Job Advert Response

East Norfolk Sixth Form

Church Lane,    

Gorleston,

Norfolk

NR31 7BQ

9/07/2013

Dear to whom it may concern,

Regarding your letter concerning the digital video production role, there are many problems I have encountered mainly involving legal, contractual and ethical issues. Firstly, the job role is extremely wide and it states in your letter that I “must not reply for other positions of this nature”, meaning that I am expecting there to be an exclusive clause which I, the employee, would sign along with the contract.  Also, there should be confidentiality clauses, meaning that by law, the employee is not allowed to publish or explain any details or information about the production of a film until a certain date. This is overall vital in maintaining the secrecy, and this should definitely be included in a contract. Also, saying ‘positions of this nature’ is not specific enough- I think that it would be best to determine what the specific jobs are that we cannot apply for.

Also regarding the employment legislation, the ‘The Equality Act’ states that ‘discrimination on grounds of race, gender or age is illegal,” meaning that many parts of your letter are infringing these rights. You are firstly asking for a male or female below 30, meaning that you are discriminating anybody who is over that age. You are also asking for somebody who is Christian, meaning that, again, you are going against the employment legislation by going against the regulations of Religion and Beliefs. The Employer’s Liability means that the employer is responsible for the employee, mainly being health and safety, including any emotional and physical harm whilst under employment.  The brief that you have provided suggests that you will not be responsible for the applicants as they are not officially employed until after completing and applying with the brief. Trade unions exist to protect the rights of employees and workers, not applicants. You can also be a member of a union as a free-lancer. Therefore, linking to the brief the applicants would not be protected and would be held responsible for any legal and ethical issues, such as copyright.

Codes of Practice are used to protect the consumer, which is also used to avoid legal issues later. The video that you have asked the applicant to produce is unsuitable to be shown to high school children as the theme of the video is too mature for that age. Connecting to the policies and procedures about authorising the ability to be able to display a film (relating to the BBFC) to make the video more suitable for that age, the re-enactments and dramatizations should be either excluded from the product.

The video you have asked the applicant to produce also mentions that you must include female victims and male offenders. Through media representation, you are contributing to the fact that females are represented and stereotyped as the weaker sex and males are most likely the offenders.  Linking with social concerns you are portraying the teenage generation as the only victims of rape, which could create social problems in the media as you are misrepresenting the teenage generation, particularly males.

Linking back to the suitability of the video, it is important to protect the under 18s and make sure that the product does not harm and offend anybody. Ofcom exist because of the Communications Act (2003) and The Broadcasting Act (1990). Ofcom’s main duties are to protect the audience from harmful and offensive material, for television and radio. Since the product for this brief is a short documentary this means that it must be regulated by Ofcom. Quoted from the brief, “you should compliment the interviews with re-enactments, dramatizations…” which could end up being offensive and harmful to under-eighteens which would go against Ofcom’s regulation that “children must also be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them.” The meaning of ‘children’ is said to be under the age of fifteen years which means that the target audience you have suggested would be affected by these regulations, and this could result in legal issues. Also, you may need to check that the product will not infringe the Obscene Publications Act 1959, which is an act (related to the law) about obscenity in products. A quote to back this point up is “the law makes it an offense to publish… including images of extreme sexual activity such as bestiality, necrophilia, rape or torture.” As this product will be linked to rape, this could result in legal issues.

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) classifies films and TV by giving certifications based on the content. If this product was to be rated like this, it would most likely be a 15, as there would be “portrayals of sexual activity” and “brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence” included in the product, which could be a problem because the audience you have labelled is much younger than the suitable age.

Finally, intellectual property laws include laws against copyright. By asking the applicant to provide a “popular music soundtrack”, this means that the applicant would have to either pay a lot of money for the music or use illegally. Using music without permission or paying means that you would be going against intellectual property laws. As you are only giving £20 it would be more likely that they would use the illegal option, mainly due to the expense of the rights for the music otherwise as they would not want to go against what you have asked for as this could result in them not getting the job.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Roll