The Requirements Of Working To A Brief

Briefs and Commissioning

A brief is document (most likely) that has a set of instructions telling an individual what to do in order to carry out a task or job. When getting a brief you first must be commissioned. Being commissioned means that you as an individual have been employed or instructed to carry out a job to which you will be given a brief so that you can follow the guidelines of what the commissioner wants out of you and your skills. When opportunity comes around you can pitch ideas for that brief. Some briefs may be more relaxed and easy and will require you to develop your ideas amongst other clients, like a competition. This is also known as 'tender brief'. Besides responding to a brief through a legal document, there are other ways you can respond to a brief. One way would be through a competition. Some competitions require you to follow certain guidelines, quite like a brief, in order to enter the competition. One example could be the E4 E-Sting competition. One requirement states that the E-Sting must be 10 seconds long in order for it to be submitted, it can not be longer or shorter.

'Radar Music Videos' - This online service helps directors, producers, labels and artists with their commission in music videos at affordable budgets. The service is free but has a small subscription fee for directors.

Example Of A 'Radar Music Video' Brief - Requires a music video to be created for a new up-coming rock band in London. The budget is £2.000.00 and has already had 3 treatments (updated 17/04/2014).

Assignment Brief Example For Stop-Motion Animation E4 E-Sting - BTEC Diploma In TV and Film.

Reading A Brief

As explained in the previous paragraph above, reading a brief is a like reading a bullet-point document clearly telling you what is expected by the commissioner that handed you the brief. It is used as a guide to help you through your task or job. Using the E4 competition again, one of the requirements for the competition is that you had to include the E4 logo within your E-Sting. This could either be implemented in the world of the video or added on as a picture (.jpg). This was provided by the E4 E-Sting website. No other logo was allowed to be used in the video unless the client obtained permission to use it. For example I used an 'East Norfolk Sixth Form College' T-Shirt / logo in my E-Sting which was allowed to be used as I obtained permission. When it came to my own project, understanding the E-Sting brief was not that difficult as it was presented in a competition form, giving simple and clear instructions.

Negotiating A Brief

When it came to the E4 E-Sting project that was set by my teacher, I made sure that I knew what I was doing and was able to discuss any problems if I was stuck or needed help to anything within the brief. Within the media industry it is good to ask so that you fully understand what is expected from you. It can also help with what the commissioner doesn't want, giving you a better path to follow within the task. When it came to interpreting the brief, if something was asked from you, your skills may be challenged in order to get what the commissioner wants. For example if you were ask to make a 30 second advert of a jar of jam, the contents of that advert might come from your personal skills. However there may be some instructions / guidelines to help you. Researching into the company that gave you the brief could help in understanding what the commissioner wants out of you. For example you could research into their new releases or previous work.

If you were asked to make this 30 second advert, you may hit some legal, ethical or regulatory issues. For legal you must try and not use any other companies logo, music etc without their permission as you will most likely get sued and a lose out on a job. 

The copyright law of the UK states that "the law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used". This means that E4 have control over their products and organizations and can give the permission to use their products like logos. It also states "Names, titles, short phrases and colours are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be". This means if a logo was used without permission and is not your original creation then it can lead to legal action.

The copyright service website states that "a trademark can be a name, word, slogan, design, symbol or other unique device that identifies a product or organisation". These can be trademarked from putting a small 'TM' logo somewhere on the product. Some names / logos may also have a small 'R' imprinted at the end to show that that name / logo has been registered and can't be used by anyone else except the company that created it. For example the 'Call Of Duty' video game franchise uses the 'R' symbol so that no other company can use it and to also show that the name has been registered.   

For ethical using any 'over-the-top' explicit or offensive content could result in some serious issues and again could result in a loss of a job. When it came to my E4 E-Sting project, I made sure that my idea had no legal or ethical issues, so that I met the brief with no problems. This then helped me with time management as no time was wasted on solving these issues. For example the E4's guidelines for the E-Sting quotes that "We can’t show anything explicit or violent in the daytime, but we might be able to after the watershed as long as it’s broadcastable. So – within reason – your idea can be quite naughty / irreverent / provocative and the like. Use your common sense though; anything too grim or sexually explicit won’t get shown at all".

Also the Ofcom Broadcasting Code states that I cannot  "glamorizes violent, dangerous or seriously antisocial behavior" that is "likely to encourage others to copy such behavior". By understanding these regulations, I made sure that my E-Sting did not show any kind of glamorized violence or antisocial behavior.

Once my project was completed the only things I needed to amend were in post-production (some pictures I took needed editing in lighting, contrast etc.) Within the media industry the final product may not be satisfactory for the commissioner and you may be asked to either start again or try and amend the work. This can be pain staking for the you as a worker. However during the task given, you may need to amend the work yourself. This could be due to things like budget (not being able to afford certain releases, equipment, props etc.) or conditions to the contract (restrictions to what you can and can not do). This is common in the industry because when you are given a brief, the commissioner wants something specific from your skills and will need to set restrictions and budgets so that time is not wasted. Again, asking what your budget is could result in avoiding this issue.

Opportunities

When someone is offered a brief, there are plenty of opportunities at which the employee can undertake. For example when taking on a brief to create a 30 second advert, the opportunities to improve your directing, production (pre - post), and camera skills are there. Also payment can be implemented within a contract / brief which is another reason why someone would undertake a task and respond to a brief. Working with a brief can also help in improving your skills with working within the industry and working with a brief itself. When it came to my E4 E-Sting project, I had loads of opportunities to improve my skills in camera work, time management and production to which I did achieve. When working on the project, I had to use most of these skills at the same time (directing and camera work). When completing the project and referring to the brief I noticed that I contributed to all of the requirements for the E4 E-Sting competition. The video for exactly 10 seconds long, I made sure that I used the E4 logo in the video and made sure that I showed creativity and originality.

 

References

What Is A Commission - http://www3.hants.gov.uk/arts-commissioning/what-is-commission.htm

E4 E-Sting Logo - http://estings.e4.com/sites/all/themes/estings/logo.png

Assignment Brief For Stop-Motion Animation E4 E-Sting - BTEC Diploma In TV and Film Picture- http://btecmediaen2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/assignment-5-brief-working-to-brief-and.html

Interpreting A Design Brief Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrfCXLEQpE0

Different Briefs - http://sophiehunit5workingwithabrief.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/contractual-formal-negotiated-informal.html

E4's E-Sting Competition Rules - http://estings.e4.com/competition

Ofcom Section Two: Harm and Offence Information - http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/harmoffence/
Radar Music Videos Briefs - http://www.radarmusicvideos.com/music-video-briefs
Radar Music Videos, About Us - http://www.radarmusicvideos.com/about-us
Copyright Laws / Trademarks - http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/intellectual_property
Copyright Laws Information - http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
Trademark, Copyright, Registered and Service Mark Photo - http://www.romania-insider.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Trademark.png
Registered (R symbol) Information - https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060607160758AA36QCK