Using project management techniques
Documents are an integral part of the entertainment businesses, without the proper documentation a small studio can be needlessly crippled. There are plenty of documents with plenty of uses, some are there to inform staff and enlighten them on what actions they are required to follow, other documents are here to protect a business from being sued and wasting valuables.
Recce Report -
One such document is the Recce Report, it is a report that discusses the good and bad things about a filming location when pandering to the script and budget (along with other more minor factors) it reports on the positive things, things like the natural lighting fitting with the mood, or safe pathways so less accidents occur, while also keeping in mind the stuff like needing to pay to film or bad weather, these bad factors would also be considered and may end up warding off the director and requiring a switch in filming location. I've used this document to consider where I will do the recording for my project, I've thought about the equipment supplied to me, the chances of being interrupted and other factors that may slow down or entirely halt the production.Recce Reports help you manage your time and budget, decide on what positives a set can provide, aid you in figuring out how to deal with complications and positively empowering the staff. On the other hand it could lead to no major improvements, along with ending up a big waste of time.
Below is my own Recce Report for my project. As you can see I had a choice between working on the project at school or at home, with this document I was able to identify the good things about each location, the flaws that might slow production and also the things that needed to be dealt with before the project was started. A good way to improve this was to add an extra collum detailing how to deal with the obsticles and which obsticles would be more troublesome than others.
Risk Assessment -
The Risk Assessment document is a document used to test and insure the safety of staff and make sure no accidents or distractions end up slowing down staff or halting their progress. This document talks about a location and what problems come with it, for example a filming location set in a forest may be dangerous as the camera man may end up tripping over a tree root and breaking the camera. I've used this report to ensure my equipment and work is safe from any damage that could occur in a hazardous environment, I've also made sure to create backups of any data that is integral to the project, data that I cannot afford to lose.
My Risk Assessment sheet can be seen below, I've listed all the hazzards that I could predict, from accidents to conflicts, situations that may arrise and halt production. I've made sure to list an importance scale to make sure everything goes acording to plan. The bad thing about this document is that I might have missed vital risks, this could have been avoided by working together with someone else and/or spending more time one this document.
Game Design Document -
A Game Design Document or GDD is an in-depth description of a video game, everything seen in a game (along with elements that didn't make it into the game itself) come from a GDD, the characters, story-line, game progression, gameplay, music, everything is detailed in this document, this document is referred to during the development of the game, it is designed to serve as the ultimate reference for everything that appears in the game, in the case of a publisher commissioning a development team to make their game the document ends up being written by the publishers instead of the developers. I have a similar book of ideas for a game I'm working on in my spare time, it helps me sort my ideas out into coherent and tangible points that I can then consider for the project. Without the Game Design Document I would forget some ideas or not be able to express them as I wished. This document has proven to be very useful to someone as scatterbrained as myself and would be used in any future projects. Sadly this should only be reserved for more grand games as in all actuality the work and ideas put in this document would likely not end up in the final game due to many varying factors.
Ambiguous Gaming Contracts -
Along with these contracts there are other more ambiguous contracts, detailing deals between companies, from Cease and Desist documents to copyright purchases, these deals are made so companies can produce entertainment based on what is in demand while staying clear of any lawsuits that may arise. these documents can be very useful as they can protect you from getting sued, in my experience owning a document that proves your ownership of an asset can be a great help in development and/or publishing.
Sources -
http://thejohnfisherschoola2mediastudies.weebly.com/recce-report.html
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kiLoM9784MvpA03apojSad2n8Ce2md7LBK1HmRAKjDg/edit
https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/recce-reports.65056/
http://www.slideshare.net/ryan-noble/recce-report
https://worksmart.org.uk/health-advice/health-and-safety/hazards-and-risks/what-are-five-steps-risk-assessment
http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/controlling-risks.htm
http://www.healthyworkinglives.com/advice/Legislation-and-policy/Workplace-Health-and-Safety/risk-assessment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_design_document
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131632/creating_a_great_design_document.php
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131791/the_anatomy_of_a_design_document_.php
