Pre-production

Pre-production

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The different types of briefs

The different types of briefs

 

There are many different types of briefs in the media industry, these are a set of instructions that is given to a person for a job. There are eight different types of briefs that are used in the industry and they are:

·         Contractual

·         Negotiated

·         Formal

·         Informal

·         Commission

·         Tender

·         Cooperative

·         Competition

There are advantages and disadvantages for all of these styles of briefs.

Contractual briefs are those that are held together by a contract by the commissioner and the producer of the product. These types of briefs are bound by the laws of the land and therefore must be adhered stringently. If the contract is broken this can result in multiple penalties, which can include a fine or even time in jail. An advantage to contractual briefs is that the production company knows exactly what they are involved in and what they need to do for the product as the brief will be specific ad they have to follow it very precisely as there is no negotiating. A disadvantage to this type of brief is that if the media company feels that something in the brief could be changed or gotten rid of, then they are changing the brief and the final product which goes against their contract and what the commissioner wants the product to be. This could result in the client taking legal action against the company which could further result in the company given a bad name/reputation saying that they don’t finish briefs to standard, which could hinder them later down the line if they want to get another production.

Negotiated briefs are negotiated between the commissioner and the producer, this can be about the content or even the cost of the production. There will be a set of terms and conditions within the brief that must be followed. This also means that the terms and conditions are negotiated to enable that the commissioner and producer reach an agreement. If the brief that is given to the producer is without specific details on important matters such as the budget and fees, then the producer may question and negotiate these elements. An advantage to negotiation is that because the commissioner and producer are discussing terms to make brief more flexible for between the client and the producer and can easily discuss different ideas without there being any hostility about their different ideas. A disadvantage is that the brief can be seen as quite ’flaky’ as certain aspects within the brief won’t be set in stone and official.

Formal briefs are when a media company will be given a brief by the client which outlines the product they want to be made. This type of brief is very open and only gives out enough information to the client for then to be able to produce the product, any issues or information that the media company would like to go over can be discussed during the negotiations with the client. This type of brief means that the client will be open to any ideas or issues if there are any tat can be thought of by the media company. This can result in the work being creative for the media company and there is also room for negotiation. A disadvantage to this type of brief is that the production company may feel the client has not offered enough information for them to work from and complete the product to the standard that the client wants. Another is that the brief is not always legally binding and that could bring up problems within the project for things such as financial issues or even a breach of contract.

Informal briefs are written with the intention to provoke a response from a client. They may be written in average, day-t-day language so they are less formal than others. They are usually not documented and are verbal. The client and employer will just discuss the requirements for the product that will be made and end on agreeing on the product that will be created. An advantage to informal briefs is that the client will be able to look at different ideas for their product from different company’s perspectives and in effect will be able to produce their product to a very high standard if one idea that gets pitched stands out from the others. A disadvantage for informal briefs is that if a company performs a pitch and is ten turned down, this can set them back as a business and they may struggle to find other projects to work on.

Commission briefs is when a large company will hire a lesser independent company to produce and create the product for them, instead of them making it themselves. Once it has been made, the client may then go on to use the finished product at external client who will then be the ones who pay the independent company for the work that they did.  The brief won’ be negotiated between the company and client, but it will be negotiated between the two production companies. An advantage of this type of brief is that the larger companies don’t have to do all the work and can spread it out equally between the companies. A disadvantage is that because two production companies may be working on the project, there could be conflict between the two.

Tender brief is when the client will advertise their brief and then a production company will bring together a proposal that they will show to the client, there may be multiple different proposals that are brought to the client so they can then think about which one they think is ideally suited to the brief and offer the job to the production company that produced that brief. An advantage is that the client will be able to look at many different proposals so they will be able to choose an idea that they truly believes goes well with the brief. A disadvantage can be that if a company’s proposal is turned down then this can set them back as a business as the effort, time and resources that went into making the idea has be turned down so they can no longer use it and the time wasn’t used effectively as they could have been working on something else.

Co-operative brief is when normally two companies are hired to work on the brief that has been given to them, once they have been given the brief they may then work with one another. If conflict arises between the two companies then a negotiated brief may be brought in to resolve the dispute. An advantage of this type of brief is that there will be many different creative inputs so there are many ideas to choose from to what fits the brief the best. A disadvantage is that this type of brief is easily prone to arguments as it will be two different companies with their own creative ideas.

Competition brief is when a client will but their brief out there so that many different production companies can see what they have come up with. It is seen as a competition as the production companies will come up with something that fits the brief but the client will pick the one that they think is the best for what they are looking for, they then will have their work published. An advantage of this type of brief is that the client will only have to pay one production company, the one that the pick as the ‘winner’. A disadvantage to this type is the same as tender brief, in that the other production companies who aren’t picked have used all their time for their work not to be picked, so everything that they done has been wasted.