Unit 5 - Task 1a & b - Structure and Negotiating of briefs

Structure of Briefs:

Contracted Brief 

A Contracted brief is one which cannot be negotiated by between the client and the outsourced development team such as a production house or media company. The advantages of this type of brief are that the team who the brief has been given to knows exactly what is wanted from the client and how to do this but on the other hand, the team will not be allowed to add their own input/improvements to the desired plan. Also it will give the client extended time on the project to work on a part that maybe isn't as up to date. The disadvantages although is that it will cost money to do this and they could lose out on a profit if the product isn't that good in the end.

A contracted brief is most common when a company will outsource an area of their project to a development team. An example would be if a company needed another team of people to create 3D objects for their game and so gave the brief to another company to produce it for them. Another example would be in for instance if a film company needed CGI for their film and they didn’t have good enough resources, they will ask upon another company, usually one that specifies in this field to create the images asked for. But in the contract there will be no discussion with what is being made, for example, if they needed a spaceship above earth they will tell them that’s what is needed rather than offering them a chance to change it. 

Negotiated Brief

The opposite of a contracted brief. In this plan, the development/outsourced company will sit down with the client and have some say as to what the end product will be. In the meeting, the client will discuss how the overall ideas and design for the product will end. This has its advantages for the production house as they are allowed to add their own ideas to the final product or if they see a place where the client has either gone wrong or can build upon then they have a much larger say. This may have been a disadvantage for the client who may not end up with the same product they intended for.

An example of this would be if Rockstar games were developing a game but they decided that it would be best to give the project to another company like Z-Axis Games to make it better during the meeting they could give the company an option to change the game in some way to make it better but it would have to go through Rockstar before being finalized. Another example is if a film company Colombia pictures needed music for their film they may give the contract to a someone like Hans Zimmer who can then choose what music he wants to go where in the film because the brief gives him the ability to do that.  

In Comparison 

There is a very clear difference between a contractual brief and a negotiated brief. You can see how each one can be considered the more desirable brief as the both hold well founded advantages on the other hand both have their own disadvantages. For much larger projects then a contractual brief is probably preferred because the projects details will be a lot more focused to what the client wants for the final outcome. On the other hand a negotiated brief is a lot better suited for a smaller production in which the client may need new inspiration or improvements to the product, making it a better overall quality.

Formal/Informal Brief

When negotiating ant type of brief there is a massive variation between having a formal and an informal brief. A formal brief is very precise and will be spoken about in enormous detail between both the client and the development team or outsourced company. The meetings would have meeting minutes and would require sign-off sheets during the entire process. An example of a formal meeting would be if a big company like Ubisoft has a meeting with another big company like Sony they will have a planned meeting to discuss the brief. Another example would be if a film that has a budget in the millions like Star Wars, they will have to plan each meeting to discuss how far the film is going and what the next step is. 

 An Informal brief is one that would not take up much time and would usually be reviewed upon in very little detail. This type of brief is usually because the idea is small or the client is small, on the other hand, the formal brief would be used for a more large-scale client or a large scale production. An example of an informal brief would be in a small budgeted series rather than a huge nine-figure film project. For example, a show like red budget will not be as formal as a series like Game of Thrones. 

Commission Brief

A commission brief is the same as a normal brief only there is an extra addition which says that the client of the product is able to apply to have the money refunded even after the product has been developed. If this happens then the client will not be allowed to use the product as intended which means a new product will have to be developed. 

For example, if a games company like Activision Blizzard has another company like Cloud Imperium Games to create objects for them and they pay they for it, Activision Blizzard always have the option to ask for a full refund for the objects made but the brief makes sure that they wont be able to use the objects once the refund has been made. Similarly in film if a company like Time Warner decide to not use the CGI that has been created and use another company to create it they can get a refund for the created images. 

Tender Brief

A tender brief is when the client will make a brief that will then be shared between multiple production companies for them to then create an offer that shows their ideas and plans for that brief and present that to the client. The client will then have the choice to choose from the many offers from each company. The advantaged behind this is that the client can choose the offer that they feel is best rather than having the one company doing their work to a substantial level. However, if a company isn't chosen to develop the brief then it can set them back in business.

An example of this in practice is if a games company like Epic Games want a product like a futuristic city for their game, they will publish a brief telling other companies what the specifics are and then they will probably receive an offer from a multitude of companies with their own interpretation of a futuristic city which they can choose from to hire. Or in another case, in the films industry, if a company like Disney want a concept artist for their film, they will publish a brief for people to see and they can choose which they like best and hire them for their film production. 

Co-operative Brief

The co-operative brief is when a client will hire a multitude of production companies for a project. It can also be when one company will come together with another company and help them to complete a single production. These are more common on larger scale productions like with films and some advertisements. This method is a good way of getting a lot of ideas from a lot of different people, bettering the outcome of the project. It also increases workflow since more people will be working, overall meaning a quicker completion time and better product. The fact that more people are on the project could be a problem as there could be a clash of opinions with how they want the product to end up. 

For example if a company like Sony want an entire set of characters for their game, they could hire 2 or 3 other smaller or indie companies like Arrowhead Game Studios and Yacht Club Games to help create them. Or for instance in films if a company like 21st Century Fox  wanted a style of music they could call up on people like John Williams and Danny Elfman to work together and create the music for their upcoming film. 

Competition Brief

A Competition Brief is when an Idea is created, and a brief is distributed to the public in order to get the Public to make the Product in line with the brief. This is in order to get many free products made at the cost of the competitions prize, which is most typically a lump sum of money, or a contract to the Brief Creator in which will mean that the creator of the product will then on make the rest of the Products that the Client will require.

An example of this would be if a games company like 2K Games wanted ideas for their games art style, they will put of the brief to the public with the promise of either a cash prize or a contract to work with them for a period of time with this they get a whole host of different art styles and only lost a little bit of their budget. 

Reading a Brief 

When discussing a brief, every detail must be looked through in depth and gone over so that the situation is fully understood, without this then the final product cannot be developed. There are also factors that go in the idea, some of these are:

Demographics, Geographic's, Market competition, what the product will be used for (advertising etc.), style of product, the technical specifications (quality of product)

For example, if a company like Naughty Dog have finalised a brief with another company they must have a deep conversation about what the final product must include an what it cannot include for the sake of sales. If the plan is for the hired development team is to create the characters and the target demographic is males for the ages of 14 - 19 then they should steer away for the  girly elements for the character and make him relate-able to them. 

Crucial 

If the developer for this product does not fully understand the factors given then the final outcome may not be as successful as they planned, leading to a possible financial loss. 

As well as this, it is very important to discuss the factors so that the project can be planned, things like:

• Timescales and Resources
• Locations
• Crew 
• Production/Post Production/Programming/Animating Time

If i was hired by an outside company for the purpose of producing their desired product and i didn't take these factors into account then it could be very drastic for both me and the company as it could very easily cause a loss in profit.

Negotiating The Brief: Consultation With The Client

In every brief there will always be a consultation process, this may either be in a formal or informal meeting between both the client and the development team depending on the scale of the product or organisation.

When negotiating the brief there will be an option for the development company to give ideas on how they think the product idea can be improved upon. Negotiated briefs are good for the creator to have an opinion on how the brief will be contracted.

In a contracted brief this is not an option because the idea for the product has already been specified, despite this there will still be a consultation stage. This makes it somewhat easier for the production team to create the product but if they see an area to improve on, they have no say. 

Discretion in Interpreting the Brief

Similar to when negotiating a brief there’s a certain degree of discretion when the production company and the client have meetings. When the team receive a brief they will have read through it and decide there how it will be done and if it is possible in the time frame given. The development team has to understand how they are to create the product, how it will be distributed and if it can be exactly how the client wants it. This is why meetings and consultations are very much needed, so that they can talk about the ideas.

A situation this could happen would be if a company like EA hired another company like Codemasters to create assets for the upcoming project and they didn't think that the task gave to them could be done in the given time span and so they tell EA this and a solution is discussed. 

Constraints: Legal, Ethical, Regulatory

Once all the details for the product have been outlined for the product. It must be considered if it is possible for that media product to be able to go out into the public's eye. Does that product meet the legal, ethical and regulatory constraints according to their target audience. This makes sure that the created product does not cause harm to anyone that will be affected by it. 

Ethical

Violence is becoming more popular in the game industry and not for any good reasons, as more games come out that promote violence like GTA V, Call of Duty, Titanfall as well as countless others has caused mass outrage among people throughout the world as they say that it causes people -who are vulnerable to games like this- to lash out. Video games have heavily been the centre of controversy within the last 10-20 years because of the amount of violence portrayed on screen. A test conducted in the US showed that as many as 97% of kids who ages ranged from 12-17 play video games which contributes to $21.53 billion in the video game industry. Over half of the top 50 selling videos contain violence and with that comes games like Diablo III, Overwatch, 'Call of Duty: Black Ops'. The violence in video games has been the blame for school shootings, an increase in bullying as well as violence towards women, the argument is that violent games desensitise exposed kids while they are playing games that require you to kill one another and then reward then for doing so.

Legal Constraints 

Violence is becoming more popular in the game industry and not for any good reasons, as more games come out that promote violence like GTA V, Call of Duty, Titanfall as well as countless others has caused mass outrage among people throughout the world as they say that it causes people -who are vulnerable to games like this- to lash out. Video games have heavily been the centre of controversy within the last 10-20 years because of the amount of violence portrayed on screen. A test conducted in the US showed that as many as 97% of kids who ages ranged from 12-17 play video games which contributes to $21.53 billion in the video game industry. Over half of the top 50 selling videos contain violence and with that comes games like Diablo III, Overwatch, 'Call of Duty: Black Ops'. The violence in video games has been the blame for school shootings, an increase in bullying as well as violence towards women, the argument is that violent games desensitise exposed kids while they are playing games that require you to kill one another and then reward then for doing so.

Amendments to Proposed Final Product

Whilst in the development stage there are chances in which the idea can be changed or moulded in a different way. In order have a bit of security, all production companies will have Sign off sheets. A Sign off sheet states that once the client has finalised an idea, it cannot be changed during the production stage. 

This makes life easier and much more effective for the development team because if the client decided that they wants to change somethings within the product  then the team would have to get on with it and do it, with a Sign off sheet it makes this undoable. 

Amendments to a Budget 

Similar to the amendments to the final product, sometimes there can be changes made to the budget for the product. This can happen in some cases where the price has either risen or changed, in these cases then the changes in the budget will have to be talked about with the client to make sure that they are willing to pay for the new cost. If this is to happen then there will be a new and updated pre-production which will show the increase or decrease in price.

This could be a possibility in a situation where a big films company like Warner Bros. asked Viacom to add the sound to their film but the amount of money given to them to do this wasn't sufficient. In the meetings they could raise this point and ask for more money which would add to their budget or they could say they will use their own money and be reimbursed for it. 

Negotiating the Fees

It is immensely important that the costs for the development for the product is discussed to a very high degree in the consultation with the client. This makes sure that both parties are aware of the budget involved. The client will have to know how much he is paying for the project to take place, the production team will have an idea of how much money is involved so that they can discuss the final budget but this is only able in a negotiated brief. 

Opportunities for Self Development

During their time working on a brief together, it can give the developers and the client new skills they can be used if they ever go into another brief with a different person/company. Some of these skills can be things like communication skills especially if they are working on a negotiated brief. Being able to come up with better and new ideas because of the people they are surrounded by and having a lot more ideas than if they were on their own, this can be translated into their own work. 

Opportunities for Multi-Tasking

The ability to work on one task at a time has its advantages if a development team is working on two briefs at one time for example if they are tasked with making 3D objects and the story. Sometimes, they are not able to and must complete both tasks with in the time given. Working to a contractual brief and negotiated brief in the same time period can be an advantage to the producer because it means they can work on of project to a high standard.

Contributions to a Project Brief

Other than when they are working with a contractual brief, the developers of the product will almost certainly have the ability to put their own ideas into the project ideas. Yet, having the ability to change and mould the product just as much as the producer does can cause faults in the original idea but if this is discussed properly in meeting minutes then these can be corrected very quickly. This swiftly makes the final product a much more better standard than the original because more and more ideas have been talked about. Equalling more money coming from the final product.