Thursday, 6 December 2012

Understanding the requirements for working to a brief.


In working to a brief you must understand the terms and restrictions in the creation of the project. In understanding this and being able to work to this, you demonstrate initiative while working with the structures and guidelines in which the brief entails. There are many example of briefs.
          Contractual briefs in which are outlined in the employment contract in which the brief would come under the same guidelines as the contract. This could detail the contracts promises for the project and so their employment is based on the brief. For example production companies could always go forward to other companies and ask to promote them in which the company would say what they wanted for the promotion. This would end up as a contract based on the brief.
          A negotiable briefs is a brief in which both parties would discuss what the brief would entail and in turn coming to a conclusion. This however must be an agreement on both sides. For example this would be the BBC having to discuss brief ideas with the 'Sherlock' producers and so must come to an appropriate agreement.
          Another is a formal brief in which the company would outline what they wanted from the advertisement and the advertisement company would make it happen. This would usually entail a meeting in which the restrictions and all of the thing that the company would like in terms of the project. In this sense the formal brief would involve formal meetings as well as discussions on the terms of the brief.
          Next is the informal brief. This could be as simple as a email which would detail the requirements used for the brief. This could also be a company calling you to detail the brief rather than an overly formal meeting to detail the brief. The email would most likely detail the restriction and what they would like as a client.
         A commission brief would be where a client would simply commission a worker. This is like simply commissioning the work straight off. For example a advertisement company would be commissioned in order to make a particular advertisement. This would be a brief based on the commissioning of a advertisement or project to be made.
         Tender briefs are to do with briefs which would be sent to several companies by post or email which would detail the requirements for the brief. This would mean that the companies would be in competition to come up with the best idea for an advertisement and then pitch it. This entails creating a idea which would be unique about the idea in order to make them stand out in front of the other companies.
         Companies can host competitions as well like the E4 esting as there is a brief posted on the website but it is up to the general public to create these videos and which ever one stands out would have the Esting shown on TV.

Looking back at the brief I had to go by for the creation of our esting the brief we had to work by wasn't demanding in terms of its restrictions. The main one was to only have it 10 seconds long in order for it to slip into the gap between programs. Not only this but we had to produce a blog post detailing the aspects and technical side of stop motion animation. Not only this but according to the brief you must show a understanding of all aspects of your own animation and show that you can work with the constraints of a brief.  Furthermore you must also record the responses you got from the brief as well as using them to your own benefit in the evaluation. Reading the brief the things that were most implicit was the fact that you must show understanding of the stop motion animation and also the techniques used in the Esting. These are all important to pay attention to as being able to work to a specific set of instructions as well as showing the understanding of not only stop motion animation but also an understanding of the industry.

In the initial planning we had to consult with the tutor in order to get a better understanding to guide what we were doing and in doing this ensuring we had a direction. In lesson we briefly spoke to our tutor regarding the content and what would look good for the Esting. However the general content could be changed and essentially molded to what we had thought would look nice. However we had to consult our teacher first about the Esting to make sure it wasn't a stretch to far or unsuitable for E4 viewers.
          The brief was available to be read at any point however the brief wasn't specific on what we had to do with the esting. The main restrictions were that it had to be stop motion animation and that it had to be 10 seconds long. However we could change the theme and have fun with it trying to find cool and innovative ideas. Also as was the case with our own Esting we had to change the main theme because of the lack of talent. However we could pretty much do anything we wanted with the stop motion as long as it was 10 seconds. In this sense the brief was a bit vague however we could not diverge from the 10 seconds or stop motion animation.
           In terms of the constraints we had to make sure our animation was suitable for the target audience on E4 as well as making sure it was suitable to be on TV in the first place. That means that we have to follow the channel 4 guidelines regarding the to make sure that the video would not cause any legal, ethical or regulatory problems. Such problems may arise from legal issues which include copyright infringement. We had initially dealt with this using only the E4 sounds. But also we had to make sure we were not doing anything which would offend anyone. This meant that there was nothing to do with race or religion to avoid the whole idea of offending anyone of any race or ethnic group. If our video did infringe on this then the video would not be allowed and regulatory action may in fact be taken. The Ofcoms code suggest that anything which can be taken to offence can not be broadcast.
          In terms of amending the video the feedback recieved pointed towards the issue of the logo. The only issue was the fact that we lacked the technical knowledge to position the E4 logo behind my head when I hit the locker. However the intention was in getting the feedback to try and make the positioning of the E4 logo look a lot better however no matter how we tried to tweak the final esting the worse it looked and so we decided to keep it the way it was mainly due to the fact we simply were unable to find a way around it.
          We had to make considerable changes to the project as we had issues with the talent not turning up. Because of this we had to change our entire project which meant we had to film and edit in only around 2hours which was very difficult as we had to rush the final cut.  However there was no changing to any budget or fees because it wasn't required. However the conditions had to change to make it work and make sure we had enough time.

When making the video I had learnt several potential opportunities. On of which I have just stated which was the editing as because of the trouble with the editing, there is a potential to make my editing skills a lot better.Furthermore I could also educate myself in editing and try figure out potential ways of fixing problems such as the E4 logo. Not only this but I have also learnt to give orders and organise people. This was learnt because of trying to make sure people are organised and go to the right place and positioned themselves correctly. In terms of multi skills, we all had chances filming and getting down and being practical. Also we all made suggestions on what we were to do and the angles and shots.
        The main new skill I have learnt was some leadership skills and taking control of the situation. Not only this but I have learnt to use new equipment to my advantage as well. Also getting the right planning down and risk assessments.
        When contributing to the brief we all made suggestions about what we were doing espeacially when we had to come up with a contingency plan. In this the group started discussing the thinks we may be able to do and eventually came up with a fight in which we just discussed the type of thing we would do. We discussed doing a long fight scene however we decided on doing a single punch in which we could do the impossible with someone flying through the air and hitting into some lockers. The idea was to have me slide down revealing the E4 logo however we couldn't.
        
         
       

1 comment:

  1. Alex,

    This is promising as you have covered 99% of the terms needed and you have attempted to relate it to your own work. In order to meet grading criteria you must add details on cooperative brief (working with others/another). You should also try to ensure that instead of writing an evaluation, you have written about industry practice, e.g., you have spoken about changes you made but how might this cause problems with a live project brief?

    Well done,
    EllieB

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