The document summarizes the student's personal progression evaluation unit. They researched career options in media which required qualifications and experience. They applied to university through UCAS and now have offers after initially preferring apprenticeships. The student gained experience through projects, networking, and mock interviews. They created branding materials like a logo, business cards, and website to develop an online presence. The unit helped the student improve skills, gain confidence, and prepare for future opportunities.

1. UNIT B1: PERSONAL PROGRESSION – EVALUATION
Research into future options
One of the foundations to this projectrelied on my research and applicationsto future steps. Firstly,I
researched jobs that I am interested in within a media industry.Upon doing so,I found that jobs would mainly
ask for some sortof professional experiencewithin their job area- for example, a social media producer job
would ask for a strongonlinepresence on social media as well as ITand editingskil ls.This was somethingI
would need to build on and gain more experience on, which may be accessed through a university courseor
apprenticeship.This way,I would also be put at an advantage due to havinga qualification in a relevant
subject.
This leads me on to discussingmy experience with applyingto university through UCAS. Before doingthis unit,
I was very much drawn to doing an apprenticeship over going to university and didn’teven really think about
applying.However, the more I researched courses through UCAS, the more I would find ones that I actually
thought might suitme- these were mainly practical based courses asI would prefer a more hands on
experience, which I thought would only really beobtained by an apprenticeship. Now, I am in a much better
position to think about my options after college. I have three
university offers and will be applyingto apprenticeships later in the
year (that have startdates after July) as the only ones I can find at
present have startdates that are too early for me. I have also been
ableto visitoneuniversity which gave me much more insight into
what the coursewould entail and the sorts of facilities thatwould
be availableto me- these were very impressive,and I am now very
much consideringtakingUniversity as my next step after college.
To do this,I did need all the physical projects I haveproduced in
this unitsuch as the logo and showreel in order to show my digital
competence and that I had the common materials to show in my
portfolio.I also believethat the mock interview that took placethe same week as my university interviewhas
massively helped in my confidence.
Speaking of the mock interview, this was another partof
the original brief.I believe I had performed well in this
due to the research and comingup with answers to
given questions.I think I was ableto both give a more
professional answer in this informal settingbutalso drop
in other points such as my interests on Channel 4 and
some perception into my work lifewhich would all be
beneficial in a real interview,even if not specifically
asked about by the interviewer. Coincidentally,I had two
real interviews that same week- one for a placement and
another for a university application.They were both successful and I do thoroughly believe that my mock
interview builtup my confidence and allowed me to perform to the best of my ability in a real-lifesetting. This
is partof my professional practise,as I showed good communication,body language, etc.
This unitalso gaveme a chanceto find or expand on some industry inspirationsand,more specifically, explore
the reason why they actually inspireme. I did focus on 3 current lower-level industry professionalsin my
PowerPoint on inspirationsbuthave more recently focussed on one of these and a director- Grace Wells and
Hitchcock.These are now up on my Wix website for viewers to see. These have also been a common theme in
my interviews as people have seemed most interested in people already in the media industry and findingout
why they inspireme as a beginner. In this unit,I took the time to find out more about these people and decide
what it was about them that inspired me in particular,which I then went on to use in interview questions.I felt

2. a lot more relaxed as I had already identified someof their
strong points and say what made them stand out as industry
professionals and would even sometimes spark conversations
which made the interviews feel a lot less daunting. I feel likeI
am a lot more knowledgeable about people likethese and can
easily talk aboutthem and their work. This was also a
requirement of the brief and I feel likeI have met this well by
identifyingand being ableto talk about the work of 4 existing
industry professionals.Itshows that I have a genuine interest in
the industry when talkingaboutthese people to employers.
Network Opportunities
The personal progression unitgaveme the opportunity to talk and interactwith industry professionals. The
three main people that I was ableto do this with was Leo Pearlman,Sam Horton and David Longworth. I was
ableto sitin on a talk given by Pearlman and one by Horton where they discussed their expertise and were
ableto give adviceto people trying to break into the industry.This has certainly helped me with my journey
into media as it was well worth listeningon how exactly they were ableto make it and what they would advise
others do. I was especially grateful to talk to and gain some 1:1 advicefrom David Longworth- a man who does
recruitment and trainingfor apprentices within the BBC. For
this,our classwas tasked with creating a new piece of
content that would appear on any of the BBC channels or
radio stations.I cameup with an presented my idea for a
new show on a BBC TV channel and David was ableto give
me some strengths and improvements for my presentation. I
found it valuableto be able to receive such personal advice
and it is certainly somethingthat I would use in future. He
also talked aboutan upcomingapprenticeship atBBC
Newcastle as a broadcastoperator to which I applied- I am
now through to the second round of this and am awaiting
further information aboutmy application.Successful or not,I
think itis definitely a valuableexperiencein itself as itgives me an idea of how the recruitment process works
for bigger conglomerates such as BBC. This meets the brief well as I have evidenced interactions with multiple
people across differentareas of media.
Extra projects outsideof college have also allowed me to work with and practisemy skillsin content making
across multipleareas. I havestarted doing some work in my free time for my dad’s band ‘Diamond Dogs’ which
have so far included a photoshop project for a
Facebook cover photo and some amendments to a gig
poster. For this,I was ableto send across multiple
prototypes for the cover photo and within interacting
with the client(the band), amend where necessary to
fit their ideas and accommodate their request as
much as possible.This gaveme some insighton
working with some more real-lifeclients which was
very appreciated. As well as this,itgave me a chance
to practisemy skillsin photoshop more, something
that I haven’t really used much sincefirstyear. The
Halloween Paradein October ’21 also gaveme a chanceto practisesomemore livefilmingand editing. I am
very set on doinga practical based courseor apprenticeship so amappreciatingevery opportunity to work
hands on as opposed to researchingor planning. The same went for the Winter Fair which we filmed in
December. I am particularly happy with the outcome of the Halloween parade video and felt as though I had

3. captured a range of people, props and costumes which really gaveany viewers a feel for what the paradewas
liketo be follow. All of these examples arepart of the ‘commissions undertaken’in the brief- whether they
were specifically asked of me or not. They are also evidenced of my AC3: Technical skill and showmy technical
competence and improvement.
Creating my Brand
Creating my brand identity has also aided me in my future steps and has already started to pay off in real life
settings. In designingmy logo, business card,websiteand showreel, I have begun the creative process of
makinga name for myself as well as brand familiarity which I now have the option to use in the future. For
example, if I were to go down a photographer pathway, I already havea business card a nd logo which can be
easily implemented into my work at any point. In terms of professional practise,I also had the chanceto
improve my CV and write my personal statement which has already benefited me both in work and higher
education settings.
With regards to my CV and personal statement specifically,I haveused my research and feedback on these to
amend and upgrade my works to a more professional standard.I havereceived offers on all three courses that
I applied to and two of them didn’t need an interview, so I had to rely on a solid personal statement to make
up for this.I had the statement looked at by three lecturers who each were ableto give me separatefeedback
based on what they thought I could improveon which gave me a wide range of things to go back and adjust. I
am happy with the overall outcome, and ithas definitely played a major partin securingmy places at
university.In my university interview,my interviewer was ableto ask me questions about multipleaspects of
my statement such as to elaborateon one of my inspirations- Hitchcock.I nowhave a range of opportunities
availableto me after I finish collegeand even have one solid placeno matter what grades I get at the end of
the year. For my CV, I was ableto research the difference between good CV’s and those that are more
unsuccessful and learn which aspects I should includeor avoid.This has also worked in a real lifesetting as I
have recently used it to apply for and accept a new job workingat a theatre. One thingI did take from my
research on CV’s was the condensingof the CV down to one page. I believe that itwas unnecessary for my CV
to be two pages, as itwas originally,and makes itlook a lot more professional and easier to read as one page. I
also think that with regards to how itmeets
the brief, the two products show who I am
as a creative practitioner in a more
professional and literary senseas opposed
to actual products. As well as these two
products being a part of the actual brief,I
think the two show more of my academic
ability (general English competence,
interests and motives for goinginto media)
and gives reason to all of my practical work.
My logo and business card have gone
through a creativeprocess and have added
to my brand identity. In creatingthese, I have started to give myself an image. This can be used in the future if
I decide to go down a creative pathway (for example, production,photography, editing) and I can easily tagmy
logo onto different pieces of work that I have created as well as giveout my business card to potential clients
or people interested in my work. To do this,one of the major things I adopted was a brand identity colour
(fluorescentpink, black,white) to which I am now implementing into most of my works. I hope that in doing
this,it creates a constancy to the viewer who will startto recognise these colours amongdifferent bodies of
work. In doingmy research on this,I found that mostly all companies thataresuccessful havecoloursthatare
consistentwith their brand- for example, McDonalds is red and yellow, Ikea is blueand yellowetc. This
definitely adds to my professional practiseas I amnow conforming to the same ideologies as other companies .

4. I created my logo before I created my business card so thatI could adoptmy creation and colour scheme to be
consistent.Looking back, my skillsin photoshop and creativethinkinghave also improved.The logo I have now
looks a lotmore professional than the logo I created first.This was mostly a trial-and-error processand I tried
out different techniques with my logos- for
example, I originally tried includingan image,
tried givingthe logo different shapes etc. This
made for a lengthy creative process and so could
be something I would improve on next time-I feel
likeI had overcommitted to creatinga logo I was
100% happy with which may have taken time out
of other projects which don’t have a consistent
level of commitment. This is mostly evident in my
website, due to feeling as though web design is
not as stronga skill asphotoshop or video editing.
Something I feel likeI could improve on both my
logo and business card was gainingmorevaluablefeedback as I received only one suggested improvement
between the two projects.Though this could of coursebe seen as good news, I do think it is more valuableif
people are ableto give constructivecriticism as itcould absolutely makemy products better. I valuegetting
my work looked at by different perspectives, so I would certainly push for more responses to my forms.
This leads me on to the creation of my showreel. This was another product that went through several exports
before I was happy with the final product. I received feedback on this,which I took on board and worked on
two suggested improvements in particular- onewhich suggested a slightchangein music,and another which
suggested a bigger font for my text on screen. The music change allowed me to branch out my software usage
and work on Adobe Audition to implement a key change and stronger drum beat for the second half of the
soundtrack.I think this was well worth spendingtime on as the music for my showreel is a lotmore interesting
to listen to and has also given me some insighton
how to navigateAudition as a software. The text
font sizewas slightly difficultdueto the way the
showreel had been exported and it meant that
some of the original text is visiblewhen the new
layer of text with a bigger font fades (see picture).
This is something I would improve if in doing
another showreel- making sureto go back and
improve the original PremierePro session rather
than exporting and working on top of the exported
project. However, on a whole I do really likemy showreel and think that I have done mostly everything
possibleto make itto the best standard I can. It now shows a wide range of works (even includingsomesound
design work), displaystitles whereI feel are necessary and also includes a better introduction.Instead of
simply havingplain text saying‘my showreel’, I thought that a stylised moveabletitle would look much better
and even changed this to represent my brand by changingthe colours to pink and white. This project is partof
my digital promotional materials,as asked of in the brief,and has benefitted me at a university interview. I
was ableto talk about multipleaspects of the showreel and my interviewer asked me to expand on some of
the projects that were shown. After this interviewand presenting my showreel, I now have a n unconditional
offer with the university.

5. The final partof creating my brand identity was with the construction of my website (onlineportfolio) using
wix. This is perhaps somethingthat I would have liked to improve if I were to do this projectagain. Though I
have littleexperience with web design,I do think creative freedoms were restricted by usingwix as a website
builder due to the limited designs availableto me. For example, you
can only use one font at a time and things such as bold,italic and
shadoweffects are very restricted to basic options. I feel as though
I did not have the ability to express as much creativefreedom as
that of the showreel, logo design etc. Sections all mustbe set out in
‘one after the other’ order and there is no option to merge or have
vertical sections such as likethe one I analysed for my research on
digital profiles.However, I do believe that my website does still
contain all necessary information for viewers to find out more
about me and my work. I think I also did well in accommodatingthe
feedback that I received and did go back to improve on all the
suggestions that I was given. This included the removal of social
media links (dueto not havingthese socials) and also changingthe
font to be less simplistic. Something I do think has worked well on
the website was the practitioner’s statements. I believe they are in depth and give viewers a good insighton
how I produced each project, why it was made and the software I used. I think this was certainly a creditto the
research that I originally completed on digital profiles asbeforethis,I would not have known what to include
on my website. My website meets the brief as itgives me an onlinebrand identity, which is something that the
brief asked for in particular.Designingmy logo, business card and showreel havebuiltup to all bedisplayed on
my website and my brand ‘SLG Media’ now has an onlinepresence that is availableto viewers usingthe
internet. This could be something I could expand on in the future as I now have a solid foundation to my online
presence, which I can now build up from.
In conclusion,I believethat I have overall had a valuableexperience in completing this unit.I have undertaken
opportunities that may not have been availableto me in firstyear such as real-lifeinterviews and networking
opportunities with industry professionals. I ammore knowledgeable, have a much larger body of work both for
clients and for myself as a brand and have been ableto improve my skillsand practisemore on software’s that
are useful when entering the industry. I have found myself to be more confident, especially within interviews
in comparison to lastyear and am grateful for both the mocks and liveones I have taken partin. I also believeI
can present a portfolio well,as I did in my university interview. It is mostly all collated on my website, but I also
hold the raw files so can access this withoutthe need for internet, as a resultI think my organisation is now
stronger as I have prepared for multiple interviews with these files and they are ready for more future use. I
have made good progress in takingmy next steps. Not only have I thought about future jobs and what they ask
of me, I have taken action in workingmy way up to them- such as applyingfor and gainingplaces at university.
I now have some options for what I want to do when I leavecollege. I am much more prepared for this in
comparison to the beginning of the year.