Monolith Productions Case Study MECN4020 - Systems Management and Integration
Monolith Productions Case Study MECN4020 - Systems Management and Integration
Monolith Productions Case Study MECN4020 - Systems Management and Integration
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A project report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of
the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Science in Engineering.
I, the undersigned, am registered for the course MECN4020 - Systems Management and In-
tegration in the year 2018. I herewith submit the following task ”Monolith Productions Case
Study” in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the above course.
• I am aware that plagiarism (the use of someone else’s work without their permission and / or
without acknowledging the original source) is wrong;
• I confirm that the work submitted herewith for assessment in the above course is my own unaided
work except where I have explicitly stated otherwise;
• This task has not been submitted before. either individually or jointly, for any course require-
ment, examination or degree at this or any other tertiary educational institution;
• I have followed the required conventions in referencing the thoughts and ideas of others;
• I understand that the University of the Witwatersrand may take disciplinary action against me if
it can be shown that this task is not my own unaided work or that I failed to acknowledge the
sources of the ideas or words in my writing in this task.
i
Contents
Declaration i
Contents ii
2 Exercise 1 7
2.4.1 Initiating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4.2 Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4.3 Executing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4.5 Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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List of Figures
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1 Case Study Analysis
The case study long and short cycle analyses are presented in this section. Additionally a risk register
is presented for the given case.
1
Name: Tumisang Kalagobe Student Number: 800363
Case Title: Monolith Productions – A Christmas Carol
SHORT CYCLE PROCESS
Who has the main responsibility of dealing with the issue/problem?
Name: Steven Playhill
Position: Producer and Director
What is the MAIN PROBLEM/ISSUE in this case?
Monolith Productions must produce a made for TV version of the classic story, “A Christmas Charol”.
When did the problem/issue arise? (date/time) AND by WHEN does it needed to be resolved?
The opportunity was officially presented to the Monolith Productions team on the 20 th of August and the production must be aired on
Christmas eve (December 24th) by the BAA channel.
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B: Case Data Analysis
PMBOK Triple constraints:
Scope
Time Cost
There is no indication about how much BAA is willing to pay the company to produce the film. This leads to many
complications when costing the film as no major decisions can be made without this information. The budget directly affects
everything from casting the lead roles, all the way to the selection of equipment, props and set construction. This information
must be obtained as soon as possible for the project to progress.
The cost management of a project has 3 main phases – cost estimating, budgeting and control. The production team salaries,
promotion costs and book production costs can all be estimated within reasonable accuracy as the team is comprised of
experienced individuals that have been in the industry for a while. This means that budgeting and cost control for these
aspects should be straightforward. The major unknown is the salary of the acting staff. Actors and actresses generally make a
major component of the total cost of a movie due to their salaries, however, this is highly dependent on their popularity and
fit for the role. Without the information to make estimates on actors’ salaries it is impossible to effectively budget and make
casting decisions.
The scope of the production is reasonably well defined. The film is the primary objective that must be achieved by Monolith
Productions. Promotion is a request by the client in order to maximize their viewership on the night that the movie is aired,
while the book production is an added element to maximize Monolith Production’s revenues from the movie.
The project would be considered a success if the following conditions are met: the movie is shot and edited to the liking of
BAA before the 24th of December; the commercials and talk shows must aired between the 3rd and 24th of December, and in
the two weeks leading up to the premier respectively; finally the books must be produced and shipped by the last week of
November in order to maximize their revenue.
In the grander scheme of the production, the book sales are not a critical component of the project and are not requested by
the client. If any activities need to be relinquished in order to commit human resources to other, more critical tasks the book
may be the first to go. Revenue maximization is ideal but won’t affect the outcome of the production. If the book is produced
and shipped late, it would allow for some revenue to come in but the most important thing is delivering on the client’s
requests.
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3. Project time management
At the first board meeting, the activity definition, sequencing, resource estimating and duration estimating are done at a high
level. There needs to be a scheduling meeting within the week following this meeting where a more detailed approach can be
used to plan the time management.
There are a number of important deadlines relating to the project deliverables. These deadlines allow very little in the way of
contingency time, which has the potential of being a major problem. Rectifying any deviations in the planned time frames of
the project may require massive injections of money, thus potentially running the entire project into a loss. For example, if
there is a disagreement between the actors and the director there may be massive delays in filming. These delays would
ultimately lead to other deliverables being delayed, such as the delivery of commercials, scheduling and filming of talk
shows, etc. Schedule control will be critical in this project for these reasons.
The delivery of the picture books is not a crucial element in the overall vision of the production as it will not make or break
the client’s deliverables. Management of its execution is largely in the hands of Yokishawa and her task would be to keep this
aspect profitable without negatively affecting the overall schedule of the production.
The human resources required for the project have largely not been discussed at the initial meeting. The only human
resources that have initially been considered are the lead actors and actresses. Staff such as the production team, camera crew,
etc should be available to the company in time for the filming to occur. Planning of any additional human resources should
occur during the week following the initial meeting. The need for other staff members should become apparent as the
scheduling is done.
No mention has been made of any supporting or minor cast members. As BAA has not made any mention of the caliber of the
actors and actresses they desire, decisions on their casting should be made by Monolith Productions. As there is no time to
train or allow for amateur mistakes on the film, the cast will have to be seasoned performers. This may drive the cost up,
however it is a necessary sacrifice for the sake of time.
Management of the human resources is a task that Playhill will largely have to bear as he is the director and producer. Any
issues that cannot be resolved between the staff and Playhill could be mediated by another member of the board, such as
Yokishawa, Quinn or Monolith. Since this production has such a short time line it is possible that Playhill can handle the role
of both producer and director, however, Monolith can bring in a full time producer to reduce the pressure on him.
The project has a number of key risks that have been identified and presented in the risk register that follows this analysis.
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C: Alternative ways to address the problem/issue based on your case analysis
1. Obtain information about the cost imposed on BAA for the production of the movie in order to make informed budgeting
decisions.
2. Sell the books around the Christmas period if the initial deadline at the end of November cannot be met in order to maximize
profits.
3. Overtime and weekend work will be conducted as necessary throughout the production in order to ensure that the key
deliverables do not run late.
4. Hire actors and actresses that have a proven track record as quality actors and try to avoid huge stars in order to limit the cost
on Monolith, unless BAA is willing to cover the cost of a star.
5. Allow Playhill to continue his dual role as director and producer and only hire a full time producer if the pressure is too much
for him to handle on his own.
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A Christmas Carol - RISK REGISTER Version 1 Date 20-Aug-18
Risk
Risk Causes (due to …) Probability Impact Rating Response Actions Start End Responsible
Add overtime and weekend work if there
Late delivery of the film or promotional are any delays in delivering the film and
contenet, as requested by BAA M H H Prevention promotional content 27-Aug-18 23-Dec-18 Steven Playhill
Alter the script slightly if the costs in
question are directly related to filming the
Strict deadlines imposed by BAA movie. If the costs are pertaining to other
aspects such as set construction, editing,
make up, etc. there must be alterations in
Costs spiralling out of control at any point their execution in order to stay within the
during the production L M M Mitigate budget 27-Aug-18 23-Dec-18 Steven Playhill
1. Produce a remake of the classic story, ”A Christmas Charol”, which must be aired on the 24th
of December at prime time, exclusively by channel BAA.
2. Maximise exposure and profitability of the production by way of commercials, talk shows and a
picture book.
3. The entire film must be completed by the 17th of December, allowing for time to do any additional
edits as requested by BAA - the channel that is set to broadcast the film.
• The on set crew (such as filming crew, make up, wardrobe, editors, screenwriters, etc) are readily
available for the production.
• Steven Playhill is assumed to be both the director and producer for the film because he raises
issues pertaining to both the overall production process and the creative elements of the film.
Additionally, Mr Monolith states that he is the director of the film, however, he is well known
as a producer.
• There will be no complications when requesting permission from the city of Boston to use the
external scenes.
• There will be no creative disputes within Monolith Productions throughout the duration of this
project.
• All parties involved are willing to work overtime and on weekends if the production is running
behind schedule.
• The documentation required for legal purposes and booking of locations is readily available.
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2.2 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
8
Additional tasks are added to the project in order to fully define the required processes to meet the
project objectives. Additional tasks are separated according to the five PMBOK process groups and
are briefely explained in the following section.
2.4.1 Initiating
2.4.2 Planning
2.4.3 Executing
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• Set up of filming locations (2 weeks)
”A Christmas Carol” has a simple story that doesn’t require an extravagant set to be filmed .
The set up of the interior and exterior scenes should take 7 days and 3 days respectively.
• Complete daily producton report forms (daily between pre-production and produc-
tion)
This monitoring process is conducted on a daily basis and recorded for the production manager.
It is necessary for keeping track whether or not the film is on track with its objectives [8 ].
2.4.5 Closing
2.5 Milestones
There are a few important milestones that must be met in this project and they are deailed as follows:
2. Filming completed
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2.6 Project resources
The following section details the human resources as given in the case study.
2. Steven Playhill
Introduced as a ”on of the most popular film producers of our time”, he is assigned the role of
director by Monolith. His interest in the complete production of the movie also suggests that
he takes on the role of producer. Although it is usually advised against taking on both roles,
this assumption stands.
3. Bill Quinn
Bill is assigned the task of ensuring that the promotion aspect of the film is taken care of.
He is responsible for delivering commercials and organising talk shows for the lead actors and
actresses, as requested by BAA.
4. Kim Yoshikawa
Kim is assigned the task of ensuring the production and distribution of the film’s picture book.
The book’s production is not a mandatory task but is a way of generating the maximum amount
of profit from the movie since all revenues from its sale go to Monolith Productions.
6. Film editors
The film editors are only involved after each stage of filming as well as the final editing before
airing the movie.
7. Production staff
Production staff are mentioned by Quinn at some point and their involvement is extensive during
the production stage.
8. Screenwriter
The screenwriter is the least involved member of the team as they are only utilised at the
beginning phase of production as well as when the book is being written.
In the following section the resource sheet and resource useage views generated on Microsoft Project
are presented in that order.
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2.8 Gantt chart and Network Diagram
The Gantt chart that is generated on Microsoft Project is presented on the following two pages. The
project network diagram follows the Gant chart (i.e. the third page).
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References
[1] Ray, S. (2017). A Quick Guide to Project Charters. Project Management 101. [online]. Available
at: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-charter [Accessed 23 June 2018].
[2] Hierarchy Structure Staff. (2018). Film Jobs Hierarchy. [online] Available at:
https://www.hierarchystructure.com/film-jobs-hierarchy/ [Accessed 23 June 2018].
[3] Katsiris, J. (2007). Project management at the Movies. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress
2007 - Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China. Newtown Square, PA: Project
Management Institute.
[4] Kroll, N. (2014). Heres What You Need to Know Before Casting Your Film. IndieWire. [on-
line] Available at: http://www.indiewire.com/2014/06/guest-post-heres-what-you-need-to-know-
before-casting-your-film-24788/ [Accessed 23 June 2018].
[5] City of Boston. (2015). Film Permitting Request. City of Boston.gov [online] Available at: ht-
tps://www.cityofboston.gov/arts/film/permitrequest/# [Accessed 23 June 2018].
[6] Sparknotes Staff. (2018). Summary: A Christmas Carol. Sparknotes.com [online] Available at:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol/summary/ [Accessed 23 June 2018].
[7] Cleve, B. (2006). Film Production Management. 3rd edition. Focal Press.
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