2. 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.
3. 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)
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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 don’t
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 isn’t
negotiated, the client could change their expectations and the product could
not be to the standard expected, meaning both companies are out of pocket.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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 hasn’t been agreed on/negotiated.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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 don’t 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
doesn’t 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.
15. Negotiating a Brief
Are there any potential legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the Vegetarian Society
brief’s 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 doesn’t 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 isn’t and does
contain various animal products.
16. 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.
17. 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.
