Types of briefs

A brief can come under different types of classifications/types. For example;

A contractual brief. This is a type of brief or a contract where a company is employed by a client to complete a project within the specifics of a given brief, which the company must follow.  If the company fails to follow the guidelines of the brief then that could be counted as breaching the contract and can face possible legal action.

The advantages of this type of brief is that having a contractual brief is good as the company involved will know exactly what the project is and what they’re being asked to do in detail.

The disadvantages of this type of brief is that if the company produces the product to their own standards however this would not be to the standards set by the client and so they could choose to take legal action which could lead to the company gaining a bad reputation for not completely projects set to a brief.

A cooperative brief. This is a brief that will be used in a situation where if the brief given to two or more companies and they have any issues with the brief, negotiates can be made in order to suite the needs of all parties involved. This can be changing the appearance of the product while remaining within the guidelines set in the brief.

The advantages of this type of brief are that the fact that certain things can be negotiated and means that the project is open to multiple suggestions which may in the end improve the project overall.

The disadvantages of this type of brief could be that negotiating can sometimes waste time and can delay the production time. 

A formal brief. This type of brief is where a media company is given a brief, which outlines the product they want to be made. This type of brief is very open and only gives the minimal information to be able to produce the product. Any issues or concerns can be discussed during negotiations with the client. Both the client and the company must formally agree on the project and brief but these are not always legally binding in tis situation.

The advantages of this type of brief are that the parameters of the brief mean that the client is open to any ideas or issues that may be raised by the company that has been employed. This makes the work open to creativity and negotiations.

The disadvantages of this type of brief are that the employed company may feel that the client hasn’t offered them enough information in order to complete the project. Also the fact that the brief is not always legally binding can bring up issues with things such as financial issues or a breech of contracts.

Informal brief. An informal brief is a brief that is not actually documented and is usually a verbal brief. The requirements of the brief are discussed by the client and the company and is ultimately agreed upon.

The advantages to this type of brief are that there is more verbal communication between the client and company and so the company has a better understanding of what the client wants from them in regards to the product.

The disadvantages of this time of brief are that the fact that there is no written documentation or contract to prove the employment of the company and this could mean that the client could easily not pay the employees and could also mean that deadlines are not clear and can cause confusion for both parties.

Purpose and intent of social action and community media

Purpose and intent of social action and community media.

Social action is classified as an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals.  There are different types of ‘social action’; one is Rational action. Rational actions are actions that are taken that lead to a desired goal, but taken with no thought of consequence and without consideration of the actions.  Social action is intended to influence others to follow whoever started the protests actions.

Community media is a form of social communication that is classified as a type of media that is spread around a local community rather then being country/world wide spread. It’s a smaller spread method compared to world wide news broadcasts but is larger then social action.

The purpose of social action is to make people aware of an issue and inspire them to take action upon that issue. The impact this leaves is often leaving people who have seen/heard the protest on the issue to become emotionally invested in the issue presented to them and to join with other who feel this way in order to take action and help in changing whatever issue was presented.

The purpose of community media is to get a local community active and aware of certain local issues that may or may not affect them. The idea is to get the community talking and spreading word of the issues raised in hopes that more and more people will join their cause and help to do something about the issue. The impact of this is creating a large, local group of people who are all working to a common goal, thus making the achievement of that goal more and more likely. In turn this can also bring the local community closer together as people and can leave a positive impact on the area.

Examples of social action could be anything from getting the passengers of a broken down bus to work together to push it and get it started again to someone starting a protest and leading a large procession of people to fight for their cause.

An example of this would be the ‘Black Lives Matter’ activist movement that begun in July 2013. The campaign is essentially a protest against police brutality and treatment of African-Americans and was founded by three activists and has over 500 people as a part of the movement. The movement is still currently on going.

Examples of community media can be local newspapers and radio or television shows. It’s a mainly local way of getting a community to work together, but on a somewhat larger scale then social action. The effect of community media is that it spreads the news of the issue in question through much wider vicinity and much faster then social action would. Therefore community media could be considered a more effective way of raising awareness of an issue.  Community media can also take the form of a community/student made film or documentary that explains the issue they want to raise, this film would then be broadcasted to the local area or uploaded to a social media site such as facebook or youtube.

'Blackfish'

Summarise the purpose of the campaign:

The purpose of the campaign/documentary is to bring to light the mistreatment of Orcas in captivity, specifically targeting repeat offender 'Seaworld' who illegally takes baby orcas from their family in the wild, keeps them in too small tanks that they can barely move in, deprives them of food as punishment for not preforming a trick and general abuse and mistreatment. 

It focuses in one orca in particular named 'Tilikum' who killed three people and the consequences of keeping orcas like him in captivity. The documentary follows Tilikum from his capture in 1983 and covers incidents of stress, mistreatment by Seaworld and harassment from fellow captive orcas to explain his aggressive behaviour. 

Effectiveness as a social action documentary:

The documentary is effective as it is presented in a a harshly critical and factual manner, critics have stated it as 'aggressive' and 'impassioned'. The documentary features footage from the attacks with many personal interviews and retelling's from previous Seaworld workers on how the orca's were captured and treated. The shock value comes in form of the documentary not holding back on describing events, fully explaining and describing how the baby orcas were illegally captured and taken from their mothers, how the orcas kept in cramped captivity fought each other and how the trainers killed by Tilikum died. 

Your personal response:

Personally I fully agree with the message this documentary is portraying, the way Seaworld has been revealed to treat their orcas is simply cruel. The small tanks they're kept in outside of shows are unhealthy and psychologically damaging, leading to the stress and aggression that lead to the deaths of trainers. Taking them from their mothers in the wild is also damaging and along side the health issues cause by the living conditions, leaves the orcas unable to be returned to the wild.