Understanding and Interpreting a Brief
Structure of Briefs
Contractual Briefs
A contractual brief is a type of a contract or brief where a media is employed by a client to complete a project within a brief that the client has written for them. The media company must follow the specific guidelines that the client has made. The most important thing for the media company is that these guidelines are met, if the media company fail to do so this can lead to a breach in contract amd the company could face legal actions.
Advantages- Having a contractual brief is good for a media company because they know exactly what the project entails and the client will have a very specific brief.
Disadvantages- The disadvantages to having a contractual brief is that if the media company does not meet the brief this could result in legal complications and will lead to the company not having a good reputation.
Negotiated Briefs
This type of brief will happen if the co-operative brief given to the two or more media companies that are working on the project have any issues about the brief or any issues that they would like to clear up with the client. These negotiations in the brief can then be changed in order to suite every party involved in the production.
Advantages- The advantages to this brief is that certain points can be negotiated so the project is more open to suggestions from different perspectives which could result in the project being better overall.
Disadvantages- Negotiating the brief can sometimes waste time.
A formal brief is when a media company is given a brief by a client which only outlines the project, this makes the project more open and gives enough information to be able to produce the production. Any information or issues that the media company feel the need to go over can be negotiated with the client, the client and media company will formally agree on the brief and the project.
Advantages- This type of brief means that the client is open to negotiations with the media company which makes it more creative.
Disadvantages- This type of brief could make the media company feel like the client hasn't given them enough information for the production to be completed to the clients standards.
Informal Brief
An informal brief is usually verbal and not documented. The media company and the client simply discuss the guidlines of the product they will be making and mutually agree on the project.
Advantages- The advantages to this type of brief is that the media company can fully understand the clients wants and needs.
Disadvantages- The disadvantages to this type of brief is that there is no written contract to prove the employment of the media company, this could lead to the client failing to pay the media company and the media company would not be able to take any legal action. Also this type of contract can make things like deadlines be not very clear which can cause confusion for both parties.
Commission
This type of brief will happen when a large media company will employ a much smaller independant company to create and produce the product. When the product has been made the larger company will then go on to use the product for an external client who will then pay the independant company for making the product. This client has no part of this and the negotiations will take place between the two media companys.
Advantages- The advantage of this type of brief is that the larger company don't take part in all the hard work but will still recieve pay for the contribution that they have made to the making of the product.
Disadvantages- This type of brief may mean that because there are two different companies working on the same project, issues and conflicts may arise and the product may not be made to the clients standards.
Tender
A Tender brief is where a client will advertise a brief and a media company will then come up with an idea that they will pitch to the client. This could mean that the client will recieve mutiple pitches from a number of different companies, the client will then choose what they feel is the best idea to suite the brief and give the job to that media company.
Advantages- The advantage of this brief is that the client can listen to a number of different companies perspectives of the brief and in effect will be able to produce the product to a high standard.
Disadvantages- The disadvantage of this type of brief is that if a company's is turned down it could set them way back in terms of business, the media company could have turned down other work that shared the same timeline as the brief that they pitched an idea for.
Co-operative Brief
This type of brief usually means that two or more companies are hired by a client to work to a brief that they have written for a specific project. Both media companies will recieve a copy of the brief and then proceed to work with eachother to produce the product, if there is a conflict in ideas a negotiated brief can be used to resolve these issues.
Advantages- Having this type of brief means that there can more perspectives to creating the product needed by the client and therefore means that the brief can be more understood than if there were only one company working on the project.
Disadvantages- This type of brief can be more prone to dissagreements and conflict in the ideas being given by each type of the different media companies that have been employed by the client.
Competition Brief
A Competition brief is where a client will put their brief out so it can be accessed by all of the different media companies that want to participate. Each media comany will complete the brief and then the client will judge which company has created the best project. The client will then have then publish the winning production.
Advantages- An advantage of this type of brief is that the client only has to pay the media company that they have chosen, also because they have multiple media companies producing a product the client has a large range to select from and they can judge on what they will believe will be more successful.
Disadvantages- A disadvantage is that the media companies may have lost or turned down work in order to make the product.
Reading a Brief
Being able to read a brief is the most important thing. If you fail to read the brief properly it is almost certain that mistakes can be made and the media company can easily miss out small but none the less important details. The media company need to get the grasp of the project in order to produce it to the clients standards. If the brief is not met this could result in loss of business and work for the media company which ultimately leads to loss of money.
The first thing to do when you receive a brief is set up a meeting with your client to get a better understanding of what the client expects of you. Once you have met with your client you should know what idea you want to go with, you and your team should already have a team leader allocated. They will then allocate pre-production jobs to each member of the team. Once all pre-production has been completed you should then be moving on to actual production. While all this is going on you should keep in contact with your client if that's something that they have requested. Once production has been competed the editing process will begin, you should send a rough edit to your client to give them a taster of what the production will entail.
Negotiating the Brief
It's important to negotiate the brief before the production is completed, the reason for this is because if there is a detail that they've missed or if there is a detail the client wanted to add there is plenty of time to make these adjustments. You can also look over the product that the media company has made to see if they have met the brief.
The advantages of this are that the company has a chance to use their own ideas more wisely and become more lenient on what they want to put on the project, they can be more creative with what they can do.
A disadvantage is the client may not like it and it might not properly meet the brief. It could possibly conflict with the brief.
There are many legal and ethical issues with this brief, for example my brief was for Stockton Borough Council, we were asked to create a film about child employment, because of the target audience (13-16) we thought it would be best if we use children of the same age to connect with the audience, this meant we had to make sure everything was above board and legal, because of this we had to get parents permission ect.
Opportunities
Self Development
This brief has allowed me to explore self development in the way that I have learned what my strengths and weekneses are working independently and in a group. Researching things like the Factory Law has opened my eyes to all the different laws that are in place when it comes to using children in my production, it has also made me aware of the different licences i would need in future if i was looking to use children in future projects.
Learning new skills
The skills i have learned is how to be better at verbal communication and verbal negotionation, i have also learned more about deadlines and time management. Another skill i have learned is how to create a project that is capable of meeting other peoples standards instead of just meeting my own.
Multi-Tasking
I have learned to be able to do more than one thing at a time. Rather than doing a task day by day i can complete more than one task at a time
Disadvantages- The disadvantages to this type of brief is that there is no written contract to prove the employment of the media company, this could lead to the client failing to pay the media company and the media company would not be able to take any legal action. Also this type of contract can make things like deadlines be not very clear which can cause confusion for both parties.
Commission
This type of brief will happen when a large media company will employ a much smaller independant company to create and produce the product. When the product has been made the larger company will then go on to use the product for an external client who will then pay the independant company for making the product. This client has no part of this and the negotiations will take place between the two media companys.
Advantages- The advantage of this type of brief is that the larger company don't take part in all the hard work but will still recieve pay for the contribution that they have made to the making of the product.
Disadvantages- This type of brief may mean that because there are two different companies working on the same project, issues and conflicts may arise and the product may not be made to the clients standards.
Tender
A Tender brief is where a client will advertise a brief and a media company will then come up with an idea that they will pitch to the client. This could mean that the client will recieve mutiple pitches from a number of different companies, the client will then choose what they feel is the best idea to suite the brief and give the job to that media company.
Advantages- The advantage of this brief is that the client can listen to a number of different companies perspectives of the brief and in effect will be able to produce the product to a high standard.
Disadvantages- The disadvantage of this type of brief is that if a company's is turned down it could set them way back in terms of business, the media company could have turned down other work that shared the same timeline as the brief that they pitched an idea for.
Co-operative Brief
This type of brief usually means that two or more companies are hired by a client to work to a brief that they have written for a specific project. Both media companies will recieve a copy of the brief and then proceed to work with eachother to produce the product, if there is a conflict in ideas a negotiated brief can be used to resolve these issues.
Advantages- Having this type of brief means that there can more perspectives to creating the product needed by the client and therefore means that the brief can be more understood than if there were only one company working on the project.
Disadvantages- This type of brief can be more prone to dissagreements and conflict in the ideas being given by each type of the different media companies that have been employed by the client.
Competition Brief
A Competition brief is where a client will put their brief out so it can be accessed by all of the different media companies that want to participate. Each media comany will complete the brief and then the client will judge which company has created the best project. The client will then have then publish the winning production.
Advantages- An advantage of this type of brief is that the client only has to pay the media company that they have chosen, also because they have multiple media companies producing a product the client has a large range to select from and they can judge on what they will believe will be more successful.
Disadvantages- A disadvantage is that the media companies may have lost or turned down work in order to make the product.
Reading a Brief
Being able to read a brief is the most important thing. If you fail to read the brief properly it is almost certain that mistakes can be made and the media company can easily miss out small but none the less important details. The media company need to get the grasp of the project in order to produce it to the clients standards. If the brief is not met this could result in loss of business and work for the media company which ultimately leads to loss of money.
The first thing to do when you receive a brief is set up a meeting with your client to get a better understanding of what the client expects of you. Once you have met with your client you should know what idea you want to go with, you and your team should already have a team leader allocated. They will then allocate pre-production jobs to each member of the team. Once all pre-production has been completed you should then be moving on to actual production. While all this is going on you should keep in contact with your client if that's something that they have requested. Once production has been competed the editing process will begin, you should send a rough edit to your client to give them a taster of what the production will entail.
Negotiating the Brief
It's important to negotiate the brief before the production is completed, the reason for this is because if there is a detail that they've missed or if there is a detail the client wanted to add there is plenty of time to make these adjustments. You can also look over the product that the media company has made to see if they have met the brief.
The advantages of this are that the company has a chance to use their own ideas more wisely and become more lenient on what they want to put on the project, they can be more creative with what they can do.
A disadvantage is the client may not like it and it might not properly meet the brief. It could possibly conflict with the brief.
There are many legal and ethical issues with this brief, for example my brief was for Stockton Borough Council, we were asked to create a film about child employment, because of the target audience (13-16) we thought it would be best if we use children of the same age to connect with the audience, this meant we had to make sure everything was above board and legal, because of this we had to get parents permission ect.
Opportunities
Self Development
This brief has allowed me to explore self development in the way that I have learned what my strengths and weekneses are working independently and in a group. Researching things like the Factory Law has opened my eyes to all the different laws that are in place when it comes to using children in my production, it has also made me aware of the different licences i would need in future if i was looking to use children in future projects.
Learning new skills
The skills i have learned is how to be better at verbal communication and verbal negotionation, i have also learned more about deadlines and time management. Another skill i have learned is how to create a project that is capable of meeting other peoples standards instead of just meeting my own.
Multi-Tasking
I have learned to be able to do more than one thing at a time. Rather than doing a task day by day i can complete more than one task at a time
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