Unit 5 LO1

Contracted Brief
A Contractual Brief is one in which is created by a client which will then be given to a Production House or Media Company. This brief is made to be followed and cannot be negotiated with unlike a Negotiated Brief because with a contracted brief all the guidelines have been set by the client and are made to be followed. There are advantages to these kinds of briefs though such as the Production Company knowing exactly what to do through out the creation but that’s also a disadvantage which is that the Production Company will have no input on any improvements.

If I was working for a company on this type of brief then i wouldn't be able to have much flexibility. I could compare this to the brief i got for IG1 Computer Game Music And Sound Effects Production because i had to create exactly what i was told to make. The assignment given to me was not one where i could negotiate on and so that is why the brief given to me would be a contracted brief. This is a good way to show off my skills since this type of brief is completely based on the skills that you have learned and not so much on imagination since you already know what you're making.

Negotiated Brief
A Negotiated Brief is one in which is discussed between the Production Company and the Client. It will usually be discussed at a Client Meeting where the ideas, principles and the how the product will be produced are discussed. This has the advantage over a Contractual Brief where the Production Company can have a form of input into the brief meaning that any proposals that the client makes that do not seem appropriate or suitable for the Production.

If I was working for a company on this type of brief then i would be able to chance certain aspects and not completely follow what was given to me. A brief that i have worked on that was like this would be Unit 68 - 3D environments because i could negotiate with my client on what i would be making since i could choose between a forest, mars settlement or even as Victorian city.

Comparison
Comparing Contractual Brief and Negotiated Brief each have there own advantages and disadvantages. In a large scale project which is more complex a contractual brief would be better to create a stricter more detailed project whereas a negotiated brief is more flexible and can create a product without limiting yourself.

Formal/Informal Brief
The difference between a Formal and Informal Brief is the writing style. With a formal brief it has to be discussed in great detail between the Client and the Production Company where everything from the details to the minutes that will go into the meeting but on the other hand an informal brief is one that would only have a little detail that would go into it, it mainly involves handing over the brief and little meeting. The main point of a informal brief is that it is used for small scale client/project whereas the formal brief would be for a much larger scale/company since the quality would need to be much higher.

both of these types of briefs can be compared to what we have done so far because we discuss the project in great detail with out teacher/client beforehand which is similar to a formal brief but once the actual brief is given out we don't really talk much about it because all info we need is already on it such as completion date and what we need to do. Both of these briefs are common in the game design industry since games come in a variety of sizes and have multiple aspects to them so both of these briefs can be used depending on the project at hand e.g. Persona 5 needing a formal brief and a smaller game like FNAF could use a informal brief.

Commission Brief
A Commission Brief is a standard brief with an bit added on to it. This is something that allows the client the try and get his money back after the product has been completed but if the client does manage to get a refund the product cant be used by the client for the original purpose meaning that a new product or service will have to be made for the product. the completion of the Product. This is a form of Commission, however, if the client does get a refund, the product can then no longer be used for the purposes desired, meaning that a new product or service will have to be made.

Tender Brief
A tender brief is a brief that will be made and distributed to multiple Production Companies. This will allow the Production Company to make an offer to the client for the chance to take on the project and also explain any ideas that they may have to convince the client that they are right for the project.

Co-operative Brief
A cooperative brief is one where a client will hire multiple companies or where companies cooperate on a single project. This is mainly used on much larger products with more difficult briefs such as films, adverts or animations. It’s a much easier way of bringing together multiple ideas and helping wit increasing the work flow because more people to be working on the same project allowing for the project to be completed quicker with a higher quality

Competition Brief

Completion brief is where an idea is created and distributed to the public in order to get the Public to help make the Product in line with the brief. By doing this you are able to get a lot of free products by dangling a prize in front of them such as a large sum of money or a contract to help work on the rest of the brief with the creator.

Just like when making a game anything that is read down and needs to be produced in a brief needs to be fully explained and understood just like if a artist were to give a image to a 3D modeller because if not the  product could not be made properly so everything including: demographic, Geographic’s, Market Competition, marketing/advertising, The art style of the product, Technical Specifications e.g. FPS, Aspect Ratio and overall quality of final product

Making sure that the brief is understood and read properly is absolutely crucial in the design process. If these are not understood then the product will not be made effectively or even how it should have been made at all which would cost a lot of money. To make a brief like this then you would need to know the time you have to make the project, the resources that you have the right employees/skills for everything such as post production, production, programming and animation.

Negotiating the brief

At the beginning of the project there will be a meeting where the client and production company will consult with one another about the brief, this meeting can be either formal or informal depending on those involved. In a negotiated brief you get the chance to suggest improvements to make the product more effective and what aspects would improve the product. You do not do this when there is contracted brief because although there is a consultation period, the is no input that can be made by the production company this would mean  that if there are any issues they cannot be improved upon.

Discretion in interpreting the brief

When interpreting the brief you need to read the brief and think about them in a technological sense which means thinking about how you would distribute the production to the employees, how you would create the product and also how the client wants it to look

Constraints: Legal, ethical, regulatory

it is crucial that the Legal, Ethical and Regulatory constraints are thought through and put into place for all parties. This means that the idea and themes that take place in the product do not cause any harm to anyone and making sure that the age needed to obtain the product is correct such bas murder being in a game for kids. This is because there are many government created laws and regulations that need to be followed whenever making a product. A few such example are the Data Protection Act, Advertising Standards Authority, Ofcom, EU Competition Commission. Because there are so many it is easy to understand that Legal Constraints are the hardest to avoid running into as it requires you to understand all the laws that can have an effect on the product being made unlike ethical restrains you can have people of different ethics so that you can know that you aren’t going against the different ethnic groups.

While in the Production Process there is plenty of times where ideas can be developed or changed until the Sign Off Sheets are completed, these are a form of security which states when something has been done and cant be changed after they have been completed. This is a important thing as if the client were to want to change it the company would have to do so but they cant if there is Sign Off Sheets.

Amendments to a budget

This will be what happens when costs or prices have changed, and the new costs will have to be discussed with the client to ensure that they are happy to pay the new costs after they have been worked out

Amendments to conditions
You are able to change the conditions of the product which will have a effect on what the outcome will be. Examples of this would be if the client were to change the demographic then aspects would have to change such as colours that go into the game. This will affect the Producers as it will create more working hours on the one single project

Negotiating the fees

During the first time negotiating with the client during the consultation, its incredibly important that the fees for the product are discussed such bas all costs that they will pay for and how much work needs to be done and the pay rate for the product. Its important to say that this can only be done in a Negotiated Brief.

Opportunities for self development

Doing briefs allow for self improvements of both the producers and the client, things like having to learnt new software's, learning new communication techniques and increasing creativity.

Opportunities for multi-tasking
By working on multiple briefs at a time you are able to increase your multi tasking skills such as working on a concept art brief and a animation brief or another example would be working on a negotiated brief and a contracted brief at they same time allowing you to multi task easier, this is crucial skill for when you do work in the media industry because there's no shortage of work to do.. Examples of this that I would of come across would be working on multiple units such as my final major and 3D environment.

Contributions to a project brief

Usually when working on a brief the creator of the product will have at least some input into the actual product idea which isn’t the case when it comes to a contractual brief. In the cases when the creator can have there input this allows the idea to be further developed after its already been pitched which causes more flaws to be hammered out while the project is still in development this solves not only the needs of the producer but also the client making them also give recommendations to future clients.