The Different Types of Briefs

Negotiating a Brief:

When it came to our JPUH corporate video, we had a lot of room to negotiate the brief they supplied us with. In our groups we read through the brief looking for what they wanted us to include and then we focused on the areas to do with our area of focus. For example my groups focus was on Nurses and Midwifery. In our groups we created a pitch document to present to the JPUH. We wrote our own ideas down for what we wanted in the video, and when representatives from the JPUH came to talk through them, we were able to negotiate with them about the brief. We told them our ideas and they told us what they liked and what they thought we could change. We discussed a lot about who and what we were actually allowed to show in the video for legal reasons etc. For example, we weren't allowed to show any patients or any staff that either weren't allowed to be filmed for medical and legal reasons and any staff or visitors that simply didn't want their faces on camera.

Although we had a brief, we were able to interpret that brief to how we wanted the video to look (however, always considering the medical and legal issues of the hospital); because if we had to stick to everything on the brief and have our freedom restricted. Then we wouldn't have been able to make the video up to our full potential and as a result it would not be as good quality.

As mentioned in the first paragraph, we did face some constraints when it came to making this video. We had to be careful who who got on film as they might not want their faces to be shown on camera. To avoid this problem we made sure that when we filmed the 'rush of hospital goers' we made sure the image was blurred (so as to avoid being sued by people not wanting to be on camera) or we just filmed peoples shoes/ lower body half (this was okay as their faces wouldn't be showing on camera).

We did have to make some amendments to the final product as we weren't able to film some of the shots we wanted as the filming days and plans kept getting canceled or misunderstood for the wrong days or the JPUH had nothing for us to film. To solve this we borrowed shots from other people that they filmed so that our videos were the appropriate length to fit the brief. Also we had some representatives from the JPUH come and see our final product. They watched it and then we discussed what they liked and the aspects of it that they wanted to change. They told us they liked our nursing video. However, there were some things they told us they would like us to change. they said they wanted the music happier at the start of the video and they wanted us to remove one shot as that shot wasn't anything to do with nurses. We accepted and understood why they wanted to make these changes, so we made them.

When it comes to a brief or a contract their are often some amendments to the budget, fees, and the conditions outlined in the contract that are made for various reasons. An amendment made to the budget of filming may be because a location or actors may cost more than expected or more equipment or software may be needed when filming, thus making the overall budget of the film to cost more than originally thought. An amendment to the fees in a contract may be because, for whatever reason it may be, shooting the product may take longer than expected or need extra time spent on it. This means the crew working on the product will need to be paid extra for whatever extra work they have/need to do on the project. An amendment may be made to the conditions outlined in the contract because their might be a hazards or a health and safety risk when filming in certain locations. If this is so then the crew working on the project can't work in these conditions so they will have to be changed.

Opportunities:

Someone might respond to a brief because they see is as a good investment for their company or business and will therefore want to see the project become a success so they get a profit for it. They also might not care about the money and simply see the project has good promotional value for their company or business and want's to support it so they gain more business and so it helps promote their business or company. Another reason would be that they simply like the idea of the project and wish they had the idea, so they want to support it because they also are passionate about it and want to see it produced.

There were many self-development opportunities on this project for me as it helped boost my confidence as I had to talk to new people I didn't know. This also helped boost my negotiation skills and helped develop my skill to compromise well so that everyone was happy and got what they wanted out of the project.

On this project I learnt new negotiation techniques and compromising tactics to help get the most out of the project and to make it our own and to our own ideas and styles.

In my group I personally didn't have to multi-skill because there was enough people in our group so that we could distribute tasks equally and fairly between us. This meant that no one had more than the job/s they could handle.

When discussing the project brief I contributed my own ideas well and fairly within the group. I put my own ideas forward but allowed others in my group to do so too so it was a fair discussion. I also did well to develop off others ideas; such as taking some of their idea/s and combining it with mine or others ideas to make one big idea that everyone would like.