Pre Production Charity project

Charity Piece (St Mungo)
The charity I have chosen to raise money for is for Homeless people called St Mungo's. They run hundreds of projects every year to help thousands of homeless people have a change of life. This charity helps provide a bed, a warm room and so much more to more than 1,700 people every single night across London and the South. My aim is to focus on raising as much money as possible for this charity in order to help the homeless people around London. I will produce a live and comedy product in order to do this. To get the name of this charity across and help raise the money for it, the idea is to pull as many stunts to promote the charity's name or get people involved and asking questions about it. My Live item and Comedy item will play that part, however it is important that people take this charity serious so I will also be making a 3-5 minute informative video about the charity, how they help, what they do and how people can get involved. This video will also give people an insight of the background of the subject such as real stories, interviews with homeless people and what it is like to be homeless. A stunt I want to pull, is actually being homeless for a night. I want to have the experience to boost my passion for the subject. I want to reveal the truth and open the eyes of the public.

Comedy Item (Music Video Parody)
The Group and I have recorded a parody track which we hope to film a video for as part of our Comedy Item. The original plan is to use this video to get views and with every view we get, we give 10p to the chosen charity. The idea is to make it as random and outrageous as possible making it more humorous and comedic so we have chosen to make it about 'cooking in the kitchen'. The video could potentially go virus, making a lot of money for our chosen charity.

Live Item (FlashMob)
The idea for this was to have a Flash Mob break out in an extremely busy area. This could be central London  a main attraction in the city or even a shopping mall. The intention of this idea is to get people to stop people and grab their attention. By having a Flash Mob, I am sure people will question where it came from and what it is for. To make it better and more challenging, I want this to be live and projected back at the college for students to see the level of dedication and hard work that has gone into promoting this charity and raising awareness to Homelessness. Its unexpected, fun and an extremely effective way of grabbing people's attention. As this event is taking place, I will have leaflets giving more information about the charity and a website that people can visit to see how they are able to get involved with helping this charity.

Resources/Needs.
Camera Equipment
Sound Equipment
Dancers (StarNow)
Choreographers (StarNow)
Music
Camera Crew
Charity representatives
Leaflets
Permission from the Charity

Presentation (theme)
The theme of the final show will more likely be towards a serious and informative level, however we aim to accomplish a high number of people getting involved by carrying a series of comedic events and stunts as this is more likely to grab peoples attention. Our intention is to get as many people on board as possible, raise awareness and raise money for the charity.

Potential Constraints (how will I get around it)?
We may not be allowed to use the chosen charity or have permission to do some of the things we are doing for this charity. If this occurs, I will do more research and find a similar charity with the same intentions to raise money for. Another potential constraint may be that something could go wrong with the equipment for sound or visuals whilst my live item occurs. A way I will avoid this is by assuring I have back up equipment, rehearsing before the actual item goes live and ensuring that there is a way I can switch to something else if the connection of the live filming doesn't showcase as it should back at the college. One last potential constraint is not finding enough people to work with in terms of job roles. If this happens, I will have to step in myself and play the role eg. Charity representative and handing out leaflets.

Location?
The location of the Live Item will be in either Oxford Circus, Westfields shopping centre or London Bridge. This will then be projected and showcased at the City Of Westminster college. This will be live so I will have to have many rehearsals before it starts. My comedy Item will be pre-recorded and again, showcased back at the City of Westminster college.

Funds?
Raising money for the charity, will come from the public and anyone willing to pay to watch people make a fool of themselves. I also aim to raise money at the Live Item stunt as there will be representatives with buckets and leaflets where people will be able to donate some money. In terms of hiring people for the specific Job roles above, I will have to use the website StarNow to find people working on a Freelance position and volunteers too.

Staff Awards Evaluation

After being a part of the Staff Awards, I have concluded a very successful outcome and would like to evaluate every thought and opinion that was given for this event. I played a lot of roles within this project as an assistant, a researcher, a presenter and runner. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the positives and negatives of the final Item and any things I would improve if I were to do a similar project to this in the future. I have also had a meeting with our client to find out some of their opinions on the process and conclusion of this project I was given.

One thing I least enjoyed about the project was the pre-production and research process. We were given strict deadlines and an intense level of work pace to work around. This was the least fun as it made me feel extremely anxious about whether we would meet our deadlines or whether the project would result as a successful one. After speaking to my client, she said she least enjoyed the rehearsals process and she felt anxious with every problem we had. We also only had time to have one rehearsal as we were still clearing up equipment from a previous show. She was worried about whether all the issues would be resolved in time for the live show. 


My favorite part of the show was the watching the show live. Putting all the effort and passion left, into the final piece and watching weeks worth of work finally come together. Also seeing how effective group work and team work can result to. After the show, we had received many praises and given a positive outcome by the principal and head of college. After speaking to my client, she had said her favorite part was the opening sequence as the opening sequence created an atmosphere of enthusiasm and pride. She also enjoyed the funny clips we had included throughout the show, the memorial videos as it brought everyone in the room together and the level of the professionalism in the team. 

If I could change one thing, it would be pushing back to my client in giving me more information about the people I had been interviewing throughout the weeks as some clips were funnier than others only because I didn't know them. If I had some background information about who and how they knew the award winners, we could have been more creative with the videos and asked more open questions. Some of the interviewees were nervous too, I would also focus on setting them at ease and making them feel more comfortable in front of the camera. 

I asked my client if this show would be something you would come and watch every year, if you could and she responded with "most definitely". She said because it involves people who people know. When you know people who are receiving awards, it makes it that little bit more personal and you are even more proud. She also mentioned that the way it was set out and the theme appealed to the right demographic. Not only did it have that, but it was creatively planned as it also appealed to all types of people. The title sequence effectively set the mood and sent out a professional message as well as having an impact on the client and audience with confidence.

Some of the things I would say about the final item that inspired confidence from people, was; 
- The quality of the video and level of professionalism of the editing. When people see a video has been filmed professionally and edited in a creative manor, there is more respect as it is seen as being taken serious and not just 'something to be filmed' making it more mature and less blunt. 

- Witnessing the college and individuals working not only bringing confidence out of people in the college but upraising pride and showcasing a real love for the hard work that goes throughout the college. Being able to capture that on camera and showcasing in the final item made everyone in the room feel proud of being a part of the team.

- Showcasing the diversity of the college. Not only the top positions of the college, but the people who really do make that difference. The people who should also be appreciated for the time and effort they put into the college. The dinner ladies, security, teachers and so on. This represented lots of different angles as it was inclusive and it showed everyone. A good vibe throughout, it was very atmospheric and people looked engaged and pleased with what they do. The choice of music used for this was very clever too as well as the logo. It represented togetherness by using the colours of the college.

The show started off with the audience being uninterested and bored because they were used to being sat every year throughout two hours of talk but as soon as the videos were shown and the opening title, the energy was up and everyone in the audience was smiling. The audience immediately changed the energy in the room after that. We didn't use much of the audience in the final video because the lighting was not up to standards which was a decision made based on the quality of the final product.

Advise I would give future students is to make sure the level of communication throughout the team is on point. It is vital you are able to communicate with one another as you are part of a team and sometimes mis-communication can be the fault of all the mistakes and issues of your project. I would also recommend using an online diary to keep updated with what has been done, what you may still need to work on and locating job roles. When there are roles being offered to more than one person, it could all become confusing and you may experience a problem in the pre-production process. Organisation skills is key. You need to be very updated and on top of everything. Ensuring you always have a back up plan and prepared for everything you are doing i.e filming, interviews, meetings, rehearsals, writing letters etc. Speak to your client more, and try to ask as many questions about the people you are interviewing as possible. You always get a reaction from people when something is comedic so be creative when it comes to making your videos and inserts for the final award ceremony. Be diverse. Diversity helps bring people together and never makes anyone feel left out. 

When interviewing people, do not underestimate how nervous people get in front of the camera. It is important you make them feel assured and relaxed. Give them and option of where they want to film and more freedom with the video's. Ask them about their creative thoughts. 

Have enough time to set up and rehearse a day before the live event. Make sure the intuition knows you have a show coming up and we had a show before the day of the awards, resulting in technical issues that are out of your hand. Again, this comes under key organisational skills. Make sure you are equipped with extra tools, battery's, SD Cards etc. If all else fails, you must have confidence in being able to improvise because things may happen last minute.

In conclusion, I am extremely satisfied with the final product. It was a great evening and extremely rewarding to see the looks on people's faces after watching a show you had produced. I would do it all over again and extremely happy with the outcome of this project.

My Report

Introduction
James Hodges has commitioned this report and asked to write in detail about how to read a report when put in the process of working on a brief for a client. The purpose of this report is to inform James with detailed information.

Main body of Report
It is fairly easy to identify and recognise a brief by looking out for key pieces within. I will be discussing

REPORT ON A BRIEF

Structure of a brief 
A brief is a concise statement or summary of something you must follow as a guideline, when entering competitions or starting new projects. A brief must include rough instructions and a deadline. Some briefs follow a specific style, requirements or even an outcome of what achievements you may have gained after the brief.

Reading a brief

Negotiating a brief

Opportunities created by a brief
Positive opportunities of a brief - A chance to
Negative's of a brief -