Part 4

Professional Skill Audit

Assessing Current Skills

Identify your current qualifications that are relevant to be being a media industry freelancer. Select GCSEs and post-16 educations that you feel demonstrates skills (e.g. this will include Maths and English).

As a freelancer, you have to be responsible for all personal work and finances etc. Even though having your own accountant is beneficial, i have completed a GCSE in Mathematics so i can do all my budgeting and tax’s. Also, creating my own contracts and pre-production for the client. I will have skills for this, being covered by my GCSE English. I manage my on website and social media sites and pages, this is how i make myself known, by getting myself an online reputation. My BTEC Diploma in IT will benefit me with this as it is a crucial part of being a freelancer. Post-16 i achieved a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production where i have learnt skills to be a freelancer such as time awareness and individuality. I also won a competition for Channel 4 where me and five others in a group made a short film for the Paralympics in Rio, we won an award for the best short film which we made in a day.

Detail out all the professional experience you have gained in media production skills, including units studied, work experience, technical skills, etc.

I have learnt many technical skills during my time studying BTEC Level 3 Creative Media Production, these skills consist of being able to operate a camera for several live events. We did the RockFM ‘Time2Shine’ Awards and the EVAs Awards at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. I have learnt how to multi camera edit and other editing techniques which have helped me a lot through my work. I have learnt to edit in both ‘Premiere Pro CS6’ and ‘After Effects’, i also taught myself to use ‘Premiere CC’ which has a bit more to it than CS6. I have learnt about the structure of the industry and feel like it has helped me get a grip of how to get on in the industry. I have learnt how to use multiple cameras and since then i have my own, i have learnt how to use all the settings on it and just most things about it.

Identify at least 2 Professional Bodies that it would be in your advantage to join in the future to help with a freelancing career e.g. IPSE.

IPSE: This independent professionals association represent over 67,000 freelancers, consultants and contractors from every sector of the economy. It is a non-profit organization run by its own members. The association helps you with the financial side of being a freelancer but as well as that, they help you with your business approach with cinemas and invitation days which help you better your skills as a freelancer for example they do webinars on subjects such as writing a CV and using online social media to help market yourself.

GBFTE: The Guild of British Film and Television Editors is an association of editors in the British Film and Television industries. They raise the profile of the skill and craft of editing, they encourage suitable and effective training for those who wish to take up editing as a profession. There is a forum for the discussion of technological development and innovation within the project. They also secure co-operation from other professional bodies in the film and television industry, both nationally and internationally.

Identify what personal or skills based strengths you feel you currently have in terms of being able to be a successful freelancer.

I am able to be a reliable person who gets a project in on time, i can manage my time properly and i communicate very well. I am good at planning what i am going to do for a project, so i will be able to make strong pre production portfolios for my client. I will have all my budgeting schemes set out and i will forward plan by having contingency plans in place. I have a strong work ethic which will enable me to maintain a high quality of work.

Identify what personal or skills based weaknesses you feel you currently have in terms of being able to be a professional freelancer.

In terms of what i could do better would be to make sure that i ask more questions to the person who’s project it is. This is because i need to make sure that i know what i am doing with the work. Instead of winging it and not knowing what to do with the work and then end up with the client being disappointed i will need to ask more questions to make sure i know exactly what i am doing and leave no gaps.

Improving and Maintaining Skills

Find out at least 3 qualifications related to your creative skills that you could take to improve/maintain your freelancing technical skills (1 part-time course, 1 distance learning course, 1 short course).

Part-Time Course: Colleges have part time courses which would widen my skills in areas such as media and photography. Preston’s College is an example of a college that run these type of courses. They run these courses at nights so i wouldn’t have to fit it in with my daily routine in case it would disrupt my work routine. Instead of losing money from my freelance job, i can carry that on as usual but learn extra skills at night so i can sustain my finance and learn on the job. 

Distance Learning: “Lights Film School” is a website with video lessons, they are an online film school which teaches how to become a better filmmaker. They bring filmmakers together and teach how to make several different types of films such as indie, narrative etc. It gives you a deep understanding of a topic, a level of interactivity, you are enthusiastic about the topic that is being taught and they teach you efficiency for speed and organization.

Short Course: “The London Film Academy” run short courses whether its 1 day a week or 6, they have a broad range of short courses which cover every aspect of practical filmmaking from creative to technical. They teach industry relevant skills and help you to further you career with current film and TV professionals.

Identify extra experience you would like to gain when gaining employment to keep your skills relevant and up-to-date.

As i am employed, i would be learning new things such as editing softwares. If i learn new softwares, it means i can learn more up to date techniques which means i can keep up with  whats new. I will be able to keep on top of new things and be just as good as people who are being taught them. I would attend night classes to learn new things so it doesn’t disrupt my daily work routine, i will be learning more and more skills which i will be able to portray in more work. When people find out that i am able to do a new technique or skill, they will employ me to do their job. This would keep me up to date and make sure that i don’t fall behind and i can carry on having the disposable income that i am used to having.

In what ways would you ensure you find time to do these courses/training (as if you are not working, you are not earning money!).

 To make sure that i will still be earning money and not using time that should be spent working to learn more courses, i would do night courses or evening online classes. This means that i will be able to get on with my daily routine and spend as much time as in normally do on work without sacrificing it for a lesson. I will be able to work and then learn in the evenings, they are usually only a few nights a week so it wouldn’t disrupt any routine that i have. If i wanted to do a short course, i would have to save up a bit of money to do so because a short course would be about 2-3 weeks.

Research and summarise how learning from other professionals, networking, reading trade journals, and joining professional bodies could improve and maintain your freelancing technical skills.

Joining professional bodies such as IPSE and GBFTE to help maintain your job as a freelancer is helpful because you are part of something like a council where you get help to be up to date in the industry so you can learn about how the industry changes and learn about new technical skills. Trade Journals such as Broadcast highlight industry organizations employers and employment opportunities. Things like such help freelancers find jobs to keep themselves afloat in society. There are also networking events that get advertised so you can make endless amounts of contacts in the industry which makes employment much easier. All of these things will help you keep up with your techniques and skills allowing you to maintain your freelance technical skills and therefore work.