Proposal (my part)

PLEASE READ THIS:
- THIS IS 2500 LONG...MEANING THAT WITHOUT TITLES AND SUBTITLES, AROUND 2300
-THE EXIT PLAN STILL NEEDS A COUPLE MORE SENTENCES. I'LL ADD EM TOMORROW.
-THE REFERENCES ARE WRITTEN AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER AND I WILL INCLUDE THEM IN THE TEXT TOMORROW (WHAT HAPPENS IF I NEED TO INCLUDE REFERENCES IN THE TABLES? IT WILL LOOK SHITTY)
-THE WORD VERSION IS BETTER STRUCTURED. I sent you the proposal on mail. Dld it from there, it's better than reading it here....the tables I made disappear here and it can get confuzing...
-CHECK THE BUDGET PART! WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT RESEARCH COSTS AND ALL THAT?
-I WILL ALSO ADD A SHORT CONCLUSION FOR EVERY CHAPTER TOMORROW
- LISTEN TO KANYE'S NEW ALBUM. COMMERCIAL RAP CAN BE BRILLIANT SOMETIMES
(sorry for writing this with caps lock...i don't know why i did it, i hate caps lock)



9.2 Qualitative Evaluation

Baseline
Before the project takes shape, two surveys will be conducted among the post-grad students. Local and university online and printed news outlets will be contacted and a short and conclusive article will be handed.
Of utter importance are interviews with relevant persons to the project which will be conducted in the initial stages of the project and will serve as the foremost fundament for the whole project.
Track
Interviews with the dean of faculty, Rita Marcella, and the projects' client, Madeleine, as well as a large number of RGU staff and students relevant to the project will be discussed and analysed. The analysis will serve for the structure of the whole project.
Additionally, possible news outlets will be constantly informed upon the process stages.

Summative
As mentioned in the quantitative section, future surveys will be conducted and carefully analysed. Due to recent rapid technology development and constant new information, the end-videos will need to be updated in the future.

















11.0 Resources

The desired outcome of the project includes a number of promotional videos. Therefore most of the resources will be of technological (mostly IT) nature. Considering the videos pre-production research and the interviews included in the videos, a smaller number of non-technological items will be used as well. The following tables enumerate separately both aforementioned types of resources and will offer a succinct description of each item.


11.1 Equipment

Apparatus
Description and usability
Camera
(Sony HVR-Z5, SONY HVR-Z7)
Both cameras are easy to handle, despite being professional. The video recording quality is of high definition (HDV 1080) and the audio card supports two XLR inputs, enabling the possibility of linking to exterior microphones to the camera.
Two cameras will be used in order to offer a wider variety of angles helpful in the editing process of the videos.
Tripod
()
Necessary for including steady shots of both Aberdeen and the interviewees.
Onboard Microphone
(Sony HVR-Z5, SONY HVR-Z7)
Captures the authenticity of background noise.
Lavalier Microphone
Needed for interviews, in order to capture the interviewee's voice clear. Additionally, this leads to having a voice track when editing and the volume can be adjusted accordingly.
Macintosh computers
(iMac 21'')
Support the technology of professional editing software.
Final Cut 7
Professional editing software.
Extension Cords
(USB, Firewire cables)
The quickest way of transferring the recorded data from camera to computer
*Lighting
(Key, Fill and Backlight)
Helpful for offering a natural cinematic feel to the interview parts of the video.

*At this stage in the development of the project, there is no definitive conclusion whether or not lighting will be used. The decision will be made in conclusion to the filming day's weather and natural lighting conditions. If needed, there will be an Arri – kit of 3xArrilite 600 plus various accessories used, also various other 'redhead' lights and other lights up to 2kw might come in handy.
11.2 Other Materials

Office items
(Pens, Paper, Ink cartridges, Printer, Xerox)
These items are of crucial importance for the research process, planing and preparing before filming the videos.
Props
(chairs, makeup,green screen etc.)
Props might be of high importance when filming the interviews. As an example, a chair will be used for the interview with Rita Marcella, as it will be filmed inside the university where an emblematic background is to be seen. Also, green screen might be used to place the interviewee in an Aberdonian or any other chosen background.


The source of all resources mentioned is the Robert Gordon University. Additionally a number of items are provided by individual members of the team.

Apparatus/Item
Description and Usability
Video Tapes
(Sony DV premium – 60 min)
-good quality/price ratio
-re-recordable at a high quality
-60 minutes storage time, perfect for this type of interviews/videos
Headphones
(Pioneer SE-H33 OpenAir)
Great for checking the sound quality at the time the video is recorded, as the sound of the video in the post-production can be heard through headphones at the moment of recording.
Communication tools
Every team member is required to:
-have internet access
-own a telephone
for speeding up the process and communicating when not in team meetings and being able to connect with certain persons which are likely to appear in the videos.



(references:
http://www.urbanfox.tv/articles/cameras/c35sonyZ5camera.htm
http://www.aberdeenav.com/
http://www.avcmedia.com/pages/view/careers-at-avc/)






12.0 Budget

Following the previous chapter, the projected costs of all listed items as well as a number of other costs that will occur during the process will be evaluated in the following table.

12.1 Projected costs

Rented items:

Item
Estimated Cost
Actual Cost
Comments
Camera
(Sony HVR-Z5, SONY HVR-Z7)
£1,000.00
£1,640.00
Renting a camera for a single day costs £80 a day. The actual price considers the current plan of shooting
- 5 major events as well (5days)
- Aberdeen life (1 day)
- Interviews (5 days)
The price has been calculated for 2 cameras for each day.
Tripod
()
£150.00
£165.00
The tripod needs to be booked together with the camera and one day rental is £15.
Onboard Microphone
(Sony HVR-Z5, SONY HVR-Z7)
£0.00
£0.00
This item is a part of the above mentioned types of cameras.
Lavalier Microphone
£120.00
£150.00
-£30/day
-will only be used for the interviews (5 days)
Extension Cords
(USB, Firewire cables)
£10.00
£16.99
Only one of each will be necessary. An USB cable's standard price is 4.99 and Firewire cable is £12.00
TOTAL
£1,280.00
£1,971.99












Bought items:

Item
Estimated cost
Actual Cost
Comments
Office items
£20.00
£23.53
- 10 pens (£18.99)
- A4 paper (500 sheets box - £4.54)
Other office products such as staplers, hole puncher or dossiers are included in the project group inventory.
Video Tapes
(Sony DV premium 60 min)
£10.00
£11.99
The price considers 5 tapes, totalling 300 minutes of footage.
Headphones
(Pioneer SE-H33)
£28.99
£28.99

TOTAL
£58.99
£64.51


Other:

Things
Comments
Cost
Research
The research team coincides with the project team (Abigail Riva, Dan Daianu, Branislav Hamacek) working for 3 months (October – December 2010).

Film crew
The film crew coincides with the project team, working for 5 months.

Technical assistants
A team composed of Dan Daianu and Branislav Hamacek.

Video and sound editor
A team composed of Dan Daianu and Branislav Hamacek.

Travel expenses
(Bus fares, taxi)
Refers to the interviewees or any other external help the project group might need.
£150.00
(estimated)
Food expenses
Concerns the interviewees on location. Advanced preparations will be made to make the interview comfortable and professional.
£150.00
(estimated)







12.2 Sources of Funding

The technical items will be provided by the university. However, the aforementioned projected costs have been calculated by analysing the cheap/qualitative ratio of Aberdeen's major rental companies. The companies possess either the same equipment the university has or similar equipment technical and price wise. The companies are AVC Hire & Sales, AVC Media Productions and Aberdeen Audio Visual.
The computers and editing software will be provided by both the university as well as by the individual members of the project.


12.3 Monitoring & Control

All the equipment will be carefully handled and a rental agreement will be signed for every single booking.
The equipment will be double-checked before every filming and the technical crew will take measures and precautions for any possible conditions, such as weather or crowded surroundings.
































13.0 Partnership & Alliances

“Aberdeen Business School” can be best described as the main partner for this project. Therefore, a group consisting of the dean of faculty, the dean of postgraduate programmes, 5 heads of departments and 21 course leaders are regarded as individual partners for the project.
The successful level of the project's outcome heavily relies on the relation between internal and external communication (with the exception of the postgraduate students). Under these circumstances, the difference between the two communication ways is close to non-existent. The reason for this is the stakeholders and investors having a high affiliation with the partners of the project, all consisting more or less of the same group.
Another reason for the successful outcome lies in the healthy and efficient communication process between the partners, which is mostly determined by the three project members. The project group is responsible for constantly informing its partners and keeping up with updates.
The dean of faculty, Rita Marcella and the dean of Postgraduate Programmes, Robert Newton, know the theoretical structure of the entire Business School and the past background of the relation between the university and the applicants. It is therefore necessary to construct the basic layers of the project based on their input.
The 5 heads of department have to be constantly updated on the project's process as they offer the the most informative link between the project members and the postgraduate students.
In order to ensure that every aspect and detail has been taken into consideration before the final layout of the promotional videos, a healthy communication process is required between the project team and all course leaders.
Additionally, the video will include a rather short, yet significant interview with the manager of a renowned Oil and Gas company as well as a Media company that has a history in recruiting young RGU postgraduate students after finishing their course. The managers will be carefully selected later in the process.
(Cornelissen, 2008)
















14.0 Related Projects

I. Internal Projects

There is a number of internal projects that are currently developing within the Aberdeen Business School. After analysing them, the conclusion reached upon was that there are two projects that have similar attributes to the promotional videos project. These can be considered as partner projects as well as client projects.

Student Life Short Film for RGU website

Similar aspects: - Both have the same outcome - promotional videos
- Both present the good and attractive aspects of the city
- The post-grad DVD team's targeted audience is consisted within the Student Life Film's targeted audience
- Both are fudned and helped by the Robert Gordon University
Collaboration reasons: - Possible exchange of footage for analysis purposes
- Ideas concerning the general look of the videos

Job Interview Role Play DVD

Similar aspects: - Both present the same challenges when it comes to the technical part
- Both consider an uplifting, informative and entertaining mode of delivery
- Both have the restructuring of its similar predecessor videos as a target
- Both are funded and helped by the Robert Gordon University
Collaboration reasons: - technical aspects of filming an interview
- editing tips


II. External Projects

Partner firm projects will be analysed and linked to the postgraduate project. This mostly concerns Oil and Gas as well as Media companies branched in Aberdeen, with which the group will be working with over the next months.
Potential companies are:

- Maersk Oil North Sea UK Limited
- Faroe Petroleum
- Shell
- BP


16.0 Risk Analysis

In order to foresee and avoid the possibility of a number of risks, the best strategic marketing tool is a SWOT analysis, more specifically the threats part of the analysis. The second chapter of this proposal contains a thorough SWOT analysis. However, this chapter considers it necessary that an in-depth discussion about the possibility of certain risks needs to be conducted. Considering a SWOT analysis has been made, the risks mentioned here consider the current status of the on-going project and will not include any problems that might occur due to poor initial project structure of communication or marketing nature.
The next tables include risks that might occur in pre-production, in the planning stages of the project, when material will be gathered, and in post-production, when the editing process and final adjustments are undertaken.


Pre-Production


1
Risk
Equipment damage or non-functionality during an interview or shot.


Solution
Every interview and event filming will be scheduled at least two days in advanced and a team comprising of at least two members will be assigned for each. Therefore, the equipment will be carefully checked by the assigned members before every event.
2
Risk
Being unable to attend a filming event (in case of two simultaneous events a member's illness) due to the small number of persons in the team.


Solution
Due to knowing in advanced when this might happen, the team will most likely contact an exterior technical team. If not possible, the team will chose to film the event that is unlikely to be filmed by anybody else, afterwards asking for permission to use footage from the other event.
3
Risk
Weather disadvantages and not being able to get exterior shots of Aberdeen life.

Solution
Aberdeen life shots can be rescheduled throughout the next 5 months, which is currently the timeframe up to the project's submission date.
4
Risk
Equipment booking issues – non-availability of equipment.

Solution
A consistent, well-constructed filming schedule is already in progress and equipment will be booked weeks in advance.
5
Risk
Forbidden filming on the premises of selected events.

Solution
Before choosing an event to film, preparations will be made so that our film crew will be expected.
6
Risk
Possibility of cancelation of important events.


Solution
Although highly unlikely, if this were to happen, the team will either
1. use recorded footage from previous editions of the same event
2. try to construct the videos in a manner that the absence of the event's shots is unnoticeable.
7
Risk
The 3-minute running time of each video will be insufficient to cover all the collected data

Solution
After the research, planning and filming stages, the material will be evaluated and an analysis of the best possible structural outcome will be conducted.




Post-Production

1
Risk
Not being able to have an effect on the targeted audience.



Solution
A shorter version of the videos will be presented on the university website prior to releasing the entire videos. Concern, ideas and impact of the shorter versions will be taken into account and analyse. Therefore, the negative aspects will be removed and the positive ones will be considered the model for the rest of the video structure.
2
Risk
Incoherence, the videos will not be able to send the message across.


Solution
The solution will also be provided by the shorter version released on the website. However, the incoherence of the editing will be avoided, as the editing will follow a modern, yet unsophisticated pattern that is unlikely to confuse its audience.
3
Risk
The possibility of including another interview or event shots.

Solution
All footage will be stored on a computer for a longer period of time, as well as the final editing layout in the specified program (Final Cut). Thus, including another interview or changing some shots will be almost effortless.










17.0 Exit Plan

The projects' end result is five videos posted foremost on the university website. Being promotional videos for postgraduate students, the possibility of the videos having a long life spam is very probable.


17.1 Exit

17.2 Sustainability

After the implementation and posting the videos on the university website, a number of actions need to be taken in other to preserve the functionality and relevance of the content:

periodically conducted surveys to measure the reaction
promote de video on future social and/or student oriented websites
include the videos on any future DVDs related to RGU

Additionally, the rough-cuts editing folder of the videos will be handed to the university. Therefore, if any changes appear, for example in the communication process between RGU and postgraduates or in the university's mission statement, the videos can be edited, keeping the relevant parts and including new parts.






PLEASE READ THIS:
- THIS IS 2500 LONG...MEANING THAT WITHOUT TITLES AND SUBTITLES, AROUND 2300
-THE EXIT PLAN STILL NEEDS A COUPLE MORE SENTENCES. I'LL ADD EM TOMORROW.
-THE REFERENCES ARE WRITTEN AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER AND I WILL INCLUDE THEM IN THE TEXT TOMORROW (WHAT HAPPENS IF I NEED TO INCLUDE REFERENCES IN THE TABLES? IT WILL LOOK SHITTY)
-THE WORD VERSION IS BETTER STRUCTURED. DON'T THINK THIS VERSION IS HOW THE PROP LOOKS LIKE
-CHECK THE BUDGET PART! WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT RESEARCH COSTS AND ALL THAT?
-I WILL ALSO ADD A SHORT CONCLUSION FOR EVERY CHAPTER TOMORROW
- LISTEN TO KANYE'S NEW ALBUM. COMMERCIAL RAP CAN BE BRILLIANT SOMETIMES
(sorry for writing this with caps lock...but i need the draw attention before reading the prop)