When creating a brief you need to understand the different structures in which they can be written. There are 8 different structures to writing briefs.
The first type is Contractual; a contractual brief is a brief where you are employed by the client to complete the project which has been set to specific guidelines which you need to follow. It is important that if you are working to a contractual brief you stick to the guidelines you have been set as if you do not it can result in a breach of the contract you will have signed and the company could face legal actions. Advantages of having a contractual brief are the company producing the project know exactly what they have to do and the brief given to them will be highly detailed and will go into specifics which the employer would like you to use without being negotiated, however like with everything there are negatives; the disadvantages to this contract are, if you feel that there are some issues with the brief which they have given you there isn’t anything you can do about it because you have signed a contract to say that you will stick to the brief you have been given. If you did this the employers have the option to take legal action and this will give your company a bad name and an even worse reputation.
The second type of brief is a cooperative brief; when creating this brief you are creating it for 2 or more companies which you will hire to work to the brief. Once the companies have received the brief they work together to produce the project to the quality in which the product needs to be. If there are any disagreements throughout the process there can be a negotiated brief so that the issues can be resolved.The advantages to this are; there can be more than one perspective when creating the product which the client has asked you to create which means the brief will be understood more than If there was only one company working for them. The disadvantages are that this kind of brief is known for causing disagreements between companies and the ideas which they are creating.
The next type of brief is the Negotiated brief which is a brief which can come alongside the Cooperative brief. The negotiated brief will only be brought up if the 2 or more companies which may have been brought in to create the project have issues with the brief which has already been created for the project. By negotiating the brief it allows the brief to then suite all the parties which may be taking part in the project. An advantage to being able to negotiate a brief is that it means that the project may be more open to suggestions from the parties taking part allowing the product to become more successful however like everything there is a disadvantage and this is by negotiating the brief it is delaying the start time of the project which means the product may not be produced to a high enough standard or be produced in the time which they have been set, giving the companies a bad name with the company which hired them.
A formal contract is when a company is given a brief which outlines the product in which they are wanting either to be made or advertised. The brief given will be very open and will only ever give enough information to be able to produce what they would like. If there are any issues or information which may be missing can be discussed during the negotiations if any need to be made. The client and the company which have been employed by them and will formally agree on the briefs but it cannot always be a legally binding contract, the advantages of having this type of this contract means that the client may be more open to any ideas or issues that could be raised by the company which has been employed, this makes the work more fun and creative for the company as there is plenty of room for negotiation. The disadvantages of this type of brief is that the company which has been chosen to create the product may feel that the client has not offered them the amount of information which they need to complete the product to the quality in which the client intends. Also because the contract may not always be legally binded it could bring up financial issues at a later date.
An informal brief is normally a verbal kind of brief and is when the client and company which they are employing discuss the requirements for the product which they are making and agree upon the project. The advantages to having a brief like this is there are more chance for there to be verbal communication between the client and the company which they are employing so this will allow the company to understand exactly what the client wants them to do without any issues and easily complete the project to the standard the client expects, the disadvantages of this is that there is no documentation or any type of written contract, this could mean that when the project has come to an end the client could fail to pay their employees.
A commission brief is where a large media company will employ a smaller more independent company to produce the product for them. Once the product is made the larger company will usually go on to use the product for an external client who will then then pay the independent company for creating the product for them. The brief will not be negotiated between the company and the clients themselves however it will be negotiated between the 2 companies. An advantage of having this kind of brief is that the larger company can hire as many smaller companies as they like as they are able to sub-contract the work off meaning all the companies get paid for the work they do. The disadvantages are that there could be some conflict between smaller companies as they are working on the same product, as the brief is not negotiated with the client it may not end up reaching the standards of the client which could then end up causing more problems.
A tender brief is where the client will advertise their brief and a production company will create a proposal which they will then pitch to the client. Often there will be more than one pitch to the client from many different companies and it is then down to the client will then be able to pick the company who they think came up with the proposal which best suited them, one of the advantages of this is that the client will be able to look at plenty of different ideas before finalising their product and this will mean that generally there product will come out produced to a very high standard. The disadvantages to this type of brief however that because it can be so hard to gain work being turned down by a potential client can be difficult as they may have declined other work in the off chance that this client would hire them.
The final type of brief is a competition brief. This is when the client puts the brief out for companies to access if they wish to participate, each company who choose to apply have to complete the brief and then the client will judge which company has created the best product. The main advantage of doing a brief this way is that the client only has to pay the company who wins when in theory they could have 100’s of pieces of work to choose from and even then they may not even have to pay the company who win. The disadvantage to this is similar to the tender brief, all the companies who choose to apply will turn down work on the off chance that they will win this competition and even then they are not guaranteed to be paid for creating the work so they will be turning away paying clients just to create the work for free.
How I interpreted my brief:
When I first saw the brief I would be working to I struggled to come up with an idea as there was so many different things I could of chosen to do, because of this I just did the first idea I came up with and due to the time constraints I had to go with this. I think if I could restart the whole unit again I would come up with a stronger idea and make it better, however because of all the different things I could do due to the brief being so wide it gave me the oppourtunity to do something I haven't done yet and this alllowed me to show my skills in other genres instead of creating work which I know I can do.
The first type is Contractual; a contractual brief is a brief where you are employed by the client to complete the project which has been set to specific guidelines which you need to follow. It is important that if you are working to a contractual brief you stick to the guidelines you have been set as if you do not it can result in a breach of the contract you will have signed and the company could face legal actions. Advantages of having a contractual brief are the company producing the project know exactly what they have to do and the brief given to them will be highly detailed and will go into specifics which the employer would like you to use without being negotiated, however like with everything there are negatives; the disadvantages to this contract are, if you feel that there are some issues with the brief which they have given you there isn’t anything you can do about it because you have signed a contract to say that you will stick to the brief you have been given. If you did this the employers have the option to take legal action and this will give your company a bad name and an even worse reputation.
The second type of brief is a cooperative brief; when creating this brief you are creating it for 2 or more companies which you will hire to work to the brief. Once the companies have received the brief they work together to produce the project to the quality in which the product needs to be. If there are any disagreements throughout the process there can be a negotiated brief so that the issues can be resolved.The advantages to this are; there can be more than one perspective when creating the product which the client has asked you to create which means the brief will be understood more than If there was only one company working for them. The disadvantages are that this kind of brief is known for causing disagreements between companies and the ideas which they are creating.
The next type of brief is the Negotiated brief which is a brief which can come alongside the Cooperative brief. The negotiated brief will only be brought up if the 2 or more companies which may have been brought in to create the project have issues with the brief which has already been created for the project. By negotiating the brief it allows the brief to then suite all the parties which may be taking part in the project. An advantage to being able to negotiate a brief is that it means that the project may be more open to suggestions from the parties taking part allowing the product to become more successful however like everything there is a disadvantage and this is by negotiating the brief it is delaying the start time of the project which means the product may not be produced to a high enough standard or be produced in the time which they have been set, giving the companies a bad name with the company which hired them.
A formal contract is when a company is given a brief which outlines the product in which they are wanting either to be made or advertised. The brief given will be very open and will only ever give enough information to be able to produce what they would like. If there are any issues or information which may be missing can be discussed during the negotiations if any need to be made. The client and the company which have been employed by them and will formally agree on the briefs but it cannot always be a legally binding contract, the advantages of having this type of this contract means that the client may be more open to any ideas or issues that could be raised by the company which has been employed, this makes the work more fun and creative for the company as there is plenty of room for negotiation. The disadvantages of this type of brief is that the company which has been chosen to create the product may feel that the client has not offered them the amount of information which they need to complete the product to the quality in which the client intends. Also because the contract may not always be legally binded it could bring up financial issues at a later date.
An informal brief is normally a verbal kind of brief and is when the client and company which they are employing discuss the requirements for the product which they are making and agree upon the project. The advantages to having a brief like this is there are more chance for there to be verbal communication between the client and the company which they are employing so this will allow the company to understand exactly what the client wants them to do without any issues and easily complete the project to the standard the client expects, the disadvantages of this is that there is no documentation or any type of written contract, this could mean that when the project has come to an end the client could fail to pay their employees.
A commission brief is where a large media company will employ a smaller more independent company to produce the product for them. Once the product is made the larger company will usually go on to use the product for an external client who will then then pay the independent company for creating the product for them. The brief will not be negotiated between the company and the clients themselves however it will be negotiated between the 2 companies. An advantage of having this kind of brief is that the larger company can hire as many smaller companies as they like as they are able to sub-contract the work off meaning all the companies get paid for the work they do. The disadvantages are that there could be some conflict between smaller companies as they are working on the same product, as the brief is not negotiated with the client it may not end up reaching the standards of the client which could then end up causing more problems.
A tender brief is where the client will advertise their brief and a production company will create a proposal which they will then pitch to the client. Often there will be more than one pitch to the client from many different companies and it is then down to the client will then be able to pick the company who they think came up with the proposal which best suited them, one of the advantages of this is that the client will be able to look at plenty of different ideas before finalising their product and this will mean that generally there product will come out produced to a very high standard. The disadvantages to this type of brief however that because it can be so hard to gain work being turned down by a potential client can be difficult as they may have declined other work in the off chance that this client would hire them.
The final type of brief is a competition brief. This is when the client puts the brief out for companies to access if they wish to participate, each company who choose to apply have to complete the brief and then the client will judge which company has created the best product. The main advantage of doing a brief this way is that the client only has to pay the company who wins when in theory they could have 100’s of pieces of work to choose from and even then they may not even have to pay the company who win. The disadvantage to this is similar to the tender brief, all the companies who choose to apply will turn down work on the off chance that they will win this competition and even then they are not guaranteed to be paid for creating the work so they will be turning away paying clients just to create the work for free.
How I interpreted my brief:
When I first saw the brief I would be working to I struggled to come up with an idea as there was so many different things I could of chosen to do, because of this I just did the first idea I came up with and due to the time constraints I had to go with this. I think if I could restart the whole unit again I would come up with a stronger idea and make it better, however because of all the different things I could do due to the brief being so wide it gave me the oppourtunity to do something I haven't done yet and this alllowed me to show my skills in other genres instead of creating work which I know I can do.