Types of Brief

Contractual Brief

Contractual brief is a agreement between the client and business. A contractual brief states what is expected from you and it will describe the finish product exactly, so your task will be to have all things which are mentioned in the brief. A contractual agreement is signed for precaution if the contract is not meet they can be prosecuted.

An example of contractual brief would be when i have made a short film as a project the brief stated what the wanted like the editing technique which they wanted and it also told me how what they wanted to see in my short film for example it stated that there should be some in to a room then they sit beside each other on chairs. 

An advantage for me was that the contractual brief allowed me to know what was expected and by telling me the editing techniques they were looking for it made it a lot easy as i knew what the wanted. A disadvantage was that i was not allowed to add my own creativeness that much and also if i did not add all the mentioned points in the brief i would be breaking it this would mean me being to be persecuted for.

Negotiated Brief

Negotiated brief is a brief that is negotiable, by this i mean producer can give input on what the brief has stated as the client is willing to take on board ideas from the producer. 

An example negotiable brief would be the show we created called 'Listen up', in this brief it mentioned that we had to make sure we used multi camera and it had to be a music magazine show but we could negotiate on what content we had in the for example we had a lot of pre-recorded footage like 'Through the Keyhole' this was segment where we go to a celebrities house and then the audience guess it. 

An advantage of negotiated brief for me was that i believe it gave us the freedom in a way as we could give ideas of what content we wanted in the show this allowed me to be involved in the show and add my personal touch to the show. A disadvantage is that the ideas which i might have recommended the client may have not like it this makes it a lot more time consuming as you need to work with the client.   

Formal Brief

A formal brief is a brief which is a document that tells you what they expect, this will give you a rough structure and outline. Formal brief look very professional and in formal language, the formal brief is explain thoroughly so you know what you are doing.

An example would be the chocolate advert which we had to create for Creme Eggs and we had to appeal it to the young audience, the brief was in formal text and was very professional, the brief stated all the elements they expected.

An advantage of the brief i had was that it was easy to understand and i know what to add in my advert as it was explained in depth and from the brief i know i had to keep the festive representation which is Easter. The disadvantage was that formal brief have strict deadlines and you cannot change anything for example we had to make the advert in 3 weeks this included pre-production, production and post-production.

Informal Brief

Informal brief is a brief which does not have that much of information, it's more like a request on what they want but the producer will be able to do what they want as long as it meets the request. Informal brief tend not to be formal language as it is not professional work as you may be requested by your friend or family.

An example of a informal brief would be when i was asked to make a swede, this was done verbally without to much information, it just had to be a remake of a specific scene of a film without an budget. 

The advantage of this brief was that i had the freedom of choosing any scenes from films that i liked this allowed me to be very creative as i added extra details to make it imitation of the scene. An disadvantage of this brief is that there usually is not money involved as it may be favour or request from friend or a family member this means no budget so you need to emphasis a lot.

Commission Brief

A commission brief is when a business or person has a contact which they have used previously so they will go straight to that person rather than putting it on tender, this saves time and money as you know they'll produce high quality standard. 

Commission brief was when i had used the same characters as a previous project for example we used Rayhan for a project where we had to create a video for a client demonstrating what to do in an interview and then as i know Rayhan was a reliable and good actor i made sure that i used him in another project like the ultra short film which i created recently.

An advantage of commission brief is that you know how the person is, this gave me a personal advantage as i knew how the actor is from previous experience this would tell me if they are reliable. A disadvantage is that sometimes i thought that professional standard was being broke this meant them trying to take advantage as they may think you are not top priority which means you're work not being done to the best standard.

Tender Brief

Tender brief is when the business or person decides to put the brief to companies and then the business which offers the best deal will get the brief that is mentioned, the client always does not pick the lowest offered price as they look at the company which has offered it.

An example of a tender brief would be when a business has a specific job and then advertisers it with other businesses then at the end all the business have give their offer if they are interested this will not just depend on the price but status and how well the business does their job. This can be a director who has a concept or even owns a show they can put a tender where there program is place for example the TV channels.

An advantage of a tender brief is that it allows the client to get along with other businesses and try different business as well as it may make their work better which means it being improved. A disadvantage of a tender brief is that small companies do not really get a chance to but a bid as they may not be known and also it may mean that they cannot offer the same as other big companies. 

Cooperative Brief

Cooperative brief is when two or more businesses work together, this means they may share the work depending on the specialty of each company, this means that the final product will be up to high standards. 

An example of cooperative  brief would be for films, specifically Dead pool as they had a different distributor compared to their production companies as their production company was Twentieth Century Fox Film and the distributor in the UK was Warner Bros. 

An advantage of cooperative brief is that both business have specialty in different sectors they can help each other, this means the film will be completed to high standards and it also allows smaller business to get involved as they can specialise in a specific area in media. A disadvantage of cooperative brief is that sometimes production companies do not credit the smaller companies this is a downside as the smaller companies do not get any renegotiation.

      Competition Brief

Competition brief is a brief which is put out to the public across the world, the brief will state what they want and expect this will give the public what to do or create. Competition brief usually have a prize at the end if entered in the competition. 

An example of a competition brief would be the project where i am going to be creating a short film and will be entering it in the film festival, the film festival is where thousands of people send their short movie and then it is judge and if it wins i will be getting a prize at the end of it. 

An advantage of of competition brief is that i have a lot of freedom as it does not restrict me from a lot of things like the genre of the short film. An disadvantage of the competition brief is that you often do not have no budget unless you pay yourself and also you actually do not know what the prize of the competition so you cannot invest as much in and also having no budget means you need to find cast and crew willing to volunteer this is very difficult as they have the work life.