Task 1: Understand the different types of briefs

Introduction

Briefs are very important because they allow both client and producer to understand the expectations or requirements to a project.  It outlines the clients goals and what their objectives are, this means that the client and the company knows what they need to focus on and they both have a brief understanding on their project for instance they both know the deadlines or budgets. 

There are many different types of brief and how the brief is structured; I will be explaining the most commonly used structures such as contractual, negotiated, formal, informal, commission, tender, cooperative and competition. 

Structure of briefs: 

Contractual
A contractual brief is a legal document that is created between the employee and the client. The structure of the brief is very minimal; it’s clear and easy to read. This brief usually just outlines the duties which are required by the company and how the company works. It will state the expectations of the client and they will agree on a set price and the payment terms. Benefits of using a contractual brief is that the employee/client knows what to expect and what the company wants them to achieve for instance an employee will understand how much they are getting paid and when. They have both agreed on a set price and income throughout the contractual brief. Although a disadvantage of using a contractual brief is that the brief cannot be negotiated and the brief will go into specifics which the client must agree to because a contractual brief is legally an obligatory and what is outlined on the brief must be followed. 

Negotiated
A negotiated brief is explained just by its name. This brief is negotiated between the client and the employee and they both come to some sort of agreement upon the brief. Negotiated brief are similar to formal brief although this brief has an input from both sides. It’s important that the employers/company both agree on the brief so using a negotiated brief is beneficial because it helps brings ideas of the client and employer together and they are creating the brief so it is suitable for both of the employer and the client. They both have their own say within the discussion. Obviously this is an advantage because if the employer and client both agree then it is less likely that there is going to be an inevitable problem over the term of a legal agreement within the future. Disadvantages of a negotiated brief are that they might not agree on the brief and come to a disagreement. This will result in the employer loosing work and deny the requirements which the client has stated. If this happens the client will go to a different company with their project. This means that this brief can sometimes be a waste of time and can bring up unnecessary issues. 



 Formal
A formal brief is a written document that includes a lot of detailed information about what the client wants the company to achieve. This brief is usually a lot more straight-forwards than the other briefs and has more of a relaxed structure. It usually refrains from any unwanted information and the document itself is clear. A obvious advantage od using a formal brief is that the form lacks and complexity and the client is able to read the brief easily. Although a formal brief is not always classed as a legal document, this means that the company them self can express their own options about the contract. Disadvantages of a formal brief includes the fact that the brief is not as detailed as the other briefs and does not have a haphazard structured of a regular contract. Also the client may disagree with some of the opinions and decisions which are listed within a contract and if the brief is not legally binding it could bring up future problems within the project if there is a breach of contract. 

Informal
An informal brief is a brief which is less professionally structured than a traditional brief. This brief normally outlines the project more verbally and does not require any form of written documents. The informal brief is usually an agreement done between a client and the employer face to face over the details of the contract. Advantages of using an informal brief 
Is that there is a lot more verbal communication and this means that there is no real guidelines.  This could influence the employers into communicating a lot more and will provide their own opinions into the document before the client finalises it. 

Commission
A commission brief is where a large corporation employs an independent company to create their products/projects for them. This brief is negotiated between the two companies as well as having an external client who is most likely to receive the external product once established. An advantage of using a commission brief is that the company will be being paid for creating a specific production and will receive some sort of profit from the large corporation. Although the large company could also be greedy and not give the independent company enough credit for contributing to the product and because there are two different companies working on the same product at the same time it could cause some conflicts and the brief may not be up to the clients standards. 

Tender
If a client produces an advertisement stating that they require a company to create a project. A potential employer or production company will see the advertisement and will create a brief which will include a budget, proposal and everything else which is in a general brief to secure the work of the client. The client will then read upon the briefs and choose the most impressive proposal. Advantage of this means that the employer will have a lot of competition so it will motivate them more to produce a better proposal and it gives the client more options. This will overall make them a lot more productive as a company although because of the competition it could be harder for the employer to gain work due to the client declining their proposal. 

Cooperative brief
A co-operative brief is when you have to share the brief with someone else. This means that the brief will involve a lot more ideas on what they want to produce. This brief usually involves two Production Company’s forming together and then meeting the client. The client will give these two companies a simple brief which the companies will then read and discuss the brief explaining bits they agree and disagree with. An advantage of this is that is has aspects of a negotiated brief because the brief is able to be discussed and included professional opinions. Although due to two production companies working together this could cause conflict and disagreements if the brief isn’t correctly structured. 

Competition
A competition brief is a brief which is given when participating in competitions. It allows the client to know what they must do to enter or complete the specific competition. This means that this brief is mostly used by company's which want to promote their competition and clients are the ones who usually give out these briefs so they can find out what they need to do. The clients creates their own brief which can be accessed by all the different production companies which will be participating, this is usually seen as a 'free' competition. The advantage of using this brief is that the employer will have multiple choices of products by several clients and will only have to pay the winning competitor. The disadvantages are similar to the tender brief for instance the clients which do not win will be declined and will intentionally risk losing money. 

Reading a brief

When reading a brief it is important that you carefully read the brief to ensure that you understand exactly what you are being asked to do and that you are not missing any of the important information. When reading a brief it is important to know what type of brief it is, this will help you know exactly what you are expected to do. When reading a brief you need to pay attention to several factors. These include personal factors such as;

Deadlines- What do you need to do to complete the object? How long do you have? Is it possible?
Requirements - what are you being asked to do? Is there any special requirements?

If you are not completely happy with the brief then you can negotiate with the brief as all briefs are negotiable to some extent. So it is important to read the brief and think about these important factors, if you are not happy with your deadlines etc. then you might be able to negotiate the brief. As well as having a clear understatement on your deadlines and what you are being asked to do you need to have a full idea on what the project is. For instance when reading the brief is will outline what the client wants and what you need to create. A brief can be split into two main elements to make it easier to understand and break down, the two elements is nature and demand. The nature is based on what you are being asked to do and what the final product is whilst the demand is the details such as the time constraints and what is needed to finish the product in time.  To get the highest-quality product you must consider factors about the project such as the target audience, location, resources. Here is a list of the factors which you must consider when creating a product. It is important to know what you need to do to create the product so you are workings with the brief outlines as effect as possible. 

• Demographics’
• Market Competition
• Geographic's
• Use of the product (Marketing/Advertising)
• Style of the product
• Technical Specifications (FPS, Aspect Ratio)
• Timescales
• Locations
• Resources
• Crew and Post Production

Negotiating the brief

Consultation with client
Once you have finished analysing the brief you are able to negotiate any changes which you might want. When negotiating a brief there will always be a consolation progress which can be informal or formal between an employer and client. It is important to understand what type of brief you are negotiating because some briefs such as a brief which is formally structured can be more difficult to negotiate than a negotiated brief. Consultation is beneficial because it allows the client to make change/improve the brief to their standards so they can create a better product and make it a lot more effective. For instance if you think you need more time to create a specific product then you can negotiate for more time although a more contracted brief like a formal brief is where the company cannot make any inputs towards the product so these briefs will be more difficult to consult. 

Degree of discretion in interpreting brief
Discretion when negotiating a brief needs to be kept maintained to a professional standards when consulting with a client. Discretion is important because it means the employer needs to speak/behave in a certain way to avoid causing offence or revealing any confidential information. When negotiating a brief it is important not to release any personal information or to offend the client. An advantage of using discretion within a brief because it makes the detail more vague which means it gives the client a bit more freedom to be creative. This will allows the client to be more advantageous. Although this could also be a disadvantage because if an area is left vague and they try and fill the area, this could lead to a difference in opinion and cause conflict and disagreements which may result in the client refusing the product.


 Constraints (legal, Ethical, regulatory)
When negotiating with any brief it is really important that the legal, ethical and regulatory constraints are double checked and thought through. This basically means that the brief cannot involve anything that might upset the public like being racist, homophobic or any harm to a group of people. To stop the public being upset there are certain constraint created, this is almost like the law creating regulations to stop people from hurting anyone else. It’s crucial that the brief does not affect any of the laws and regulatory bodies and this may be difficult because legal constraints are hard to avoid and it requires a clear understanding of the law and what effect it had on the product being made. 

 Amendments to proposed final product
If there were amendments to a proposed final product then this means that the product is going to have a minor change or an addition designed to the product. During the production process there will be many different stages to create the product; the product will be able to change during this process. To do this efficiently, most companies will use sign-off sheets to state that something to the product has been changed and the client can’t change it. For instance if the client wanted to change the product half way through the production then the company will have to do what the client says and do amendments to the product although if the company were using sign off sheets then it makes it almost impossible for the client to turn around and suggest changes. 

Amendments to budget
If there were to be amendments to the budget, whether that’s a new cost or simply because the prices have changed then they will have to discuss the budget to the client and make sure that the client is able to pay the changes for the budget. 

Amendments to fees
When negotiating a brief it is important that the client and employer talk highly of all the different cost which will be involved in creating the product. For instance the client should have a detailed list about the different cost which they are going to pay for, the production company will then have a list about the products they need and the cost which will be involved. This way they can estimate a final price for the finished product. 

Opportunities

Identify opportunities for self-development
A brief can open a lot of opportunities for both the client and the producer. This could vary from learning a new skill to increasing the range of your ideas. I am going to explain a few of the opportunities you can get from working from a brief.

• New skills - multitasking, communication
• Improve CV
• Gain contacts
• Experience
• Self-development

 Multi-skill
When working in a production company there is more than likely going to be several projects on the go. This means you will not be focusing on one individual project and can in fact be following multiple briefs. Working on several projects at once could be confusing although it involves a lot of advantages as well for instance instead of completing one project at a time it is more efficient to complete several projects. Multi-tasking is a crucial skill when working within any company.


http://www.cafeculture.com/industrynews/the-importance-of-the-brief
http://creativemediaatjt.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/co-operative-brief.html
https://camerongregorymedia.wordpress.com/my-college-work/working-to-a-brief/negotiating-the-brief/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-employing-discretion-with-a-brief/