Unit 11: Preparing for Progression

University Map:

I have definitely decided that I want to go to a fairly local university, ideally one which I can drive too. I am also pretty sure I want to do business management at university. There aren't too many local universities which do this but the map on the right shows most of them. I will go to open days for the universities which I will suit me the best.

UCAS Course Options:

Personal Statement DRAFT

Personal Statement FINAL

Branding as a Freelancer

1. What is a media freelancer?

A freelancer is someone who doesn't work for one company full-time but is hired by different companies for certain jobs.

2. Which areas of media are freelancers most common?

Production and Post-production. Roles include camera operators, runners, sound and lighting assistants, and editors.

3. Examples of real freelancer roles/posts in different areas of media

- Coronation Street Runner... Click Here

- Production Assistant... Click Here

4. What types of contracts are given to freelancers?

- Fixed-price contracts

- ‘Time and materials’ contracts

5. What are the strengths of being a freelancer?

Change the job often. Get paid more.

6. What are the weaknesses of being a freelancer?

No job security. Bad recommendation, one mistake could be costly. Own taxes and accounts.

Self-branding in Media

Self-branding is a form of marketing where an individual creates a brand for themselves. Examples of people who have done this could include Donald Trump or Gary Vaynerchuck. For many different people having a strong self-brand is essential. This is what people would look at it they were going to hire you; for example. In media, most people who work as a freelancer would have an online portfolio in which potential clients would look at to see if they wanted to hire them. This itself is self-branding. The only thing you have to make sure if that the brand thats been created remains positive. A way to get people to see your self brand would be too go on question and answer websites and answer questions in your mastered subject.

Branding as a Freelancer

What are the methods of self-branding in media? You should provide specific examples of methods in different media pathways.

Social Media - having a social media account with examples of work could be found by a potential client.
Portfolio - A portfolio is a collection of all of your best work, this is what clients would look out
Website - A website would be a good way to talk about yourself and show off to others what you can do.
A logo - Having a logo for your "brand" would need to be bright and stand out, it would make potential clients see your work
Showreel - This is what videographers or editors would have, this is a collection of all of their best work

On the right you can see the website for Ryan Gittings who is a freelance website designer. I like the home page for his website as the blue works really well with the white writing. The website is very simplistic with only key information written out. On the website is also case studies which show the would give his potential clients an insight to what other people think about the work that he has done, from the people he did the work for. The white writing goes very well with the blue background. The drawn background suggests a graphic designer.

On the right is Tom Cribbin's website. He is a videographer. He has a video of his work playing right on the home page so as soon as you visit his website you see his work. At the bottom is a lets chat button which allows you to quickly send him a message. At the top, he has pages for services along with a portfolio. His website is the busiest out of all three but it works well as you can see everything on the first page. The white layout means our eyes are instantly drawn to the moving image in the center.

On the left, you can see Michael Olatunji's website. They are a freelance photographer. The website is all white with black text, accents are used through his photos. As you can see from the home page you are instantly looking at the photos. He also has an about page where you can find out information about him.

Brand Name Suggestions

Identify which services you offer and why? You should think about.... is there a need for your service? How? Why? What s your USP? Your service should link to your media preference, skills and future career aspirations.
Visually, how will you brand yourself:

Colour schemes: which colours would you use and why? Justify your selections
Logo: What would your logo look like and why?
Website: What would website your contain and why?
Language: what type of language would you use across your branding and why? Would you have a slogan for example?
Professional self: How will you behave in order to make your company successful? How will you gain potential customers and communicate with them?

A USP is a unique selling point. This is what makes your brand different from others.

Colour Schemes will be a white layout as the example images will stand out better, the text will be black. Having the black text will mean it can be seen but won't overpower the example images.

My logo will be the CY initials written in bold black on a white background as this will fit with the theme.

The website will be very simple, it will contain a home page which will have examples of my best work, this is very important as it means a potential client will have a good idea of what they are getting as soon as they click on the website. On the home page will be bullet point information and selling points. I will have a portfolio which will contain all my work along with case studies from the people who the work was for. I will then have a contact page which will contain a contact form where potential clients can easily submit a form to get in touch! I will only have three pages as if I have any more the viewer may get bored and find their way on to another website.

Professional, simple and smart language will be used on the website. Any words need to be simplistic for example a soemthing such as "Precise and Powerful" would work well on a professional website as both words have many connotations to photography which will make the audience think. An example of something you wouldn't say could be "The best pictures in the world" because it's sloppy and not engaging at all.

If you are serious about branding yourself you have to be sensible online, making sure you double check anything that is posted online to make sure that it is to a very good standard. Also, ensuring that nothing can be used against you at all, this is very important because when something is posted online it is there forever. A good way to gain potential customers is to post on social media and also post the reviews/case studies you have on social media - at first the best way to gain potential customers is through word of mouth; at first clients will be slow but after a while they will build up and the harder you work the better recognition you will get.

Rectangle

This logo started by combining two rectangles to make a Polaroid shape.

Formating the Rectangles

Next I had to format the rectangles, I had to make the borders narrower and make the lines black.

Text

I used the text tool to create the text for the website.

Rectangle

This logo started by combining two rectangles to make a Polaroid shape.

1/6

This logo started by combining two rectangles to make a Polaroid shape.
Next I had to format the rectangles, I had to make the borders narrower and make the lines black.
I then had to use the transform tool to resize and twist the rectangles to make the three of them fit together.
I then found some clipart photography images on Google which work nicely with the rest of the image.
I used a transparent background as it is essential for logos as it means they can seamlessly fit in with anything.
I used the text tool to create the text for the website.

Production Log

1. Firstly, I exported the layers from Photoshop to individual transparent images

2. I placed these in After Effects.

3. For the draft, I just messed around with the position and scale but it didn't look that great.

4. For the final, I went online and found out how to do a camera flash on After Effects. I had to create a lens flare on a blank layer and used the blend method add to combine them both together. I then moved the layers around so that the lens flare flashes in time with each aspect of the image appearing.

Headshots

Business Cards

My first peer review was from Konstantin, he said he preferred the business card on the right. His suggestion for improvement would be to move the text down. My second peer review was by Chloe. She said she prefers the one on the right because of its simplistic and a good balance of black and white. She suggested that I have only one picture on the top. Finally, Elise reviewed my designs, she said she prefers the one on the right as it looks more professional. She suggested that I change the bottom picture. I think from the feedback I will use the design on the right, I will remove the picture of me, and just have the photo studio taking up the whole space, I will also use the picture that is on design 1 instead of the current one on design 2.