What is a brief?
A brief is specific guidelines for a project to be made. In the media industry briefs are commonly set for adverts. However they can be set for television and film. Companies like Unilever for example would normally set a brief.
An example of a brief
What is commission?
A commission is what a company would be prepared to pay an employer the price the employer wants to make a project for them. So for example a freelancer may ask LYNX for £10,000 to make the advert.
What is tender?
Tender is the process of making an offer, bid or proposal or expressing interest in response to an invitation or request for tender. Usually organisations seek out other businesses to do the particular need for them. A business will want the best value for money.
Stock image of what tender looks like.
Other ways of responding to a brief?
You can enter competitions like E4 Estings as it is a way to express creativity and individuality. You have to follow the rules of the brief exactly or they won't consider it in the competition. For example I had to make an Esting which was 10 seconds long and a stop motion animation.
Reading a brief
ESting competition rules:
The E4 logo must be included.
You must be 16 or older.
Must use provided E4 music.
Must have a public Youtube and twitter account.
1 entry per person.
10 seconds max.
Must not obscene or break copyright.
When it came to making the Esting I had to follow the rules. Mainly I didn't want to make it obscene as a man tears clay from his face and it easily could have become disturbing if I made a wrong move. I included the E4 at the end as it was formed by the purple clay. I'm 18 years old so I am old enough to enter. I used Drone beat 2 which is a piece of E4 music. And it is exactly 10 seconds.
Negotiating a brief
How much room did you have to negotiate the brief?
I had the freedom to come up with my own individual idea without much backlash. Nothing really changed from conception to the final edit except from a few re shoots. I knew from the beginning I would homage Poltergeist, Tobe Hooper, 1982 for an Esting. And I knew that I couldn't make it as gory as the actual scene.
Face tearing from Poltergeist.
- In the media industry, what degree of discretion do/would you have in interpreting a brief?
In the media industry discretion is important for a production company and the film makers to decide on how to make a product. If communication is poor or lost in translation things can go wrong. A famous example of discretion going wrong was Edgar Wright and Marvel when he Edgar was meant to be the original writer/director making Ant-Man, Peyton Reed. Not too much is known about Edgar departing the project but it is said that he and Marvel had major creative differences and Edgar quit because of this. It is obvious to fill the blanks as the Marvel cinematic Universe is so dense that if any continuity is broken between movies it could ruin the flow of things. A lot of directors who have worked for Marvel have said that they have had major creative differences with past directors like Jon Faverau. Directors like Quentin Tarantino who made The Hateful Eight has a lot of creative freedom when it comes to making his films. As he makes his films not as expensively as a big budget super hero movie, he can make a film on ultra wide panavision and project it in 70mm as he has a good track record.
Edgar Wright fell out with Marvel over Ant-Man. He still got a writing credit.
Tarantino gets a lot of creative control when he makes his films.
- What constraints (legal, ethical, regulatory) might you face when responding to a brief? What constraints did you face?
Normal constraints whilst facing a brief can be picking music for it. Copyright is huge and if you don't follow it you can be taken to court. The music industry is usually really strict and you'll have to pay the owner a lot of money to use it. When it comes to ethics deliberate offensiveness like racism, facism, sexism or general xenephobia etc could put you in a lot of trouble. If you use any of these things for satire to make a point. If you are a filmmaker and you are offending someone just to offend with no substance it won't be good for your film. When it comes to regulation OFCOM and the BBFC are the big ones in the UK. BBFC will give your film a rating depending on the content in your film. And OFCOM will regulate certain shows. OFCOM will regulate shows that are unsuitable to be aired between 9:00pm-5:30am. I had no problems with music as it was allowed by E4. I broke no regulatory laws as there was no violence or language.
- Did you have to make any amendments to proposed final product? Why?
I had to reshoot the last shot of my Esting. It was originally a lot of mini E4's in the sink. But my tutor didn't like that so I changed it to a bigger E4 which is seen in the final product. The mini E4's didn't really have an impact compared to the bigger one.
- For what reasons might there be amendments to; a budget? Your fees? Conditions outlined in the contract?
Amendments for a budget would be done say if a film makers last film was a commercial bomb the budget could be significantly lowered or someone may not work again. Michael Cimino made Heavens Gate for $44 million and it made back only $3.5 million. It essentially killed his Hollywood career. If directors go over budget or their fees could potentially go down and their contracts declined.
Heavens Gate is one of the most famous Hollywood bombs.
Opportunities
- Why might someone respond to a brief?
If someone is in freelance they may respond to briefs as they are not committed to a company and they can pick as they are offered briefs. A majority of directors are freelance and if a good production company offers them a a contract that could offer a lot of money they'll happily take it.
- Identify opportunities that you had for self-development.
Animation over all was good for my self development as I had never done animation before, as I had mainly done live action. So by doing stop motion animation I had improved on being patient when it comes to filming instead of a fast paced shoot.
- What new skills did you learn?
I learnt how to do animation during this project specifically stop motion. It was great at making me patient when I was taking pictures of individual shots
- Did you have to multi-skill at all during the project?
When it came to multi-skills I did both the camera work and storyboards of the project. So I med the shots in pre-production and production I knew the exact composition and framing.
- What contributions did you make to the project brief?
I pitched the idea of PoltergEsting, I drew the storyboards and I did all the camera work. So I pitched my own idea following the Esting brief and there was no protest to the idea.
http://toolkit.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/part/26/134/623
http://estings.e4.com/
http://screenrant.com/ant-man-director-edgar-wright-exits/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(film)
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