WORKING TO A BRIEF ASSIGNMENT 1
Legal:
Copyright:
Risk Assessment
Libel Law:
This law is to protect people from their reputation being damaged on TV because of un true facts about a person, the law is broken when someone releases something false about somebody which will harm their reputation. This is a dangerous thing to do, for example if a celebrity was incorrectly called a racist then on the back of that there would be strong hatred towards the celebrity as well as news programs reporting on it. In order to avoid breaking this law, when printing only quote people for their exact words used and only stick to the absolute truth and un-biased opinion. With social media becoming the norm for celebrities, their tweets are often misunderstood and can lead to huge lawsuits and issues for them later on.
Ethical:
Ethics is a completely different thing to the law, the obvious difference is that there is no set ethical code, it's opinion based. You can't get arrested for being ethically misguided since it's all opinion based. Ethics is all about whether something is equal, fair, responsible. Ethical codes aren't the law however your employer will often set them for their employees at a large production company to make sure everybody knows what they can and can't get away with, this is highly recommended for a production company.
As a production company when it comes to making an ethical decision it's all on you, you will need to take into consideration the ramifications of what you're about to publish and the effects it could have on you and your company.
Regulatory Bodies:
Regulatory bodies are government founded organisations whos job it is to monitor and control media sectors in. There are all kinds of media that fall into their jurisdiction such as Radio, Movies, TV, newspapers and much more. The whole point in having regulatory bodies is to protect the public from any indecent content that they may be subjected to as well as producers and those working on the project. Without the regulatory bodies audiences might be subjected to obscene or damaging content without being warned. Thanks to regulating bodies they can warn people about such things, if a film has violence or bad language there will be a warning on the front of the DVD or before the program.
Having the regulatory bodies there means that they can enforce rules and guidelines for producers to follow when making something, these are a few considerations:
Working To A Brief
Briefs are handed out in many forms of creative projects from website design to film, the purpose of this is to avoid any confusion between what the client wants and what the contractor produces. This is done by usually outlining exactly what they want before paying you and setting you off on a project. Different briefs suit different clients better, you can't use the same brief structure for all of your work as it simply won't be applicable.
Contractual:
Contractual briefs are briefs generally given by much larger companies but are still sometimes done by smaller ones. The definition is basically as it sounds, you would be hired into a contract to do a job, when the job is done to the specific guidelines you get paid. Unlike other briefs there is no room for negotiation as to what they want, they will have a clear budget, deadline and frame for the project.
Once you have signed the brief you need to be putting all of your attention into this, because the brief is so clear as to what they want and when they want it you can't afford to hand it in late or not completed as they simply won't pay you. There isn't much room for creative viability sometimes in these kinds of scenario's, the person issuing the brief will probably have a clear vision of what they want it to look like which can make it difficult if your end product doesn't like identical to what they had in mind.
Contractual briefs are briefs generally given by much larger companies but are still sometimes done by smaller ones. The definition is basically as it sounds, you would be hired into a contract to do a job, when the job is done to the specific guidelines you get paid. Unlike other briefs there is no room for negotiation as to what they want, they will have a clear budget, deadline and frame for the project.
Once you have signed the brief you need to be putting all of your attention into this, because the brief is so clear as to what they want and when they want it you can't afford to hand it in late or not completed as they simply won't pay you. There isn't much room for creative viability sometimes in these kinds of scenario's, the person issuing the brief will probably have a clear vision of what they want it to look like which can make it difficult if your end product doesn't like identical to what they had in mind.
Negotiated:
This form of brief is very self explanatory, unlike contractual this is much more open to discussion between the two parties involved in making the product. Where contractual has outlined exactly what they want, when they want it and the budget involved, a lot of these can be re-negotiated with the contractor. Sometimes some of them will be fixed, often the budget doesn't have much room for negotiation since it's all the money they have to spend, sometimes they can push it a little more here and there to get the best end product.
Commission:
A commission brief is where you (as a production company) would be employed by another company to produce a video for their use. However, once the video is produced the company can then sell the product to an external client and the production company would take a cut of the royalties. This brief is always negotiated between the client and the production company before or after the production of the video as to how much of the commission the production company would be given percentage wise. They also include exactly what you are going to include such as the style, key, time limits etc.
The advantages of this form of brief is that the company paying for the original video do not have to do a lot of the harder work themselves, they have the option of sub-contracting the work set in the brief to another company who will receive money for their work plus commission.
Here's an example:
A commission brief is where you (as a production company) would be employed by another company to produce a video for their use. However, once the video is produced the company can then sell the product to an external client and the production company would take a cut of the royalties. This brief is always negotiated between the client and the production company before or after the production of the video as to how much of the commission the production company would be given percentage wise. They also include exactly what you are going to include such as the style, key, time limits etc.
The advantages of this form of brief is that the company paying for the original video do not have to do a lot of the harder work themselves, they have the option of sub-contracting the work set in the brief to another company who will receive money for their work plus commission.
Here's an example:
Tender:
A Tender brief is one produced by a company with a budget and clear idea of what they want as well as the deadline and restrictions, at this point several production companies or contractors will generate ideas and pitches for the company at which point the company chooses who they think would be best to complete the project.
In some cases such as MoFilms a brief will be put out into the public for a film they want doing, tens sometimes hundreds of people will get back to them with their finished product and the company chooses the one they want and give them a prize money/payment clarified in the initial brief.
An example of a Tender brief can be found on Mofilm.com:
A Tender brief is one produced by a company with a budget and clear idea of what they want as well as the deadline and restrictions, at this point several production companies or contractors will generate ideas and pitches for the company at which point the company chooses who they think would be best to complete the project.
In some cases such as MoFilms a brief will be put out into the public for a film they want doing, tens sometimes hundreds of people will get back to them with their finished product and the company chooses the one they want and give them a prize money/payment clarified in the initial brief.
An example of a Tender brief can be found on Mofilm.com:
Cooperative Brief:
A co-operative brief is one where multiple production companies come together to work on the same project to get the best outcome for the client. The reason for doing this would be that different companies specialise in different things, if you had broken your leg you would want to see the best Orthopedic specialist rather than your local GP, in Film you want the best person for different jobs.
The difficulty with this form of brief is that sometimes when lots of different creative people come together there can be arguments about the best way to do something since everybody has a different process. If you argue with somebody you are working with but are contractually stuck with them then this can make things difficult for everybody involved and make the whole project take longer.
A co-operative brief is one where multiple production companies come together to work on the same project to get the best outcome for the client. The reason for doing this would be that different companies specialise in different things, if you had broken your leg you would want to see the best Orthopedic specialist rather than your local GP, in Film you want the best person for different jobs.
The difficulty with this form of brief is that sometimes when lots of different creative people come together there can be arguments about the best way to do something since everybody has a different process. If you argue with somebody you are working with but are contractually stuck with them then this can make things difficult for everybody involved and make the whole project take longer.
Reading a brief:
When you get handed a brief, you have to read through every detail to make sure you know exactly what the client wants and if you can do it. The best way to do this is to break it down into the most important parts of the brief and work out out if you can do them and what you will need to do it. Sometimes the brief isn't as clear as it could be as to what the client wants, in that case it might be open to interpretation by the production company which is not always a good thing. Sometimes if you have to interpret it yourself you might make something your client doesn't want, if something is unclear it's best to ask the client to specify rather than doing it incorrectly.
Negotiating the brief:
Sometimes there will be the option of Negotiating the brief with the client, of course for some briefs they are set in stone and won't budge. Depending on the company will depend on whether or not they can budge on things like the budget, often companies will offer as much as they can afford but occasionally they might hold some back for room to negotiate. Things such as the Deadline are normally set in stone and can't be moved, but a good production company will have contingency plans to ensure they hand the product in on time for the client.
Sometimes there will be the option of Negotiating the brief with the client, of course for some briefs they are set in stone and won't budge. Depending on the company will depend on whether or not they can budge on things like the budget, often companies will offer as much as they can afford but occasionally they might hold some back for room to negotiate. Things such as the Deadline are normally set in stone and can't be moved, but a good production company will have contingency plans to ensure they hand the product in on time for the client.
Legal:
Copyright:
The main purpose of copyrighting your work is to protect yourself and whatever you create from it being stolen or used without your permission down the line. Having the option to copyright your work means if somebody uses your work without your permission you can either ignore it or take action. There are two main reasons people copyright their work:
- Money - If your work is capable of making money, it should be you making it, not somebody who stole your work and claims it for their own. People have been sued huge amounts of money from stealing peoples work and being sued on the basis of how much it could POTENTIALLY make. For example, if I was a photographer and somebody stole my photograph and used it and I registered it with the United States Copyright Office then I could sue them for Punitive damages, which is the idea that they not only stole the image but potentially damaged its value therefore I can sue them for considerably more.
- Creative - When you create something whether its a film, a piece of art or a book your name goes on it. If the thing you create does well and is of a good standard then you deserve to be credited for it since it could get you future work and build your reputation, by somebody taking that work and putting their name on it, they could get those benefits and deny you of them.
Risk Assessment
Every risk in a risk assessment has its risks severity scaled from Negligible, low risk, moderate risk, severe, very severe. However, each risks likelihood is on a different scale of: Very unlikely, unlikely, possible, likely, very likely.
Here is an example I found on the internet:
In order to do a risk assessment you need to understand what, on your film can go wrong and potentially harm people on set. Once you figure this out you then need to take preventative measures to stop these from happening but also have a plan of what to do if something does go wrong.
Firstly, identify could potentially harm people on the set. Then figure out who could be harmed and what could harm them. After that you need to evaluate the risks and decide on the correct controls to stop it from happening.
This law is to protect people from their reputation being damaged on TV because of un true facts about a person, the law is broken when someone releases something false about somebody which will harm their reputation. This is a dangerous thing to do, for example if a celebrity was incorrectly called a racist then on the back of that there would be strong hatred towards the celebrity as well as news programs reporting on it. In order to avoid breaking this law, when printing only quote people for their exact words used and only stick to the absolute truth and un-biased opinion. With social media becoming the norm for celebrities, their tweets are often misunderstood and can lead to huge lawsuits and issues for them later on.
Ethical:
Ethics is a completely different thing to the law, the obvious difference is that there is no set ethical code, it's opinion based. You can't get arrested for being ethically misguided since it's all opinion based. Ethics is all about whether something is equal, fair, responsible. Ethical codes aren't the law however your employer will often set them for their employees at a large production company to make sure everybody knows what they can and can't get away with, this is highly recommended for a production company.
As a production company when it comes to making an ethical decision it's all on you, you will need to take into consideration the ramifications of what you're about to publish and the effects it could have on you and your company.
Regulatory Bodies:
Regulatory bodies are government founded organisations whos job it is to monitor and control media sectors in. There are all kinds of media that fall into their jurisdiction such as Radio, Movies, TV, newspapers and much more. The whole point in having regulatory bodies is to protect the public from any indecent content that they may be subjected to as well as producers and those working on the project. Without the regulatory bodies audiences might be subjected to obscene or damaging content without being warned. Thanks to regulating bodies they can warn people about such things, if a film has violence or bad language there will be a warning on the front of the DVD or before the program.
Having the regulatory bodies there means that they can enforce rules and guidelines for producers to follow when making something, these are a few considerations:
- Peoples Sensitivities
- Product Placement
- Stereotypes
- Avoiding Harm and Offence
- Violence
- Bad language
- Sexual Content
- Representations
Opportunities:
With every new project comes a host of opportunities and knowledge that you can get from taking on the project, you will often be working with people you have never worked with before and learn how to deal with people individually.
With every new project comes a host of opportunities and knowledge that you can get from taking on the project, you will often be working with people you have never worked with before and learn how to deal with people individually.
Multi-skilling:
Depending on the size of your production company you might end up having to undertake several of the roles yourself, if it's quite a small company chances are the CEO will handle the finances, deal with the clients and organise shoots. When there isn't the budget for it the camera operator might also be the sound operator or lighting technician, the more roles you can personally undertake the more valuable you are to the company.
New skills:
Similar to the previous section you will learn things from other people on your projects, meeting new clients and new people will lead to new opportunities in the future and could lead to potential work. People skills is something that you will only develop with more practice and dealing with more clients so naturally the more work you take on the more confident you will get. A useful skill to have is editing under pressure, this is once again a skill that will only develop with more deadlines and more projects over time. Having a faster turn around means you can do more projects and therefore generate more revenue.
Similar to the previous section you will learn things from other people on your projects, meeting new clients and new people will lead to new opportunities in the future and could lead to potential work. People skills is something that you will only develop with more practice and dealing with more clients so naturally the more work you take on the more confident you will get. A useful skill to have is editing under pressure, this is once again a skill that will only develop with more deadlines and more projects over time. Having a faster turn around means you can do more projects and therefore generate more revenue.
No comments:
Post a Comment