Unit 14 - Working Freelance - Louise Reed

I want to be a film maker and photographer


My biggest inspiration is film maker and photography Ben Brown. Below is a picture of Ben and  two examples of his work.























Ben has always, since he was young, loved to kayak and always dreamed of making it to the world championships and winning a medal. this was ultimate dream at one stage; which, in 2011, he accomplished. From the age of 8, he trained at Elmridge canoe Club and decided he wanted to carry on until he got the championships. Ben brown started his youtube account having wanted to take a break from kayaking, and this has now led him to different things ie, photography, film making, design.


Advantages of working freelance

  • You can do things how you would like to (but still keep to spec)
  • The hours are flexible
  • You learn to be independent
  • The money you make comes straight from who you produce stuff for
  • Choose work
  • Negate deadline
  • Gain all profits
  • Build your skills
  • Work from home
  • Respect

Disadvantages

  • Less working hours
  • uncertainty for work
  • motivation (lack of)
  • Costs
  • Lonely
  • Competition
  • Equipment
  • Sickness
  • Do all the hard work yourself
  • Not turning down work
Advantages of working Part time
  • Fixed hours
  • Choice to do overtime if you wanted 
  • means you can get some money whilst still in full time education
  • guaranteed
  • Training for further departments
  • Sick pay
  • theres an opportunity for you to be full time
  • once you finish education you can look to get a contract
Disadvantages
  • it may be difficult to get a full time job once you're out of educations, so you may be stuck on a part time job wage, which may not be enough to pay for all your monthly costs.


Punctuality - always turn up on time to work and make sure i have enough time to get ready for my shift

organisation - i organised booking to go the cinema for the release of the new hunger games films. I contacted everyone going and told them about the payment situation and booked accordingly.

Communication - I am not one to shy away from a presentation or any opportunity to stand in front of an audience and speak.

customer service - I work in retail and know first hand the importance of listening to customers opinion

Team working - I was once part of my local hockey team and managed to help my team win the league that season

Hardworking and reliable - I stay behind after lesson some times to finish any class work that i did not manage to get done

Determination and self motivation - I learnt a few songs on the piano by myself and have had no formal lessons. I have also had no formal photography lessons.

Adaptability - I am easily able to adapt to life when i stay with my Spanish family in the main land, as i can eat their food and can adapt to their way of living.

Honesty and integrity - I always help people load their shopping at work.




Assignment one - working freelance
  1. What is your chosen sector? Tell me as much as you can about it. It's a massive industry and there are many routes into it; one of which is in fact freelance. The British film industry is incredibly iconic and has produced some truly iconic films, The boy in the striped pyjamas, Bridge over the river Kwai and The Great Escape to name just a few. Nowa days however it is Hollywood that is dominating the mainstream film industry, and it is an incredibly difficult are to get a break
  2. What is your chosen specialism? I would say my chosen specialism would be more on the production side of things so a Producer would be my ideal role. They have a big hand in the creation of the movie, and will work on every aspect, from conception to completion, working closely with the director and  other production staff. 
  3. What is freelance?  You can work with any number of companies at any given time and you can work as closely with them as possible. If you were to go freelance you would have to take on every responsibility within a company, like finance, marketing and location management. 
  4. What different types of contracts could a freelancer have? Tender, Negotiated, Informal, Formal and contractual. The most probable for a freelancer would tender and negotiated. Tender becuase you can enter competitions to be the best in your field and get noticed by bigger companies. Negotiated is an effective way of getting closer to the partner you're working with, as you get to know what they want and what their expectations are. 
  5. What qualities do you think you think you need to be a good freelancer? You will need to be able to work independently without major help from anyone, other than the person setting you the brief before hand. You will need to be able to multi task efficiently and to be able to manage your time so that you don't get behind on any jobs that need doing. Personal deadlines set would help you to manage these times and would mean you wont easily fall behind on any tasks.
  6. What could be the negative aspects of being a freelancer?  You don't have anyone to check up on you so you may lack motivation to do any of the tasks that need doing. If for any reason the tasks set do get on top of you, then you will find it incredibly difficult to recover from it and to get back on track in terms of the work you are trying to do.
  7. If you could pick any type of freelance contract, which one would you pick and why? I would have to go with tender, because I am competitive and the chance to go up against people and try to better them in my chosen field. I find the competitive aspect would make me work harder and give me the motivation I need to stay focused on any of the tasks sett by the contractor.
  8. What sorts of resources would a freelancer need in this area? You would need to provide the camera and the lighting if you are doing an interview, but you would also need to make sure you can get around to the different locations for shooting, but sometimes the contractor might provide this for you if you're really unable to get any way of transport.
  9.  search for a freelancer in this field summarise their jobs and responsibilities, does reading about them make you more or less likely to go free lance? YouTube is a massive area for freelancing and any one who uploads regularly is a useful example, but for the purposes of this question I'll choose Ben Brown solely for the fact I have already used him as an example so he will be useful to explore in this answer. He has the responsibilities of regularly uploading content to YouTube and keeping up the quality of his work. He also has top make sure he sticks to his deadlines, which for a daily film creator means his deadlines are extremely regular. As well as the creation of his films, he has to manage the contacting of the different company is he is going to work with and he also has to manage how much he spends on all his equipment and budget the costs for the films he shoots. I think I would like to go freelance having followed his work, and would believe that I could manage all of the responsibilities required to be a successful freelancer.

    Working Freelance in Film - article
    The film industry is vast, and expanding rapidly, so to say you know the industry inside is an extremely bold statement. There are many roles you can take on during your career and it could all stem from being a runner in a small production to being an A-list director for a high class Hollywood movie. As with every job however, we all have to start somewhere, and working freelance is just one of the ways in which you can get to where you want to be in your career.
    If you were specifically looking at going into the freelance world of Film then you need to be aware that no job is permanent and that you will have to move on and find another project as soon as you finish on another. However, you may get spotted by some major film companies and if your contract is tender, then you have the opportunity of going up against other people in your field, meaning that if you produce the best, you'll get the most recognition. You could also find yourself being in a situation where you have been asked to go for a meeting with your client, and this will be so you can sit down and negotiate the sort of project you want to create. This type of contract is perfectly suited for people who love putting forward their own ideas and working closely with a client to bounce ideas off of one another.
    So once you have secured a project with a client, you need to ensure you have the right equipment and resources available in order to carry that project out. If it requires travelling to various locations then you need to work out a way to get there within your budget, so if you can drive then that is no problem, but if you can't drive then you will have to look elsewhere to find a way of travelling around, be that on public transport or any other form., but be aware this may be costly for both financial and time constraint reasons, because not all public transport is reliable so you need to plan your day of shooting accordingly. You will also need to be aware that you will need to be in charge of the finances overall, as well as everything else involved in the running of the project, so setting up a separate bank account entirely for your production budget may be beneficial if you have trouble keeping tabs on your money.   

    YouTube is something that every film creator needs top consider when looking at somewhere to join and share their work. Joining YouTube allows for an audience to easily access our work and for it to be easily accessible by anyone and everyone who may be interested in you for work. Through YouTube you can go to networking events to meet other film makers of your kind, and you can build up contacts in order for you to work collaboratively with. You have to understand though that there is a lot of legal constraints in the film industry and you will need to make sure that you avoid copyright infringement at all costs because you will get caught out at any time by the people you whose material you have used. YouTube has a copyright detection before you upload any content so you are aware if you have done so. If you look into using other peoples work, then you must make sure that you have their permission before use and if you do, then they may ask for credit in the description of the video or they may want to have some cut if the video makes a decent amount of money.
    All in all the Freelance industry is tough and you could get caught out at any time if you have too much work going on and you will always be trying to find new projects to work on, even before you've finished the one you're working on at the moment.

Bibliography


what I would need to start up my business

 As a freelance film maker i will need to spend a lot of money on equipment to both make and edit my work as well as a creative studio for work that in unable to do out in the field.
i would need insurance for all of this equipment becuase i will then be able to buy product care and claim back if any damage has been done to the equipment.
travel costs would be a massive factor, but having my own car would mean that any trips i need to make for work i would need to split the fuel cost between leisure and work, or i would just end up paying for the work trips in my own leisure. 



5 hours work - £150


Your outgoings
  • Cost of gas/electricity/rent with British gas.
  • Gas - £90.51.
  • Electricity £83.52. 
  • Rent - £100
  • Website - £8.92
  • Mobile - £7.50
  • 500 Leaflets - £27.74
  • Petrol - £60
  • 100 business cards - £26.38
Insurances
  • Public liability and Equipment insurance - £13
  • Sickness - £7.55



Professional qualifications


Existing professional bodies
How these bodies will be beneficial to me
What awards are there in my area?





My Film Production business plan – Lemon head Productions

Brief Company summary


My idea for my business will be a Film Production company that is entirely tailored for the customer. The most important thing for me whilst in business is to maintain a strong relationship with the customer and ensure that they get what they want when they want. This will mean that their film or video will be completely to their taste and fit their standards; if the customer is happy, then the company will be happy. The audience for my production company will be people aged 18-25, because I will be able to understand what they want and be able to relate to them easily.


Why I am best suited for this industry


I completely understand that I’m going into probably one of the most competitive and growing markets in the past few decades and it will be extremely difficult to break into, but I do believe that my idea will appeal to a large enough audience for me to make a name for myself. The industry is becoming a very audience orientated and interactive one, with viewers being the essential cog in any production companies business. This will not change in the short term, but what will is the growing audience, with tonnes and tonnes of new filmmakers starting out just like me. I believe I’m quite adaptable to any changes, be that long term or short term, and I will be able to tackle head them on. The thing about my industry is that it is almost too over crowded, even with the things I have proposed, so I understand that it is going to take a lot of hard work in order to actually do something effective. In my opinion I think I could get a focus group of all ages so that I could see what they all want and what they think will work, the older generation will know what worked well in the past, and the younger generation will know what sorts of things they want to see in the near future, and hopefully they will want to see a more interactive and personalised industry where the audience has a lot of the say, which I understand is already in action with social media, but where the audience gets almost full say in the work and what ideas they will want made into short films. This would be a very negotiated plan as it allows both of us to work closely to together to collaborate and incorporate each other’s ideas within the work. I think my ability to get on with a wide range of people will stand me in good stead when doing my work because I can easily see what the customers likes and dislikes are. I don’t have a lot of background within this work, however I am a very fast learner and can pick things up very quickly, I have never been taught anything about film making but I already feel comfortable with storyboarding, shooting and editing my won work to the point where I would be comfortable working fully independently.


How could I further my skills?


 


Personally I think I could further my skills by working on larger scale projects, by making bigger films and working on a grander scale, other than just doing things in my bedroom or documenting my day. Doing these grand scale projects would also help me with my own time keeping and planning in terms of creating content, as I think planning is my weakest area.


 

How are you going to make it in the industry?

I understand that there a lot of people with fresh new ideas, much like me, but I believe mine is something that will be quite successful. My products will be the obvious films and short videos which could be used for advertising, but for the services, my business will be fully flexible and personal to the client, so I wouldn’t have any say in what goes on for the film. The only way I would step in is if I would not be able to do things solely for financial reasons. Every business has a financial limit, and mine will be no exception. What I do offer though is a very quick and professional experience that means I cater for the client’s time constraints, and one that fits around their lifestyle. They would not be able to hire me if I can’t meet their availability, but they would be able to see this by looking at my online timetable showing which days I am booked out and which days and what hours they can use me. I think the thing that will give me an advantage against the rest of the competition is my ‘client first’ attitude, this means that I listen thoroughly to their ideas and the suggestions they put forward, and allows me to have a clearer idea when creating the content for my clients. The downfall though could be that it’s not very creative because the customers may end up copying someone else’s ideas and I could end up being none the wiser until post production when editing the film, and this could cost me valuable time in which I could have spent helping another client who does in fact have an original idea. As I believe this is a fresh and innovative concept, my daily rate will be set at £300 for 7 hours work, and obviously, depending on the distance the client is away from me, the rate will be slightly higher than one that may be quite local to me. With the £5K investment, I will aim to make the money back within a few months if I am able to secure regular work, but if not, then I will open myself up to working longer hours and allow me to be a lot more flexible with the client as to when we can work together, as a night time shoot may be necessary to get the right end product for them. In terms of competition for my business there is no secure number you can put on it, unless you were to go through every YouTube and video sharing platform, counting every individual account, which will just take too much time, but what I do know is that the people I will be competing is will do what I will aim to do and that will be to create regular content that my audience will hopefully be happy to watch and share with their friends and family.



How will you advertise your business?

I will get the word out about my business through online videos, which allows you to get instant recognition if your video goes viral and gains millions of views. I will use social media, because this is a very low cost form of advertising, and is literally free if you only use the basic versions of the certain platforms. The thing about social media is that it is incredibly independent so a lot of the work I will be doing will be very easily done, by myself and occasionally with professional help, maybe a professional body in the area, or I could help out unknown individual businesses who are more likely to work with me, like other online social media content creators, who will be able to help spread the word of my business and it could allow my business to stretch its audience and really open its arms to more people coming through. The paid advertising will be through Television adverts which will only be short, creating intrigue for the audience because they will want to know more about the services I provide. I will want my company to appear smart and professional but also friendly and approachable, because as well as wanting to gain as many clients as possible, I will want them to know that they can trust me and my services in that I can create content that they will certainly be happy with, bringing everything again back to the ‘client first’ attitude my business will adopt.

 What are the legal considerations for your business and particular industry?

As a film production company, a location permit will be needed while shooting, because some people may not agree with us shooting on the particular location, especially if using someone else’s property or land. Copyright is an incredibly key factor, and means I will have to consider using my own music or license free from music sharing sites online, because the artists will not be happy if I use their music and am making money from and not giving them a percentage whilst them not being aware of what’s going on. The equipment I use, like cameras, editing software, and laptops will all need to be insured in case any damage is done to them whilst shooting. When on location I will have to pay special attention to health and safety, ensuring the clients I am shooting with are way out of harms way and not likely to be hurt in anyway, shooting in a safe location.

 Financial considerations

My industry is an expensive one to go in to, especially when buying and maintaining all the equipment and making sure I’m constantly up to date with all the latest the and editing software, this would cost in the region 0f £2000, but will not be needed for the investment because I have already got most of the equipment already. My start up costs will be for the obvious expenditures, like gas, electric, rent, poster, flyers etc. and having researched and looked through the different quotes across the internet, the total of all my monthly costs will be £404.57. Having set up my daily rate of 7 hours work for £300 I will be able to break even with my start up costs after purely 2 days of work a month. If I set the break even point at £405 and I worked 2 days a month, then I would make a £195 profit purely from outgoings. However, with the £5K investment given to me, I could use that purely on my living costs, meaning it will last me for just over a year. By that time I will have made £7,200 if I managed to secure work regularly through the year. This would leave me £2,200 over the asking investment and would mean I would be paying the loan back in a year, a lot earlier than other companies would be able to. In order to secure the work however, I will need to market myself, and one thing that I could look into is getting a place at a film exhibition, much like the south coast film expo in the Ageas bowl next February, which would set me back £450 including 20% VAT meaning it could cost me roughly £540. Say I was to do this twice a year, then it would mean roughly £1000 would be spent on marketing my company. This could also allow me the chance to network with other future potential partners and clients.



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