Report Title: Working to a Brief in the Creative Media Industries Author: William Hughes I certify that work contained in this assessment was researched and prepared by me. 1.1 Introduction A brief can be described as a goal or a number of instructions given to a person. For example, a worker could have the brief of completing a 3D model of a chair. Many different types of briefs exist including competition brief, contractual brief,formal brief, informal brief,cooperative brief and commision brief.
1.2 Types of brief A contractual brief is a type of brief where the objectives are clearly written down on a contract. This type is legally bounded and must be followed.
A formal brief is a type of brief where similarly to a contractual brief, the objectives are written down. However, it is not legally bounded and is usually written down in a more relaxed fashion like notes.
An informal brief is a type of brief where the instructions are given in a very informal way. An example could be two workers discussing work during their free time. This type of brief is usually not written down anywhere.
A competition brief is a type of brief where multiple teams work against each other. The best team’s work is then chosen. This promotes quality work as a result of teams wanting to be the best.
A cooperative brief is a type of brief where multiple teams work together to create a final outcome. This promotes quick, quality work as many people can work on small parts which can be added together at the end of development. A problem could be that members of the team have conflicting opinions on what the final outcome should be causing a contrast in parts of the final outcome.
A commision brief is a type of brief where a large company request an independant smaller company to complete a certain task for them. This is useful for when a small, simple task needs to be completed while a larger project is completed.
A tender brief is a type of brief where a company pitches an idea, and then gets feedback to help improve the idea. If a company receives several tender briefs, they can then choose which one they believe is the best.
All briefs must specify what tasks should be completed and a timeframe for them to be completed by. It is often possible to negotiate if necessary in order to get a longer deadline or change the tasks you need to do.
It is also important to check that there are no moral, ethical or legal issues with the brief. For example, if you had a brief of designing a new type of packaging and you designed it using non-recyclable materials, it would be unethical. If you then said that the product was recyclable, even though it isn’t, then it would be a legal issue as well. Some issues are moral, ethical and legal issues but often issues fall under just one category. A simple way of categorising issues is that if the issue falls under private,personal interactions, it’s a moral issue whereas if the issue falls under professional interactions, it's an ethical issue. Finally, if it’s affects society as a whole or is forbidden by law, it’s a legal issue.
As well as that, it is important to actually complete the work described in the brief as otherwise this could lead to lost time and money. If the work is not possible to be completed by you by the deadline, then this should be said to the company who gave you the brief as soon as possible. If the work is not completed or not completed to the quality expected by the brief, then it is unlikely that the company will contact you again for freelance work.
Working on briefs given by clients is beneficial for many reasons. Reasons include earning money, gaining contacts, learning new skills, improving current skills and improving your portfolio.
1.3 Brief examples In my first year of Games Development, I worked on many different briefs.
I worked on a competition brief for the MOD. Several teams of students were asked to create a 3D Model of a Fuchs CBRN Reconnaissance Vehicle, the best of which would win and be selected as the 3D model the MOD would use for future projects. The following year, we received another brief but this time to be worked on by each student independently. We were all asked to create a MAN SV Vehicle 3D model. However, the 3D model was asked to be created on our own without help by others. This meant that, although the number of 3D models was increased, the average quality of work was reduced as some students are not specialized at 3D modelling. Similarly, some students had worse concept art for the MAN SV 3D Model than others as they are not specialized at concept art and drawing.
Another competition brief I worked on was named the “Blast Event”. Several teams of students were asked to create multiple 3D Models of videogame characters and videogame consoles. As well as that, we were asked to create a powerpoint displaying the models under a time-line of gaming history. We were also asked to write a description of each video game and console featured. We had regular team meetings in order to see what work had been completed each week and to give students new work to complete. I was assigned the 3D models of the Nintendo Wii,Playstation 2,Zelda Triforce,Steam Logo and Playstation 4. The other 3D models were assigned to other students in my team.
I also worked on a formal brief for the company Superframe. A team of students including me were asked to create several 3D Models for them to use in an animation. The 3D Models wanted included: park benches, airport hangars,band stands,street lights and more. The required models were split between each student so each student had a fair amount of models to create and no one felt overwhelmed with work.
I also worked on an informal brief outside of college in my own time during the summer holiday of 2017. I posted an advertisement on the website Reddit.com looking for work. I offered to create 3D Models for clients for free or a very low payment depending on the number of poly’s needed for the final model. I received a brief by a client soon after posting. They requested a 3D model of a certain face. I was unskilled at making 3D Models of humans and especially faces at the time, and I told him so, but I still offered to do it for free so I could learn new 3DS Max skills. I created the final model in under 2 days and sent the 3D Model to him. I was not entirely happy with the final outcome but I learnt a lot including turbo smoothing and swift loops so I believe it was still a good use of my time.
1.4 Summary There are many different types of brief. A contractual brief is written down on a contract. A formal brief is written down but not legally bounded. An informal brief is not written down and discussed informally. A competition brief has multiple teams working against each other. A cooperative brief has multiple teams working together. A commision brief has a large company requesting an independant company to complete a task for them. All briefs specify a time frame and what needs to be completed. When accepting a brief, it is possible to negotiate if needed. It is important to only work on ethical,legal and moral briefs. Working on briefs is important in order to improve your skills, gain contacts and earn an income. I have worked on many different briefs including a competition brief for the MOD, a competition brief called the “Blast Event”, a formal brief for Superframe and an informal brief for a client on the website Reddit.com. . 1.5 | Bibliography / References Internet 1 Mr_J_ (2015) https://prezi.com/p7qr3kj8o4ph/contractual-brief/(date accessed 05/10/2017) 2 Chamahan (2013) https://www.slideshare.net/chamahan/working-to-a-brief-16916973(date accessed 05/10/2017) 3 Marina.J. (2012) https://lostetter.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/moral-ethical-legal-whats-the-difference/(date accessed 05/10/2017)
Assignment 2
Unit 5 Report Title: Responding to a Brief Author: William Hughes I certify that work contained in this assessment was researched and prepared by me. Learner Signature: William Hughes 1.1 Introduction When you receive a brief, not only should you complete the task scheduled in the brief in the time-frame, but there are also other tasks and stages you should carry out. I will be discussing how to respond to a brief in this report. 1.2 What to do after receiving a brief The most important thing to do after receiving a brief is to start planning on how to finish the task by the time-frame. Examples of planning resources and methods include: Mind Maps, Checklists and SWOT (Strength,Weakness,Opportunity,Threat). These allow you to separate the brief into smaller tasks and decide on how you are going to work on the brief. It is important to plan before you start working on the brief as otherwise you could start the brief and then realize you needed to do something else first, causing frustration and wasted time. I have experience planning with my Final Major Project. Before working on my FMP, I created a checklist of what I needed to do to make my FMP, everything from concept art to programming. This allowed me to work on small sections of my FMP and see my progression towards my finished game. This also improved motivation as ticking a box to symbolise completed work gave a sense of satisfaction, that was only increased with more tasks being completed.
It is important to communicate with your client often in order for the client to know how much work you have completed so far. This also allows for you to work together and ask each other questions about the brief to help aid understanding of what the client wants. It also allows you and the client to develop ideas and improve the final outcome. As well as that, this also allows your client to become more familiar with you, increasing the chances of him hiring you in the future. Communication can be done face to face, over email, over social networks or more. These meetings should be written down in a team meetings document after communicating with your client in order for you to remember what you told each other. This also allows you to write down what you need to do so you are less likely to forget. I used team meetings while working on the M.O.D Project to register what models we needed to produce, what we had already produced and any other important information. An example of documentation recorded after one of our team meeting’s can be seen to the right.
You can often find opportunities for more work from a client by searching and seeing if they need anything else for their use of your work. For example, if you are creating a 3D model for a client which they will use for an animation, you could offer to rig the 3D model for easier animation. This allows for more work, more pay, and more contact with the client. The longer you can stretch your work with a client for, the more pay you will earn, and the more they will remember you and your work.
After the brief is completed and the work is sent to the client, it is important to stay in contact for any future job opportunities and to see how they’ve used your work. It is wise at this point to add your work to your portfolio in order to get a bigger, more impressive portfolio. The better your portfolio, the more likely clients will get in contact with you and work with you.
1.3 Summary Responding to a brief has many more tasks associated to it than you may think, it is not just completing the task set out in the brief. Other tasks which should be carried out upon receiving a brief include planning, frequent communication with the client,searching for work opportunities with the client and staying in contact after the brief is completed. All of these should be carried out for the best quality of work and the highest chance of future work by that client.