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]
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