2. CONTRACTUAL BRIEF
Definition: a media company will sign a contract agreement, agreeing to complete a task within a
specific set of time. If the media company or client however do not stick to the contract then they will
have breached it and so would face legal action, it is important also to read a contract carefully
before signing it so you are ensuring yourself that you are agreeing to all the terms and nothing you
don’t want to.
Advantages: the advantages to a contractual brief would be that you and the client are both
agreeing to term that you cant go back on.Another advantage would be that the work will be planned
and made exactly how the client wants, meaning that there won’t be any issues involving contrasting
ideas. This would mean that the client could take legal action against the company that’s making the
product if the work isn’t done how they want.
Disadvantages: there wouldn’t be a lot of disadvantages – you just need to make sure that you read all the
terms and conditions thoroughly before you sign. If the company signs the contract without looking at the terms
made by the client, then they could make a product that won’t get paid for and they might end up facing legal
action. Another disadvantage of using contractual briefs would be that the client would have to stick to all the
terms made, so they might have to spend a lot of money to make the product and they also might have trouble
sticking to the deadline.
3. FORMAL BRIEF
Definition: A brief would be provided by the client of the media company and that brief would say
how they want the product to be made. The brief would only contain necessary information that would
be needed to complete the project, and extra information will be added through on-going
negotiations with the client. It is similar to the contractual brief however this brief is not always legally
binding.
Advantages: You can add extra information to the brief through out the project and no legal action
would be taken compared to the contractual brief.
Disadvantages:Since it is not a legally binding brief, then the company that have been hired to
make the product might make a product that the client doesn’t like. If the client doesn’t like what the
company has made, or there is another issue with the work, the client doesn’t necessarily have any
legal power.
4. INFORMAL BRIEF
Definition: This type of brief is a verbal agreement or a ‘handshake’ in some cases, and no contract or
written agreement will be done so the client and company will discuss matters before the work starts
and as it is informal then they may not be a set completion date.
Advantages: You can work by your own rules without a contract hanging over you, as well as there
being no deadlines.The client could say half way through the project that they want some parts of the
work changing to fit what they want, and the company could even say what they want out of the
project.
Disadvantages: there is no contract so it is quite risky, as you may have problems being paid, the
client may ask you to work extra hours or the client may change their mind on the product. The client
could want the project doing too soon, or they could stop production altogether.
5. CO-OPERATIVE BRIEF
Definition: This is where two or more production companies are hired and will work on a certain brief
and so the companies then will work together to complete the project. If they disagree over something
then a brief which will have been negotiated will be submitted and that will please both companies.
Advantages: the advantages would be that they can share out the work.
Disadvantages:one of the disadvantages could be that the two companies that are making this
product could disagree entirely on what to do. This could make the production process slower and it
could make them miss the deadline. If the two companies disagree then the finished product might not
look professional, and the client might refuse to pay them.
6. NEGOTIATED BRIEF
Defininition: If two or perhaps more companies are working on the brief together and their ideas
conflict then they would have to negotiate the brief, and so the brief would have to be changed. –
it could involve changing; content, visual style or just ensuring that the product stays between the
boundaries of legal and ethical obligation.
Advantages: There are two parties involved so they can share out the work. When a brief is
negotiated then the finished product will be made to suit everyone involved. This would make sure that
there aren’t any issues when planning what to do.
Disadvantages: one of the disadvantages of a negotiated brief would be that there might be
changes made to the original brief that the client or one of the companies dislikes.
7. COMMISSION BRIEF
Definition: This is where a large media company will hire an independent media company to
produce/create a product for them, the brief would be negotiated between the two and not the
external client. The independent production company will be paid for producing the product and
then also part of the profit when the product is sold.
Advantages: You wouldn't have to negotiate briefs as it would be done between the companies.
Another advantage would be that the two companies would both have good ideas, but when they
work together they could make a product that is better then if they were doing it alone.
Disadvantages: The large media company will loose out on most of the profit as most of it would be
going to the independent production company.Another disadvantage would be the client that gave
out the brief at the beginning might not like the finished product that has been made by the two
companies.
8. TENDER BRIEF
• Definition: A client will publish a media product that they want to have made – they will then
create a brief, proposal and a budget then they will pitch it to the client. Several production
companies could enter a brief to the client to try secure the project. Then the client will decide
upon the best proposal and offer the project to the company that had the best proposal.
Advantages:one advantage would be that the client that wants the product making would get the
best possible company to make there product. They would pitch their work to different companies and
the company that think would do the best job would offer to work for them.
Disadvantages:one disadvantage could be that the work isn’t done to the clients standards. They
won’t get to chose who does there work and they might end up with work that doesn’t work for them.
9. COMPETITION BRIEF
Definition
This type of brief is made available to all production companies, who then complete the brief and send in
their work. All the completed projects are assessed and judged, and the project that wins gets
published.
Advantages
An advantage of this could be that all the projects would be completed to the best standard because
that company would want to be the ones that win. This means that the finished project might be
completed better this way.
Another advantage could be that the company that sent out this brief wont have to pay the losing
companies, and sometimes it might not even have to pay the one that won.
Disadvantages
A disadvantage of this type of brief would be that there isn’t definite money for the production companies.
They would have to put in extra work to compete with other companies and if the lose then they would
lose a lot of money.
10. MY BRIEF
Which structure/structures will the Vegetarian Recipe Cards brief use?
Reference your reasons for choice/choices
With this brief we have to put the logo of the company on the cards, set the recipes out a
certain way and produce them on specific cards and use specific laminate. With our
brief we will stick to these points and try to get our cards to look professional as well as
creative.
11. READING THE BRIEF
Why is important to thoroughly read your brief?
It is important to read through the brief thoroughly because then there wont be any issues
later on. When reading the brief the two co-operating companies could disagree one
something, so then a compromise might have to take place. It is also important because
the company making the product would have to understand completely what they are
doing, and if they do something wrong then they would have to either start the whole
project again or get fired from the project completely.
12. READING THE BRIEF
What is the nature and demand of the Vegetarian Recipe Cards brief?
Nature of the brief
This is quite simple, we have to produce recipe cards for vegetarians. These recipes could
also be made for vegans and this has to be clearly stated. The recipe and the layout
have to be set out a certain way and we have to follow these rules.
Demand of the Brief
There isn’t a specific timescale that we have to stick to, but we have to finish our cards
within ten weeks. There are specific rules that we have to follow and not many people
are needed to complete this task. The production team will be around two to four
people, and there will be specific equipment needed.
13. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
Why is it important to discuss the brief with your client prior to production?
It is important to discuss a brief with the client because then there won’t be any issues that
come up after the project has started. If either the company issuing the brief or the
people making the product have any concerns that they would need to discuss, then
they would bring them up in the hope of changing them. This could be anything from the
paper used, the timescale of the project or any ethical issues that need to be discussed.
14. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
What are the advantages and disadvantages of employing discretion with a
brief?
An advantage of employing discretion with a brief could be that there is a way for the
production staff to put in their own creative ideas to the product. The company issuing
the brief could have made this easy to do, especially if they have produced a very
vague brief that can be interpreted. This would be useful for the production team that
are making the product because then they could show people what they can do, so
they might be able to get more work afterwards with more creative projects. This is useful
to the company who made the brief too because then they could make their finished
product and even their company to look creative.
A disadvantage could be that sometimes the company making the product could be too
creative and produce a product that the company issuing the brief disagree with. If the
production staff make the finished product too creative then that could affect the whole
company. Some companies need their products to look professional, and if they allow
discretion with a brief then it could lose its professionalism and they could lose business.
15. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
Are there any potential legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the brief’s proposed
product?
A legal issue could be that the recipes are taken from someone else. This would mean that
there is a breach of copy right and this could lead to a legal issues from the people that
produced the recipes first. When I produce these recipe cards I will make sure that there
isn’t any recipes that have been made by people specifically. I will only use basic recipes
and I will add in new steps and ingredients to make it more personalised.
An ethical issue could be that we can’t find many vegetarian recipes and even vegan
recipes because we aren’t vegetarian ourselves. With this there could also be a problem
if someone on the team or someone that has been asked to be on the team doesn’t
agree with not eating meat. This could mean that there is a loss of production team
members, and it could be difficult to find others.
16. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
Amendments you have considered to;
The Product
Since looking at the brief I have found that there isn’t anything that I would need to
change. There is a chance to be creative while still keeping to their layout.
The Budget
It might be difficult to find the correct laminate and card that they want to use, and it might
be quite expensive.
The Condition
There isn’t any amendments that we would need to consider for the conditions of the brief
either.
17. OPPORTUNITIES
What opportunities could this brief allow you to explore?
Self Development
There is a chance to be creative and try out different ideas with brief, and if we could keep copies of the finished
product then we could use them later on. Another thing that we could learn could be to be more creative, this
brief lets us use Photoshop and with this we could try out how to use Photoshop more. We would also learn how to
stick to a brief and how to work in a team.
Learning new skills
With this brief we get to learn how to lay out a recipe and how to produce our own recipe cards. We could also learn
how to produce good looking photographs. We could learn how to take photographs professionally and make
them all look right as a set, we could also learn how to use Photoshop to edit images as well as makes cards.
Multi-skilling
This brief will help us learn how to make our own cards, how to write up recipes and how to stick to a brief.This brief
will also help us how to make a schedule and how to stick to it. It will help us to prioritise our work just like if it was
real.
Contributing to a brief
We will learn that when we get a brief we will need to stick to it and produce the work that is needed. We will learn
that we need to read a brief carefully so that we don’t make work that isn’t what the company wants.
