ASSIGNMENT 0

1. Project Title: IMAGINARY MOTION PICTURES- S is for Save the Planet: A How
to be Green Alphabet.
2. Author: Abhiram Sridhara

3. My Class code: EM636

4. Date: June 7th,2015
5. My eLearning Pack ID- EM 636-Summer-2015-34-28
6. Collaborative companies:
1. Pdn- Ultimate experience in photography, Filmmaking and Digital
Imaging.
2. HAIMER
3. Canon
4. Bell-Howell.
IMAGINARY MOTION PICTURES is a movie production company with a new project
titled S is for
Save the Planet: A How to be Green Alphabet. A documentary
based on the book which goes by the same name. The documentary plot goes as
the following:
Did you know Americans generate nearly 250 million tons of trash each year? Or
that it takes hundreds of years for a polystyrene cup to decompose? Mankind's
negative impact on Mother Earth is tremendous and daily bad news can make it feel
overwhelming. But all is not lost! S is for Save the Planet: A How-to-Be-Green
Alphabet details the many environmental issues we face and then suggests easy-totake actions that anyone can do. From the particulars of vermicomposting and
xeriscaping, to the three R's of responsible waste management, young people learn
how they can be a force of nature in protecting the earth for generations to come.

My collaborating companies are Bell & Howell, Pdn, Canon and HAIMER. The project
plan has 3 phases following the Quality based Project Management features:
Phase 1: Pre-Production
Phase 2: Documentary shooting/on-set
Phase 3: Post-Production
Pre-Production: Planning the whole documentary. Script-What to show, What not to
show, The content framework, Estimated budget, Recruiting Cast & Crew, Recruiting
Technical Department, Collaborating with other companies, Deciding on shooting
spots, Information on shooting spots and taking necessary permissions for the
shoots, Work on scheduling the total shoot and finally re-check the whole process
yet again and make a final commitment with everything.
Documentary shooting: Working according to the plan and schedule drawn from the
Pre-Production and keep the shoot going according to plan. Re-check after each and
every shot or frame and keeping in mind What exactly we are trying to portray and
how we are portraying? Estimating costs and make necessary changes in the shoot
plans to meet the necessary expectations.
Post-Production: Once done with the shooting, Estimate the production costs of the
overall documentary. Working with the technical departments-Editing, sound design
etc. Marketing the documentary and advertising. Selling the documentary to buyers
and sponsors. Releasing the documentary.
My Collaborating companies are:
Pdn: Photo District News (PDN), the award-winning monthly magazine for the
professional photographer, has been covering the professional photographic
industry for over two decades. Every month, PDN delivers unbiased news and
analysis, interviews, and portfolios of the latest photographic work. PDN delivers the
information photographers need to survive in a competitive businessfrom
marketing and business advice to legal issues, photographic techniques, new
technologies, and more.
PDN Online covers breaking news stories and delivers in-depth features on the
photo industry, including interviews and profiles, reports on new products both
analog and digital, and information on useful sources for professional
photographers. PDN Online's photo essays and galleries explore the work of
photography's masters and today's emerging talent.
The PDN family of websitesincluding Photo serve, Photo source and PDN Eduis
an unparalleled source of information and inspiration for professional
photographers, photo buyers, visual creatives, photo students and their instructors.
As a motion picture production company it will be very useful for my company to
collaborate with a company like Pdn. Using Pdn, I am marketing my documentary to
the audience and photography followers. I am recruiting some specialized photo
assistants for my documentary and we are taking some key suggestions from Pdn

for some special shots and frames on environment as our project deals with
Environmental Education.
HAIMER: HAIMER is a family run, medium size company located in Igenhausen,
Bavaria near Augsburg, Germany. They design, produce and sell innovative, high
precision products for metal cutting as well as for other branches including
automotive, aerospace, energy, rail and general machining.
Their largest offering of tool holders in all popular interfaces and lengths, including
the shrinking and balancing machines, as well as 3-D Sensors, and grinding wheel
adapters.
We are collaborating HAIMER to purchase necessary 3-D sensors for the production.
As the documentary is about pollution and environment we shoot deep under water
to portray water pollution and its effect on marine life. So, 3-D sensors are a must
when shooting deep under seas or even sometimes when shooting in the forests.
We use their various resources and support for our production.
Canon: Canon U.S.A., Inc., headquartered in Melville, New York, is a leading
provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions
to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico)
markets. Canon products sold within these regions may include:
With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc.,
ranks third overall in U.S. patents registered in 2014 and is one of Fortune
Magazines Worlds Most Admired Companies in 2015.
Canon as a collaborative company is a leading supplier of the cameras to our
documentary making. As we need special cameras to shoot under water in some
shots, Canon is the one of the most prominent companies to collaborate with.
Bell & Howell: Bell & Howell is a U.S.-based former manufacturer of motion
picture machinery, founded in 1907 by two projectionists, and headquartered
in Wheeling, Illinois. The company now provides inserting and finishing solutions for
letters and parcels, document processing, microfilmers, scanners, and financial
services. The "Bell & Howell" trademark is also licensed to makers of various
electronic consumer products.
By collabaroting with Bell & Howell, They provide us many electronics appliances
necessary for the documentary filming and it mainly helps in production. Their
products includes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

35mm cameras
Alarm systems
Air purifiers
Digital cameras
Electric shavers
Handheld LCD televisions
Heat therapy devices
Noise reduction headphones
Personal sound amplifiers

10.Portable radios
11.Solar powered floodlights
12.Sunlight desk lamps
13.Sunlight floor lamps.
Modern project management recognizes the following key characteristics:
As a Producer of the movie and as a Project Head, I should be knowing the
characteristics of a Modern project management. I am trying to portray those
characteristics pertaining to the project S is for Save the Planet: A How to be
Green Alphabet.
The project is headed by a single person, or if it is a larger project a project
management team, headed by a team leader, who operates independently of the
Regular chain-of-command in the organization. He, or she is a first-point-of-Contact
for the project. The biggest challenge for a project manager is to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Be proactive, versus reactive

Lead and monitor progress
Stay within budget, time-frame and quality goals
Resolve conflict issues quickly
Provide support for the team, using the Internet, mobile devices, and face-toface meetings; whatever is appropriate
6. Friendly and stay positive (even in bad times when stress levels are high...)
7. Act in a reasonable manner
8. Follow all important standards, within given constraints. (As you can see from
this list, it is typically a very demanding job to be a 'good' project manager /
team leader)
The project manager integrates the team and the job at hand, nevertheless the
functional managers assure that support is available to perform the set tasks
professionally. If there is conflict, upper management must step in and typically help
the project leader and his / her team to resolve the conflict.
Since most projects are interdisciplinary, meaning, that they involve several
different fields of knowledge, the tasks are typically divided into functional areas,
and each area is looked after by one or more subject-area experts, reporting to the
team leader.
The project manager focuses on project goals, schedule and budget. As stated
earlier, in comparison to the functional managers who typically have to deliver
quarterly results, according to long term plans, these are temporary activities.
Decisions, accountability, rewards and setbacks have to be shared by team
members, including the functional supporting units. (Note, that often the functional
supporting units do not, or cannot provide the necessary resources for the project
team. In such cases, the team leader must document the case and seek support
from upper management. This must be done in time, to avoid any project delays).
Project managers have to recognize, that most project team members typically
have other bosses in their respective functional departments, therefore team

members don't work for them, but rather are 'assigned' to work with them for the
duration of the project. (Note, that as it is often the case, staff is not always keen to
join a team created by their managers, but forced to, which then in return causes
friction, and unwanted stress at all levels).
In a healthy situation, functional managers must accept the fact that some
members of their departments work on multiple projects, and therefore report to
multiple teams / 'bosses'. (In return, this often overloads the individual, and causes
extra burden to all).
TQM focus:
As projects are becoming more demanding, and increasingly complex, researchers,
and industry had to come up with professional approaches to project management,
versus the often practiced 'quick - fix' approach.
In order to appreciate the differences between the total quality project management
principles we propagate, versus the 'quick - fix' approach of the traditional school,
let us summarize the main challenges as follows:

Traditional management focuses on correcting mistakes as and when they

occur, or after they have been made, rather than preventing them in the first
place by putting in a well - planned systematic model, an architecture with
requirements and risks calculated, and firm time and budget controls to
deliver the desired results.
Traditional project management philosophy allows mistakes to be made. It
actually builds them into every aspect of the project. It budgets for failures in
production, and therefore overproduces to cover losses.
Traditional project management accepts that quality has to be sacrificed as
the volume and the productivity goes up
As viewed by accountants, professional engineering project management,
with excellent skills, and resources, just as quality assurance, is an expensive
and unnecessary cost item in the value chain, and therefore should be
minimized.

Obviously this 'quick - fix' approach to project management is completely wrong,

because it is very wasteful, and risky.
As an example, consider, that lean, flexible manufacturing and assembly has clearly
shown, that market-driven, on-demand, or in other words, JIT (just-in-time)
production is feasible, with batch sizes ranging from one to thousands, or more, all
costing the same, low cost, all at high quality and productivity.
In contrast to the traditional approach, modern quality thinking, represented in this,
and many other publications, claims, that because total quality engineering project
management involves every person, every aspect and machine / resource of the
organization, it requires a total commitment.
It is not a 'test and fix', but a systematic, model-driven, well planned approach.

It is a preventive system, lean, waste-reduced, sustainable approach, designed into

every aspect of every project in the world class design, manufacturing, IT and
service enterprise, including product design, manufacture, management,
maintenance, and others.
Sustainable Green Quality:
In terms of green engineering design and manufacturing sustainability we consider
the following:

An eco-friendly state, or process that can be maintained over time, for a very
long time.

The ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological advanced design and

manufacturing processes and functions, biological diversity, and productivity
over time.

Green sustainability encompasses the concept of meeting present design and

manufacturing needs without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their needs. In other words, the characteristic of green, sustainable
advanced manufacturing is being able to coexist with another system
indefinitely, without either system being damaged.

Balance is what we should all aim at all levels... because it is good for life,
and even pays off. If we keep balance at all levels, meaning from the Earth's
perspective down to the smallest process steps in a factory, like the way we
recycle used batteries to avoid toxifying the soil that can then grow new
wealth, then we are on the right track...

The sustainable green advanced design and manufacturing concept also

emphasizes that the creation of wealth within the community considers the
well-being of both the human as well as natural environments, and is focused
on the more complex processes of development rather than on simple growth
or accumulation only. This is because real value added growth happens when
many aspects of human desire, drive and behavior, cultural / societal
integrity, knowledge, science, as well as the necessary finances are all in
place for a common goal.

Video Summary on TQM and Sustainable Green:

Sustainable Green Focus- 6 YouTube videos:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LequyTSSxVM
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh3k3CiV3tk
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9BDj7BK6qk
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBceG-2EAUM
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O8Yv5U7_PY
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U544Mo-us18

The videos shows Palau Corals & El galleon Philippines. There is evidence that the
oceans have suffered at the hands of mankind for millennia, as far back as Roman
times. But recent studies show that degradation, particularly of shoreline areas, has
accelerated dramatically in the past three centuries as industrial discharge and
runoff from farms and coastal cities has increased.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful contaminants that are outside the norm for a
given ecosystem. Common man-made pollutants that reach the ocean include
pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, detergents, oil, sewage, plastics, and
other solids. Many of these pollutants collect at the ocean's depths, where they are
consumed by small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain.
Scientists are even discovering that pharmaceuticals ingested by humans but not
fully processed by our bodies are eventually ending up in the fish we eat.
Many ocean pollutants are released into the environment far upstream from
coastlines. Nitrogen-rich fertilizers applied by farmers inland, for example, end up in
local streams, rivers, and groundwater and are eventually deposited in estuaries,
bays, and deltas. These excess nutrients can spawn massive blooms of algae that
rob the water of oxygen, leaving areas where little or no marine life can exist.
Scientists have counted some 400 such dead zones around the world.
Solid waste like bags, foam, and other items dumped into the oceans from land or
by ships at sea are frequently consumed, with often fatal effects, by marine
mammals, fish, and birds that mistake it for food. Discarded fishing nets drift for
years, ensnaring fish and mammals. In certain regions, ocean currents corral
trillions of decomposing plastic items and other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage
patches. One in the North Pacific, known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is estimated to
be the size of Texas. A new, massive patch was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean in
early 2010.
I have found this resource to be helpful: please read this and comment on it in
about 50-250 words: How will your 5th company use the ideas presented
to avoid project failuers? This is the link: http://www.attask.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/07/work_is_hell_brochure.pdf ; Also another useful link
here:http://www.attask.com/slay-dragon-enterprise-work; Pls. note, that links might
change on the web beyond our control...

Social Networking:

Grade my own Assignment: I grade my Assignment A as I covered all the topics

in the assignment and my company specially works on a project on Environmental
Education.