When it comes to working with clients in the media industry, you will come face-to-face to several briefs types, but what is a brief? A brief is essential towards knowing what your client is looking to produce and what they expect of you. Within a brief, you will usually find a set of instructions or a general outline of your client wants but this depends on the type of brief you have been given. The majority of professional briefs are documented but can often be given verbally. There are numerous brief types such as contractual, negotiated, formal/informal, tenders, co-operative and competition, which I will be explaining in further detail. 

Contractual; When it comes to contractual briefs, professionalism is usually presented and come in the form of a document where you must provide a signature. This type of brief provides a set of instructions as well as an in-depth explanation of what your client is expecting from you. In order to come to an agreement, you must agree to what is expected of you and discard your own input and ideas. This type of brief is usually more of an advantage towards your client because they get to decide on exactly what you do and when you will do it, resulting in them being in a more superior position. However, if certain instructions aren't met, you could potentially face legal action if not fixed, due to the original agreement. A contractual brief will however certify the price range in which you will receive after the product has been created. Large media companies like Disney will usually use contractual briefs due to their professionalism. Another example of an advantage of contractual briefs is that you are provided with insurance and cover for when you are working.  

Negotiated; Negotiated briefs are a more flexible and comfortable way of working with clients as they enable you to negotiate certain elements of the briefs. These elements could include the general idea, pay, client involvement etc. This type of brief is more of an advantage than the contractual brief as you are able to use your creativity skills. This will also potentially result in the project being more enjoying as you are given more freedom and trust to use your own ideas. However, your client will still give you an outline of what they want and could potentially not want to use your personal suggestions. Negotiated briefs can either be documented or verbally given and can also be formal or informal. 

Formal/Informal; When it comes to formal and informal briefs, there are many difference and similarities which I will be explaining in the following. Formal briefs are very similar to contractual briefs however, you aren't required to sign anything and certain elements can be negotiated such as the general idea. A formal brief is usually documented and provides a list of specific instructions and information on what your client is expecting of you. With this type of brief, you will still have to agree on an idea, however your client cannot push legal action due to there being no contract. You will usually not be covered with insurance, which is a negative when it comes to formal briefs. After an agreement has been made, further adjustments cannot be processed due to there already being an official agreement, which could be seen as an advantage and disadvantage. An advantage of this is that you will not have to worry about your client changing their idea, whereas a disadvantage is that you yourself cannot provide further ideas. Overall, a formal brief is almost like a mixture of a contractual and negotiated brief. Now moving onto informal briefs. When it comes to informal briefs, clients will usually not have a specific idea or set of instructions. This type of brief is more of a casual way of creating a product and will usually be presented verbally rather than being documented. The general idea of the product will be discussed between you and your client and will include negotiation, which you will most agree on. No legal restrictions are provided within these briefs which is an advantage. Informal briefs are usually created by non-professional clients such as your friend or family member. However, a disadvantage of informal briefs is that there is no legal proof of an idea or work due to this type of brief mainly being verbal. 

Tenders; A tender involves clients reaching out to the public, in need of a media product being produced. This is done through advertising and includes information on what the client is looking for. When production companies become interested, they will reach out to the client by presenting a proposal idea. After a certain amount of time or deadline, the client will then decide which idea suits them best and will then accept a single offer. This type of brief is usually seen as more of an advantage to the client, as they are given a variety of different ideas. When a production company present a proposal, they will usually put in a great of effort into creating an idea, which could result in being a waste of time if reject, which is a disadvantage of tenders. 

Co-operative; A co-operative brief involves the teamwork of two or more production companies, working for a singular client. This type of brief can have many advantages and disadvantages which I will be explaining in the following. Within co-operative briefs, negotiating is usually allowed, which is good when it come's to co-operating companies having conflict. This type of brief allows the companies to negotiate and work towards a brief by presenting and combining their own ideas. Having more than one production company work on your product will make the overall production become less time-consuming. 

Competition; A competition brief is publicly produced by a client and can be accessed by numerous production companies. Production companies who are interested will then complete the brief, usually following specific instructions as they aren't in contract with the client to negotiate ideas. Competition briefs can be free to enter or can often charge an entry fee. After a specific deadline, the client will then view the entries from the production companies and award the product they find best. The award usually includes the winning video to be published along with a cash prize. This type of brief could be seen as very similar to tender briefs, however competition brief can be held due to the sole purpose of making profit through entry fees. Unsuccessful participants may become less motivated as they most-likely spent a lot of time on the project. This type of brief could be seen as more of an advantage towards the client as they only have to award one production company and have a large selection of products to choose from. 

How To Read A Brief

After being certain on what type of brief you are working towards, you will then need to understand the overall context and idea behind the brief that you've been given. If the idea isn't fully comprehended, this will result in the finished production failing to meet the brief. Thoroughly understanding the brief will help towards making the finished product more suitable to its purpose which is why you must understand these following elements. 

• Demographics; Before producing a media product it is important that it is advertised and targeted towards the right audience. This is important due to the sales of the product and will determine the overall income it will receive. Knowing your target audience will effect every element of your media production, which is why it is so important to know who you are designing the overall product for. An example we could use is a media product aimed towards children. This type of production would typically include large, bold and easy to read text along with a variety of bright colours. However, if we were to change the demographic of this product to horror fans, we would see more of a dark colour scheme being used. Without knowing your target audience, your product's profit and sale will drop, due to your product not being aimed towards the widest possible audience. Knowing your demographic is one of the most important things that you should think immediately think about when receiving a brief, as this will effect the overall purpose and style of your video. Demographics also relates to how a specific type of customer purchases products, which is where geographics come in. 

• Geographics; Geographics relates to the location in which your product will be available. It is a good idea to instantly know whether your product is accessible towards your target demographic and whether it is legal. For example, when it comes to creating content aimed at children, in this case an advert, we would immediately find it appropriate to place the advert onto various children's TV channels such as Cbeebies or cartoon network, where we would usually find most of our target demographic. Another example is when a business is trying to advertise their services but only operate within a certain area. In this case, the business will focus on advertising within their operating area. 

• Market Competition; When creating a media product, it is important to think about other companies that are providing the same services as you and how you can attract customers to your service rather than theirs. In this case, you must think about how other companies are advertising their products and how you can make yours stand out. You can do this by using a number of different advertising techniques such as persuasion, emotional appeal, subliminal advertising etc. On a global scale, competitors could be advertising to international customers. You must think of different strategies which will result in your product attracting the majority of customers. You could pay attention to cultural differences in the global market, as you are providing to different customers from different countries. A popular example we could use is Apple Music and Spotify would contrast when it comes to advertising their brand. Apple is known for using celebrity appeal in their adverts and use a bright and vibrant colour scheme, whereas Spotify are known for their dark theme and cartoonish style. 

• Use/Style of the Product; Promotional material is created via different medias, which could include posters and adverts which could be distributed physically or through TV and the internet. Material would most likely be found on popular social media as it's a popular method of advertising a product and it's typically where the majority of the modern population spend their time. 

• Technical Specifications; When it comes to technical specifications, you must think about how you look like your product to be shot and at what framerate. It is very important to choose an appropriate method of shooting your production as you must think about how this will be effected depending on how you distribute your product. For example, if you chose to shoot using 4K footage and your demographic were audiences from the working-class, this will most-likely not be feasible due to the majority of your customers not possessing a TV that's able to process 4K video. Instead, your video will be compressed into a lower quality, potentially damaging your product and making it look different to how you originally planned. Many filmmakers have issues similar to this, a famous example being Christopher Nolan. Have you ever visited your local electrical and telecommunications retailer and noticed how demo footage on TV's look as if they're being played at a faster speed? Well this is because modern TVs obtain a setting calling 'motion smoothing'. This is a setting that famous filmmaker Christopher Nolan is not too fond of, due to its unwanted effect on his own films. Motion smoothing is known to take films shot at 24fps and altering them to appear like they were shot at 60fps. This is an issue that you should consider. You must make your client aware of this, unless they already know how they'd like their video to be shot, as this could severely effect the quality of your final product. Another important component when it comes to technical specifications is your aspect ratio. This relates to your image appears on screen based on the width and height in which you shot your product. The majority of cinematic productions are shot using a widescreen (2.35:1), which would be suitable if you wanted to add more of a professional appearance to your video. 

• Timescales; After reading your brief, you will need to plan how and when you will shoot your product, which will depend on your timescale. After planning each element of your video, you will then need to provide your client with information in regards to an estimation of the completion of your product. This depends on what type of brief you have been given, such as a contractual brief which will most-likely already provide you with a strict deadline which you must agree to. This is also an important factor that you must think about as you might require particular rented locations, meaning you will need to know how long you will need these for. Knowing your timeframe will also help towards working out an estimate cost of your services, if you haven't already been given a pay rate. This also depends on the type of brief you've been given, due to various briefs being negotiable when it comes to pay and other briefs providing a fixed price range. 

• Resources/Locations; Resources can be anything that is used that helps towards the process of your product, such as props, sound and lighting equipment, food, drink etc. After planning and finalising your idea, you will then need to consider what you will need to help you towards producing your product. If crew is required, you must also think about how you will cater for them and what equipment they will require, depending if they don't have their own. Resources include which props you will use in your video, which could potentially be important towards the message or story of your finished video. You will need to independently plan what resources you will need for your production, using the budget you've been given. However, depending on your brief, you might already be given specific resources, meaning you will not need to worry about this. After planning specific resources, you will then need to have a fixed idea on where you will shoot your video and think about various locations in which you would like the process of your production to take place. Locations include the settings included within your video and various locations where post-production or sound recording will take place, For example, you might require professional audio, meaning you might want to rent out a studio. You might also need to think about where the catering of your crew will take place and if you will need permission to use certain locations. Without locations you will have nowhere to film you video, which is why considering locations is also an important element when it comes to producing a video. 

• Crew; After planning and finalising your idea, you will then need to consider who you will need to help you towards producing your product. This can be to do with anything such as sound, lighting, writing etc. Or you could choose to independently work on the project and take on all of the roles required to make the product. However, hiring crew could severely effect the cost of your overall production, meaning you might need to further negotiate with your client, if you haven't already been given a fixed budget to work with. Hiring crew could also be considered if you have a. tight deadline and are unsure whether you will be able to complete the project independently. The lack of consideration when it comes to hiring crew could result in your final product being low quality due to the lack of attention on certain elements such as lighting or sound, which could've been fixed by recruiting professionals. 

• Post-Production; And finally, post-production. Post-production will determine the overall quality of how your footage is put together and how sound and visual effects are used. But before you consider how you want your video to be edited, you will need the correct equipment. If you are dealing with high quality 4K video, you will need a computer thats able to process this kind of footage. However, if you are using 1080p footage, the majority of computers will be usable. You will also need to think about purchasing editing software, such as Premiere Pro, depending on if you don't already have access to it. If you're working with a client that requires more professional and high quality footage, you will need to have access to a powerful system that enables you to edit this kind of footage. Analysing your brief and asking your client will help you towards knowing what kind of editing and sound/visual effects they require, making your final product as suitable as possible towards the given brief. 

Negotiating a Brief

Negotiating briefs involves a discussion between the client and service provide which can take take online or in person. This is important towards making sure you're providing the particular service at the best of your abilities and each party is happy with the final idea. Both parties will not always agree on the initial plan, making negotiating vital. Elements such as deadlines or restrictions can be negotiated during these discussions. However, before thinking of the client and service provider, and must also take legal/regulatory constraints into consideration. Legal/Regulatory Constraints could involve certain laws/organisations that you must follow such as the Data Protection Act, Advertising Standards Authority and OFCOM, but what constraints do these laws/organisations present?

• The Data Protection Act; This act was passed through parliament in 1988 and refers to certain rights that help towards the protection your personal information and how it is used. When it comes to creating media products, you may require various information from your client such as their name, address, bank details and so on. Your client might also require this type of information as well, however the act primarily protects data that could affect you such as your criminal history, sexual life or religion. The Data Protection Act provides various fines or imprisonment if these laws are broken, limiting the control and use of personal data within any organisation. Failure to work within these constraints could result in fines or imprisonment, which is why the client and service provider must be responsible when it comes to handling personal data. 
• Advertising Standards Authority; This organisation prevents the issuing of adverts that could be misleading, harmful, offensive or irresponsible. The Advertising Standards Authority is the number one place to visit when you have a concern or complaint towards certain advertisements. These complaints are taken into consideration and it is then decided whether the particular advert should be banned or not. As well as dealing with complaints, the organisation monitors ads in order to make sure they are following the rules. These rules include making sure that your advert is legal, decent, honest and truthful. A recent case of breaching of the ASA involves an advertisement published by Homebase, which claimed that customers would get an 'extra 15% off' in store. B&Q complained to ASA, claiming that the ad was misleading and didn't specify that other discounts needed to be applied in order to receive the extra 15% off. After much consideration, the ASA found that Homebase breached certain rules (misleading advertising) and resulted in the cancellation of the ad being broadcasted in its current form. 
  
• OFCOM; When we are watching TV, listening to the radio or using other forms of communication, we rely on OFCOM to monitor these various types of media in order to make sure that consumers are getting the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services, as well as keeping an eye on TV and radio. OFCOM is a company which stand as a regulator for the communications services, which many consumers rely on when it comes to  the prevention of scamming as well as taking complaints in regards to certain services they are receiving . When we aren't satisfied with the type of service we receive, OFCOM is the number one source to contact in order to resolve your issue or receive advice. 

As well as legal/regulatory constraints, you must also think about how your media product is going to affect certain groups of people. We would refer to these as ethical constraints, where we must review how our product could be considered offensive from various perspectives such as race or gender. These constraints are put in place in order to protect brands by preventing them from stereotyping or publicising hate speech which is now illegal. 

• In regards to race/ethnicity, it is important that you do not generalise a race as it could influence other peoples thoughts and opinions towards that particular race. This includes not giving any stereotypical or discriminatory views. An infamous example of racism within advertising is a Chinese laundry detergent advertisement. In the advert, we are presented with a black male character who is forced into a washing machine by a woman whose wish was to clean him using the advertised product. After a series of muffled screams, she opens the lid to find an ideal-looking Asian man. The advert is essential telling its audience that the black male was portrayed as 'filthy', until being transformed into a 'cleansed' Asian male. The advert lead to global outrage and is now known as 'the most racist commercial ever' and has overall given the company a bad name. The company tried to defend the content by stating 'any discrimination is in the eye of the viewer' and that it was unintentional. Although this is unintentional, it still didn't stop the huge amount of backlash, which is why it is important to take this issue into consideration. 

• The topic of gender has only been seen as important in recent years, due to action being taken against casual sexism within the media. It is easy to unintentionally use stereotypes that some audiences will find sexist, due to it being overlooked for so many years. A well-known example being portraying women in stereotypically roles such as cleaning, or showing them to be less physically able than men. Over-sexualising women is also seen as a form of stereotyping and has been a common issue within the film and television industries, which we can see within the commercial for the 'All-natural burger' by Carls Jr. The advert presents a on a super model eating a hamburger and drawing stares. Many audiences complained about the commercial as they believed that "the brand is catering to a male audience" and that "These ads aren't going after women, they're going after men. They are not afraid of the controversy. The more controversy the better". This is a very important issue that you should consider, depending on what type of product you're selling. In this example, burgers are loved by all genders, however the advert is aimed more towards males. 

As I've already mentioned, both parties will not always agree on the initial plan, making negotiating vital, giving them the chance to amend certain elements such as deadlines or restrictions. Amendments refer to any changes made during the production process and can fall under these categories; 

• Final Product; When amendments are made, a 'sign-off sheet' is required as they are a legally binding document that prevents clients from making additional changes to the product after money has been spent and after the negotiation has taken place. 
• Budget; The budget refers to any costs made within the production process and can be amended through negotiations between the client and service provider. Within production, your crew would need to travel and use equipment, which is all covered by the budget. Costs such as travel fares could potentially change, which is an example of when the budget would need to be negotiated and changed to cover the higher prices. 
• Conditions; This category refers to more problematic and difficult-to-change elements within a project, as they usually would've already been agreed on through sign-off sheets. These elements could include deadlines or financial changes.