WORKING TO A BRIEF LO1

Tom Brett

CONTRACTUAL BRIEFDefinition – A contractual brief is when a company signs an agreement set by another company or their

client to do specific jobs in a specific time frame for a specific amount of money. These briefs tend to be fairly formal as there is a lot of things to cover as well as the fact it all has to be set out to meet both parties needs. My brief is similar to this in some aspects because there are certain guidelines set by my client that I have to follow as well as a certain time it all has to be finished for. It is not as formal as a contractual brief nor is any form of money involved.

Advantages – The most advantageous thing about contract briefs is the security and assurance you have with it, because both parties involved with the brief want to gain something out of it, the client will want work done to a high enough standard where as the company/worker will want money for what they have made. This point could be both an advantage or a disadvantage, but because it is a formal contractual brief then there will be guidelines to follow, there will be specific requirements and a deadline to work with. This is an advantage because it lets you know what you are working with and it lets you plan out what you are going to do and how much time you need to spend on it. My brief has mentioned about certain requirements that need meeting with the products I am going to make, this is helpful because it gives me something to start with.

Disadvantages – Having all these guidelines and requirements can be seen as a disadvantage as well because it can cause a lot of stress which can further lead to worse symptoms. Having a deadline could also cause you to rush your work meaning that the end product will be at a low quality and you might not get paid as much as was originally agreed. Another disadvantage to a contractual brief is that because you have agreed and signed to do the work, if you don’t do it at a high enough quality or you don’t hand it in for the deadline then the client can just pull out of the deal and not pay you, meaning you have wasted a lot of your time for nothing.

FORMAL BRIEFDefinition – This is where a client will provide a brief for you or a company that has got all the necessary details and requirements on it. This brief does not contain every detail on it, just the necessities, if there were any further information that needs to be added then that would have to be discussed during future negotiations.

Advantages – There are a few advantages to this style of brief, the main one being that both parties and both sides of the brief have to formally agree, this mutual agreement shows that both parties are willing to complete their tasks to the best of their ability. This means it offers you a sense of security because of that deal you have made as part of the brief.

Disadvantages – A few disadvantages to this style of brief are that you don’t get every detail as part of it because the brief just covers the simple necessities that are needed for the tasks that will be completed. This means you have to go through extra effort and negotiations just to get some additional information which should have been part of the brief.

INFORMAL BRIEFDefinition – An informal brief is a type of brief in which the process does not involve a contract or any form of written documentation, instead the agreements will be made verbally through discussions between the client and the company. Unlike the contractual and the formal brief, this style of brief might not have a set completion date because it is informal.

Advantages – There are advantages and disadvantages to this brief, one advantage is that because it is an informal brief, there is no set completion date, this can be an advantage because it causes less stress trying to work to a deadline, this way you can work at your own pace and to the best of your ability because you’re not rushing. It will also be a more relaxed meeting between the client and the customer, this will stop tensions from building, and also helps to create friendlier links with the companies and companies that are tied in as well.

Disadvantages – A disadvantage to this style of brief is the same as an advantage, because there isn’t a set completion date or a contract involved this style of brief becomes very risky. This is bad because the client can pull out at any moment meaning that there is a loss of money and a loss of a client as well. This could be bad for the company as well because they might have paid a lot of money towards the client and they may not deliver what you demanded.

CO-OPERATIVE BRIEFDefinition – A co-operative brief is when two or more companies who will be producing the selected product by the client are hired to work together on a specific brief to complete the project. If there is a disagreement between the two companies or with one of the companies and the client, then a negotiated brief will have to be used in order to appease both of the companies so they are happy to do the work for the client.

Advantages – One advantage to this style of brief is that there are two companies working together, this can build up chemistry between the two companies and makes the production of the product less lonely. Having two companies working on the same thing can also be a good thing because it can shorten time on production because there are two sets of people working on the product, its also good because both companies will get an insight into how the other company works and what techniques they use to produce their products.

Disadvantages – A disadvantage to this style of brief is that it requires a lot of communication and agreement, this could be a problem because there could be a chance that the companies involved may not agree with each other meaning that they would have to receive a negotiated brief each.

NEGOTIATED BRIEFDefinition – As explained before, a negotiated brief is distributed to the two or more companies as well as the client if either of them could not come to an agreement as part of the co-operative brief, this brief would have been changed and edited so it can appease all of the parties meaning that they will work to the brief because it has something the can or want to do in it. These changes could be simple like changing the colour schemes or font types, or they could be more complicated like facing certain legal restrictions.

Advantages – The biggest advantage to this style of brief is that it makes for a good back up plan if the co-operative brief fails to be completed due to the parties not coming to an agreement. Another advantage to this is that the parameters to the brief can be changed to it fits to match every parties needs.

Disadvantages – One disadvantage is that companies and clients only use this brief if a previous brief fails due to a lack of agreement between companies and clients. Another disadvantage is that every party has to compromise at least something in order to go through with this brief.

COMMISSION BRIEFDefinition – A commission brief is when a large media company hires a smaller media company to create a product for them instead of having an external client. However the product created by the smaller company can be used by the larger company for an external client, but the smaller company who have made the original product will be paid for making it and might even get some of the profit whenever the product has a sale.

Advantages – An advantage for the company is that instead of using a client, the company will use another smaller company, this means that their previous work will be easier to find so the larger company can make their judgment on whether or not to use that company. An advantage for the smaller company who will be creating the products is that they will be making a lot of money due to the bigger company having a good income, and especially if the smaller company gets a margin of the profits. Another advantage for the smaller company is that their work might get recognised by other large companies meaning that if more companies ask the smaller company then the smaller company will get more money.

Disadvantages – A disadvantage with this brief is for the larger company because they will probably be paying more money if they are using a smaller company to do their work instead of an external client. This is risky because there is more money on the line then the larger company will have higher expectations and expect the smaller company to deliver everything above standard.

TENDER BRIEFDefinition – A tender brief is when a client publishes on the internet or advertises on shops that they need a media product to be made, then multiple production companies will create briefs, a proposal, and a budget which will all be pitched to the client. After all the production companies have pitched their proposals, the client will choose the best proposal and offer the project to that company.

Advantages – There are a few advantage to this brief, an advantage for the client is that they do not have to look for companies to work for them but the companies will be wanting to do the work for the client, and because the company wants to do the work then the work that is produced for the client will be at a high quality. An advantage for the production company is that it will be easy to have a chance of getting some work and money because the client will probably look at every applicant.

Disadvantages – There are a few disadvantages to this brief, a disadvantage for the client is that there is a chance that they don’t get any applications from production companies, this means that they wont be able to get any work done. A disadvantage for the production company is that there will be multiple other companies who have also applied which means the chances of getting the job are very low.

COMPETITION BRIEFDefinition – The competition brief is similar in a few ways to the tender brief, in the same way that production companies will go to a brief that is made available to them, however unlike the tender brief, each company will actually complete the brief and create the best product they possibly can. All the completed products and projects will be judged and reviewed by the client and the best project has their work published and potentially paid for.

Advantages – An advantage to this style of brief for the production company is that entering the competition is free, so there is not much at stake however it will be seriously worth it if the companies project gets judged as the best. An advantage for the client is that they do not have to pay to get work done for them, this means that they can get a lot of profit and will not lose money if all the end products and projects are not up to standard.

Disadvantages – A disadvantage to this style of brief for the production company is that there is a lot of competition so there is a low chance of the client using the work, also the client might not even pay the winning company because they don’t have to which means that the company might have wasted a lot of time when they could have been doing paid work for other clients. A disadvantage for the client is that they might not get any work that is up to standard because the competition is free to enter where as they could have paid a bit of money to get some good work done by a well known production company.

MY BRIEFThe style of brief that fits with the brief me and my client are working with is a formal brief. This is because we do not have to sign a contract but everything is written down on paper and not verbally discussed, unless me and the client are talking about any additional details because all that is written on the brief is just necessary information. There was also no legal binding with the brief however there was a final agreement on the project, however the client themselves are quite lenient to the deadline.

READING THE BRIEFIt is important that I thoroughly read my brief because I need things to be clear and to make sense otherwise I may get confused when I start production meaning that I might not create a product that the client has asked for. Another reason why it is important to thoroughly read the brief is to check if there are any legal, ethical, and regulatory issues with it because I there is and it has not been clearly stated then I could accidentally break the law because I did not properly check the brief and have a detailed discussion with my client.

READING THE BRIEFThe nature of the brief explains that I should be making to Flyers for my client, these flyers should be promoting the holiday in a positive way so it gives the children and the parents of the children the intent of going on the holiday. The flyers should contain appropriate images as well as images of campers as long as the parents of the campers have given their consent to it, the flyers themselves should represent the holiday as well as being suitable for the target audience. There were specific requirements that were mentioned in the brief and that was to have two different logos somewhere on the flyers.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFIt is important to discuss the brief with my client before production because it is helpful to talk about parts of the brief that don’t make sense and it is easier to explain and understand someone if you are talking to them in person instead of talking to them over email. It is also helpful to discuss the brief to mention any details that were not actually documented because it will be a formal brief, this way I will have as much knowledge about the project as possible meaning that the work I produce will be as good as it can be in terms of working to the brief.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFAn advantage to employing discretion with a brief is that you can create products with your own spin on it, this allows you to be more creative and show off to your client how much flair you have. If done successfully then the client might contact you more in the future because they are impressed with your work, the client might also recommend other companies to contact you about work they want doing. A disadvantage to employing discretion with a brief is that it might be tough to not compromise or conflict what has been stated in the brief, and if you compromise or create conflict with what has been briefed then you will not create what was wanted by the client meaning that you wont receive payment and it will leave a mark on you reputation amongst the media industry.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFI will face no regulatory issues with my product because my brief does not mention anything that could potentially cause me to face these issues. However there is a lot of opportunity to face and legal and ethical issues because I have been asked to use photos of the campers on the holiday, however these campers are under the age of 18 which means I will have to get parental consent for them. I have managed to work round this by using photos from the website meaning that not only do I not face copyright issues but all the photos will have parental consent because the organisation I am doing work for have already asked the parents for consent so they could take the photos in the first place. Another legal issue that I could possibly face is if I download a font from online that is not 100% free to use, because the font would be used for commercial purposes that can be accessed by anyone.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFAmendments you have considered to:The Product – After reading the brief and having discussions with the client, I am happy with the products I have been given to make. However, I have only been given two flyers to create because that is all the client wanted and needed.

The Budget – I have not been given a budget for this project because it is part of a college course and because of this I am doing work for the client for free. I have not been asked to make anything that causes me to ay more than I am expected to pay, which is nothing.

The Conditions – Me and my client have spoken about certain conditions, because this work is part of my college course I am not allowed to receive payment from the client which means I will not get overpaid or underpaid, and I am in constant access to the equipment that is needed to complete this project.

OPPORTUNITIESWhat opportunities could this brief allow you to explore?Self Development – This project can help me develop as a media producer because it has given me the chance to explore new ideas and has let me work with external clients. Working with an external client has helped me to develop my communication skills as well as working to a brief to get my product up to a standard set by the client that I need to meet. I will need to use all these skills in the future as a media producer because I will need to contact multiple different people to do work for in order to get payment.

Learning new skills – This project has allowed me to explore new ideas as well as exploring new practical skills such as features in programs such as Photoshop that I have not used before, but because I have used them in this project I will be able to use them in future projects as well. Another new skill that I have learned is being able to contact people in order to make work for myself to deliver back to the client at a high enough standard.

OPPORTUNITIESMulti-skilling – In this project generally there are a lot of opportunities to use skills that have been developed in the past for multiple different production styles. However, for me, I only have to create 2 flyers which only involves me using Photoshop, this means I wont be able to experiment with different forms of media but there a lot of opportunities for multi skilling in future briefs.

Contributing to a project – The organisation that my client has asked work for has a lot of possible opportunities for more work because they have only just created a new website which I could possibly help with, and they have a lot of opportunities for more design work and promotional material such as merchandise, leaflets, and promotional videos and other forms of media.