Contractual Brief Definition: A media company will sign onto a
contract set by a client which includes a set task and a set fee.
These briefs are usually formal & will be used in formal
situations. An example of a contractual brief would be a brief
between a wedding photographer & its client (the couple getting
married). Advantages: An advantage to this kind kind of brief would
be the fact that once something is agreed on, it is legally biding
& the client cannot change what they said they would give
you/what you can do with the project. A written contract is more
formal than just a verbal one & can be used in court, whereas
you cannot show a verbal agreement (as it is verbal).
Disadvantages: Legal action will be taken if the contract is
breached, therefore a contract must be read carefully before being
signed. Another reason why the contract must be looked at carefully
is because of the fixed set fee. Sometimes you may find you need a
larger budget after you have signed the contract. This should have
been negotiated earlier on when discussing the contract.
Formal Brief Definition: A formal brief is a type of brief that
usually shows what product the client wants to be produced. This
will also usually feature only necessary requirements to complete
the product. Advantages: Because the brief only includes necessary
requirements, more information can be added during our negotiations
with the client. Another advantage to a formal brief, compared to
an informal brief, is the fact you can go back & look at what
has been stated & work from it. Disadvantages: Although you may
think a formal brief would be a legally binding piece of
documentation, due to the fact it is a formal brief, sometimes you
will find it is not. Another disadvantage is that once it has been
signed & initial negotiations have taken place, it is
incredibly difficult to get things changed on the brief (that is
one of the reasons why it is so important to read the brief
carefully & discuss it at the very beginning)
Informal Brief Definition: Usually a verbal agreement between
two parties that will not feature a contract or any legal/written
documentation, unlike a formal brief. The agreement will usually
feature a task the client wants you to do in very simple terms,
which can then be discussed. Advantages: With an informal brief, it
is very easy to discuss & negotiate the outcomes of the task
with the person straight of the bat, compared to a formal brief.
Disadvantages: Although it may be easier to discuss, none of this
is in writing. This makes it very risky business because there is
nothing in writing for either sides of the party to look back to if
a mistake is made. Not legally binding, just like some kinds of
formal briefs.
Co-Operative Brief Definition: This is when two or more
production companies will work on a specific brief, set by a
client. The brief will be completed by both companies. Advantages:
This could decrease the workload one company would have to do. It
would also allow you to work with your advantages as you would
expect them to be good at your disadvantages. Disadvantages:
Working with another company will more than likely lead to some
disagreements that will need to be negotiated. This will have to be
negotiated with the client & the other company. You may not get
your own way. The chance of this is higher now than if you were
just working with the client.
Negotiated Brief Definition A negotiated brief occurs when two
or more media companies competing for the project come across some
areas of disagreements between themselves about the brief. The aim
of a negotiated brief is to satisfy every party involved in the
production by compromising with everyone. Advantages An advantage
of a negotiated brief is that the project is more open to
suggestions from involved parties and gives a way for all those
involved to put in ideas which can be developed into making the
product better. Disadvantages A disadvantage of this is because a
negotiated brief, arguments and strong disagrees can occur as it is
opened to be discussed.
Commission Brief Definition A commission brief is where a large
media company hire or employ a smaller, independent media company
to produce the final product for them. After the project have been
completed, the larger company will use the product and sell it on
to a client who will then pay money to the larger company who would
split the money they make with the smaller, independent company who
actually made the project. Advantages An advantage of this form of
brief is that it means the larger company dont do much work, apart
from finding a suitable and reliable independent company, but the
money made is split equally. Disadvantages This type of brief could
potentially be the cause of arguments as it is not negotiated.
Also, when the product is created, again because it isnt
negotiated, the client could change their expectations and the
product could not be to the standard expected, meaning both
companies are out of pocket.
Tender Brief Definition A tender brief is where several
prospective contractors provide and estimated cost and a
description of how the product may be produced. (wiki.answers.com)
Advantages An advantage of a tender brief is that it will get
several different ideas to put into perspective which offers a
wider range of negotiating without using a negotiated brief.
Disadvantages A disadvantage of this sort of brief is that it is
easy and very simple for the client to back out without much or any
form of notice which can set the company back in business as work
is getting harder to find.
Competition Brief Definition A competition brief is where a
client opens their brief to a range of different companies who can
then pursue in making the product then presenting it to the client
who will then chose the best, most appropriate product and pay the
company who made it the money. Advantages The advantages of this
form of brief is that it opens up a range of different products
that the client can chose from. Disadvantages A disadvantage of
this is that if the companies competing do not get the job, they
will have wasted a lot of time and possibly money on something that
they did not get.
My Brief We will be using a formal, contractual brief. What
makes this brief formal is the fact that it is written. What makes
the brief contractual is the fact we are working for a client &
have signed onto a formal brief. Within this, as we are a pair
working together, there will be negotiations between us.
Reading the Brief It is important to read your brief for a
number of reasons. There will be legal action against you if you
breach the contract. Reading the brief before you have signed on to
complete the work is important as you can only negotiate the brief
beforehand. Once you have signed to do the brief you are obliged to
do it, no questions asked. If you end up completing work that does
not 100% follow the brief, you may end up not getting paid &
legal action may be taken against you. If you have anything to add
to the brief & the client agrees with it, make sure it is in
writing otherwise they may change their mind half way through &
there will be no physical evidence to what or what hasnt been
agreed on/negotiated.
Reading the Brief What is the nature of the Vegetarian Recipe
Cards brief? We are expecting to create 8 recipe cards for the
client. We are being asked to specialise in the layout and style of
the recipe cards. What is the demand of the Vegetarian Recipe Cards
brief? They state in the brief that they demand that: as a general
rule we give strong preference to recycled paper and vegetable inks
We tend to use 350gsm paper stock as this is quite stiff and
similar to the thickness of a good type of card. We print the
recipe cards on 100% recycled, FSC approved stock They also tell us
that they will 3,500 of each type of recipe card and see how they
will go from there.
Negotiating a Brief Why is it important to discuss the brief
with your client prior to production? It is important to discuss
the brief with the client prior to the production because after the
contract has been signed and finalised is it incredibly difficult
to get changes made to the brief. That is the reason why you should
discuss/negotiate the brief before hand just in case there are any
changes you would like to make. An example of a discussion that
could occur in this project would be them telling us that they need
the recipe cards to feature, if possible, some recipes that are
suitable for vegans as well. We could then tell them that this
would be a bad idea as the product should just be targeted at one
specific kind of person & not a mix of two different
kinds.
Negotiating a Brief What are the advantages and disadvantages
of employing discretion with a brief? One of the advantages of
employing discretion with a brief is that the concept of the idea
can be altered to suit you and the areas you are more skilled in,
another thing that can be altered is the ideas involved, if you
dont agree with something or strongly believe that the idea would
look better one way rather than the other then you can make small
changes. A disadvantage can come along with the fact that you can
alter the brief. This is if the client doesnt agree with or like
the design that you have put on their work. To prevent this from
happening, it is an appropriate idea to consult the client and see
what they think. If you alter the design regardless, it is a high
possibility that the client will not want to pay you or tell you
not continue with the work, if this happens you will have wasted a
lot of time and money. Another advantage of this form of brief is
that it saves the client a lot of time as it is open to ideas. One
disadvantage of this is that if you are working alongside other
companies, changing things without telling them could cause
disagreements as it could affect a previously negotiated brief so
it is very important to keep ALL parties involved informed.
Negotiating a Brief Are there any potential
legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the Vegetarian Society briefs
proposed product? Copyright could be a potential issue with the
proposed product as the recipe used as well as the images could
belong to someone who doesnt agree with us taking them. Another
issue that could arise is that because the recipes are for vegans,
it is very important to make all the checks that the ingredients
are actually free of animal products, this issue also relates to
another potential issue. This is the requirements for stating
something as only suitable for vegetarians, when it actually isnt
and does contain various animal products.
Negotiating a Brief Amendments you have considered to; The
Product We have thought about how expensive it would be to produce
the cards with laminate on, therefore we believe it would be cost
effective (at this moment in time) & environmentally effective
if they did not have the laminate on the recipe cards. One of our
ideas is having two different sets of recipe cards: one with the
biodegradable laminate and one set without. As the biodegradable
costs more to produce, they would cost more in store. 25-50p more.
The Budget The budget for the work has not needed to be amended as
we believe what has been stated in the brief is exactly what we
need to produce the work they have asked for. The Conditions: If
you look an the slide titled `Reading the Brief` (the second one)
you will find a list of conditions that we will follow when
producing the recipe cards, as we should respect what the client
wants.
Opportunities What opportunities could this brief allow you to
explore? Be specific with your responses. This brief is quite
different to others you have come across and offers lots of new
experiences. Check the unit overview to help you with this. Self
Development: There are many opportunities for self-development like
furthering my skills on how to work with a partner &
negotiating ideas with them. Learning new skills: If we decide to
take our own photographs, we will have to learn how to photograph
food as it is a difficult task to do. Another new skill we will be
learning is using a new software program which we both have never
used before. Multi-skilling: We will have to multi-skill a lot
during this task as there are a lot of skills involved in producing
a product like recipe cards. Skills included include Photoshop
skills, layout skills & photography skills. Usually on a task
like this you would have more than two people working. Contributing
to a brief: When contributing to a brief we have had a few ideas
that we need to discuss with our client like the layout & how
we could possibly switch it up for our set of 8 recipe cards. We
have also contributed to how the cards will be printed on.