Contractual:

A contractual brief is a brief that, when signed, becomes a legally binding contract between the employer and the employee. You now work for them. This document dictates all the things the employee must do to fulfil this contract, and going against it or failing to do things right or at all can result in the contract being terminated and you not getting paid and losing a job. It can also contain information about the individual, the client, the product and payment.

Negotiated:

A negotiated brief is a brief that is discussed between the client and the employer until they come to an agreement on how the finished product should look. When both parties agree on how the product should look the brief is signed and the client will go off and make it. These briefs can be good because it means that both parties agree on how the product should look in the ned so there is no disparity, but this can be seen as a negative if either party disagree or want to do something a certain way.

Formal:

A formal brief is a written document that states detailed information about the specifics of a job. More often than not it is a very straightforward easy to follow document, if not a bit boring. The brief itself may not always be classified as a legal document. One advantage is that these briefs are easy to follow and straightforward, due to the lack of any complexity. It does what it says on the tin, it’s a formal brief, it tells you what to do.

Informal:

An informal brief is the exact opposite of a formal brief, obviously, since it is more laid back and often doesn’t even include a written document at all, with employers instead preferring to sit down with their clients and have a laid back discussion over the product, maybe over coffee. It is similar to a negotiated contract, only instead of the client and employer sitting down to discuss the product, they are sitting down to discuss the terms of the actual contract.

Commission:

A commission brief is normally where a large company or corporation will employ and independent company to create a product for them. These briefs are different to others because it is between large companies, rather than a big company and a smaller client. A large disadvantage of these briefs is that the product can be wholly owned by the larger commissioning company, meaning they may not give the smaller client enough credit for the work they did, making these briefs a bit of a risk.

When I initial received the brief for the Bede Drone Footage shoot, we were sat in class when Mark, our tutor, told us all about a job offer to film using the drone at Bede. Bede College were making a promotional video for their college and sports centre and had noticed we had a drone in college. The drone is a basic DJI Phantom 3 Standard They asked us to film with it to get some cinematic shots for the video. Kaleb and I said we would do it and asked for more information. Mark gave us the email address of Sophie Kruger, who was the individual asking for the drone. I began emailing and asking for information about the shoot and what would actually be needed. We agreed to meet and discuss the job in person. I went upstairs to meet with Sophie in person and we sat and discussed all the ins and outs of the job. It was a very informal meeting, as was the actual brief. We talked about what kind of shots would be needed, we discussed how best to make them look and how best to make the drone footage fit into the promotional video. The discussions we had went over various things such as target audience, budget and locations for filming, we talked about dates and weather before deciding on a date and time for the whole shoot. The brief allowed for a lot of freedom for us to almost anything we wanted, bar a few exceptions. The client wanted a few specific shots, but other than that we had nearly total freedom in terms of shots and direction. The whole discussion we had definitely helped out in terms of communication skills and meeting and talking with potential employers. I think it is also a very good opportunity to learn and develop in terms of working for a client rather than just for an assignment. It will also help to improve skills in the industry as a whole. On this shoot I will be the director and Kaleb will be the drone pilot/camera operator, so this will definitely help us both to develop these skills, as these are both things that we have not had much chance to work on.

One of our biggest concerns when making and planning this shoot was health and safety. The drone is a very awkward piece of equipment that has all kinds of requirements to think about before you can even get it out, let alone film with it. Our main concern was weather, it can’t be too windy or too wet, and otherwise the drone becomes inoperable. When it came to this it was a simple case of checking and betting on the weather forecast for the day, which luckily turned out to be right. There was no rain, barely a cloud in the sky, and the wind was at a low enough level that flight would be ok. The risk assessment had to be amended to include a separate segment about the drone and how it works and all the hazards that come with that. Another health and safety concern is people being in the way of the drone without realising. One shot the client wanted was of the drone zooming into the main entrance of the college, which we had to do backwards for filming purposes. Our concern here was that the main entrance of the college has a thoroughfare that has doors on either side, making it difficult to see outside from in. This was a concern for us as the drone being that close to a building entrance is quite unsafe. We worked this out by planning to have Sophie stand, voluntarily, in the main entrance stopping people from leaving while we got the shot. However, due to the presence of a tree in the way of the entrance, the shot was impossible, so unfortunately we were unable to get this shot. Another major concern for us was actually being allowed to film with the drone in and around the college, as there are all kinds of laws in place to stop people flying camera drones where they shouldn’t, and to stop people filming things or people they aren’t allowed to. We got around this due to the fact that the college is private property, and in order to film on private property all you need is permission from whoever owns it. We asked Sophie if she would be able to speak to the college principal and see if he could give us permission. After a brief period she emailed me saying that he had given the all clear to film, so that was one less problem to think about. In terms of organisational structure, we set out to make it a very informal shoot, Sophie was watching over us making sure everything went the way it was supposed to. This helped as it meant we could discuss the shoot with her while we were there, making our lives much easier.

When it came to deadlines, the deadline for us was simply the end of term, since after this point Sophie was starting a new job, so she wouldn’t be there to liaise with us about what needed to be done, so we had to get everything filmed before then. This wasn’t a particularly hard task as the actual shoot only took a couple of hours to complete. We decided on the date of the 24^th of April, a Tuesday when we were all free in the morning to film. In terms of resources, the drone itself was not being used at all on the day when we were filming so there was no time constraints in terms of needing to be back at a certain time, which made our lives easier. In terms of feedback, we had a constant rapport with Sophie before and after the filming, making sure everything looked good and everything was paid for on time. After a couple weeks Sophie emailed us saying that the footage had been edited and was uploaded onto their Facebook page for all to see. She also told us that the people who had seen the video and the people who were editing and commissioning this all enjoyed and liked what we had shot, meaning everything worked out in the end.

Kaleb and myself sat down and discussed how best to film what was needed after I sat down with Sophie and we decided on a number of shots that might look cinematic enough. We wanted a shot of the drone flying directly or the college to help show off the scale of the building. We also wanted to get shots going around the building to give it a sense of grandeur, and we made certain to get shots that were from as far away as possible, to show off the area around the college. When we filmed it we managed to get almost all of the shots we wanted, barring the shot zooming into the main entrance, as previously explained. One major problem was this very shot, we had been asked to film this and tried to work out the logistics for it but unfortunately it just wasn’t possible, it was too dangerous to have the drone fly towards the college and it was too dangerous to fly away from it due to the tree blocking the path. In the end we had to bench this shot and discussed his with Sophie, who was alright with it since nothing could be done, apart from cutting the tree down, which we weren’t allowed to do.

In terms of post-production, since we didn’t actually edit the footage, we simply filmed it for them, the only way for us to keep track of its progress once it was out of our hands was to email Sophie directly. She said that the footage was great and looked amazing. We never had to go back and redo anything or change anything.

Whilst liaising with the client, we met in person to begin with for a discussion about the film and what needed filming, then it was all done through emails. We met in person, obviously, when we went to Bede to film the shoot, and here is when we were able to build a more informal, less professional relationship with the client. We spoke about things other than the shoot and tried to strengthen the relationship in case something came up, such as reshoots or needing more shots, making our own lives easier in the process. There were no real difficulties on before, during or after the shoot, minus the shot we couldn’t do, so there was nothing serious to get in the way of the shoot. There were also no complaints at any point during production, so that is a nice plus.

The only real constraints we had to worry about would probably be the weather impacting the use of our drone, but that turned out alright so there was nothing to really worry about for the drone. We could only film when everyone was in class so there were less people walking around outside to disturb the shot, but we arrived and began filming at this time so that worked out fine. The client did, however, request that we film in 1080i, since this is what the rest of the promo video is being recorded in. In terms of financial constraints, there weren’t many, aside from the travel to get there. For Kaleb, he lived right near the college so he just walked in, I had to get the bus, but I get a weekly pass so it was paid for with that. We do, however, no longer own the footage since we were paid to film it and then handed it off to them, so they are now the legal owners of the footage.

The management was done mainly through me speaking with Sophie either in person or over emails. Through the liaising with Sophie, we decided that the deadline would be the next half term, since this is when Sophie starts her new job, so everything must have been done by then so as not to miss out on the job. We got everything done in this time.

BEDE DRONE FOOTAGE – SHOT LIST

Production Company	UFilms
Production Title	Drone footage for Bede
Director	Aaron Bootland
Camera	Kaleb Harvey

No.	Shot Type	Shot Description
1	Establishing	Slow tilt up from the ground to a front-on shot of the main college building
2	Wide	Dolly forwards from high altitude, flying over the main building while tilting down to keep it in frame
3	Wide	Fast orbit around the side of the main building
4	Wide	Fast orbit around the front of the main building
5	Wide	Dolly backwards away from Sports centre, with slow tilt up towards horizon
6	Wide	Orbit around Sports centre
7	Wide	Dolly towards Sports centre
8	Wide	Lateral tracking shot across football pitch
9	Wide	Dolly towards football pitch, gradually increasing in altitude with slow tilt down
10	Wide	Static pan across football pitch
11	Wide	Slow crane up looking at Sports centre, with slow tilt down
12	Wide	Fast dolly away from front door of main building

Red text = Not achieved

Production Title: Drone Footage for Promotional Video
Description of Production:		College promotional video
Production Date:		24/4/18
Production Team: Aaron Bootland, Kaleb Harvey
Location address’:	Bede Sixth Form College

Please fill in table accordingly – using table below

Hazards	Who is at risk?	Controls in place	Severity of Injury	Chance of injury	Risk	Action Priority
Traffic	Cast and crew	Ensure everyone is vigilant around roads	3	3	3	13
Loss of crew/cast member	Cast and crew	Cast and crew to follow production shooting schedules and daily call sheets, paying attention to call times and meeting places. Crew and cast to have each other’s contact details in case of any delays or problems with meeting up on time, and use these wherever necessary. All cast and crew involved in shooting on location MUST wait until everyone has met at the designated time and place before going on location, moving between locations, or leaving at the end of the shoot. Crew and cast to stay together whilst on location, or in groups of 3 (MINIMUM) and inform the Director if they need to leave the group (eg, to get food) All production teams must carry college contact details – 01642 865400. All production teams MUST behave sensibly and responsibly whilst on a shoot.	2	4	4	8
Trailing wires/equipment on floor	Cast and crew Members of public	All wires must be secured and marked with tape or an equivalent safety measure wherever possible. Cast and crew should be made aware of trailing wires and any equipment at floor level during rehearsal. Wherever possible, equipment should not be left on the floor, unless completely necessary. If possible, wires and other trip/fall hazards should be monitored during scenes by a member of cast/crew who is not involved in filming.	2	3	3	6
Strangers	Cast and crew and public	The riverside area we will be filming at is a common area for the public to walk through, making it a danger from strangers who intend to harm others.	3	3	3	11
Tripping Hazards	Cast and crew and public	One of the actors in the film is set to run through the riverside area, making tripping and falling a hazard.	3	3	3	3
Flying drone	Crew and public	The drone has high-speed propeller blades which can cause injury to people on contact. Since the college will be open during shooting and we will be filming near the front doors, so extreme care and attention must be paid to ensuring that the drone is kept away from students of the college as well as any crew members.	3	2	3	11

Activities identified as requiring more specific assessments

NOTES: Calculation of risk rating
A: Severity of incident Insignificant 1 Minor 2 Significant 3 Major 4 Fatality 5	B: Probability of occurrence Very Unlikely 1 Unlikely 2 Possible 3 Likely 4 Very Likely 5	Determining action priority 1 – 5 Risk acceptable – No action 6 – 10 Low priority (Action if reasonably practicable; otherwise, acceptable) 11 – 15 Medium priority (Must take action) 16 – 25 High priority (Must take action)