Thursday, 26 October 2017

Working To A Client Brief Assignment 1

Working to a Client Brief

Structures:

Contractual Brief is a document that is made between a client and a potential employee. It gives information (discusses the clients duties) about the work that is required by the company and how the company organizes their work. The document requires certain criteria, the free that the client and employee agree on, they also agree on the payment terms. An example of this brief, for instance is if a screen writer was made to complete a certain amount of screen writing for the movie, the screen writer would not be finished or payed until all the tasks are completed.

Positive aspects of a contractual brief is that you have a secure amount of working hours and a wage that is agreed on at the start of the year, so the client has a secure set income, however if the employee is given a zero hour contract then this does not apply. Another positive is that the document is very simple and easy to understand/read (the layout is very clear), this enables the client to complete the work with more understanding and less struggle.

A negative aspect is that they may have a heavy workload, due to the set amount of hours, if they are given a high amount. They also like mentioned before be given a zero hour contract, which means they do not have a set amount of hours, meaning they can be giving a unexpected amount of work or lack of work at any time. Another negative is that there is no flexibility on a contract brief as you are set for the whole year and it cannot be adjusted (the document is legally compulsory) this means that the tasks given must be completed before the client is payed.

- A negotiated brief is when the client will come to a specified agreement on the brief, with the employer. This includes ideas about both the client and the employee. It is very important that the employer and the company have agreements on the brief, to avoid future problems. This type of brief is very similar to a formal brief. An example of this is a client and the employee discussing business ideas and information with each other.

Positive aspects of a negotiated brief is that it brings both the ideas from the client and the employee, the benefit of this is that because they both get they own input, it means that they like both be happy with the brief. This as said before fixes any future quarrel between the employee and the client.

Negative aspects of this is that when the employer and the client negotiate their brief, they may come to a disagreement during it,  this can result in the employer losing potential work, also the client may choose another employer.

 - Co-Operative Brief this type of brief which completed through many companies, this brief is completed on a team basis in unison. These companies are employed to work on a 'set brief', which they will complete working together as a team. This brief has to be finished by a certain time otherwise the client will not be satisfied and will not come back to these companies (has a set deadline). An example of this type of brief are two companies working together, to create an advertisement, a service or a product.

A positive aspect of this type of brief is that it creates a community within the work, it also adds social aspects to the project, and this creates an additional advantage of strong communication and team-work between the team. Also because of the wide-range of companies and people it adds more brains and ideas to the project. 

A negative aspect of this is that some team members might not work well together, which can seriously hinder the project from being successful. Any conflict can cause problems for the project.

- Informal Brief this type of brief is a less serious, less professional approach to a brief. This type of brief does not require written documents like a traditional brief does. There are neutral discussions between the client and the employer. This type of brief is usually done face to face, but also can be done over a phone call or a video call. An example of this would be two business workers, who talk to each other outside of their workplace, in a casual area and manner.

A big advantage of this type of brief is how free it is, there are not written rules that need to they have to abide and because of it being less serious it can open up opportunities for more creative ideas, plus communication between the client and the employer is more neutral and friendly and less business-like. Also because this method is less serious, it may spark more ideas to the client or the employee.

A negative aspect of this is that some expectations from the client may not go well with the opinions and ethos of the employer. Also because this is less professional it can be seen as less important. This type of brief does not attract big production companies unlike other briefs, for example the co-operative brief.

Formal Brief this in basic terms is the opposite of an informal brief, this does include written documents and detailed information that needs to be looked into. Although the brief itself is not necessarily a legal document, which does make it more casual, it does have information/instructions that need to be closely followed. This also has simple clear instructions to the client enabling them to understand the brief better.

A positive aspect of this is that the document displays all the information the client needs; it gives clear information and instructions that can be closely followed by the client. This type of brief also is not necessarily a legal-binding document, so it can be worked around if needed.

The problem with this is that the client and the employer may disagree on certain terms; this is more likely to happen and is usually less easily worked out than an informal brief. This means that if disagreements take place, people can lose potential work.

Commission Brief this type of brief works with a large corporation, such as "The Sun", "AA", etc. The corporation will normally work with a company to create there product. This type of brief is normally negotiated between 2 media companies instead of a standard client. They may receive the product once the brief is understood and agreed one.

Positive aspects of this are that the production company gets paid for creating a specific product, and may actually receive a small percentage of the profit the product makes. Also as this brief is worked between large companies/corporations the amount of resources and money is bigger to work with. 

The problem of this is because of the large corporation and the percentage of profit that they control, they may be unfair with the percentages of the profit given to the company. This can seriously have a negative effect on the company, not giving them enough money for the product, not giving them enough credit for the product.


Tender Brief similar to the commission brief, this is a larger type of brief working with bigger competition. This client will display advertisements, asking for a certain product to be created. The production company (the employer) discusses and decides on a brief, a budget and a proposal, which is then presented and discussed to the client. The client decides from multiple companies that have offered there terms.

Positive aspects of this is that because of the large competition this means that work is normally at a very high quality as it has to be to stand out to the client. Also as they project a budget themselves they will be determined to work for it. 

Negative aspects are that because of the huge competition, it is very difficult to get chosen to work with the client. This means that it is very difficult for companies to actually get work from clients.
Competition Brief This type of production is open and is accessible to all companies interested. Each company creates their own briefs, discussing their terms. The project ideas are then chose by the client, which then the client chooses the company that stands out. This enables for some really high quality work.

Because of the big competition this means that the companies again have to have really strong work to get chosen, often ending up with a really high quality product. This gives the client a very personal decision to choose from the briefs that stand out to them. Also any size or type of company can pitch there idea to the client. 

A negative aspect is that the chosen winner may have to pay a fee. This can sometimes appear very negative towards the winner and may actually pull out of the project before it even starts. However this does not usually happen, as they will have to understand that this does sometimes happen in situations like this.


Demand, Nature and Consultation

The nature of the brief is the content of the brief is basically what the employer has asked for, it's an overview of the information included in the brief that gives guidelines to direct the client.
An example of a client brief is one that I used last year and it was to create a CD cover or an artist named "prawn shocker".

"You have been asked to produced two designs for the musical project, Prawnshocker, a solo artist working with electronic music, loops and noise.
 What I am looking for first is a logo for the Prawnshocker name, which could be adapted for use on anything as small as button badges, for T Shirts to use on CD and bandcamp releases, and right up to the size of a video backdrop for live performances. This means it would work equally well at small or large and be equally effective in either colour or black and white.
 The style of the logo I will leave up to your students, but it should reflect the most popular themes and general style of the music.

 The second thing I would like is a CD cover set at a size suitable for a bandcamp release, produced in either Photoshop or Illustrator, and based around the title of Crown of Prawns. This could be based around the original Crown of Prawns/Thorns idea of a religious icon bedecked with a Crown of Prawns."

The content of this brief is to create a Logo for the company "Prawnshocker" and also a CD cover, this is by using illustrator or Photoshop to edit and produce the given tasks. So the content is: "What I am looking for first is a logo for the Prawnshocker name" also "The second thing I would like is a CD cover set at a size suitable for a bandcamp release".

The format that is mentioned in the brief is by using Photoshop or Illustrator on a available computer this is for the CD cover, the Logo is not mentioned how it should be created so this is a free choice for the client,  examples are that the logo could be hand drawn, digitally created or any other ways possible.  So the format is: "produced in either Photoshop or Illustrator".

The requirements of this brief is to create a logo that appeals to the employer, it must "reflect the most popular themes and general style of the music", this is because the employer has a style/theme to their company that they want to keep to. Also another requirement for the CD cover is that "I would like a CD cover set at a size suitable for a bandcamp release", also the employer mentioned that they need there logo to be able to work on both a small scale and a large scale, "as small as button badges, for T Shirts to use on CD and band camp releases, and right up to the size of a video backdrop for live performances.". Another requirement mentioned before is that the CD cover needs to be completed on either Photoshop or on Illustrator, which also means it needs to be digitally created.

Specialist knowledge for this brief includes having strong knowledge of using computer and using software such as Photoshop and Illustrator to create the products. Understanding the styles and themes of music also will help to create this product, by analysing other products advertisement themes and styles.

The talent required for this project is Photoshop or illustrator skills and then for the logo any personal creating skills such as drawing. Another talent for this sector is creativity with your work.


This brief set by "Canon" has asked us to create a story, this includes:
"•about an experience in your home city that inspires you (an event, activity)
•about someone that has affected your life in a positive way (family member, sports coach)
•about something that annoys you and you wish you could put right (social injustice, act of disorder)"
This is the content of the brief.

The format of this brief is basically any format you would like, it's to tell a story so it could be done through photography or videography the choice is the employee's ("consider ways in which you can 'tell a story'").
The requirements are similar to the content, in which the employee has to "create a story", through using "social media, in unusual places", a requirement asked is that it has to be "shareable" and must have ways to "reach your audience".

Specialist knowledge for this brief would be perhaps using camera's for the brief, technical knowledge would be required, however as the format is not chosen the employee can choose whatever they have a specialist knowledge in.

Talent for this brief would be creative thinking and planning, as they are asked to "create a story" which is a creative process and to also use "unusual" places to do it.

When receiving this client brief, you need to have consolation with the client. This is important so that the client and the employee can discuss the brief, this can organised agreements and any issues either of them may have. For example this brief set by "Canon" a camera company, the potential winner and the person who wants to be involved may have certain questions about the regulations of this brief as they are not discussed in this short summary, this can’t take place in the consolation. In this case it seems that the discussion wouldn't necessarily work in a meeting, but rather in an email situation, as it is a competition brief.

When negotiating the brief the client may ask for a certain standard of work expected, in this brief here is shows it giving advice on how to achieve this, with its bullet point information for help.
Degree of discretion in this brief is how you decide you will create your production. In this brief it is apparent that the deadline is the 26th of June, therefore the employee can decide how he will complete his project and plan it out for this time-frame. This also is where the employee can analyse what is asked of him/her, to decide what is the best possible ideas and situations for this brief.

Constraints in this brief are not apparent, however one of the issues may be the time-frame. The candidate may not be happy with this issued and therefore may not take part in this brief. For example the time frame on the example brief is "26th of June 2015" this is the time-frame that is issued to the employer, this is the deadline date for their project. Or they may need to consult this in the consultation with the client. Another constraint of this brief, is that what will the candidate be allowed to include in there videos, will there be copy-right issues? Will there be certain areas they are not allowed to film in? These can be answered in the consolation.

The candidate will need to decide their budget among themselves, they can contact the client however for advice on how to budget there project. This would be done through an email. Knowing the budget for a production is important so that you know that the project will be achievable, they will also need to work out who is paying for what.

Also when negotiated with the client they may need to discuss fees that may need to be played by the employee. It does not seem to apply in my example but it will in other client briefs.

Opportunites within the Brief

This brief can really provoke creative thinking within the participant, of this competition brief, as it requires them to "tell a story" through social media. This is develops it because they have to think on how to tell a story which is a creative process, it’s like a practise for storytelling. Another way it could improve self-development is by having to document someone who has affected them in their life, they could personally learn new things about the person that they did not know before. By having to think of "unusual places" this also could have development on creative thinking, but also improve knowledge of the person’s geographical locations.

Ralph Styles Ultra - 
This Kickstarter project is to create a short film, this is fleshing out of the 1960/70's cigarette adverts and explores themes such as manipulation and seduction. They have already created a short 15 minute discussion about the adverts.

Self-Development - for my personal development, if I was to help create this short film it would help improve organisation and team-working skills with others also it could improve technical aspects such as directing skills (working with actors) and cinematography skills, gaining experience with equipment.  I could also improve my editing skills whilst working on this project, improving my cutting, shot choices, effects and colour grading.
New Skills - I would hopefully gain skills in writing as I am not strong at this aspect of film creating, also as it will have a budget of around £16,000 this opens up an opportunity to work on real sets, maybe use different advanced equipment so hopefully I will gain the experience with new equipment, improving my technical knowledge. Also I could learn new editing skills, such as colour correcting images and using CGI effects which I have not used before.

Multi-skilling - The multi-skilling aspect of this would involve learning and using multiple skills at once, this would be done throughout the production, directing I would have to direct the actors, discuss and work with them whilst thinking about camera movements, shots and atmosphere, this also applies to the cinematographer role, I would have to consider lighting, depth-of-field and composition whilst also knowing the right settings for the camera.

Individuality/Group work - In this project it will definitely be group work mainly, this is mainly a positive as it is a production that requires a lot of team members, this can be beneficial as you have lots of different skills and instincts that can be applied to the project, also relationships can be developed during the production. Individual work will include ideas thought by the individual that can be contributed into the team project.






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