Contractual obligations

Types of contract
A contract is a legal obligation to fulfil a job
role or agreement that you are assigned to
you can sign contracts with a single person
or an organization. i.e. a contract to pay
back a certain amount of money before a
certain date or a phone contract is a good
example of this. There are many different
types of contract but the ones that you are
most likely to take out with an employer are:
Employment contract an employment contract is something that you
take out with your employer the moment you get a job with them and it
can last for a certain amount of years, indefinitely or until you or the
employer chooses to discontinue it.
Non-disclosure contract a non-disclosure contract comes into play for
companies that are working i=on a secret project i.e. a Christmas special.
These contracts last until the company say you can disclose certain
information. This will be covered in more detail below.

Executed and Executory - An executed contract is a contract where

nothing remains to be done by either party, but it is still in action as it
involves something to be completed in the future i.e. a video game patch
or some maintenance on the servers down the line.
Non-disclosure agreements
Non-disclosure agreements are formal
contracts that stop you from disclosing
information, a good example of this is patient
confidentiality that doctors and nurses have.
They sign the form when they start working
and it continues until the end of their life
even if they are dismissed as there is
potentially reputation damaging and
embarrassing information that they find out about their patients.

Time management
When your employment contract is drawn up you may be
required to work to certain deadlines this means that
you may need to stay late to finish the work that you
are currently working on to finish it before the
deadline. If the deadline is not complete you will be
put on a disciplinary. if you regularly dont complete
work to the deadline then you will face an
investigation and possibly dismissal.

Risk management
Aardman carry out regular risk assessments and it is up to you to follow
the assessments and to manage the risks. As this is a key part to our
compliance act and any breach of health and safety can result in instant
dismissal
Regulatory issues
Freedom of information
When working at Aardman any information that is defined as sensitive or
not for the public may not be allowed to leave Aardman so you will be
asked to sign a Non- disclosure contract (mentioned above) and if you do
not sign then there is a good chance that you will be dismissed as it states
in your contract many ask you to sign a non-disclosure form from time to
time just to keep our projects i.e. the centenary special. A secret.

Copyright law
all ideas and items that are invented at Aardmans are property of
Aardman and are subject to copyright laws therefore if anyone is found
creating a copy of any of our work without permission then they will be
dismissed as this would be a breach in policy and the law.
Trademark

Aardman have their own trademark and it may

not be used by anyone else outside the
company or anyone inside the company
without the permission of the CEO. This is to
prevent our trademark from being slandered and our reputation ruined
due to misconduct.
Intellectual property
Anything that is created in Aardman is the intellectual property of
Aardman and is therefore protected by the relevant laws.
Health and safety policy
Aardman carry out regular health and safety checks and they also check
their equipment is up to standards and it is all PAT tested on a bi-yearly
basis. There are strict health and safety regulations in the animation
industry when it comes to lighting and electronics, a risk assessment has
to be filled out every time new lighting is set up and only qualified people
such as electricians or lighting experts can set it up.
Employment Equality
At Aardman Employee equality is high up on the agenda as they want a
diverse range of ethnicities and religious backgrounds working for them to
help diversify their company and to help them come up with ideas that
someone else wouldnt have thought of .
Professional bodies
British interactive multimedia association
When Producing work, we make sure that the entirety of the production
complies with BIMS and their policies to make our work as compliant with
the laws as possible. BIMA also reward Aardman and get some of their
funds from them when producing work as they always comply with BIMA.

Professional body codes of practice

There are a lot of different codes of practice but the main ones to follow
when producing an original piece of work are:

Intellectual property dont steal other peoples work or aspects of

their work to improve your own
Image content you must use your own image
content
unless you have permission by the author.
Nondisclosure you may be asked not to say
anything about a project, i.e. the centenary special. You may also be
required to sign a nondisclosure form to say that you wont say
anything.
Business ethics if you decide to outsource then they must be paid
and treated fairly.

Ethical
Policies and procedures
When producing an original piece of work at Aardman you must comply
with the policies and procedures highlighted above as these are the basic
rules that allow you to stay employed at Aardman. Ignorance of these
policies will most likely result in dismissal, if you breach an ethical policy
you will be dismissed instantly.

Ethical requirements
There are many ethical requirements when producing multimedia and
they all must be complied with before your product is even considered to
be published. There are a few key features that you must comply with.
These ethics standards take each of the following into consideration:

Public you shall act consistently with the public interest

Client and employer you shall act in a manner that is in the best
interest of the employer and the client consistent with the public
interests
Product you shall ensure that your product your product is
completed to specification and it meets the highest possible
standard
Judgement you shall ensure that you maintain integrity and that
you dont carry any judgements upon anyone elses work other than
your own
Management managers should be fair and constructive towards
their colleagues
Colleagues you will be fair and supportive towards all colleagues

Representation of gender
When producing a product, you must represent Gender fairly and you
must be unbiased towards either gender. If you are Biased or unkind
towards one gender by using stereotyping or any other means of
diminishing an audience intentionally then there could potentially be law

suits against you and Aardman. That is why in the

ethical code of conduct and the production guide it
states that you must not use any stereotypes of
any gender

Representation of religious beliefs

As there is a big focus on religion in the world at
the moment (about 50 % of the population of
the world is religious) you must take into
consideration very carefully each known religion
when producing the product as to not offend
them in any way, accidentally or on purpose. Aardman do not want a law
suit on their hands for misinterpretation of any religion, culture or gender.
Cultural issues and language
Finally, you must not mock any other culture or
language as it is unjust and will also result in an
unwanted law case, of you purposefully do so then
Aardman will not back you in the court room as this is
slander on a large scale.