly spoken about the vast history and the growing trend for gaming consoles that haven’t ceased to be slowing in trade.
I found what Rob had to say very interesting and also filled me with nostalgia of the good ol’ days (for a nineteen year old I sound like I’ve lived a life) but as new consoles keep flying off the shelves and prices fly into the hundreds the question is who is behind it all?
Well as Rob address the gaming industry now has ‘artists and designers, programmers, voice actors and motion capture teams, audio teams and composers’ and even full orchestra’s behind these ‘general’ games as such, making it all very hard to believe this all started from things such as board games.
One thing I would have liked to see in Rob’s gaming post is sales figures and how much the gaming industry is worth (I’m one of those people who find that stuff, well interesting). And also what games were around before consoles, especially in terms of board games – monopoly, cludo, KERPLUNK!
The interlink between games and the Internet also was an interesting read, especially the findings on how film advertise through this platform. I really enjoyed reading about the Dsitrict 9 and Blair Witch Project marketing strategies that helped create rumours among the networking community.
One problem with exploring the internet as a Creative Media Industry is where on earth do you begin, it’s so vast and therefore not an easy industry to sum up without writing a book.
It would have been good to see something on the Internet’s link with Television; as for me personally that’s the biggest viewing platform for me at the moment, with things such as on demand. Obviously this has been a developing issue over the past few years with cable provider Virgin having an on demand service accessed from your television and satellite provider SKY launching anytime that has a similar catch up service.
But all in all Rob you smashed it!
Advertising and Film – Joy
I enjoyed reading Joy’s findings on advertising and the history behind this, always good to know how the Egyptians rocked it back then. I also found it interesting to read about how weight gain products use to be advertised, as this was the key for a healthy woman (oh how times change). Generally I find advertising a very interesting industry that target’s basically the worlds population with different adverts for race, sex, language and so on. So I feel Joy could have got a lot meatier with advertising, and maybe also speak about some of these monster-advertising companies like C21, London Creative, and DDB Worldwide (to name a few). Also just to be picky I would have loved some of Joy’s humour in regards to the advertising that we have today.
Also Joy’s flowchart image of the advertising industry looks lovely, but unfortunately I cannot read it Joyous ☺.
Moving onto Joy’s analysis of the film industry, I found this very insightful and felt it addressed the way’s that we view film with technology always evolving and viewing formats such as VCR, DVD, BluRay, TV and Cinema. Obviously with this multi billion pound industry there are many big corporations to talk about Disney, Pixar, 20th Century Fox and so on, I feel Joy could have addressed some of these companies in her writing and expanded on how they are run and what they do inside these corporations. I also couldn’t see Joy’s comparison between advertising and film and how they both benefit one another.
Otherwise I enjoyed reading Joy’s comments on both advertising and film and think she’s given a good overview of what they are composed of.
Literature and Television - Cherokee
Literature one topic that isn’t a strong point of mine, sure I read newspapers, magazines and other Internet content, but when it comes to books I get a bit bored unfortunately (unless it’s a compelling story, as you do). However after reading Cherokee’s comments on the literature industry revives my enjoyment of a good read. I did find that Cherokee focussed on the more newspaper/ magazine aspect of this industry, rather than the book side as for me when I think of literature I think of books.
I found Cherokee’s comments on the Daily Mail ideology very interesting, and unfortunately true, my personal opinion on that paper isn’t high favourable but I still read it (how fucked up is that!). When it comes to certain Magazines also Cherokee’s comments on branding and being ‘there to sell a lifestyle’ are so true, many people will buy Vogue or Tatler to give off this pretentious persona to society (despite the fact 80% of the pages are adverts – where’s the literature people?).
Reading Cherokee’s article on Television was much ‘fun’ and I felt her perception on reality TV shows was very true, despite my guilty pleasure for reality TV such as ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and ‘Crimewatch’ (Crimewatch being more serious and bringing many idiots ‘*****’ to justice).
Obviously it’s strange to think about societies obsession with other peoples lives, especially with shows such as ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, which in my view is a pile of processed shit, with no likeability to there scripted mischief (and yes I realise TOWIE is the same).
However with other reality TV programs ‘XFactor’, ‘Come Dine with Me’ and ‘Four in a Bed’ I can see the obvious phenomenon regarding their popularity and at the end of the day they cross over into entertainment (we all love a good laugh, even if with XFactor it’s at someone else’s expense – how sick are we!).
I liked the context behind the two big game players in the reality TV industry ‘Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire? (I do)’ and ‘Big Brother’, most definitely the two modern day kick starters of reality TV.
Also the use of an Andy Warhol quote was a nice touch and emphasised Cherokee’s argument with an external source.
I have no critique here, and enjoyed to read about the predominantly reality Television industry, if this is the damage Cherokee can do to reality tv, I would love to see how take on politics ☺.
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