Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Requirments of working to a brief in the Creative Media Sector

Introduction 

When working in the creative media industry it is important to have a good understanding on how to work with briefs. Due to the nature of this line of work, it is not uncommon that you will be given some form of brief whatever trade you work in within the industry. In this report I will be outlining each type of brief as well as potential methods of working with them.

Types of briefs

Contractual

This is generally much more formal and professional than some of the other types of briefs which exist. The idea of a contractual brief is to make the production of the product of service a mutual agreement between both parties. Therefore, it will be a signed and legally binding contract which may last for a certain period of time or have a deadline for the project. This is beneficial for both the client and the professional as there is much more trust between them. This is because they are legally obliged to keep up their part of the deal. This due the fact that they could face legal repercussions if they don't deliver making them much more likely to fulfil the brief. This legal obligation however, can put more stress on the freelancer as there is much more at stake. This could results in there work coming out sloppy due to their nervousness of needing to complete the project on time. The legal aspect of a contract also means that the person working to the brief is quite limited in terms of idea development and negotiating with the client. This is due to the fact that he requirements are set in stone by the contract itself and can only be changed by altering the contract. this requires a lot of messing around and will only normally be done if completely necessary. This make the project much less flexible in terms of it's requirements.
Above, is an example of one of these briefs for a video/multimedia production. As you can see it is very formal and straight to the point. It also outlines any legal obligations such as what happens if equipment gets stolen or lost. This also covers when the project should be finished and the standard it should be finished two. As a whole this type of brief is useful as it is straightforward and both parties know exactly what needs to be done. This prevents issues with time-management and budget as generally nothing changes during the project.

An example within the industry would be if you were giving a contract to produce a television series such as breaking bad. In this contracts it would outline your pay and budget as well as when you are expected to have finished each episode. For instance  you may be required to create one a week. It is important to have this as a contract as the television network would lose ratings if they missed a week. Therefore, it is imperative that the network has a set contract to give the creators a valid incentive to produce an episode weekly.
Negotiated
  
A negotiated brief is were the project is open for discussion between both the client and employer from the start of the project and throughout. This is helpful as both parties can feed ideas back and forth between each other. However, ideas and plans for the project can get drastically changed by the employer sometimes at the last minute. This could result in you having a larger work load or an unrealistic deadline to make emends to the project. However, in the end both parties must come to a unanimous decision. This is useful as if you don't feel that the changes your employer want to make are necessary or time efficient then you can negotiate with them and find a middle ground. However, ideas can always be changing meaning the project can keep getting set back or won't get finished at all. This is were a contract may come into play, were you wan't a project finished fast and to the way in which you want your client to complete it. However, in some industries such as graphic design it could be useful to have a negotiated brief. This is because due to the nature of it the employeer can give feedback to the employee on there work and easily make changes.


A negotiated brief will normally look something like the one shown above. As you can see it briefly outlines the sort of things in which the employer is looking for. It only briefly outlines them as it is expected for both the client and employer to negotiate how the product should be produced based of the general themes and concepts given by the employer. With this type of brief it is very important to keep a good relationship with whoever you are working for. This is because you will be working with them a lot due to having to discuss and negotiate various part of the project. Therefore it is important to be on friendly terms with them so you can successfully voice your ideas and opinions without criticism.

This sort of brief could apply when making a logo for a companies product such as Adobe. They may give you the general theme or ideas which they are trying to convey through the use of the logo and then give you the creative freedom to do what you want with it. The graphic designer may then provide the employeer with mock ups of the design and then both parties can negotiate with each other any changes to be made.

Formal

A formal brief is a very specific type of brief which highlights exactly what is to be expected from both parties. This is the very similar to a legal brief however there is no legal obligation between the client and employer. This also means that aspects can be changed if discussed however it is less likely. Changes are normally only made if  it is absolutely necessary. For example the budget might not cover a certain aspect of the project. An advantage of this type of brief would be the fact that you know exactly what to do from the very beginning. This is due to how detailed and in-depth the brief is and how it specifies exactly all of the mandatory requirements for the project.


 

Above is a sample from a formal brief. As you can see it is straight to the point and very concise in terms of what the employer wants from the client. An example of a formal brief which I have completed would be when I was given a brief to create one minute film. It was formal as there was a set deadline and all the requirements were set in stone. This format was efficient as I knew exactly what was expected so my workflow could be uninterrupted. However, the downside was that I couldn't change the brief to suit myself and had to stick to the requirements even if they caused problems. 

Another example could be if you were given a brief as a web designer to code a certian aspect of a  website. They may give you the graphics needed and tell you exactly what is needed to be done. You would then send the finished product to the employer and get paid. However, a downside could be that if you don't fulfil one of the requirements they may not pay you. This is were a contract would come intop place as you could legally argue and get paid.
Informal

This is generally a much more relaxed approached and a friendly relationship will be maintained throughout the project. Usually, much more lee-way is giving to the person fulfilling the brief and discussion between the clients is kept quite casual. Overall, this is the opposite of a formal brief and ideas can be generally changed most of the time depending on how both parties feel about it. This could come as a disadvantage as it may damage your work flow due to ideas constantly changing and never really fully-developing on specific idea. For example somebody wanting a logo design may keep sending you back to add things to it. This 

An example of an informal brief which I have responded to would be some design work I did for a local band 'Snide Remarks.' I regard this as informal because the person who set the brief didn't give any specific information on what they wanted. Rather they just gave a brief overview of the band and the sort of style they were looking for. Therefore, it was up to the designer to decide what would work best for the bands brand identity.

Commission

This is when a company or business will pay an independent professional to produce something for them. With these it is possible to submit early version to ask what the company likes and dislikes about the progress you have made so far. This can be useful as you can get feedback and amend certain aspects which the employer doesn't like. However, this could also be tedious as they could consistently make you keep going back to make changes. This could result in the client not meeting the deadline.
An example of when I have responded to a commission brief would be when doing a video for the colleges VPA section. This was a commission as the group as given what needed to be produced then had to formulate ideas. These ideas were then fed back to the employee who decided which ones he liked best. During the production of the video we had to keep reporting back to the client with what we had so far to see what they liked and disliked about it.

Tender
This is where a company or producer will provide an overall description of a specific project. This will outline what they want and will be open to anybody who is will to take on the brief. This means that whoever wishes to take it on must submit all of their paper work and ideas (depending on the context of the brief.) Then the company which distributed the brief will make a decision on which team or person to hire for the job based of their pre-production work and ideas. 

Above, is an example of a tender brief. As you can see this works more as an invitation and tells any potential clients what they need to produce in order to be considered for the position.

Co-operative
This is were the brief is given to a group of people who will work together on the project. It is hard to keep a relationship between the employer on these sorts of brief due to the large group of people working on it. However, you may work more efficiently with a group and meet the deadlines and standards expected. Generally, the way these briefs are designed will vary depending on if they are formal,informal or any of the other types of briefs I have mentioned.

Competition
A competition brief is when the company or employee will publicly market the brief and its requirements to a large amount of people. Sometimes these can be worldwide, other times just a select few individuals. The benefit of responding to a brief like this is that you generally won't need to be known or successful within the industry to participate. It could also help in getting your foot in the door and getting known within your trade. However, the disadvantage is that usually a large amount of people will be participating. Therefore, the chances of getting your piece accepted are decreased. The relationship between client and employee will be very small if nothing. This is due to the fact that the employer will just distribute the brief and anyone who is interested can take part. After this each piece will be judged until a decision is made on which one is best.



Above is a sample form a competition brief which I took part in with a group. As you can see it briefly outlines exactly what they want and then leaves the rest up to you. The idea is to give the client some room for creativity so there is an opportunity for there piece to stand out amongst the rest.



Responding to a brief

There are many approaches which can be taken when initially responding to a brief. How you learn and the type of person you are will depend on what approach will work best. The first thing for most people is to thoroughly read through the brief and make sure you have a clear understanding of it. This should be done before you even begin to formulate ideas. After this it is a matter of getting ideas. Everybody's different when it comes to this part. Some may like to research existing products first were as others may want to write a mind map. Many pre-production techniques may be used at this point such as storyboards, scripts and mock-up designs.
It is often important to have everything planned out and organised before you start producing the project. Then when it comes to production day you can do whatever needs to be done and complete it efficiently. It is also very important to organise your time efficiently so that you meet the deadline.

Opportunities 

There are many opportunities when working to a brief. One of these being personal and professional development. When working for a client you gain and grow on a range of skill such as communication skills, teamwork and just general practise within your trade. Therefore, the more briefs you take on the more these skills develop. Another huge part of becoming succsesfuol with your trade is networking. This is were you meet and build proffesional relationships with people within the industry you work in. This gives you the oppurtunity to get your name out and gain knowledge and experience from people in your field.


An example of when I have developed due to a brief would be the 'Short Film Brief' I did in college last year. Due to having to direct and present my ideas a gained many valuable skills which imporved my editing,camera-work and directing skills.