Preparation, example answers for example questions.

With reference to examples explain the differences between a contractual brief and a competition brief.
The differences between a contractual brief and a competition vary. From my own experience during my course I have receieved contractual briefs in where I am told the guidelines I need to follow in order to achieve a certain grade; we are told what we must do for our work, to follow the briefs, we all have to submit our own versions of the same work. In relation to this, a competition brief is similar to a contractual brief, you are given the same brief as other people, and you must contend to produce the best piece of work corresponding to the brief. For example to a contractual brief, in my Unit 27 Factual Programming unit, we were given a brief to produce a 9 minute documentary on a subject of our choice, then given guidelines corresponding to the brief that we must follow in order to pass the project. In relation to a competition brief, the Short cuts 2012 Film Festival gives participants a chance to enter their film to the competition, with a maximum length of 20 minutes, they give guidelines for the genres that are eligible for entree and they state that the film entered must have been completed after the 1st of January 2009 and not have been entered before to the festival.

With reference to a current brief, give an explanation of your roll in a group project you have been working on. What are your duties? What professional qualities do you need to fulfil the brief?

Within my unit 27 factual programming course I had the role of director and cameraman. These roles meant my duties were to oversee the entire project and give the final say in the editing, I also was in charge of getting all recorded footage and audio. Professional qualities that were needed to fulfil this brief included: time management, good working attitude towards teams and a knowledge of media and camera working.

With reference to a specific example, explain your interaction with the client and what changes, or further understanding occurred.

In my extended project I am collaberating with my project partner Zac to perform three covers. We initially decided to create our own comical song, but then changed our ideas after meeting with our client and discussing how well this project would work. We then changed our project to covering three songs in a performance, given further understanding of our brief.

With reference specific examples, explain what new skills you developed during the undertaking of a brief.

A skill I have developed during one of my briefs in Film Studies would be the creation and development of step-outlines. Step-outlines are an alternative to storyboarding and scripts, giving a more in-depth analysis of a film in pre-production stages so that it can be portrayed in a more exact manner when filmed. My brief was to create a step-outline or a storyboard for my made-up film, I chose the path with a more detailed description - enhancing my skills of pre-production techniques.

With reference to an example, explain the opportunities and constraints you encountered with a brief and how you responded to them.
A constraint I encountered with the brief given in my unit 27 nine minute documentary project was to have on-location footage. Our documentary was about the fear of flying, we initially planned to go to Heathrowe or Gatwick airport, then noticed we would have to get a filming permit - which was near-impossible to obtain for a small college production. We responded to this by using archive footage for this part of the project as a replacement, then used other scenes for on-location footage.