Working to a brief

In relation to working to a brief, there are many ways in which it can be presented.

One of these in regards to the structure of the brief is contractual where the brief is a contract written up for employment. Also, a television company such as ITV could approach or be approached to make a television series. For example the series drama of titanic was made for ITV and the company could have been approached to air the series but would have a written publication so that they could negotiate how long the programme would be on for and how many episodes of it would be made. This is all written up in a contract that is agreed by both parties and signed.

  Another way to brief could be presented is negotiated. A client discuss developing the brief and working with them to improve and aim to reaching objectives. This could involve negotiating the content of the programme, how long it is going to be and how long it is going to be on for.

 Formal is where a face to face meeting is organised is held in order for the company to outline what they would like you to do. For example, if a producer of a television series holds a meeting with a host of people in order to discuss ideas. For example 'The Apprentice' when Lord Sugar gives the apprentices a task to do and once they have done the task they have to report back to Lord Sugar with how they found the task. He then assesses what certain apprentices did wrong which results in one of them losing their opportunity of becoming an apprentice. Informal which is similar in relation to contractual is a casual phone call that could take place between a client and you to discuss the aims and objectives you need to reach.

Commission is where you approach or either approached for work. This is similar in relation to contractual and there would be a contract agreement to the work that either you or you expect someone else to do. Tender is where briefs are sent by email and/or post to several companies in which a response is sent back with ideas. From the feedback that is received, each company ideas are in competition with others in the hope there ideas are used.

 On a Grand Designs website is offers you the chance to enter a competition. The competition states to the participants to do a 60 second film about persuading people to be more eco-friendly. The prize for the winner is £1.500 and £5000 that is put towards making the next campaign film. In the brief it states who will be judging the short film, the rules and regulation of what you can and can't do and when they want the films to be entered by. In the brief they give detail of how long they want the film to be, what the content of the film has to be and gives you terms and conditions to read so you fully understand what you can and can't do when making the film.

The brief that I was given for the Esting's project of creating a short video demanded of us and what they expected if you wanted to take part in the competition. The first thing they ask you to do is research on the company in order to aim to reach the right target audience and in order to give you an idea of what sort of video to make they give you a link to their website to look at other Esting's. You are also given a 10 second limit in making the video and you're only to submit a maximum of 3 videos. The brief will tell you the date you have to enter your Esting's by and if you have entered it after that date it won't be considered.

Once i finished making my video I had a face-to-face consultation with my tutor about my finished video about what she thought was good about my video and what she thought could be improved. Her job was to give me feedback and to make sure I was meeting deadlines and keeping up with my work. Once I read the brief I came to the conclusion it wasn't very strict as I was given plenty of time to create what I wanted and I could use my own ideas for what I wanted to make. We was allowed to come up with our themes for example, I created theme of a footballer. When making my Estings i had to consider issues such as legal, ethical and regulatory issues. On the channel 4 editorial guidelines it states points regarding what you can't use because it has to be appropriate for the target audience. Such as using bad language, racist, sexist or any relation to drugs or alcohol.

To enable myself to receive feedback from my work I created a questionnaire which I asked a range of people from different ages to watch my video and then fill in the questionnaire. I also posted my video on social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube which enabled people to comment and post to me what they thought of it. The feedback I got was positive and a lot of people were impressed. However, some others thought they video could be improved by being a lot smoother. In terms of the budget I didn't have much of a budget to work with. However I was given resources such as Plastercine, Digital camera, and a box to create my set. With the recourses I handled it well but feel I would have been able to improve it if my budget was more.

While doing this project I learnt a lot about animation and creating a video using stop-motion animation. Despite me not wanting to pursue a career in animation in any sort I still think that creating the Esting would be a good experience with working to deadlines and with very little recourses to use. At some point I also had to multi-skill when keeping my character in place and having to stay images at the same time. In addition to this I also had to move two characters at the same time. When proceeding with the project, I wanted to create something that people would find entertaining and could relate too. For example, I thought the idea of a football player would have been good because of the younger generation audience that watch E4 could relate to it if they like the sport. I also integrated the E4 logo into the Esting at any giving opportunity.