Unit 5 - What is a Brief? Unit 5 - Types of brief advantages and disadvantages

Different Types Of Brief from phele1994

Lesson PPT https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hk0WVDZfsiblhYcTJ5eEdfY0E/view?usp=sharing 

Unit 5 - What is a Brief?

Unit 5 - Task 1a) and Task 2b) and Task 2c) Exemplar resources

UNIT 5 WORKING TO A BRIEF IN THE CREATIVE MEDIA INDUSTRIES.

Hey, this is my report for Unit 5 Working to a brief in the creative media industries.I will be posting a lot of my written media work that I have done on my course for inspiration.You are welcome to use any of this as long as you reference me in your work. Hope it helped.

Requirements of working to a brief in the Creative Media Industries.

 Brief; Short statement, explanation, summary of facts, findings, and objectives, prepared to give its reader/listener a quick, overall view of an investigation, plan, situation. Briefs are classed as pre production.(The stage before a proposal)

Examples of briefs

Contractual, negotiated, formal, informal, commission, tender, cooperative, competition brief; the 8 main different structures/styles of briefs.

Briefs can vary from ‘law’ to ‘chats’. The brief could be a set brief with no room for negotiation or it could be negotiable, they are many structures to suit the need of a company or an individual, big project or small project. It’s vital to get familiar with  at least the main briefs as it’s nearly certain you will stumble across at least 2 of them in the industry(especially in the media).

The ways of which a brief can be communicated:

• 'It is presented at an initial meeting with a client or broadcaster
• It can be produced collaboratively by the client and producer discussing the aims and objectives face to face
• It can be communicated verbally by telephone
• It can be posted or delivered by email
• It can be communicated at a briefing day’

Good communication is the base of any brief. It’s important that everyone working on the project know the correct aims and objectives, ‘whether clearly defined in the initial stages or whether they evolve as the communication process between a client and a producer begins.’

Possible elements in a brief:

• 'Outline of the project
• Background on the client
• Evidence of research
• Aims and objectives
• Target audience
• Outline budget
• Proposed timescale'
• Ensure that the requirements are realistic in terms of development time, client expectations and achievable targets’

media3.bournemouth (2014) Bournemouth University Website [Online] [6/10/14]

The different types

‘Contractual brief’ as the name could suggest it’s a binding contract between the commissionaire (the client that comes up with the brief) and the producer of the end product. It’s very important for the media company to follow guidelines and do exactly what the client states, as the Contractual brief is protected/bound by laws therefore must be adhered to stringently a multiple penalties can be applied if they fail to follow. This can end up with fines as well as if the case is serious enough, it may warrant a jail term. ‘This kind of brief works when the recruiting party has a very specific objective and terms and conditions that need to be followed and taken into motion.’

phele1994 (2013) Different Types Of Brief [Online] [6/10/14]

Advantages:

You can almost guarantee that it will be done for when you need it.

Contractual brief can be a good thing for the ‘media company involved as they will know exactly what the project is and what they are being asked to do as the brief will be very detailed and go into specifics that are not to be negotiated.’

Disadvantages:

If the media company have an issue within the ‘brief and they produce the product to their own standards this would not be producing the product to the standards set by the client.’ Failing the deadline set it’s also common. The client could demand for the company to take responsibility for any cost incurred take legal actions (in the worst cases) and also the company might get bad reputation.

Abbie Thorpe (2013) creativemediaatjt.blogspot [Online] [6/10/14]

Example : http://www.silcom.com/~tomjolly/contract.htm

‘This specific brief is an example of a contractual brief between a game company and a games developer. A major point of the contract is that the games developer is signing away his rights to personally advertise this game or place a recommended retail price upon the product which is the reason a developer would sign a contract with a distribution company in the first place as they would maximise the audience of the game and invariantly the profits would increase as well. The rest of the contract is a series of small paragraphs which cover the distribution of royalties and making it clear that the games developer has no more input on his product except that they might make suggestions which may or may not be used. This seems to be a pretty standard contract’

ghumphries86 (2011) workingtoabrief-ghumphries86.blogspot [Online] [6/10/14]

‘Competition brief’ again as the name would suggest it’s a competition. A company provides a brief with the details of what you have to do and by when. There will generally be a prize awarded for the best product. Companies can use this brief within a selected group like ‘graphic designers’ and a specific audience or they might advertise it to the general public. ‘This brief is used when a company needs to find a candidate that is best and most capable of carrying out the briefs requirements.’

phele1994 (2013) Different Types Of Brief [Online] [6/10/14]

Advantages: The Company will get a large variety of ideas/products that they will be able to choose from yet they will only have to pay/give a prize to one. It’s also a great way of advertising before it’s even made/done.

Disadvantages: The Candidates or Company will waste their time on the project if they don’t win, they may become disheartened as they have missed out on potential work and money.

A good example of this is the ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ competition. It tells you who can enter how you enter and what the prize is. The brief is to make a film. It is very specific; it has to be 140 seconds, has to be in for a specific day and hour and specific format.

Example: http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/page/rules#.VDMpr_ldXVp

 This is another example of a competition brief for a film and music festival and the competition is to make a short film. In this case the brief is a lot more open to interpretation as mentioned and the main thing they are looking for is creativity. On the other hand it says that the judges will judge also based on following the brief closely.

Example: http://sophiehunit5workingwithabrief.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/competition-brief.html

‘Informal brief’ can be done in a verbal agreeing, by email or over telephone. A verbal agreement could be a meeting (which is the most popular choice), this can result to a better understanding and better communications between parties. They are often a lot more relaxed, which means there is not much of a pressure, discomfort and it’s easy to communicate ideas. ‘This brief is used when there is just basic information that needs to be exchanged between two or more separated individuals, groups or companies, without formal need.’

phele1994 (2013) Different Types Of Brief [Online] [6/10/14]

Advantages: 2 or more parties can get to understand each other more personally for example job interviews are often informal so then the employer can learn about the person who is seeking the job before they accept them. It can also save time as it can be done really quickly.

Disadvantages: It can seem a bit unprofessional and some people might be unsure. There is no legal action that can be taken therefore if something goes wrong, there will be loss.

Example of what an Informal brief could look like. It could be a meeting with a few people or even 2 people conversations at a coffee shop.

The other briefs (quick explanation)

‘Negotiated: A negotiated brief exists when a producer and a commissioner negotiate on certain parts of the production; this could be the content or the cost of the production.

Formal: A formal brief exists when the brief is written carefully and a specific choice of words is used to construct the brief. Formal briefs are also written to strict legal guidelines.

Commission: Commission comes into the briefing stage when the cost of the production is needed to be specified by the client to the commissioner.

Tender: Tender is when the cost and the budget of the production is estimated by the clients. The commissioner then chooses the best offer from a client.

Co-operative: Co-operative briefs are shared by the producers of the project. Each producer may be in charge of a different section of the project.’

 daniel (2011) danwtab [Online] [6/10/14]

Reading a brief

One of the main requirements of working to a brief is knowing what your role is and exactly what you are being asked to do; that brings me on to ‘Reading a brief’.

It’s so important to read the brief carefully(preferably a few times) and even make notes on it as reading the brief in a rush will make it vastly easy to make high abundance of errors, for example it would be easy to miss something that the client or company wants including. By reading the brief throughout you will also get the nature of the project as well as its demand. There are ‘two main elements that can be split up to make the brief easier to understand and break down which are: the nature; that is based on what had been asked for you and what the final product expected. As well as the demand; that covers the details involved including the time constraints and man power needed to get the project finished in time.’

chamahan (2013) Working to a Brief [Online] [6/10/14]

Some of the things to think about and make a note of are:

·         Who is the client?

·         What are the restraints such as time scale, budget or payment.

·         What are you being asked to do?

·         Who are the target audience?

·         What‘s the final product/outcome expected?

Negotiating a brief

Now you have understood the brief you can now contact the client or company and negotiate any changes that you might have in mind. Some briefs are really strict (for example contractual) and rigid on what is being asked for but many require consultation. When you receive your brief that is the time to make any changes, to add any details or make any adjustments. It’s also the time to ask any questions or put forward any worries that you may have before it needs to be handed over.

Some of the advantages include; you get the chance to use your own ideas wisely and be more lenient on what you want to put on the project. It allows both parties to make an equally air and pleasing decision and agreement. The main advantage is that you basically get to be creative with what you can do.

Some advantages of employing discretion within a brief are as follows:

·         Allows creativity from the people creating the product.

·         Keeps up a good communication with the company and the client.

·         Using discretion allows you to add separate aspects to the brief that you may want to try or find beneficial or interesting to your brief.

It could be a disadvantage if someone comes down and hands you a brief and says do whatever you want with it, it can be a really hard way to work, even though it should, give you a lot of scope. If you haven't got the goalposts in the briefs then those are the hardest. Another possible disadvantage could be that the receiver may not like it and it might not properly meet the brief/ conflict the brief.

Amendments you have to consider:

·         ‘The Product

After reading the brief it will be important to be aware that there may be some things that will need to be changer within the brief. Things such as any overly ambitious deadlines, time scales and scopes will need to be considered.

·         The Budget

If there is not enough finance supplied in order to complete the product an amendment to the budget may need to be considered. If this is the case either the budget of the project will need to be increased or the scope of the project will need to be decreased.

·         The Conditions

If the project were to run overtime you may need to discuss with the client the prospect of your pay being increased, this may be difficult to do after the contract is signed, so make sure to negotiate this consideration with your client before the project starts.’

Abbie Thorpe (2013) creativemediaatjt.blogspot [Online] [6/10/14]

It’s extremely important to also familiars yourself with the legal, ethical and regulatory issues. ‘There are some laws you need to think of before going into production. For example, Copyright. You can’t include anything that is copyrighted unless you have permission by the creators of the item. If you give your product to the client when it is infringing copyright and they use it, it will result in them getting sued. They will then sue you for giving them the product. Privacy laws and the race discrimination act needs to followed too. You can’t publish people’s private information or use their lifestyle/stories as an example in a negative way. You need to ensure the brief fits the ASA regulations.’ There are many websites where you can find the required information. An example would be CAP (UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code).It has the codes for broadcast and non-broadcast products

Opportunities

The list of opportunities while working to a brief goes on. If the brief requires, you might even be allegeable for specific training and you may also get a chance to branch out with your ideas.

Some of the other opportunities include:

Self Development

Discovering what works well, learning new things.

New Skills

If every brief comes a new experience- new skill

Multi-skilling

If the production is quite small you might find yourself doing more than one task

Contributing to the brief

Working to a brief and working around it.

media3.bournemouth (2014) Bournemouth University Website [Online] Available: http://media3.bournemouth.ac.uk/rpd/1brief/01whatis.html [6/10/14]

phele1994 (2013) Different Types Of Brief [Online] Available: http://www.slideshare.net/phele1994/different-types-of-brief-22873041?related=3 [6/10/14]

Abbie Thorpe (2013) creativemediaatjt.blogspot [Online] Available: http://creativemediaatjt.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/competition-brief.html  [6/10/14]

daniel (2021) danwtab [Online] Available: http://danwtab.blogspot.co.uk/  [6/10/14]

chamahan (2013) Working to a Brief [Online] Available: http://www.slideshare.net/chamahan/working-to-a-brief-16916973 [6/10/14]

Unit 5 - Individual Diary of working with client

Notes from the client

24th January 2012 - First contact with client, we recieved an email from our client with details of the project including final date and what must be applyed in the video. We emailed him back asking if we could have a meeting with him to discuss the topic and the important features he wanted involved in the video.

1st February 2012 - Revieving the brief, upon ths we were given several different briefs and we were to chose which one we would complete. we then contacted our client again and asked him what important features he would like to be included in the presentation.

6th February 2012 - Software problem, problem resolved quickley by the choice of programme being changed. We noted this and how to solve the problem so that if it occured again the future we know how to solve it.

6th March 2012 - Contact with the client allowing them to ask us questions to do with the project to make sure everything was on track, in this interaction we were also allowed to ask thm questions incase anything was going wrong or if there is anyhting we were not sure about.

20th March 2012 - Contact with client, we sent them the first draft of the video to allow them to give us feedback or let us know if anything needed to change. Between us we talked about what needed to be changed and how it could be improved before dealing with the change in production.

3rd April 2012 - Contact with client, this allowed us to find any problems with the final video. We asked him for details on what he wanted changed and what he would prefer the production to be like, after feedback we got to work with making our final video.

17th April 2012 - This allowed our client to see the video before the final edits are completed.by doing this we were able to get a last bit of editing in before the final video was sent off, and seen by or client. After this our feedback is given and assessed by the client.

Unit 5 Task 1d) Class Presentation in Groups of 4

Working to a Brief from chamahan

Unit 5 - Task 2b Video Log exemplar Diary

With reference to examples explain the differences between a contractual brief and a competition brief. 

The contractual brief is the brief that is discussed between two sets of people the client and the company.The layout of the contractual brief is clear and easy to read to allow the client to complete their details, they would be asked to include personal information and formalitys that are necessacery to allow them to complete the work.The advantages of these types of contracts are that it is easy for the client to complete with extra information, also it allows them to have more control over the process.The disadvantages are for the company making the contract as there may be disagreements between what the client and the company would like to be on the contractual brief. And the competition brief is the type of brief is given to you when participating in competitions, it allows the clients to understand what they must do to enter and complete the competition, this brief is different to other briefs as it is more intense with the audience. This brief is usually used for companys that are promoting competitions, the brief is given out to clients so they can understand what they are to do. When creating the brief the client must consider the scope of work, medium required, size of purchase (how many competition details are needed), target group and how to attract them, time framed, quantities and siting. The difference between these briefs are  that the contractual brief is a lot more formal and you meet with the company when discussing the brief however with the  competition brief the client does not come in contact with the company. The layout for the briefs are very different as the competition brief is a lot more relaxed and easier to understand. The contractual brief expects more information and details from the client that the competition brief does.

With reference to a current brief, give an explanation of your role in a group project you have been working on. What are your duties? What professional qualities do you need to fulfil the brief? 
We were given a brief to make an 9 minute documentary within this I was given the role of editor and researcher, my duties where to make sure that all research on the topic was completed before shooting and that it was clear to the rest of the group the research I had found. My role of researcher continued throughout the filming section of the project, toward the end of the project I switched roles and became chief editor, during this my duties where to make sure that all editing was completed on time and to a high standard, I had to make sure that the editing was shared equally between the rest of the group and that everyone new how and what to do. Professional qualities that I needed to fulfil during this brief is to make sure that we not only had the final cut but other cuts aswell, I was to assure that all was done on time and to the best it could be I had to make sure that if the editing was not the best it could have been that it was remodelled into something better.

With reference to a specific example, explain your interaction with the client and what changes, or further understanding occurred. 
We received a brief which asked us to produce a video about recycling for a certain age, apart from receiving the brief we had to interactions with the client and had to produce the product that was asked for to the highest standard, during the making of the product we changed certain aspects of the brief such as the time and the type of video made. We adjusted the brief slightly so that further understanding occurred and the video was made to a high standard and our client was happy with it.
With reference specific examples, explain what new skills you developed during the undertaking of a brief. 
By receiving a brief of which we had to complete to a certain time and level and with the main description of what was necessary on it I found that I developed new skills such as working with my client to a degree where we agreed what was best for the product; learning how to use and complete a brief and learning to work alongside and with others to complete the brief to the customers standard and to the expected time.
With reference to an example, explain the opportunities and constraints you encountered with a brief and how you responded to them.

The brief that we received gave us opportunities such as to work alongside a customer and producer there product to the necessary standards, although we were given a lot of information we came across some obstacles that slowed the process down, we conquered our problems by working alongside our customer asking them the necessary question that we need to make sure the product was made the way they wanted it to be.

Unit 5 - Task 2b) Client meeting: 1 Negotiate & respond to the brief

Responding to the brief:

When I was given this brief offer by my manager I was immediately keen on taking it up. My main reasons behind why I chose to respond to this brief is because the brief itself is my category of expertise, I am a very confident with my filming and editing styles which I felt would come in very handy for a brief such as this one.

I responded to my manager within the day of receiving the brief telling him I would take up the brief offer and complete it for the given deadline. I also sent him a questionnaire for him to fill in. The reason for the questionnaire was to get as much detail out of my manager as possible about how he wanted the final video to be like. Below is a copy of the questionnaire table that he filled in and emailed back to me.

Approximately how long do you wish the advertising video to be?	Roughly around three minutes long seconds but no longer than minute. Time of the video does not matter too much because we won’t be putting this video forwards for TV promotion. YouTube is a much more likely location for the video you are going to make.
Should I include music? If so what music should I include? Any sound effects?	You may use copyright free music, as long as it is upbeat and has no swearing in it. Sound effect can be inserted in the video, but don’t insert them into unnecessary parts of the video. We are very keen for you to keep the sound in from your footage so that people listening can audibly capture the experience. Make sure you cut out any areas that include swearwords or other offensive language.
Shall I include important information in the video such as pricing or the logo? If so then when should I include it?	No, We only want the video to show people who are new to Skirmish paintball what it is all about. We will insert pricing and other vital information in text underneath the video.
Are there any rules or health and safety modulations I should know about if I’m about to film people playing paintball?  If so please list them.	The usual rules as if you were marshalling a game. Wear body suit and helmet. We might suggest a protective or paint proof cover for your camera. Just to warn you, we will not cover the costs for any of your equipment if it is damaged when filming.
What is the final deadline?	I don’t see the need for a deadline, but If you require one I would like the video done before late May.
What features of Skirmish Paintball would you like me to video? Paintball, Laser tag or Airsoft? Should I film gameplay, special events, or any other features?	I would like it if you featured game play of airsoft games only. We already have a large amount of past footage advertising paintball. However we have hardly any footage of airsoft.

Budget

There is no budget for my given brief because I am doing this brief for free. The camera and recording equipment is owned by me. I use editing software at home and on College site. The health and safety equipment was handed to me on the days of filming without any requirement of payment.

Project management and developing my final video from feedback

Now that I had all the information I needed to start filming I had to start managing how I was going to make the video. In other words I did pre-production for my promotional video.

Research into similar video ads:

I needed to do research into similar promotional videos to see what video capturing and editing styles they used to make their videos.  At first I found it difficult finding promotional videos along the same category, but a work colleague told that there was a skirmish paintball channel on YouTube.  The channel was very helpful to my research; I found the most common video capturing technique was filming the footage in a first person view using a head strap with the camera. I think this was good way of way of capturing footage because the audience could relate to it as what it would look and feel like if they were playing right then.

The majority of the videos I saw used montage editing techniques keeping the all the airsoft action on screen flowing at a constant rate. This is a technique I decided I would be using because it would help keep the audience interested and fixed on the video.

Below is the link to the Skirmish paintball YouTube channel that I used to research into similar video ads.

http://www.youtube.com/user/skirmishpaintballtv?feature=results_main