Part A - Regulations.
A regulatory body is a professional body but it is not a membership organisation and its primary activity is to protect the public. Regulatory bodies are established on the basis of legal mandate. Media regulations is there to control the mass media by government and other bodies. The regulations, laws, rules or procedures can have a various goals.
Advertising Standards Authority ASA
ASA, is the UK's independent regulator for advertising across all media, the work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisement, sales promotion and direct marketing. The UK advertising regulatory system is a mixture of self- regulation for non broadcast advertising and co- regulation for broadcast advertising. Broadly this means that the system is paid for by the industry that writes the rules, but those rules are enforced by the ASA. The UK Advertising Codes are written by two industry committees: the Committee of Advertising Practice writes the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) writes the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising.
When an advertising company doesn't follow the rules set out by the ASA this could lead to the advertisement to be taken down and remove. If a company does this more than a few times and breaks ASA code then ASA will give them to OFCOM.
British Board of Film Classification BBFC
BBFC, The British Board of Film Classification are responsible for the classification and censorship of films within the UK. There are requirements to classify videos, DVDs and to lesser extent some video games under the Video Recording Act 2010. Every 4 -5 years the BBFC carries out a major public consultation exercise to find out the public thinks about the age rating of films and video before they are released and whether the BBFC's classification standards meet public concern. The BBFC adjusts its standards and criteria in response to any changes in public attitudes. The Guidelines details what is acceptable at each age category, from U to R18. There are also laws and principles which impact the BBFC work. The 2 main points of the guidelines operate are to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially harmful or otherwise unsuitable content. To empower consumers, particularly parents and those with responsibility for children to make informed viewing decisions.
The age certificate are:
- U- universal, suitable for all.
- PG- parental guidance general viewing
- 12- suitable only for people whoa re 12 years or older.
- 12A- this means that children under 12 could can watch when accompanied by an adult.
- 15- suitable only for people who are 15 and over.
- 18-Suitable only for people who are 18 and over.
The classification guidelines need to consider these issues:
- Discrimination
- horror
- Sex
- Drugs
- Violence
- Nudity
- Language
- Dangerous and easily imitable behaviour
An example of an controversial product in my media sector is films being banned. Such as The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence), this film was originally banned due to high levels of explicit sexual violence, graphic forced defecation and potential obscenity. The BBFC had given the film the age certificate of 18 on the 6th of October 2011, while the distributors agreed to make 32 cuts before the release. The BBFC are obliged under the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA) to regard the likelihood of any harm that many be caused to the viewer. After careful consideration, the BBFC judged that to issue a certificate to the film, even if it was only for adults, it would still involve risk of harm within the terms of the VRA, and didn't fit in with there guidelines. The overall outcome was that the film was banned in the UK.
OFCOM, the Office of Communication, is the government approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries in the UK. OFCOM has power over Tv, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a duty to represent the interest of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from harmful or offensive material. PMB meets once a week and oversees the management of the organisation as well as OFCOMS regulatory duties. It is a single forum which looks at policy development and associated risk, resourcing and prioritisation issues. they have to make a decision on key policies and regulatory and organisational issues. Issues of greatest significances will be escalated to the OFCOM board.
The regulatory bodies that look after the film industry are the ones spoken about above, ASA, BBFC and OFCOM. All these regulatory bodies are linked to the film industry in some way. OFCOM main reasonability is to stop negative effects on the public by removing any communication media that is breaking the code. OFCOM is important as its one of the biggest forms of media which means if things weren't regulated, broadcasters could show inappropriate content that could harm the viewers.
Part B- Employment opportunities.
Within the film industry there are so many different departments that come together to create a film. There post production, pre production and so many different parts of film. Some jobs are actor, lighting technician, art department assistant, Make- up artist, audio and dubbing assistant and boom operator. Other major roles in film include art director, this is some one who has creative visions for all the sets and locations that gives production their look and fell. Assistant Editor, this person take responsibility for the cutting of the film and how smooth scenes run together on a feature film. Camera operator, this person prepares and operates the camera and all its equipment, working closely with the directors. Casting director, this person organise the casting of actors for all roles in a film. Composers are the people responsible for writing original music for films. Directors are the driving creative force behind a film they visualising and defining the style of the film and bring the film structure and bring it to life.
In the film industry job roles can overlap and interconnect for example the director can take on a lot of jobs as they are they ones that are creating the style of the film, so the director will tend to work with a lot of other job roles. Also art director and director are very similar, the art director creates the vision for the locations where as the director does this for everything else. Other job roles the interconnect are hair and make-up and also costume as this people will be working with the actors and they have to make sure that the actor looks a certain why for the film, so this job roles tend to work very close together. A lot of these job roles will have assistants for example assistant editor or assistant camera operator, this type of job will overlap with editor or camera operator.
Jobs in the film industry can develop over time and it give the workers a chance to work their way up the career ladder. A lot of people in the film industry tend to start off as a runner as its an entry level job. There are different types of runners such as:
- Production Runners assist in the production office. They aren’t usually involved much in pre-production but come on board a little before shooting at which point they help keep the flow of information between the crew through the distribution of paperwork as well as researching with the production team.
- Office Runners work for the companies involved in film-making. Not all companies have office running positions but those that do exist provide a way in to areas of film-making beyond production. In particular, this can be an entry route towards post-production or working for a production company. As there are few positions, however, the competition can be great. Internships can, in certain circumstances, act as a precursor to office running.
But after this you can move into a job in a department that you worked with as a runner. After that you would have a job in a certain film sector, this means you can move your way up the ladder. For example you could be a boom operator, then a camera assistant, then a crane camera operator and after you could be come a camera operator this job role work closely with the director. There are lots of chances in film to develop your job role you could start of as a runner move into editing become a assistant editor, then become editor and you could even change departments after than and go into art director there are a lot of possibilities in the film industry.
Working in the film industry you will need to regularly have up to date knowledge of softwares if your working in the post production such as editing there are a lot of different editing software being used and you will have to know most of them. To work in the film industry a big skill you will need is creativity as its a very creative industry. There are a lot of different course anyone can take weather its at college or a local community hall. Some course you can take are Film studies A level, media studies Btec and filmmaking these are only a few there are much more to choice from.
Part C- Application Pack
An example of a job vacancy advertisement for a entry job in the film industry is:
The job location is east London and the region is central London. We need a film-maker &/or film editor with special effects skills to assist us in creating promotional & educational clips for our website and marketing.
You must be:
- currently living in the UK & entitled to work here
- proficient in spoken and written English
- ready to begin immediately
- punctual, proactive & attentive to detail
This is an exciting project and would make a great portfolio piece.
To be considered, all applicants must attach a CV, samples of your work and a covering letter explaining why you are interested in the position.
You must be:
- currently living in the UK & entitled to work here
- proficient in spoken and written English
- ready to begin immediately
- punctual, proactive & attentive to detail
This is an exciting project and would make a great portfolio piece.
To be considered, all applicants must attach a CV, samples of your work and a covering letter explaining why you are interested in the position.
Education:
- BA/MA in Film preferred
Requirements:
- Previous hands-on experience in creative promotional film making preferred.
- Experience with HD DSLRs, Sony F series of cameras, Canon C series and Arri/Red cameras would be useful. (Please state on application the cameras you are comfortable with).
Having your own equipment is useful but not essential.
- Fantastic editing skills required
- Experience with Adobe Creative Suite is required.
- After Effects or Motion special effects required.
Cover Letter
Dear Hiring Manager
I am writing about the vacancy for the film maker/ editor role in your company Sounds Future. I have the skill of using Imovie, GarageBand, Final Cut pro and Microsoft office, I also know how to use a HD DSLR. I have a strong creative instinct and like to be in a creative atmosphere. For my college course I have made a short film, tv advert and re dubbed scenes.
For the last 2 years I have been studying Media at Coulsdon College, this has helped me understand more about the film industry and it has taught how to use different softwares. While studying media we did a whole unit on film study which was the most interesting and I learnt different uses of camera angles and learnt about different way to shoot a film, I believe that all these skills will make me a great film editor and maker.
Please see attached my CV to give you more information.
Thank you for your time and consideration
Sincerely yours
Lily Barron
The CV
Showreel
