Risk Assessment and Proposal
This lesson taught me the importance of knowing what the potential risk hazards are when shooting on location or with the public. I learnt that before shooting on location, it is necessary to fill out a risk assessment form of the potential exposed hazards incase a member of the public may want to sue you for accidental risks and injuries. Ross; the course lecturer, explained what the risk assessment is and how important it is for on location filming. The class learnt just how important filling out this form is in order to be covered from any injuries that may or may not be your fault. Ross then explained in detail each area of the form that needed to be filled out to give us a good understanding of what the importance is of the form and how it may cover us. Once we fully understood what the form is about, we went outside the UCM building to assess our area where we will be filming to fill out the potential exposed hazards of that working area. Once we were in the location were we will be filming, we began to fill out the form. Firstly the form asks you to fill out the location of the project, what Course you are studying, your lecturer, student name and details of everyone who will be responsible for you which in this case is the course lecturer; Ross. Next you have to state the assessment date, start, review and end date of the project. At first I did not know what a review date was, until this lesson when Ross had explained that the review date is done halfway through your project to state that the terms and conditions are still the same.
For the next part of the form, you have to write a brief summary of the work activity or project that you are going to be doing, you then have to state the exact locations you will be using to shoot the project, In my case this was just outside the UCM building entrance.
You then have to list potential hazards that may be exposed such as, a member of the public tripping over the tripod, being run over as the location is near the road, falling down the steps or potential weather issues. Once I listed a few issues I then had to consider how they may be harmed by these issues, for example you could break bones by falling down steps that you may have not been aware of, or potential death by being run over by a vehicle, or even not been aware of the sudden change in weather and catch frost bite from being too cold. These risks could be open to any member of the public such as unknown people, myself, staff or visitors which is a very large group of people. Because there is such a large group of people at risk while shooting on location I had to think and list down a few safety measures that allows me to take control of the situation and minimise the number of people at risk. These measures could mean that all members involved with my project would have to wear yellow safety jackets to be easily seen. I could also guard off the working area, make sure my team stay out the way of the the pathway and steps wear the public walk, wear sensible clothing, make the members of my group aware that the weather could possibly change and finally, bring protective gear for the camera equipment.
Not only do I have to think about the risks and how I could resolve them, I also had to tick a box to indicate how severe the injuries may be if there were any. For this box, I ticked Major/Fatal as cars may not always take notice of the speed limit and could crash into a group of people that may not be easily seen. Although the potential injuries of an accident could be major or fatal, the likelihood of this happening is unlikely to happen. I have limited the risk of such accidents happening as my safety precautions and measures put in place has made the environment more controllable and safe for everyone.
Overall the shoot location is ranked as being low and not hazardous as there are no significant risks and no special supervision is required.
Finally I signed the bottom of the form where it says student so that my course lecturer; Ross can also sign the form in order for it to be initialised before sending the form off to the Kent Film Office where there judgement decides whether I will be allowed to film in that particular location. Here is what a risk assessment may look like:
Secondly, the class learnt about what goes into a proposal. A proposal is putting forward a design, plan, objective or suggestion of a certain project before the project takes place. Once you have your idea or plan of your project, it gets sent to higher branches in the industry. From this lesson, I have learnt that certain things need to go into a proposal such as;
structure/rationale
genre
techniques
detailed schedule
legal issues ( risks and copyright)
duration of project, target audience
location(s)
health and safety summary
contact details of clients and production team
budget (equipment and plan)
outline of idea
and finally; presentation and research summary.
These are the ingredients that make up a proposal of your project idea which then gets sent off to people with higher powers in the industry. These higher branches in the industry then decide whether your project will be taking place or not which depends on whether they believe it will work and that it will be a safe environment. Before sending your project idea off, you need to show your understanding of the health and safety hazards, what you should and shouldn't do if something went wrong, how you will be controlling the environment, your budget plans and how you will be spending your budget and a full research summary of how you will undertake this project. If you do not show full understanding and analysis of what you will be doing and how you will prep your project then most likely the Kent Film Office will not support your project or any injury claims.
Why is the structure/rationale important in a proposal?
A structure/rationale is important as you want to fully explain why you want to undertake your project and how you will do so. If you do not explain fully then higher powers will not support you project as they will not see why you want to use unauthorised land to undertake a project that is not structured or detailed.
Why is the genre of your video project relevant?
The genre of your project is relevant to your proposal as when you put forth your idea, you need to show or explain exact detail in your presentation. By showing what genre your film or short is explains in depth why you need to use this location for this type of film, eg woodlands for maybe a horror film.
Why are techniques important?
The techniques of how you will be creating your film project will be very necessary as you have to persuade to the higher powers why it is necessary to use that exact location(s) for your film as the higher powers may suggest a different location to use as they may not see why you have to use certain grounds to your project.
Why does your schedule have to be detailed?
The detailed schedule is very important when doing your proposal as it tells the higher powers what you will be doing and when it should be done. Your times and dates in your schedule is necessary as the higher powers can work their schedule around you as they will see your goals and what you shall be doing on what dates. It also shows proof that you have permission to do your project incase a member of the public contact the higher powers to repot you for using unauthorised property.
Legal issues
If you have found issues within your project then you must indicate them in your proposal with an explanation stating how you are going to resolve them. If the higher powers see issues such as copyright then they may stop the whole production altogether as you have not bothered to follow your proposal or indicate how you will resolve the issue.
Duration of the project and your target audience
The duration of the project tells the higher branches in the industry an estimated time that you are going to take from the start to finish of the production. It lets the higher powers know how long you are going to take and your when the end goal is which is necessary as they can work there schedule around you and can have the right paper work for you incase something went wrong during that estimated time. Your target audience for your project is necessary to mention as they know what age rating your production will be for future references and locations.
Location
The location(s) is a very obvious point to make in the project proposal as the whole point of making a proposal is to persuade the higher powers to support your project production even on unauthorised land. You have to state every detail of your project which is why the locations of your shoots is very necessary.
Health and safety summary
The health and safety summary is important as you need to show your understanding of potential risks and hazards that may occur when on location of your production. You need to show that you have thought about every risk and have made suitable improvements that would limit the amount of risks for a safer environment while on set of your production.
Contact details
Leaving contact details of yourself and your entire production team is very necessary as the higher powers in the industry may want to contact you if they have enquires about your production. They may also have suggestions for your production team which is why being able to contact you is very necessary especially if something goes wrong.
Budget plan
A budget plan is very necessary to have as you need to know how much you are able to spend on your production. You will need to have enough money for travelling to the different locations during each scene, you will need to supply food and drink for your production team, props, clothing, equipment and much more. You will need to present a plan of exactly how much you are going to spend on your production and what you will be spending it on, for your first few productions you will be looking at more of a smaller budget plan as productions can be very expensive.
Outline of production plan
You need to state exactly what you will be doing as the director and who you will be having for each other role in your production. You need to show that you have thought about every aspect of your project and what exactly you will be doing to create your project. You need to give a title and explanation of what your project is going to be about.
Presentation and research summary
You not only need to present your proposal of your project with a creative approach but you need to show that you have done a lot of research and preparation for your project too. You need to give a summary of your research to indicate you have thought about all aspects before creating your production on location.
This is what a project proposal may look like. This is only a template as it indicates how you should structure a project proposal when creating your own, although if I was to create a proposal then I would use more than one sheet of paper as I believe your proposal should be in a lot more detail and depth than this one.
