The Requirements of Working to a Brief

Brief

A brief/project brief is a small set of 'rules' that are given and from those, you can create/do whatever it is that the rules state. 

Commissioning is something that goes on in the industry quite a lot. Commissioning is the process of getting paid to complete a task or brief, if you will. The E4 was open to everyone but the brief still had guidelines that we had to follow - we also weren't commissioned for this brief. Usually bigger companies will approach you/your company and ask for a product to be made and will also provide you with a list of instructions or rules. You will have to follow these rules even if you don't agree with them because after all, you're getting paid for it and they set the rules.

An example of Commission in the industry is Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. They went to the BBC and said they wanted to re-imagine Sherlock. The BBC commissioned them to create it after discussing the lengths of the episodes and how many there were going to be - Seeing as the show was a big success, the BBC Pre-commissioned them for the rest of the episodes. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(TV_series)

A tender is very similar to a commission, but this is open to anyone; the E4 brief is more similar to tender than commission although no money changed hands. A company will brief several companies and whoever seems to have the best proposal will be chosen and will create the media. 

IdeasTap offer a brief called "The Editors Brief" it is a Tender that is open to anyone aged 16+.

Speaking of E4, another way that you can respond to a brief is via competition! A competition is usually a set of guidelines that anyone can respond to. The brief for competitions is usually a little looser in regards to rules; this allows for more creative movement and users can submit as they please.

Above is the brief for E4's ESting competition. Being a competition, there's not many strict rules to follow aside from following basic copyright laws and the finished product will have to be exactly 10 seconds in length. We also had to include some of their sound files and the logo must be included in the production, preferably included with the idea than just slapped on at the end.

Negotiating a brief

The brief allowed for a lot of creative freedom, this was a competition and competitions are generally fairly loose with rules aside from all the legal and ethical constraints that are mandatory.

Working to a set brief can be very challenging, especially when the client wants exactly what they asked for and do not allow for any creative input from your team. An example of this is a group from the "Media Learning Company" came in to do a talk and one of their stories was about creating a video for a video games festival - during the creation they all had some great ideas that would improve the product greatly; sadly the client wanted exactly what they had asked for and they video isn't considered some of their best work. 

As well as the original brief, you will have to comply with Legal, Ethical and Regulatory constraints, all of which will effect your product. 

Legal: It is important to remember that using someone else's work in your own and not giving credit or asking for permission is Illegal, upon doing so the original creator might kindly ask that you credit them or take action and take your to court over it. Either way, it's best to create your own material or gain permission for the material that you intend to use.

Ethical: This section is mostly about Consent and Privacy. Seeing as my production was completely clay and contained no actual people, I still had to trawl through the code to see if I was complying. Section Eight of the Ofcom broadcasting codes is all about privacy and consent, so I focused on this section when considering ethical issues.

"8.5 Any infringement of privacy in the making of a programme should be with the person's and/or organisation's consent or be otherwise warranted."

Regulatory: My animation contained a wizard with "supernatural" powers, so I had to be sure that I wasn't breaking any Broadcasting Codes that had been set by Ofcom. 

"2.6 Demonstrations of exorcism, the occult, the paranormal, divination, or practices related to any of these that purport to be real (as opposed to entertainment) must be treated with due objectivity"

Although it seems way out of the park, I had to read through the code carefully to ensure that I complied with it, otherwise we'd have a problem on our hands.

No amendments had to be made from my final product because I read the Broadcasting Code and complied with it.

If amendments were to be made to a product, they would most probably be because of budget/availability. Say I ran out of clay, I would have to change my original plan to fit what I have, or I'd have to purchase some more so that my plan/brief is completed to a standard.

 The Hangover Part II had some legal trouble when one of the characters, Stu (played by Ed Helms) had a tattoo on his face. The tattoo was Intellectual Property of an artist called S. Victor Whitmill; The case was settled out of court via a large sum of money. Pretty close call.

Opportunities

There are a few reasons as to why people might respond to a brief; the first being portfolio building. If someone see's a brief/competition that they like the look of and that they might be good at, they'd respond to it and then put the finished product on their portfolio - This method also helps you get a name in the industry and is conveniently the second reason as to why people might respond to a brief.

During my time at college I have had many opportunities to self-develop. I have taken part in group work that required a team of us to work on and create something in a short amount of time, and most of the times, this was a success. the recent E4 brief enabled me to work alone and really come up with something that I'd like to see; however, I do prefer working in a group as it really allows for creative minds to come together.

I have certainly learnt to work in a team and to suppress my "controlling" aspect as in the past it has lead to failing. Working in groups has allowed me to think as multiple people and be a much better listener. Given the chance to work in a team again, I would certainly take more ideas from other people instead of just submitting my own.

During the project, I was working alone; This meant that I had to operate a camera, craft models and sets for my animation and also animate them, so yes I had to Multi-Task during the project.

The project brief was very loose, so I submitted a lot of ideas to the idea. My inspiration came from a few youtube videos that I had watched, in which a desk came to life and sort of, took over. I also guess my inspiration came from Toy Story, The idea of toys coming to life whilst no one is looking/aware.