Briefs
A project brief is a set of guidelines that an employer will give to those they commission. They can be vague or extremely detailed depending on whether the employer has a specific idea in mind.
If you are commissioned to do something you are tasked to create a piece of media for someone.The screenshot below shows the BBC's commissioning process for independent production companies.
The term tender means the process of putting yourself out for hire. So you may advertise yourself as an animator who specialises in stop motion animation. Anyone searching for this style on animator would be able to read their advertisement and decided whether they want to hire them.
You could respond to a brief by entering a competition, such as the one below. The brief given by SunDance is quite vague and open to interpretation.
Reading a brief
We had to create an ESting suitable to enter into the E4 ident competition. The brief given stated that the piece we create has to be 10 seconds long and include one of the given E4 soundtracks.
Negotiating a brief
With this brief we had a fair amount of freedom with what we could create, as long as it is suitable for E4's target audience and an animation under 10 seconds.
In the media industry not all companies will allow this much freedom, as some may have a specific idea/image in mind that they want to be created exactly. If you are being hired to create something for a company and they know what they want it is key that you follow the brief as close as possible. While it wasn't necessary for us, it is always a good idea to contact the company if you have an idea not fitting the brief or to have a discussion about areas where leeway is possible.
When creating a project the company may not always realise how much they are asking of the employee. A possible constraint faced could be not having a large enough budget to spend on actors or props. It could also be legal constraints such as not being able to use a piece of music for copyright reasons. A issue we faced was that we were portraying someone jumping off a building in a comical way. While it is clear that it is comical it could also still show suicidal themes. We also had a problem with budgeting at the brick wallpaper we decided to use cost £23.98 for two rolls. Our initial budget was meant to be £5 but we were able to purchase the wallpaper as it could be reused by the college in later productions.
For our final product we re-shot the middle section, where he is falling, because it was a couple seconds short of the ten second mark. We also used this as an opportunity to try and make it looks smoother and more professional than our original shoot, as we weren't sure what we were doing the first time.
When working to a brief amendments might have to occur to the budget and spending if the employer has not offered enough money for the production of their idea. Either the employer will have to give the employee more money or the employee will have to make budge cuts, such as cheaper actors or props. There might also be changes to personal fees if there are unforeseen circumstances. For example, if you employ actors, film a couple of scenes and they fall ill or are in accident and will be unable to shoot for a while, you would need to hire a new actor and re-shoot those scenes or be given an extended deadline. If the client chooses to re-shoot then more money is required to pay for the actor, if they decide to wait the employee is working more hours so entitled to more pay. Other situations this could occur if filming outside and the weather is inconsistent, resulting in more time needed to shoot and more pay for the employee.
Sometimes directors can leave a project before it is finished. This can be for multiple reasons; such as creative differences (interpersonal disagreements within a collaborating group) or unforeseen circumstances. An example where someone has left a project because of creative differences is the recent Ant Man movie. Edgar Wright was supposed to be directing Ant Man however decided to leave the project, in his words "I wanted to make a Marvel movie but I don't think they really wanted to make an Edgar Wright Movie", Disney wanted him to create their draft of the script which he wasn't too keen on. Another director who had to quit the film he was working on, but not by choice, is Guillermo del Toro when working on The Hobbit. Del Toro was meant to work as the director, alongside executive producer Peter Jackson, due to a series of setbacks. Toro worked on the film for 2 years and had other projects lined up for after The Hobbit, but because of the setbacks it put increasing pressure and demand on the upcoming projects. This forced Toro to leave.
In the media industry not all companies will allow this much freedom, as some may have a specific idea/image in mind that they want to be created exactly. If you are being hired to create something for a company and they know what they want it is key that you follow the brief as close as possible. While it wasn't necessary for us, it is always a good idea to contact the company if you have an idea not fitting the brief or to have a discussion about areas where leeway is possible.
When creating a project the company may not always realise how much they are asking of the employee. A possible constraint faced could be not having a large enough budget to spend on actors or props. It could also be legal constraints such as not being able to use a piece of music for copyright reasons. A issue we faced was that we were portraying someone jumping off a building in a comical way. While it is clear that it is comical it could also still show suicidal themes. We also had a problem with budgeting at the brick wallpaper we decided to use cost £23.98 for two rolls. Our initial budget was meant to be £5 but we were able to purchase the wallpaper as it could be reused by the college in later productions.
For our final product we re-shot the middle section, where he is falling, because it was a couple seconds short of the ten second mark. We also used this as an opportunity to try and make it looks smoother and more professional than our original shoot, as we weren't sure what we were doing the first time.
When working to a brief amendments might have to occur to the budget and spending if the employer has not offered enough money for the production of their idea. Either the employer will have to give the employee more money or the employee will have to make budge cuts, such as cheaper actors or props. There might also be changes to personal fees if there are unforeseen circumstances. For example, if you employ actors, film a couple of scenes and they fall ill or are in accident and will be unable to shoot for a while, you would need to hire a new actor and re-shoot those scenes or be given an extended deadline. If the client chooses to re-shoot then more money is required to pay for the actor, if they decide to wait the employee is working more hours so entitled to more pay. Other situations this could occur if filming outside and the weather is inconsistent, resulting in more time needed to shoot and more pay for the employee.
Sometimes directors can leave a project before it is finished. This can be for multiple reasons; such as creative differences (interpersonal disagreements within a collaborating group) or unforeseen circumstances. An example where someone has left a project because of creative differences is the recent Ant Man movie. Edgar Wright was supposed to be directing Ant Man however decided to leave the project, in his words "I wanted to make a Marvel movie but I don't think they really wanted to make an Edgar Wright Movie", Disney wanted him to create their draft of the script which he wasn't too keen on. Another director who had to quit the film he was working on, but not by choice, is Guillermo del Toro when working on The Hobbit. Del Toro was meant to work as the director, alongside executive producer Peter Jackson, due to a series of setbacks. Toro worked on the film for 2 years and had other projects lined up for after The Hobbit, but because of the setbacks it put increasing pressure and demand on the upcoming projects. This forced Toro to leave.
Opportunities
Someone may respond to a brief if they are a freelance worker looking for employment, or new to the industry and looking for experience for their CV's. When it comes down to competition briefs, people may enter to gain notoriety and try to kick start their career while winning a prize (normally money or equipment).
This project was one that greatly tested my patience. It was also extremely tedious taking a photo, slightly moving the set, taking another photo and so on. I also found it incredibly frustrating when two shots didn't match up meaning we would have to try it again, and it felt like a very long process for only ten seconds of footage. However I mostly stayed calm, only snapping at someone when there were multiple people talking and suggesting ideas while I was focusing on something else. From this experience I realised that generally I can work well with others, if I don't feel overwhelmed with multiple conversations at once.
During this project I didn't learn how to create stop motion animation but I learnt the specs behind an animation, it runs at 12 fps. I also learned how to edit it together, and how much of a time consuming process it is. When creating this product I was in charge of taking the photos and repositioning the set. while making sure the lighting was consistent.
The contributions I made to the project brief was the idea of our character forever falling and doing activities while he fell (drink some tea, read a book, take a selfie etc).
http://estings.e4.com/terms.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/who-we-are-how-we-commission
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/may/31/the-hobbit-guillermo-del-toro
This project was one that greatly tested my patience. It was also extremely tedious taking a photo, slightly moving the set, taking another photo and so on. I also found it incredibly frustrating when two shots didn't match up meaning we would have to try it again, and it felt like a very long process for only ten seconds of footage. However I mostly stayed calm, only snapping at someone when there were multiple people talking and suggesting ideas while I was focusing on something else. From this experience I realised that generally I can work well with others, if I don't feel overwhelmed with multiple conversations at once.
During this project I didn't learn how to create stop motion animation but I learnt the specs behind an animation, it runs at 12 fps. I also learned how to edit it together, and how much of a time consuming process it is. When creating this product I was in charge of taking the photos and repositioning the set. while making sure the lighting was consistent.
The contributions I made to the project brief was the idea of our character forever falling and doing activities while he fell (drink some tea, read a book, take a selfie etc).
http://estings.e4.com/terms.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/who-we-are-how-we-commission
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/may/31/the-hobbit-guillermo-del-toro
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