Any Production will be produced around a form of brief, no matter how informal it is, this brief can be given by anyone, the person who gives the brief is called the client.
Within the media industry you may have a client who would like you to interpret and produce a production based on a given brief, a brief is given by an external client, they can come in may forms such as competitions or a brief given specifically to you, these are most likely given by a client who will want to meet your group to discuss the brief.
These briefs can be given in a range of ways;
Informal
This is when the client doesn't necessarily write down the details of the brief, instead a verbal brief can be given.
This is an effective method for the speed of the project, but as details of the brief aren't written down some misunderstanding can take place, meaning all the criteria of the brief may not be covered
Formal
This type of brief is much more professional than the previous as the client will have very clear ideas and will most likely invite the group working on the brief to a formal meeting to keep up to date with progress and suggest any improvements or alternative ideas/solutions to problems met by the group.
This type of brief is very effective, especially for the client as they get exactly what they wanted as they work closely with the production team.
Commission
This is when the client knows you are a reliable group and likes the way you make your productions, this may also be because you have a good reputation. The client will know that you can produce what is needed and will offer a commission (pay) for your efforts.
This is an advantage to the client as they will get exactly what they want with little input from the client.
Contractual
These are often given out as a contract which will explain the responsibilities that both the client and the production group have. this contract will be good for both parties as the contract will be very detailed and so misunderstandings will be less likely to occur.
The downside to using a contract is that the brief is very fixed and so very inflexible, meaning that the production group down have much space for changes and improvements.
Negotiated
Within this type of brief the two parties have different ideas for the production and both parties will have to compromise to ensure both parties are happy and the production is completed to a good standard. In this type the brief is gradually developed as the parties come to a compromise.
This type contains a lot of back and forth from both parties so its important for both parties to have a clear idea of what they aim to do before a meeting is planned.
Reading the brief
Upon receiving the brief before you begin any pre-production or research you must be able to understand what the brief requires you to do and what the client is looking for, the client should be able to provide some information a production meeting to discuss the brief would be a benefit, after you have looked at and understand the brief you need to be sure you have the resources, knowledge, skill ,and budget to produce a production that fulfils the briefs requirements. You will also need to be sure of the target audience of the production, the last thing you want is to produce a professional looking production that doesn't appeal to your actual target audience and isn't what the client wanted, this includes gender, age, location and class. You may also want to get some information about the client, examples of previous work mat help and influence your production.
If you can identify your audience and have a good idea of what you're going to be producing and that it can actually be done the next thing is time scale, how long will it take to be done. When planning the production don't give yourself a huge job that cant be done in the given time scale, also don't produce something too simple as you still want a good looking production.
Negotiating the brief
Whilst negotiating the brief it is essential that you regularly consult with the client to keep them up to date with the production, they may also be able to suggest changes and amendments to the production. While consulting with the client assign one member of the production the role of contacting the client, this keeps all emails in one place making them easier to keep track of, this will also seem more professional as the client will be receiving emails from the same person instead of different information from different people.
Whilst working on the production you may come across constraints that could affect the production, for example in our production we are creating a child employment and legislation informational video and will be using child actors under the age of 16 which require licensing and a permission slip signed by their parents, these must be done otherwise we would be breaking the law and the production couldn't go ahead. Legal constraints will also affect the production, an example is music that is used in the production. For a production that will be shown around the country the music used must be royalty free and not licensed, you will also have to ensure the music is allowed to be used in this type of production.
Once the production is complete the production team will look through the final product and make any amendments they feel are necessary, this could be changes to the edit, a re shoot of scenes if needed, this will ensure the client receives the most polished finished product possible
Opportunity
Whilst working to a brief you have the opportunity to develop and learn new skills. Working with a client requires a certain level of communication, in previous productions (short film, music video) the goal was to create a production for ourselves and so there was no communication with a client, working to a brief allows those who would like to improve their communication skills to take on the role of client communicator. This production was also the first one that would be shown in schools and so all the different resources we found and used must have been gathered legally and that they are being used legally, this gives people the opportunity to find royalty free music or create their own if required.
This production is also the biggest we've done in terms of crew members which will require a reasonable level of managing which introduces the opportunity to take the role of Team leader, this person is in charge of organising and assigning tasks to other team members, ensuring the production is moving forward effectively. As this is a team project it is important
that every member actively works on the production ensuring that all members complete there assigned tasks to the best of their ability, this gives all members the opportunity to work effectively as a team, good communication and understanding of each other is essential for effective team work.
Whilst you work to a brief make sure you keep in contact with the client, letting them know how the production is going, also make sure you have a form of contingency plan incase the production doesnt go as planned so that a version of the production is completed for the client.
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