-working for a real ‘commission’ with client
-work on own or in group; possibility for group to meet as production team but producing own commission work (example: like a different page to a magazine – one vision but all doing different tasks)
-must maintain recorded communication with commissioner
-learners need introduction to the unit and understanding of the process of working to a client’s brief; initial stages to invite practitioners who have completed commissions (to talk through process from receiving brief to producing final product)
-a commission to be found (by students or teachers and centres have to make judgements on approach)
-learners need constant feedback and advice on a regular basis in order to confirm they are on track to completing work.
-commissioner should provide written (or other forms) of feedback that the learner can reflect on and add to folder; this allows them to refine ideas throughout process
SCHEDULE: L: learner activity T: teacher activity P: process portfolio
1. Introduction to unit
a. L: Discuss activities to explore idea of working to commission
(T: -obtaining commission, developing and maintaining relationship with client, maintaining communication, reading a brief, presenting ideas, presenting a budget, dealing with crucial feedback
- provide examples of commission briefs for discussion
- arrange visits from practitioners
b. L: Meeting with practitioners
c. P: Produce a list of good working commissions
2. The brief
a. L: Divide into working groups to discuss and explore initial ideas
b. T: Teacher may present given brief; if student has obtained themselves: student to give teacher brief from client
c. P: Keep copy of brief
i. Include notes
ii. Mind maps
iii. Initial ideas (development of ideas)
3. Meeting the client
a. L: meet client for initial discussions of commissioned brief
b. T: facilitate meeting and ensure learners understand brief
c. P: Keep notes of decisions made at meeting along with outline of what client wants
4. Researching and generating ideas
a. L: Undertake research which will help come up with creative, practical ideas
b. T: facilitate generation of ideas to explore numerous options using multiple techniques
c. P: Keep copies of research materials, notes, mind maps, sketches, rough drafts in association with gathering ideas
5. Investigating target audience
a. L: -investigate needs of target audience, considering how product is likely to be received and how they will react to it
-consider how audience might use technology/techniques they have chosen to use in production of work
b. T: provide guidance and ensure students are considering the target audience at all stages
-ensure students are fully investigating technology/techniques to be used to complete commission
c. P: Keep copies of research materials and details of discussion/decisions
6. Selecting appropriate ideas
a. L: consider how ideas must be feasible considering: skills required, budget available, time available, practicality of ideas, adaption of ideas in line with investigations
7. The budget
a. L: draw up budget of work, identify areas of expenditure, likely income, costing items accurately, making adjustments where necessary
b. T: (no real budget) teacher and/or client should present learners with budget to work with and costed realistically
c. P: Keep copy of budget, proposal and identified ‘goals’ of work. All these documents must be produced individually, even if in group
8. Pitching the proposal
a. L: -come up with proposal of commission to present to client
-respond to any feedback from client, making adjustments where necessary
b. T: provide basic guidance regarding pitching of proposal (practice role play maybe?)
c. P: Individually keep notes on clients response to pitch and on actions in response of observations or requests made by client
9. Pre-production
a. L: -when proposal accepted by client, learners should draw up set of goals with criteria for measuring success. Goals to be reviewed during planning and production stages and reviewed at end of unit
-draw up list of materials, equipment and processes used in production
-need to ensure everything they need is available and understand work safety
-negotiate and draw up production schedule which includes deadlines for each stage of production process and details of individual roles and responsibilities
-maintain communication with client
b. T: provide basic guidance regarding specific health and safety issues, observations or requests made by client
c. P: ensure all pre-production documentation is kept in process portfolio
10. Production and post-production
a. L: -produce work; gather materials needed for commission product.
-Regular meetings are to:
-monitor progress against schedule
-make decisions about modifications, review budget
-deal with arisen problems.
b. T: monitor and facilitate
c. P: -keep all relevant documents
-keep journal during these stages documenting the process
11. Reflection and Evaluation
a. L: identify how they are going to evaluate the success of work by gathering feedback from audiences and client
-documents for this need to be devices (ex questionnaires)
-take part in debriefing:
-examine each stage of the process
-assess how well goals were achieved
-look at information from audience and client regarding success of their work
-assess what has been learned from process and what would be approached differently in future commissions
-present an individual review that:
-reflects quality of work WWW & EBI
-evaluate experience and what learned
-make conclusions about how working on experience of commission can be used to inform future progress
-considers how they might get new clients to see work, considering client might own work
b. T: lead the debrief in order to ensure every learner contributes
-ensure that commissioner provides ongoing feedback to the learner
-commissioner use feedback form in spec to provide feedback at end of process
c. P: keep documentation gathered to evidence audience and client response to work
-include record (minutes or audio/visual recording) of debrief
-produce individual presentation (in form of written report, blog or presentation)
-evidence of feedback from a # of sources and analysis of this feedback
-include feedback from commissioner
