Tuesday 26 January 2016

Working to a Brief – Assignment 1

Working to a Brief – Assignment 1

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In the media work is often gathered by taking on work or applying for work for clients. No every job is paid but work taken on will result in being given a brief outlining what the customer/brand want in their final product. A brief being a legal document will outline the necessary components required in a simple and effective way. To best get an understanding I will break down the following: Structure of Briefs, Reading a brief, Negotiating the Brief and Opportunities gained from taking on a brief. 

Structure of Briefs 

Not every brief is the same, some may be outlined differently and some may be different in the way to which a client approaches yourself or a production company. There is 8 various structures to which we will look at, examples of briefs online will be used and I will reference any occasion to when these types of briefs have come across my path.

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Contractual: This type of brief is a legal document which is created between the client and producer, because it is a contract it states everything in a clear and precise manner without causing confusion. It will be very clear in the deadline for the piece of work and will state the set budget. There is often a discussion with the client before they sign the document as they are agreeing then and there the payment/budget they will receive, the time frame and the overall idea. 

You must be clear in what you are signing otherwise it can create legal problems down the line. Because you have signed and understood the document you can also use it to against the client if you feel you have been mistreated or mislead during the process. These types of briefs can often be controlling though as they already have an idea in mind and your are signing over your time and effort to make it. Make sure if you are unhappy the work is negotiated before you sign the deal. If you fail to meet the deadline then the producer would be responsible for any fines or late fees taken from the company payment. As legally you have agreed to get the work done to a set time and date. 

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I have yet to deal with this type of contract. Yet you would often find this type of brief to appear in commercial projects. For instance Burger King may want to have a photoshoot to advertise their latest burger. They will know straight from the beginning what they want as it will be showing off a food product that people what to eat and no be turned away from. They might also what it to be in an exact style to which they have used for other products in order to give it the same vibe. Yet a more relaxed company such as GoPro will set out to have a more open brief showing off consumers having fun with their product. 


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 Negotiated: Unlike a contractual brief you can be a lot more open with the client about the product that they want to be made. The contract to the overall idea won't actually be signed until the discussion has come to an end between both parties. You will often go through an initial brief they have prepared and making changes so that both parties are happy. You might want to change the idea slightly or ask for more time on a project and as long as they are happy to do so the change can be made. It also allows for the best quality product to come to light as you might have a ground breaking idea that wasn't previously available to do without the negotiation. 

They still work within legal guidelines. This has more advantages over a contract as you get a say in the creative process and you aren't limited to what you create. Also meaning both parties are actively happy to be working together. Because you are having an open discussion with a client a better working relationship is also formed (or can go the other way) as there is ongoing communication helping you see the bigger picture. Yet as I stated it can also go the other way, clients may not always want to change certain aspects of the brief and can often be draining and time consuming if you get stuck in a loop. For instance a small time musician might want a music video making yet he can't offer a big budget, something you are demanding. Which in the end could mean you have no work. Or you end up agreeing at a standpoint which you aren't overly happy with. 


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Although I didn't sign an official contract, when working in a small team of people we made a music video for a client. The brief with received was very basic and only included the artists name and song. We pitched an idea to which we then negotiated into a final idea. As the production unraveled there was various problems to which we negotiated with the client to make sure the new changes where up to scratch as a result we made a video for the client which can be seen on this link.

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Formal: Formal is very similar to a contract brief as the wording is very precise and entails everything the client wants. It will use correctly written language and will avoid slang and colloquial language. The formal brief can also be handed out to others in the production group and they will know exactly what is required. It doesn't include the same legal standards as the contract but still make sure where you stand doesn't make you vulnerable to be sued.

 Because it's so clear it is more relaxing the production company who can get on with the work straight away, although creative process's will be restrictive. Yet there is no stream of communication like a negotiation you may have to infer what the client is asking for certain aspects. The contract will also not change from the starting position so you would have to make sure from a accounting point of view whether or not you have the resources required. If you sign up to the contract and you don't have the required assets then you will be in finical trouble. You will often find these types of contracts from commercial points of view and will often be signed in an office or business environment. 

For instance last year we where required to produce posters for a working client UK Cinefest we received an email outlining the exact conditions and deadline for the final product. Although we had notes on our products they were still very formal and productive. Here is the final product from last year as I cannot find a copy of the email. 

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Informal: Informal briefs are more laid back and are more conversational in tone. This is something normal done by the writing style of the client or by having a discussion esk meeting with the client. There isn't a whole lot of focus on the legal and contract side of things and the brief is often discussed via email or messages. For instance the Nick Lofthouse brief was a very informal tone as we often exchanged emails and messages via Facebook in order to negotiate. Because it was a more conversationally and personal tone it was more relaxed as it felt more collaborative.

Compared to a formal tone which is very strict and to the point in a professional format. As informal briefs are kept up to ate via the means of the appeal and the welcoming nature of the client. Meetings can also be a lot more relaxed in tone as again its a discussion compared to a contractual brief which would entail suit and ties alongside an in depth meeting on the criteria. This also means changes can be made along the creative process since their is on going open communication.

Yet it comes with its flaws. Because the details are being worked on the fly and their is not official writing set in stone apart from the payment (or not if the work is for free) and it means that what the client wants can be hard to keep on one basis. You might start working on the project and then get an email telling you that everything on the current slate of development isn't needed. It isn't very professional since you aren't signing an on going contract it makes you more vulnerable in the terms that you do not have something set in stone. So using elements of this brief alongside a contract is a good idea.


Alongside the Nick Lofthouse example another type of brief that has an informal tone is the Mountain Dew advert although the main document is a contract and competition brief. There is elements that make it informal compared to average contractual and formal briefs and that comes from the tone. "Young, fun, bad-ass, unapologetic and bold" Because this is being aimed towards a target audience the language has changed for this brief and it matches the tone and aim of what the company Mountain Dew represents and wants.
Commission: A commissioned brief is where a client approaches a company and tells them exactly what they want to make as they have spent time formulating their ideas and proposals. It doesn't always have to be paid work, yet it depends on the working relationship already set up (alongside other factors) between the client and production team. A commissioner often over see's the creative process and makes sure a product is made. These types of briefs often come from big TV providers such as BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Although you may first pitch them an idea to produce, if they want more they will approach you and aim to commission a second series or more.



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A well know example is the TV show the "The Great British Bake Off" which is produced by Love Productions but is aired on the BBC.Love Productions is an independent company based in the UK set up in 2004. Some of the areas they have bases in are: London, Bristol, New York and L.A. They have also produced the following TV shows:
  • Junior Bake Off
  • The Mary Berry Story
  • Newlyweeds.
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So for each new series that the BBC want for the shows such as Bake Off and Junior Bake Off they will send a commission brief over to Love Productions requesting a new series. In my experience so far I have not worked to a commission brief. If you are getting commission work for a big product such as the Bake Off then you may also get a share of the shows profits depending on the contract you signed when commissioning the product. It also allows you to set up a working relationship with a big brand. For instance since they produce work for the BBC and the show is in the 6th series. Love Productions could then use the reputation and success of the show to pitch new ideas to the BBC which could create a long time working relationship. 

Yet when you first begin working on a product you may not have as much creative control as you would of liked. As the client often has a very strong indication on where they want the overall product to go in terms of direction. It also means that if the head office for the client is further away than the production company then your more restricted to long distance communication unless you have the budget to fly out or travel out to meetings and negotiations about the product. Also since you see it as a big name brand product it can often be hard to notice who the production company is if your a regular TV viewer. As I only recently learnt that the big channels will use independent or large media companies to create products to air. So getting yourself noticed can often be difficult as the logo usually appears in the credits. 


Tender: Tender briefs are largely to do with money as notes and coins are known as legal tender. In this case you are often trying to pitch an idea or product in order to get the money from the client. As they often advertise that they are looking for a product to be made. So several companies will pitch in ideas alongside the estimated budget and turn around time. The client will then decided who gets their money in order to make their product.


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Although MoFilms holds lots of competitions it can still be seen as a Tender brief as their is a cash prize alongside that there is also a chance to apply for a budget from Mountain Dew themselves so there is a tender side to their brief. This has really good for advantages for the client as they have a series of ideas to choose from and means they can work on several products at once as they have a huge income of ideas.


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It also means production companies can create several different teams within their company to create several ideas to pitch to various companies. This means that pitch must be carefully planned as if you don't get the client then you will be without work and the time put into the pitches will have been wasted. So a rough guide to follow is plan the process (who is needed for each stage), record your progress throughout. Allow time to manage the process how have you went from your idea to preparing resources to show the client? Have you done research into your audience and how it fits the clients demand.

Tender briefs also come with some disadvantages, if you don't get the brief then you aren't going to get any work and your time will have been wasted. It also means it can be a bad business plan as if you rely on getting the job and don't there is a serious problem with getting an income.


Cooperative: Like a tender brief a co-operative brief is where you work alongside someone else in order to create a product. Because you are working with someone else you are able to discuss the written brief Because you can work together the brief is more open to change and means that there is less creative restrictions depending on the ideas you are working together on. It isn't like a competitive brief where only one company or person will create a product. As it is often two or more companies hired by the client.


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If there are clashes along the way in the creative process then they must be negotiated with the other companies. The only real disadvantage to this brief is that if the companies working together to create the product cannot agree and negotiate then the overall creative process isn't fun for anyone involved and can give bad working relationship vibes.

In the full sense of what a cooperative brief is I have yet to work with other production companies. Yet for the Nick Lofthouse music video I work with other peers in order to produce what the client wanted. This involved us having production meetings in music video sessions and discussing our ideas with the client as various production problems arose.



The will often also see this for Film and TV companies. For instance Iron Man 3 had a whole host of companies come together to work for Marvel. There was a series of 169 company credits that all worked on the film according to IMDB. For instance here are the Special Effects:


Especially since it is a huge production it helps highlight a key area needed for this type of brief. Communication. Without solid communication it would of been impossible to create the end result that audiences watched in cinemas. 

Competition: The final type of brief is competition. Much like a tender brief companies and people are often trying to beat the competition in order for a return. It doesn't always have to be money that comes as a reward. For instance every year we enter UKCinefest which is film festival held at the college where people and production teams aim to follow the briefs set out by the hosts in order to get their film the official winner for that year: http://ukcinefest.com/how-to-enter/
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The briefs are outlined in simple and effective ways for instance here is some of the briefs I entered films into last year:

 1 Actor, 1 Location ,1 Minute: 

 The brief for this contest is to create a film with only one actor, using one location and the for the film to last precisely 60 seconds. What we are looking for are great use of location, interesting ideas and technically competent film-making. Films that are compelling to watch, with strong narratives are likely to do well in this category. Films must be precisely 60 seconds long.


For this brief I had entered Establishing Espionage which followed a ninja (1 actor) in Preston Park (1 location) maneuvering and fighting his way to a Japanese Flag. In order to get around the 1 actor problem I had then brought in mannequins in order for the ninja to interact with obstacles in the park.


Other briefs I entered where for the best editing and short documentary. For the documentary there was a brief for a short piece 5-10 minutes. Because it was so open I entered my documentary that I had worked on for Factual Programming which fit perfectly into what the brief was asking. Overall, I came runners up for the documentary in terms of research.

The overall definition of a competition brief is that it can be left open for any company to take part in. Each product is then judged and assessed against the criteria and the chosen project is then either given an award if it's a film festival or published for commercial work if it's for the likes of Mountain Dew through MoFilms. Even though you work might not be chosen if it is aired at a film festival it is a good way to get yourself out their to show off your creative talents. If you do end up winning a cash prize, depending on the money you spent creating the product you could very much come out with a profit, although sacrificing funds is a risky move.

Yet on the other end of the spectrum if you don't win and you spent a majority of your time creating the product then it means you have created the product for no commercial or finical purpose yet instead it stands as a piece of artistic film. A final example of a competition brief is the Mountain Dew brief I have previously explored.



 All the information for production companies to pick up by going onto the MoFilm website which hosts a series of briefs set up by big name brands. On the site contains a web link to the overall summary of what the brief wants and how to access all the available materials. In this case the brief wanted a 60-90 second advert that see's Mountain Dew being used during the uplifting journey of some youths. With the grand prize being: $8,000 and a trip for two people to Las Vegas for 3 nights including hotel costs. The second prize is then $4,000 and then 3rd is $2,000. There is also a chance to win $35,00 in grant money by applying and pitching to Mountain Dew themselves. This competition has currently closed.

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Another ongoing competition is for Shell the petrol company. They also include a chance to win grant money up to $52,000 alongside similar cash prizes to Mountain Dew. Apart from their trip is to Texas. In terms of what they want, they are asking for:

"What we want: Light it Up. Make a film that brings to life the human progress story behind bright energy ideas. We are looking for real, human stories that celebrate the next generation of individuals, entrepreneurs or organisations who are making the future. Your film should capture the contagious positive effect that one idea can have on the world and explore how people's’ lives have been enhanced by bright energy ideas. Whatever the topic of your story, you should make sure it ties in with a specific Shell #makethefuture program of supporting bright energy ideas (please see some examples listed below).  "

They also make it very clear who they want their story to be about:

"Target Audience: Young, forward thinking people in Africa (and all over the world) working toward a brighter future for themselves, their family, community and country. They understand the demand for energy and how important it is to ensuring this bright future, but don’t yet know how (or who) will help them address it. Let’s inspire them and empower them to seek out new solutions of their own."

The overall aim is to have someone who has come from nothing and yet through community, friends and energy they have managed to turn the darkness into brightness. With the overall idea that Shell can do that aswell.  With the links of using Africa since Shell has recently installed green energy supplies out in Africa.


Reading a Brief

Every time you receive a brief it is a good idea to break down the brief into the different requirements set out by the client. This is so you can ask any questions before taking up the project or to get an idea of what assets are required from your production crew. This is so like we will see in later sections of the essay, whether you want to try and negotiate with the client in order to get a better understanding of what the final product will be. Note, this may not always be possible like we have saw in the structures section. 

Yet, briefs do not always contain every bit of information. This is why it is often the case where you will recognise that  you need to imply what the brief is asking. This may not always be right which is why communication between you and the client is essential in case you spend the budget and waste resources on a project that isn't going to be used and has left you with a poor working relationship with a client. For instance when looking at the Mountain Dew - Do The Dew campaign there is a load of information that you can infer for yourself. 




 When you first read the brief this is the overall idea you get in your head. Target audience: 18 -25 Year Olds males.They want: A 60 – 90 second film that shows a group of people talking about how they took advantage of opportunities. Must challenge the audience. Not to be used in the film but there with the journey. Visually pleasing will be taken into consideration. Young ,Fun , badass, care free and bold. Will be only Youtube, Facebook  No older people, need to be in a group , product naturally in and the logo and tagline to be supplied.

Although the brief only states 18-25 year olds you get the idea that it is directly aimed for males due to the wording of the informal brief. They want a "Young ,Fun , badass, care free and bold film" because of the adventure tone and the words they have select the inferring to males is very strong. Just make sure every time you get a brief read it carefully for the key information and make educated inferred choices under the context.


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This was also done for the Nick Lofthouse music video, at first all we got was the song so we had to pitch an idea that was inferred from the track. We came up with an idea that followed a journey between a couple that is split due to popularity and fame to which we received feedback from the client. Although we weren't bang on with what the song meant we worked with the client to use our idea yet to still meet the message of the song. Unfortunately the acting side fell through and he was more than happy for us to produce a multi camera performance music video in the college's TV studio.

Finally, during the work for UK Cinefest we had to imply what was going onto the posters. We were told it had to incorporate the idea of a reel of film and not digital and that we cannot use Teesside as the background in the poster. This meant the rest of the process was to be implied and worked on before we spoke to the client. As we had to produce 3 different drafts to show and then the client would pick one final piece to improve upon on the notes we received. The notes confirmed that the track I was going on was one that matched the tone of the brief and gave me positive feedback in order to create a final product.

Negotiating the Brief 

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As we looked at earlier negotiation is a discussion that aims to reach an agreement.I looked at the start of the brief to when clients and creators would go through the brief and make sure both sides we happy with the agreement. For this part of the essay I will break down all the different factors that can be negotiated during the creative process.

First of all lets do a recap of the first type of negotiation with a client.  When you first get a brief their is a chance (but not always) to talk with the client about your ideas and whether or not it fits. This is known as a consultation with the client. I have done this with the majority of the briefs I have worked with. For instance Nick Lofthouse received a video pitch to which we then discussed with the client how we can adapt the idea to fully meet the standards he is expecting. Alongside talking through the ideas and overall tone of the product now is the chance to make changes to the budget and payment fee and the conditions.


Nine times out of ten you will be unable to make a change to the fee or budget as the client has put this money to one side to get a product created. It is very unlikely unless it is a big brand that loves your idea that you are going to get any more money. For instance in class me and Declan pretended to be the artists known as the Handsome Family and asked another group to come up with a pitch for a music video to the song "Far From Any Road" which featured as True Detectives theme tune for season 1. We first set aside £35k. Yet they asked for more money due to travel and production costs since they were based in the UK.


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Yet since we felt that we could only put aside the set budget it meant they would have to create a solution in order to still tell the same story. As they pitched an idea of a couple lost in time in rural America. They could lower the amount in the production team or try and find a location that looks like America yet isn't using some film maker magic. Sometimes you may also asked to change the conditions of a brief. Most often or not it is often to do with time frames. You may feel like 6 months is too much time for a one minute project. As you might feel like you need to spend 6 months refining a video that was fine to start off with. You may also feel like you need more time. If you had a brief to produce a feature film in a week then you would indefinitely need to expand the time frame. For more on this section of negotiating please refer to the previous sections.

Degree of Discretion in Interpreting the Brief (NDA)

Most importantly the next section of negotiating is vital. Degree of discretion is where you have to act in within your own judgement. This can include whether or not you choose to stay on with the project after reading what is required it may because your company lacks the skills or resources but it may also be due to constraints (see later). For instance I may come across a brief that is asking to produce a music video set in Spain. For a first time project this may be very difficult to do especially on the organisation side  of things as if you haven't incorporated travel into schedules before it becomes a whole new factor. So it is best to judge your skills and company assets before diving into a project.


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Discretion also covers things such as interpreting  the brief without speaking to the client. Not every brief comes with the ability to speak to the client. You may have to rely on your own judgment to what the client is asking for. This means it could be a big risk going with an idea you think matches perfectly yet the client turns you away. Although if you are lucky enough this can be sorted during the process by actually speaking to the client before handing in a final product. I was lucky enough to do this with the UKCinefest posters and Nick Lofthouse music we looked at earlier.


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But yet the key factor to this section is the Non Disclosure Agreement. If you are working for a big brand company it means you must keep all the information in the brief within the work space. As you sign an NDA as a legal contract. This is between two parties which outlines all the specific material/knowledge you can share within a work space for a specific purpose. Yet it restricts third parties from accessing or talking about the information. Any information outlined in the agreement must not be disclosed. For instance you couldn't work on the next season of Game of Thrones and then post all the spoilers and plot points online as it would be against the NDA.


It acts as a confidential relationship in order to protect trade secrets. For instance the long awaited Fallout 4 would of had an NDA to not discuss the information before the official reveal date. Which was in the for of a live stream/conference at E3. If any one from Bethesda had leaked the information they would of broken the agreement and could not only result in legal action but also fired from the company. Common information in the NDA includes:


  • Outlining who the agreement is between.
  • The information which is confidential.
  •  The disclosure period (this means once it reaches a certain date you are then free to talk about the confidential information all you like and means the NDA is no longer valid.
  • The Terms and Conditions on who you can speak to the confidential information with.
To best explain what an NDA is and when it is best to use it. 


Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Constraints/Amendments to Proposed Final Product

Finally you may have to negotiate your final product or idea with the client in order to meet with the law, your own ethics and even the constraints of regulatory bodies. To do so I will go through each constraint and then explain how you may have to change the final product. This information is taken from a previous assignment and re-purposed for briefs. 

Legal



Within the media , there are 3 main legal laws/acts that producers must follow. These laws consist of: Libel Law, Copyright /Intellectual laws and Privacy laws. Laws are written, approved and enforced by the government. If a law is broken a series of consequences can occur. The 3 legal acts are: Health and Safety Act  , Obscene Publications Act 1959 and the Official Secrets Act 1989 . An act is also covered by legal and the act is in place as a guideline. If this guideline is broken then it could come into the other laws. Overall, breaking an act only means you will be fined as a producer.

If a producer fails to meet the law then the producer could be fined and court cases /police arrests may occur as a result. Producers will often also be fired from their job and may well be no longer accepted in the industry. This if often controlled by a judge in a hearing of your punishment/ fining. It is important that these acts and laws are followed to not only protect the audience; but to also protect those who produce the program or film. 


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The privacy law is a set regulation that allows a person by right to be left alone, this means that people can live their lives without being scrutinized by being inspect/examined , by the public.
The privacy laws are defined as the right of the individual to determine when, how, and to what extent the person will reveal personal information. The only expectation to this is the government recording the situation to provide evidence to whether a crime has been committed or not. Which helps prove whether the person is guilty or incident. 



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Another prime example of when privacy laws have been broken, was the News of The World royal phone hacking scandal. This occurred  between 2005-2007 around the hacking of voice mails relating the royal family by a private investigator. On the 13th of November an article appeared in the News of The World claiming that Prince William was in the process of loaning a portable editing suite from  ITV royal correspondent, Tom Brady . After the story was publish, the two met and tried to figure out how the story was published as they had not spoken to the press. They concluded it was found out by listening in to their voice mails. This caused a mass investigation by the government and lead to 3 mean being arrested. Two men Goodman and Mulcaire were charged with hacking under offence of of section 79 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers act 2000. Goodman faced 4 months in jail after admitting he was guilty. This was the prelude to a massive scandal in the News of The World, where they hacked into a murdered girls phone to find out what had happened. Which ultimately lead to the paper being shut down.




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The libel law is broken when someone publishes in print/ or broadcasts (Through TV, Radio or Film) ; something that is incorrect and may cause damage to a person's reputations. This may also bring the disapproval and hatred of the public who will then target said person. The print/broadcast must be in a statement format that claims to be 100% true/ a fact and is not an opinion. Social media often comes into this as a status update or tweet could possibly be libelous if it causes damage to somebodies reputation.  This can cause the organisation to be open to a lawsuit for damages by victim who can prove the statement is wrong.As as producer it could affect your work in a series of ways.

You must consider the content you publish, it is about somebody make sure your facts are correct before you go an make presumptions. You must also make sure that if you are not sure on the facts make your point into an opinion and not a fact; to avoid breaking the law.  The editor must also be careful on how others are presented, if the edit makes a scenario become out of context the person may well speak out publicly about it.  Last of all, your should follow the guide lines set and should not cause encouragement on social networks. There has been several scenarios where the libel law has been broken.

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Lord McAlpine, Robert Alistair McAlpine was a British politician who was an adviser to previous Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He was born on May the 14th in 1942 and died in early 2014 at the age of 71.

In 2012, Mcalpine was involved in a libel law feud as it was alleged he was a peadophile and a child abuser. This feud began in 2012 when Mcalpine was said to be involved in a North Wales child abuse scandal, which the BBC Newsnight claimed was a "Senior Conservative; although no names were mentioned several rumors began and Mcalpines name started to appear on social networking. Although the people who were commissioned to write the story were not aiming to name McAlpine the guardians states: "they were not pursuing new evidence against Lord McAlpine, nor did they intend to name him. The goal was to look at the failings of previous police investigations and the supposed failure of an official inquiry into the scandal " 


Copyright is a legal document/right that protects the creators work from being plagiarized by others. Copyright allows the creators to do what they like with their work and receive money for their content. This means only the creator can use the work, so if anything was copyright such as music or video footage I could not use it in my work. For example for a short film I wanted to use some music from YouTube, I would not be legally allowed to do so as the work is not created by myself. Anything that is protected under copyright displays the following symbol:


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In short, intellectual property is something that is original to you, for instance you physically created some thing. An I.P is not an idea but your creation written or in a physical form. Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects your creation. By being informed on what your rights are and you have the right protection you can stop people from stealing your creation, invention, design, trade secrets or any of your written work. 

Social media website BuzzFeed, which is an internet news company , was sued for $3.6 million/ £2.3 million. The lawsuit came from a photographer who's photo of a women heading a football was used without his permission. Not only was it used on BuzzFeed's website, but over websites that used the photo after it had been on the website. The image is not very interesting and was deemed as boring by the media; here is the photo:


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BuzzFeed not only was sued for the lawsuit they also took down the photo which was part of a "30 Funniest Header Faces" which after being removed turned into "29 Funniest Header Faces". The image was found on over 30 different websites after the photographer searched the web ; after being angry that BuzzFeed had used his photo. The photographer states that BuzzFeed is : "unequivocally responsible both directly and indirectly for all subsequent infringements" 

Health & Safety Act

This act applies to all work in the media industry in the UK. .Under the health and safety act a producer must provide and maintain safety equipment and safe systems of work. All devices must be stored , handled, transported and used properly. You must also have a system for managing health and safety, define the responsibilities and duties, assess and manage risks and review the risks before and after.

Define the responsibility and duties means that the producer puts up a system so the the employees can control the risk to others and themselves. The system for health and safety normally depends on the size of the company and cannot be delegated to anyone else apart from the employee. To make sure that safety is kept you must: provide a safe working environment where equipment is checked and maintains its safety features, provide information, training and supervision in the work place, look after the safety of others and to take care of your own health. We also must manage the possible risk in an area; in order to manage the risks producers will use a risk assessment, but what is a risk assessment?


A risk assessment is document that highlights the risks, dangers and precautions before filming commences. Each risk is given a severity rating which ranges from Negligible- Very Severe,  a likelihood rating  ranging from very unlikely- very likely. These factors then combine to create a risk factor  up to 5.  A rating 5 means that immediate action is needed. This process makes production safer as it sets up the plans to remove risks that could be potentially dangerous.It is often a requirement in order to receive insurance and can prevent companies from various law suits if an accident occurs on set. These risks are then further assessed on the day of filming and is kept in mind during shooting.

For instance an incident relating to poor risk assessing, occurred during the filming of "The Dark Knight". Special effects technician, Conway Wickliffe died after sitting in the back of a Nissan when the car crashed into a tree at 20mph. At the time he was operating a camera out of the window, filming a stunt car which was opposite the Nissan. The collision with the tree was due to the fact the driver had missed the turn at the end. "Instead of turning on to the service road it carried on and I saw it impact the tree. It appeared to be a glancing blow." - Ian Mitchell , colleague of Conway.

If the driver had followed the risk assessment and knew what he was doing by practicing the shoot, then a live could of been saved. A vital live lesson is to actual use the risk assessment during production and not just completing the document for the sake of doing one.

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This act means that people are legally obliged to maintain secrecy; even if there is a public interest defense you are not allowed to publish to content.  This applies to all employees in government, including the armed forces and civil services. This covers the disclosure of information and if this act is broken it can have serious consequences; depending on the type of secrets disclosed. A person found guilty of breaking the act may be convicted to jail for 2 years/more or  a fine or both. The act came into place to replaced the official secret act of 1911. It sums up that any one with official information who discloses it without lawful consent. The type of information that is covered is:
  • Security 
  • Defense
  • International Relations
  • Foreign Confidences 
  • Information of Crimes
Official information means that the person has received any information,article or document during their role in their job. As a producer I would make sure that the content I release is public information and is not under the official secrets act.  To do this I would check the history of my staff, so they do not reveal any content from their previous jobs. That may well come under the act. I would also check with the authorities to make sure that the information is given to go to be released; if not I will not publish the content. There has been many cases by Ex's SAS members and other people have broken this act:

The overall concept of the obscene publications act is to not publish any content which may 'deprave and corrupt, those who read/see it. Things such as torture, child abuse , violence and beastiality may come under the corruptible and depraved description. It is one of the acts used to strengthen the law against pornography and to strengthen previous laws for preventing the publication of obscene products (portrayal of sexul content). Which is normal deemed offensive or disgusting by accepted public standards.

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The act was first introduced to fix problems where obscene legislation could be applied to literature. The purpose was to clarify the laws and "provide protection of literature". To break the act the work as a whole must corrupt and deprive the audience. Although in part of the act works such as science, literature and art became exempt; and the act did not apply to them. Although the act was made to cover the works of literature, it was brought across that the BBFC (British Board of Film Censor) was covering the same areas as the act. So the act also put films under the act as well as books/literature. As a result of this any BBFC-approved film has never been pulled up for being too obscene or corruptible. This was act was improved in the year 1964. The BBFC is a film board that is a non governmental organisation responsible for the national classification (of film/video game ratings) and censorship for film in the UK. 

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The main thing to note is that a film as a whole must be deemed as corruptible and depraved and not scenes on their own. Meaning they can not be judged out of context of the film. A film labelled obscene is allowed to be shown if " it is in the interests of science, art, literature, or learning or of other objects of general concern".

So how does this apply to briefs?

These laws must be followed when creating media products for clients otherwise you can legally be sued, fine or even put in jail if you break the law. When negotiating with the client you need to, one make sure you sign the contract of the brief and fully understand your deal to prevent you from getting into legal trouble but you also need to talk to the client that the final product is suitable to show to audiences and consumers from a legal point of view. As when you are still editing in the final stages and negotiating what stays with the client you both need to understand what legally isn't allowed in the video or media product. If a client legally tells you to remove a piece of content then you must do so otherwise it can result in both parties being at fault. Next lets take a look at ethics.


Ethical Considerations

Ethics and law are very different. The main difference is that ethics is not a legal matter and is not the law. Ethics is a rule of conduct and responsibility that a producer must stick to. Ethics involves what is right,equitable,fair,dutiful and responsible. If you break an ethic code , often set up by the company's guidelines , that you will be made to act with disapproval from other colleagues and your place of work. Therefore, it is your duty as a producer to take ethical considerations seriously and into account when creating products for media.  To reduce the risk of breaking a code of conduct, you must make sure your are working within "social norms"; what the generally public think is accepted. 


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The sort of ethical considerations you must take into account are:
  • Not causing anyone harm or offence - A key point is to not target minors (those who are under 18) as they are not of age to be mocked and ridiculed. These means in my products I cannot make aim to cause harm/offence to anyone.
  • Respectful of people’s sensitivities - Things such as those who have been involved with alcohol problems may take offence. As the story line maybe unbelievable and causes stereotypes to alcoholics that are not true.  So in my productions, I will have to take other peoples view points into consideration and not just my own.
  • Language/violence/sex - Some viewers may not wish to see this on TV or film, so warnings are often put at the start of programmes to make the audience aware. This means my productions cannot be overly violent, use constant vulgar language or constant sex scenes. Unless a warning is put in place, which will reduce my programmes target audience. 
  • Product placement - Programs that feature placed products must display the P symbol (See chapter 1 for more details). As without it the audience can be psychologically tricked into buying a product. This is unethical because it is similar to brainwashing, the audience may not want the product but are being forced by the perception on the TV show. So the P tells the audience that they may be trying to sell them something in the programme. This means I cannot misuse the trust of a viewer in my products.
  • Stereotypes  - The stereotyping of people must be true and cannot portray a situation/group of people in an absurd way. So when trying to make a statement from my view point, I will have to be sensitive in the way in which people and events are set up to be like in my production.
  • Representations - People and subject matters must all be represented in the same way. If the show was a reality show, everyone must be treated the same and in a fair way .As you cannot favor some over others.
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So if I wanted to create any media product, I would have to make sure I take into account of these considerations, all of which affect my product (See above). Otherwise,if you break an ethical code, the result will often be that you are fired. This will cause you to get a reputation and depending on the severity, you may not be allowed back into the industry. The company may also receive a fine and those also involved in the production may be fired; such as presenters or editors.  

Although in some roles in media, by taking ethical risks it can often create profit. If you were working as an editor of a newspaper, your job is to make money by selling papers. Sometimes in certain situations you can generate a piece, which will get papers selling.

For instance, a well known celebrity has just had a baby. As a producer I could either send a group of photographers to wait outside her house for photos; or I could wait a while until the celebrity has settled back down into her life. Things such as emphasizing extremely thin and unhealthy bodies for women in the media is considered unethical. Although, here is no right or wrong to this and is often why ethics can be difficult to deal with. To help stick to ethics, a series of broadcasting/guidelines where introduced.

Relating it Back to Briefs

Like we saw it is normally a company you work in house for that sets up the guidelines. When it comes to creating products for external clients it is often down to ethics of both parties involved. Ethically you can include anything you want into a video and you stand from your point of view, everyone is different. For instance, if you produce a video containing people of various races and special needs; and the client says we only want a select race and no one with special needs. Legally they are allowed to do that, but as a content producer are you okay to remove that from your product?

Either way you are doing what you think is right. You could still give them the video edited to their standards or from your moral point of view you could say no. Hand over the video and walk away from the project. But when it comes to negotiating with the client you need to make sure you are agreeing to what you think is morally okay to present to a client. It could even be the other way around you could present a final product that ethically doesn't feel acceptable by the company and you would have to defend to what you feel is okay. Most recently Adam Sandler's Ridiculous 6 was considered to be unethical by some for the jokes towards Indians and Mexicans. 


Regulatory Body Considerations

Finally lets take a look at the final consideration of regulatory bodies. Regulatory bodies are organisations set up by the Government which have the responsibility to monitor, guide and control various outlets of media within the UK. This means that the bodies must regulate the control of mass media, which could range from Newspapers, TV, Film,Radio, etc... The main purposes of having a regulatory body is to protect the public, producers and anyone involved in the creation of mass media. They must enforce the current laws and promote the creation of high quality content. All judgement's set in place by the bodies are set according to the decided values and standards (standard norms). These social norms usually revolve around the topics of information, education, advertising, culture, audience tastes and decency. Overall, they are there to protect and care for the basic interests of the public.
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Without these regulatory bodies, the audience may easily be offended and could witness obscene,harmful and spiteful content against there will. By enforcing a regulatory body to maintain and control the content; all products will be suitably fitted for the audiences viewing. For instance if a film contains strong violence and gore a rating is given and warnings are put in place before a film. This would be put in place by a regulatory body, which in this case would be the BBFC. Other things put in place are schedules, as 9pm is known as the water shed. This time is for more mature and adult audiences and will not cause harm and offence to children; as they will be asleep. The following themes are normally portrayed in this period: graphic violence, horror, strong language, nudity, sexual intercourse and many more. In this guide we will be looking at 4 regulatory bodies and the areas they cover; although like most things they also have flaws which will also be covered in the guide. The 4 bodies we will be looking at are: OFCOM, BBFC, ASA and PCC/IPSO.

BBFC

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The BBFC was created in 1912 to monitor the films that were showing across from their buildings of operation. BBFC, stands for The British Board of Film Classification. It is an independent, non government organisation. So has no interference from the industry like the PCC did. This means that the government or any media company doesn't get the freedom of speech. As the NOTW was publishing stories they wanted to publish without sticking to the rules and guidelines put in place. The BBFC is responsible for the classification and censorship for films and videos in the United Kingdom. They have the power to cut or reject any work from appearing on DVD or in the Cinemas. All funding comes from the film industry, every film is watched and judged by the BBFC following the BBFC Guidelines. Not only do they cover the film industry but the Video Games industry as well. Although in this guide we will just focus on film. 

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All works submitted to the BBFC have to be considered under several concepts. For a start it needs to be checked, if it contains any content that could break the law, cause harm to the viewer or viewers as a whole through their behavior. Other legal considerations they have to consider are indecent images of children, animal cruelty (recently brought into the guidelines in the 2000's), and acts of obscene publications and hatred towards discriminatory groups and the human rights act. For more information  on the legal considerations check out part 2 of the guide. 


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Any work involving the deception of illegal behavior, drugs, violent or horrific behavior and acts of human sexual activity are under the 'harm test'. As if done correctly and considerate to the audience they will pass the test. Although any film that break the harm test may either be given an 18 or banned from showing altogether. Any work that breaks the law or is on the edges of the law, the work will be cut. If the whole film has the chance to break the law then they will be denied a certificate for cinemas. Which means it will be rejected from the UK. 

It is important for the BBFC to exist to stop films getting through the filters. With the main aim to prevent any obscene or aspects of torture to be shown to viewers. In order to prevent harm and offensive whilst damaging the mind of the viewer. See Obscene Publications Act in the previous guide. This is also so all films get judged on a far scale, so all modern day films get rated the same. Which means any 15 film will have similar concept and themes. Last of all, most importantly it is to prevent minors witnessing any disturbing or distressing scenes. 

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The BBFC also offers consumer advice which is a brief description of the content in a film. For instance it will make notes on any issues such as violence, sex, language and drugs. It can also include highlights on themes such as suicide or contexts such as comedy or fantasy. Stunt warnings or warnings of dangerous activities are normally expected on a films for younger viewers. For instance a film may say this film is rated "15" and contains strong language and mild drug use. In the previous year the BBFC issued 1,159 films with an age rating of 18, 27%  of the total 1,159 , which is 313 films rounded up, required cuts. 

Age Classifications


The world classification means the splitting up of information into different groups or categories. For instance in biology each living thing has a name under the rules of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order,Family, Genus, Species. Take a human for example there genus is homo and the species is sapien, which goes to form the binomial name of homosapien. Although, in the world of films and the BBFC films are split into age classifications. This is done by considering the following: Context, Themes, Tone and the impact it serves, drugs, discrimination, bad behavior, language, sex,nudity, threat and violence. In the following section we will explore how the different age ratings: U, PG,12/12 A, 15, 18 and R18; are set up and what makes each rating that way. For instance you wouldn't see any sex or nudity in a U film.

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But first of all, films are given a certification in order to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and video. They also give consumers the information they need about a film so they can choose if they go and see it.Before each film is released, the BBFC examines and gives an age rating to each film or video. They are independent so have no biases coming from the film industry; which secures the highest possible level of protection to the viewer.In order to give a film a suitable rating, they must watch the film the whole way through whilst giving an overall insight.

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Banned/ Rejected Work

Although, if a film is too extreme and does not fit in any of the BBFC's guidelines, they have the rights to deny a film a certificate. This means the film will not be shown in any UK cinemas unless changes are made to the final cut. For instance, the Human Centipede 2, above, had to have over 2 minutes of cuts to fit into the 18 rating. In this section we will look at two films which where rejected by the BBFC.

Cannibal Holocaust


The 1979 film was not submitted to the BBFC at the time of production as it was presumed that no distributor felt that it was likely to be accepted for classification. Although a version was put out on video in 1982 that was without a BBFC certificate. This meant the video nastie at the time was freely available to everyone of all ages, including children. Alongside over video nasties at the time, this film was at the top of the BBFC's list. Even though some video nasties were mild and a handful received a certificate of the BBFC.

The film recounts the story of an American film crew who go through the jungles to find a missing team of young documentary filmmakers. Although they never find the crew they do find the recording equipment. Upon returning they find out the footage they got was in fact fake and fabricated footage on the local people and wildlife. However, the final footage shows the local people taking their revenge on the crew...

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The BBFC states "Cannibal Holocaust was not formally submitted to the BBFC until 2001, largely because its reputation as a 'video nasty' and its long history of prosecutions for obscenity seemed to preclude the issuing of a BBFC certificate.". The film also had a strong sexual violence which infringed on the BBFC's strict policy on rape and sexual violence. This meant the BBFC is likely to require cuts in order to make the film become classifiable. There was also concerns on whether the animals were clearly unsimulated or whether the animals were directly slaughtered for film. Although the BBFC noted that the cuts could make the film more acceptable. Infact 5 minutes and 44 seconds of cuts were made in order to pass the film for an 18 for video and DVD. The cuts included four scenes of sexual violence and four scenes of animal killing. 10 years on from the decision, the film was looked at again. This time another 15 seconds of cuts, a single cut of animal cruelty, was removed. Leaving the final rejected film as an 18 30+ years on from production.

 The BBFCinsight states that the film 'Contains strong sex, sexual violence, bloody violence, and animal slaughter'.

Ofcom - Broadcasting Code

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Ofcom/Office of communications is a communications regulator in the UK. They regulate TV,Radio,Phone Lines,Mobiles,Postal Services and the communications of wireless devices. They operate from a series of Acts of Parliament and must act within the legislation. They are funded by fees from the industry and has a grant-aid from the government. They main legal duties are to "ensure:
  1. the UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed services such as broadband;
  2. a wide range of high-quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests;
  3. television and radio services are provided by a range of different organisations;
  4. people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material;
  5. people are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded;
  6. a universal postal service is provided in the UK - this means a six days a week, universally priced delivery and collection service across the country; and
  7. the radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms and boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcast
Ofcom will not watch or listen to a programme before a broadcast. In order for the public to make a complaint before the broadcast of a show, you must contact the broadcaster that is responsible for releasing the content. In order to complain to Ofcom you can either write in or complete and submit a form online. Ofcom will then go through the entire Broadcasting Code to check whether or not the programme was in breach.
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Ofcom are also not responsible for regulating: arguments between you and a communications provider, mobile phone text services and ringtones, content of adverts, complaints of accuracy in BBC programmes,the BBC license fee,poster offices or newspapers and magazines. Through this they have set up a broadcasters code , which professional bodies like the BBC and Channel 4 follow. The code is a rulebook for which any TV or Radio station must follow and sets rules for programs and broadcasters. It was created to protect audiences and listeners from harmful and offensive content, whilst producers/broadcasters have the freedom to make challenging programmes. In fact, Ofcom covers ten key areas, I will now look briefly at each section:

The 10 Sections of The Broadcasting Code

Any content that may seriously impair physically, mentally or morally under 18 should not be broadcast. The scheduling of programmes should be done in a way so children, under 15, will not witness unsuitable content. Scheduling must revolve around the time children are likely to watch TV/listen to radio, the start and finishing times of programmes and when children are in and out of school. The broadcaster must also be aware of watershed, I.E after 9pm child should be asleep therefore different content is allowed after this time slot. If a risky programme is aired before 9pm, warnings must be put into place.The reference to drugs, smoking and drinking must not be included in content unless there is a strong reason to why. They should not be glamorised, the same should be said for violence and strong language. No sexual content should be broadcast before the watershed unless it is PIN protected. Nudity before watershed must be justified and any film banned by the BBFC should not be broadcast, unless it meets the standards set for a cut or lower rating. This must be agreed by the BBFC.

•Harm and offence
All standards must apply to the contents of TV and radio and must have protection for the members of the public. Factual programmes cannot bend the truth and mislead the audience. Any content that could cause offence must be justified by context. The programme must not glamorise violent and dangerous behavior. Methods to commit suicide and self-harm must not be included in the programmes content. There also must be no demonstrations of acts relating to the paranormal. Any acts of hypnotism must not be down straight down the camera, any fake news must be done in a way so the audience do not think it is real.All methods of voting must be fair, simple and not misleading. Last of all, any viewers with epilepsy must be warned about strobe lights at the start of the programme. 

Content must not encourage the audience to recreate/commit crime. Any demonstrations or descriptions of crime must not reveal details, this is to stop the creation of potential criminals. No payment may go to any witness's or criminals, this is to avoid creating mixed stories and messing with the legal system. This is unless the information is important and is for the public interest. 

•Religion
Broadcasters must show respect to the content of religious programmes. The views and beliefs of a religion on a show must be treated in an non abusive manner. The religion must be clear to identify, so that the audience is not mislead.  Shows cannot aim to promote and recruit new members without telling the audience. Although TV programmes are not allowed to seek recruits in the first place. 

Any form of news must be reported accurately and present in a balanced manner, they cannot show any favouritism. Any mistakes in programmes must be fixed correctly and quickly. Political figures cannot be the host of a news show and can only answer questions set by an interviewer. No personal opinions of the broadcasters must be included in the broadcast of news.Views and facts cannot be misrepresented. 


The rules from Section 5 are also applied to this section. There must be a fair representation of all candidates/organisations in elections and referendums. Any discussions on results must finish when the polls open, the results of the poll must also be released after the polls have closed and not during. The candidates of the election should not appear in programming unless it was filmed before election. 


Broadcasts have to treat everyone the same and cannot have unfair treatment towards people and organisations.When invited on a programme, the individual must be told: what they are doing, what they are expected to say/do, what the programme is, be aware of changes to the programme,and be given information such as preview dates. If the person is under 16, then parental permission is required, editing should give a fair representation of that persons contribution. The re use of footage must be done in a way so it does not create unfairness. Dramas must not aimed to create hatred to figures and events. If a person does not want to be included in a programme, the broadcast should make it clear and should not include them; unless censoring is used. All permissions of use of footage and audio of any kind, including prank calls must be clarified by the persons involved.


Any infringement of privacy in programmes/ connections made in the obtainment of material must have a warrant. The same should be said for peoples addresses. Consent of information must be checked and agreed on by the persons involved in the programme. A broadcaster must stop recording a person if they no longer agree. Permission for shooting on location must also be arranged. Warnings and arrangements must be set up for formal interviews, that are going to be used in the programme. Phone calls cannot be recorded unless the full details have been shared with the parties involved. Footage of those involved in accidents, names of those who have died or been murdered must also not be released. Any footage of under sixteens must be granted parental permission and may not be quizzed on personally matters.


•Commercial references in TV programming (Section 9+10)


If we look at Privacy for example, there are 7 rules a producer must follow. For instance rule 8:22 states "Practice to follow 8.22 Persons under the age of sixteen and vulnerable
people.A child of five has a very different view and understanding of the world around it than a 15
year old teenager has. Questions need to be appropriate to both age and development
whether the child or young person is taking part in a factual programme or an entertainment
programme.Care must be taken to not to prompt children and that they should be allowed to speak for
themselves. Questioning that is likely to cause distress should be kept to a minimum."

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Rules like these are regular brought up to broadcasters as they are told:“Broadcasters are reminded of the legislative background that has informed the rules, of the principles that apply to each section, the meanings given by Ofcom and of the guidance issued by Ofcom, all of which may be relevant in interpreting and applying the Code. No rule should be read in isolation but within the context of the whole Code including the headings, cross references and other linking text.” Which means that each rule is significant and can link to other sections of the code as well. Which highlights to the broadcaster that you need to stick to the code carefully.


Although, a company may broadcast some explicit/pornographic material, even if some find it offensive. However, it needs to be proved it was justified in the edit, the audience were told and they are given the right information. The code also follows areas such as impartiality,accuracy, sponsorship, product placement, privacy and fairness. The code has a huge section dedicated to protecting minors. Such as the 9pm watershed slot on TV, timing/scheduling of programmes, age restrictions due to violence,sex and swearing; or any material which may influence children to copy the events witnessed in the show.

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When an audience complains about a programme, Ofcom will check the report against the code. If the programme breaches the code, they write a decision/recording of the breach. The result of the breach is then published on the website, under Broadcast Bulletin. If a broadcaster commits a serious offence, Ofcom has the legal right to impose consequences. Which can include fines, or removed the permit from the company. Removing the permit means they are no longer legally allowed to broadcast material.The code only applies to the following media sectors: TV and radio. In order to make the public agree with the standards, the Code was drawn up after extensive research with viewers,listeners and broadcasters.

Past Investigations

In this section we will be looking at the past cases OFCOM had dealt with:

Frankie Boyle

Frankie Boyle caused controversy after one of the jokes, he made on his Channel 4 programme "Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights" ; In this episode he had an audience of 1 million. The following clip , above, shows Boyle performing the jokes that targeted Katie Price and her son. On the show Boyle said: "Apparently Jordan and Peter Andre are fighting each other over custody of Harvey, well eventually one of them'll lose and have to keep him." he then added: "I have a theory that Jordan married a cage fighter (Her partner at the time, Alex Reid) cause she needed someone strong enough to stop Harvey from f******' her."

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Although  I didn't find the comments offensive myself, this was considered unethical in a series of way. With the main one being that Boyle targeted a minor, as Harvey Price was only 8 at the time and has done nothing to make him a victim. This also meant Boyle was not aware of peoples sensitivities, as he was making a joke about the boys disability; which may also offend various others who have a condition that may be watching. And overall, the jokes were seen to cause harm and offence, mainly to Katie Price and her family.

As a result, 500 viewers complained to Ofcom, with one of those being Price herself. With her comments being ,that the jokes were 'discriminatory, offensive, demeaning and humiliating'. Ofcom themselves stated that Boyle's comments " directly target and mock the mental and physical disabilities of a known eight-year-old child who had not himself chosen to be in the public eye”.


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Ofcom ruled the content to be under violation of the broadcasting code, but no serious sanction occurred; and let Boyle off with a light telling off. This meant that neither the show or Channel 4 had to give an apology, put a warning at the start of the show or pay a fine. Which lead Price to state:
"'While I am pleased that Ofcom have ruled against Channel 4 and I understand that they consider this ruling itself to be a sanction against the broadcaster, I am amazed that Ofcom have not required, at the least, an apology to be broadcast.

PCC

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The PCC stands for the Press Complaints Commission , but closed on September 8th 2014 and was replaced by the IPSO: Independent Press Standards Organisation. The PCC's role was to regulate newspapers and magazines. To do this they were required to enforce the Editors Code of Practice which was framed by the newspaper and periodical industry in 2011, which took full effect in 2012. although a big slip up cost the regulatory body its position in the area and ended up being replaced by a better regulatory body. But what slip up cost the PCC?

Problems with the PCC - Phone Hacking Scandal

The News of The World royal phone hacking scandal and the scandals to follow was the major turning point in the flaws of the PCC. This occurred  between 2005-2007 around the hacking of voice mails relating the royal family by a private investigator. On the 13th of November an article appeared in the News of The World claiming that Prince William was in the process of loaning a portable editing suite from  ITV royal correspondent, Tom Brady . After the story was publish, the two met and tried to figure out how the story was published as they had not spoken to the press. They concluded it was found out by listening in to their voice mails. This caused a mass investigation by the government and lead to 3 mean being arrested. Two men Goodman and Mulcaire were charged with hacking under offence of of section 79 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers act 2000. Goodman faced 4 months in jail after admitting he was guilty. This was the prelude to a massive scandal in the News of The World, where they hacked into a murdered girls phone to find out what had happened. Not only did they hack her phone, they deleted voice mails to make room for more; in order to gain more information. Thus, caused the parents to falsely believe there child was still alive. Unfortunately, their child was murdered. This ultimately lead to the paper being shut down and the PCC being questioned on its ability to regulate newspapers and magazines.

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The closure of the News of the World was a massive event that occurred due to a series of phone hacking scandals. Instead of reporters going and asking the people involved face to face, out of fear they would not reveal personally information. Instead they would tap into phone calls and listen to their voice mails in order to get a "Juicy" story. The scandal start a while back with the two men we looked at previously, which was 4-5 years before the closure of the paper.

ASA

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The ASA stands for the Advertising Standards Agency.  They are UK's independent regulatory body for all types of media. Their work on regulation ensures that they act on complaints, check the media for any misleading, harmful or offensive adverts, sales promotions and direct marketing, that may have slipped the mark. This is to not only resolve complaints, but to pick up on any adverts that the audience may not realize are in breach. Such as an advert that promotes a product that may promise outstanding results. When in fact the whole video has been drafted to mislead the audience. 

If the ASA decides an advert is in breach of the UK Advertising Codes, they have the right to withdraw and amended the content. They also warn the advertiser to not use these standards in future advertisements. In 2012, they looked through thousands of complainants, 31,298 in fact. These complainants were linked to 18,990 advertisements considered to be in breach. Although only 3700 broke the UK Advertising Code. As well as the complaints, they actively check over thousands of adverts. This system is paid for by the advertising industry which also writes the rules for the code. Although the rules are not checked by the industry, which is why the  ASA exists. To enforce the UK Advertising Code. This is to avoid any bias  and corruption, like the PCC, in order to make sure everyone is following the rules set in place. Although any advertising in TV and Radio is handled in the last sections of OFCOM's Broadcasting Code.  To see how to complain about an advert with Ofcom check the link. 

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In advertising there are two different forms of adverts. These sections are known as Non-Broadcast and Broadcast. For instance any form of advert that is printed or published is classified as Non-Broadcast. For instance a billboard or an online advert on a website. These adverts need to comply with the "CAP Code". If they do not stick to the rules put in place, then serious consequences are put into place. If one advert slips through that breaches the code, all off air advertising has to be pre-checked for up to 2 years. Which is a problem since millions of adverts are published a year. Thus, making it nearly impossible to check whether each one follows the Advertising Code.

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The other type of adverts are known as Broadcast.These include the genres of adverts: TV shopping  and interactive TV adverts. These forms of adverts are not checked by the ASA, but are regulated by OFCOM instead. Again, this will come under the UK Code of Broadcasting Advertising section. 

CAP


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The UK Advertising Code sets out the rules and guidelines in which advertisers, media owners and agencies have to follow. CAP is in charge of writing and keeping up the Advertising Codes whilst providing authoritative advice on how to follow the rules. CAP stands for Committee of Advertising Practice. The code itself contains 33 sections, when a complaint is received it must be checked against all the criteria. For instance in section 4, harm and offence, you must follow :

4.1
Advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical, mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18.
4.2
Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards.
4.3
Advertisements must not exploit the special trust that persons under the age of 18 place in parents, guardians, teachers or other persons.
4.4
Advertisements must not include material that is likely to condone or encourage behaviour that prejudices health or safety.
4.5
Radio only – Advertisements must not include sounds that are likely to create a safety hazard, for example, to those listening to the radio while driving.
4.6
Television only – Advertisements must not include visual effects or techniques that are likely to affect adversely members of the audience with photosensitive epilepsy. For further guidance, see Ofcom's Guidance Note for Licensees on Flashing Images and Regular Patterns in Television at:
4.7
Television only – Advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident. The maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material.

Broadcasters must endeavour to minimise the annoyance that perceived imbalances could cause, with the aim that the audience need not adjust the volume of their television sets during programme breaks. For editorial reasons, however, commercial breaks sometimes occur during especially quiet parts of a programme, with the result that advertisements at normally acceptable levels seem loud in comparison.
Measurement and balancing of subjective loudness levels should preferably be carried out using a loudness-level meter, ideally conforming to ITU recommendations[1]. If a peak-reading meter[2] is used instead, the maximum level of the advertisements must be at least 6dB less than the maximum level of the programmes[3] to take account of the limited dynamic range exhibited by most advertisements.
1 The relevant ITU recommendations are ITU-R BS1770 Algorithms to measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level and ITU-R BS1771 Requirements for loudness and true-peak indicating meters.

2 Peak-reading meters should be a PPM Type IIa as specified in BS6840: Part 10, Programme Level Meters.

3 Normal convention for analogue audio is that the peak sound level of programmes is set to be no higher than +8dBm, which corresponds to 6 on a peak-reading meter. The peak sound level of advertisements should therefore be limited to +2dBm or 4.5 on a peak-reading meter. Note: +8dBm corresponds to a digital audio level of -10dB relative to digital clipping level. ITU-R BS.645 and EBU recommendation R68-2000 describe how analogue audio levels should be translated into digital levels.
4.8
Advertisements must not condone or encourage harmful discriminatory behaviour or treatment. Advertisements must not prejudice respect for human dignity.
4.9
Advertisements must not condone or encourage violence, crime, disorder or anti-social behaviour.
4.10
Advertisements must not distress the audience without justifiable reason. Advertisements must not exploit the audience’s fears or superstitions
4.11
Television only – Animals must not be harmed or distressed as a result of the production of an advertisement.
4.12
Advertisements must not condone or encourage behaviour grossly prejudicial to the protection of the environment.

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The guidelines covers a lot of groundwork and ranges in sections from Harm and Offence, Compliance and Pornography. This is in place so that the viewer is protected for all sorts of danger. Whether it be misleading information, or unwanted sexual, violent or unacceptable behaviour. Although, a huge amount of adverts are normally cleared for airing before the initial broadcast, they are cleared against the UK Code of Broadcasting. To make sure the advert is safe, two pre clearance centres were set up. In order to clear adverts for TV, Clearcast was created and the RACC, Radio advertising clearance centre was set up for radio.

How to Complain

Any one can make a complaint. If you believe the advert is in breach you can either submit a complaint online. telephone or by writing to them. You will then be given the name of the person who will handle the complaint. Your details will not be passed onto the advertiser. A formal investigation by the ASA will then be committed. Any adverts that break the rules, either need to make changes or they will be removed from viewing. The result will then be written into a case study and published every Wednesday. The ASA are allowed to begin an investigation of one complaint. The basis for a complaint will often come from a viewer that thinks the advert is misleading or has caused harm and offence. In this next section we will look at adverts that received complaints, some of which were in breach.NOTE: these adverts are from the top 10 most complained ads in 2014, apart from the Pot Noodle ad, to the ASA. 

Flora "Wrestling"


This advert for the food product flora buttery recited 183 complaints for its content. The animated as was aired on TV and published on Youtube; the ad shows two young children using flora buttery to make their parents toast for breakfast in bed. However, whilst going to present the breakfast the children walking in on a game of "Wrestling". Because of this complaints flocked in stating the ad was offensive and unsuitable for children, Although whilst the ASA acknowledged the ad was suggesting these themes there was no direct graphic sex or distressing scenes. Meaning it was less that likely to distress the younger audience. As the innuendo would of went over their head; as a result this advert was deemed not in breached. This was the 9th most complained against ad in 2014.

Relating It Back To Briefs 

Although these guidelines are set out by independent organisations that change with the times, clients must work with the producers in the production companies in order to make sure their work is able to be on display. For instance if you worked with a client to produce an advert it must fit the ASA otherwise it will be taken down and you could potentially get a fine. Meaning you have spent all your resources and budget on an advert that isn't going to be aired and has cost you even more money.

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So when you negotiate with the client you need to make sure your work fits the guidelines and it is needed to be done so that you or the client are not commercially effected due to a slip up in the way the advert has been created. If a client insists it needs to be taken out it is often best to listen and to try and work round it because the regulatory bodies may have to take action if a complaint is filed. Plus if it breaks the guidelines then often or not it may also break a few laws which means a simple job has resulted in a prison sentence. This will often be done in the final stages to make sure both you and the client are happy that the work is ethically, legally, fits with the regulatory body and finally that it is a piece of creative work ready for an audience. 

Opportunities 

By taking on new projects there is a whole new host of opportunities you can gain from taking on briefs. First let's take a look at the self development side of things. As you start taking on more and more projects you can start to development new skills by working with people. The first time you approach a client you are likely to be shy and not fully aware for what you are in for yet as so go on you will begin to build upon your people skills due to experience.

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You are also likely to make contacts with new people to whom you could work with on future projects. Team projects also give you the chance to try several new roles. One project you may aim to be the producer and work on creating the schedule and organising clients and staff within the company. Yet the next brief you may aim to work on being on the production side and being a camera operator allowing you to gather new skills. If you didn't take up new work then you are not allowing yourself to push the boundaries. When I first starting working with the music video brief I began to start planning events that I normally wouldn't dream of. 

Looking at booking the theatre, or even the town hall. I also started drawing in actors from other colleges and was known to other peers. Then when I moved onto creating the posters for the film festival I got to try out new photoshop skills and then adapting these to the clients need. 

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In the future I could even get the chance to work with larger budgets and deadlines. Because once you start upping the budget for productions it becomes a whole different ball park. Money is there for you to create a product you are proud of. The larger deadlines and projects also become more challenging and will offer new skills, for instance you may take up location management or even booking out catering, hotels, flights all for a project that you have pitched to a client. Not only learning new production and organisation skills but also allowing you to multi skill in various different aspects of the creative process. 

Like we have also saw there is a great deal of various contributions you can make to a project brief. For instance on the Nick Lofthouse brief I took up the chance to be the director and aspects of producing alongside working with a team to come up with the idea. I also took part in a competition brief for UK Cinefest to which mine was part of everyone else's as part of a contribution. Then doing practice briefs in lesson coming up with ideas for the Mountain Dew - Do The Dew Campaign. 

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As the briefs become larger you can defiantly have the chance to try out different roles.  As well as improving your transferable skills which can consist of: Budgeting, marketing, camera operating, directors, producing, communication, problem solving, organising, working to deadlines, leadership, negotiating, motivating people, research and decision making.

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End of Assignment





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