Tjharvey-Client Brief Essay - Final-10-3-21

TJ Harvey NDY2 – Creative Media Production 2019-2021
Unit 5: Working to a Brief in the Media Industry 2021

Lecturer: Faustina Starrett
Manufacturing a New Tomorrow

2 Be able to develop a planned response to a brief
This part of the brief is very much client centred. Together with the client we planned to
meet his requirements for a Short Information video on the sterling work of the
manufacturing providing PPE and supporting the community in dealing with the Pandemic
and working our way to recovery. Obviously, health and safety issues and relevant
legislation to be followed were paramount given the virus statistics in the Northwest were
very high. 1 It was a team effort in the planning Myself Joni Murphy and our Client Stephen
Kelly. We brainstormed ideas for form and style for video; treatments; scripts to meet
requirements of brief. We continually evaluated against requirements and constraints;
selecting best option; discussing with client; agreeing final response.
For my Client Brief, I chose to focus on Stephen Kelly, Chief Executive of Manufacturing
Northern Ireland and also my father.
I wanted to focus specifically on how businesses, local and global, have been dealing with
the COVID pandemic, what they’re currently doing to stay afloat and what their plan is to
recover and rebuild. Some handled it poorly and had no choice but to shut down, whilst
others managed to keep their head and miraculously pull through, now having to focus on
what to do next and how to do it.
I chose to interview Stephen Kelly as I
believe being the Chief Executive of
Manufacturing NI he deserves to have his
say on the situation as manufacturing is an
industry that took a major blow during the
first stage of Lockdown with the potential
of getting worse as time progressed.
I approached the client who is a personal

contact ensuring that all communication
between myself and the client could be
done safely and avoiding any breach of the
COVID-19 lockdown restrictions such as the mixing of households.
1
Covid Statistics Northern Ireland 2021
After making contact with the client, we established that what he was looking for was a
short 2-5-minute filmed advertorial discussing the response of the manufacturing
community to the COVID crisis and the rise of manufacturing post COVID. He wished to
promote how the manufacturing has helped in aiding both the government and society by
creating face shields and PPE for frontline workers and those most in need.
After more contact with the client, I decided on the overall theme and aesthetic of the
piece, as well as gaining more insight into the overall piece and how I wanted it to turn out.
I have decided to mainly anchor my piece around three to the point questions:
1. How did the manufacturing industry react to the first lockdown?
2. As of (insert current date) what is the manufacturing industry doing to fight

through the pandemic and stay afloat?
3. What is the next step for the manufacturing industry in a post-COVID world?
I added the inclusion of a question looking towards the future and what can be done next
rather than looking at what we should have done as I feel that in times of uncertainty the
last thing we need is someone telling us what we did wrong. We, the people, need to look
ahead and battle through. We must rebuild what was destroyed during the pandemic if we
are to ever recover.
To make this video a more fleshed out project rather than an extended interview, I will be
filming location shots and B-Roll of Seagate which is an example of a new manufacturing
development in the city, the old shirt factory which is an example of an old manufacturing
development as well as footage of the following interviewees:
Kieran Kennedy, Managing Director of O’Neills International Sportswear
With my father having connections from all over the

manufacturing industry, he
suggested that I sit down and film an interview with the
Managing Director of O’Neills Sportswear, Kieran
Kennedy.
Kieran is the perfect candidate for an interview as a part

of this project as O’Neills is a traditional textiles
manufacturer that allows me to make a direct link
between retail, online and production.
Conal McFeely, Ex Trade Union Representative, Chief Executive of Creggan Enterprises
Another tie to the Manufacturing Industry that has

become available through my fathers’ connections is
Conal McFeely, Ex Trade Union Representative and
the current Chief Executive of Creggan Enterprises
which is a social economy business that has taken
turned an old factory into a job creating, retailing and
health giving service in one of Derry’s oldest and
most deprived communities.
COVID-19 Health & Safety Restrictions
Shortly after postproduction began

on my Client Brief project, COVID-19
restrictions began to get tighter and
stricter, forcing us to adapt to the
new changes and make adjustments
to our project.
To start, we could no longer set up

meetings and interviews with both
Kieran Kennedy and Conal McFeely
as mixing of households and indoor
gatherings became prohibited,
meaning that for the final video, we
had to improvise and scrap any
inclusion of other interviewees,
instead focussing on just the
interview with Stephen Kelly.
This meant that the final piece would more likely resemble an advertisement, rather than a
short documentary style piece.
With these new COVID guidelines in mind, I began writing up a draft script for Stephen Kelly,
I kept it in mind that the script had to be short and concise if I wanted to keep it under the
two-minute mark to be considered as an effective advertisement.
3 Be able to apply a response to a brief
In this phase of the Brief, we applied the pre-production phase; production phase; post-
production phase; monitor progress; review; revise in discussion with client; dealing with
any difficulties, including the demands on his time as Media was very focused on PPE
provision. We made revisions to brief; revisions to plan to keep things moving.
Bibliography
Before I started writing my first draft of the script, I wanted to do some research into what
style I wanted the piece to have. I was struggling to find good sources of the type of content
I was trying to produce when Joni, my project partner, sent me some links to a previous
video made in connection to Manufacturing NI. After watching this short video, I sent the
link to the client and we all agreed that this would be the best style to emulate as it looked
clean, professional and got its point across quickly and effectively.
Link: https://twitter.com/tughans_news/status/1286304983969923074?
s=21&fbclid=IwAR3aw2tAr1VgLMvndcnE4aRXxBp39K0TbxRFrTJSZJGrJXOqHI2a798MLGE
Draft Script
After I drafted the script outlining the blueprints of what I wanted the piece to be overall, I
decided to contact my project partner, Joni Murphy and we set up 3 phone calls on 3
separate days of production to discuss what our overall vision for the piece was and if Joni
had any input into how the piece should look. These calls were an essential part of all
stages of production as Joni does not live within a reasonable distance to make it to the
shooting location on time and she is also not a part of my bubble, or the clients bubble.
In these calls, I sent Joni a script and we both had some notes on what shots to add to the
final edit of the video once filmed, including what text to use, what zooms to use, different
types of edits, etc. We then compiled all of these ideas and added them onto our script,
finishing up the writing process.
These project briefings led to a sharper final script and filming plan.
FINAL SCRIPT
Once we had completed our shooting script, made contact with the client and were happy
with the preproduction, I decided to put together a quick equipment list.
Since Joni was unable to attend the shoot due to the

COVID-19 guidelines, I didn’t feel like it was necessary
to include a shooting schedule as me and my Father
were both comfortable moving the camera around
different angles and seeing what worked on the day.
With only one person behind the camera (myself) it
was a very minimal equipment list as I only needed
one lighting source, a single camera and a single mic.
Because there was very little equipment being used,

this meant that to evenly spread-out workload on the project, I handled the in-person
interview and Joni handled the research as well as other preproduction roles:
Post Filming
After the filming process wrapped up, it was now time to begin on the first edit. To get more
than one view on the final piece, I contacted my project partner Joni, sent her the raw
footage from my camera and we began discussing how we wanted the video to look. We
both agreed that we wanted the piece to have a fast-editing style with bright, bold caption
overlays on key moments and a quiet musical track underneath to help fill in the silence.
Postproduction
Once we had agreed on the style of the piece, I began my first edit of the raw footage, this
edit was very bare, and the rhythm felt slightly too slow to be an advertisement piece. There
were no cutaways, and the colour grading made the piece seem very dark and under
exposed. Although this first edit was not perfect, it gave us a sense of what the final piece
could look like. Once we had both seen this edit, we agreed that the next logical step
forward would be to send the first edit to the client and get feedback on areas where we
could improve.
Once we had gotten our feedback from the client, I decided to hand over my first edit to
Joni, who then gathered images of the O’Neills factory to add to the edit. Once she had
gathered her images, she decided to record a short video of a Bloc Blinds face shield with
her phone and send it to me via text. After Joni had finished tidying up the piece and adding
some quick cutaways, she sent her edit to me and I decided to go into the edit, touch up the
audio levels for a final time and the piece was ready to be sent to the client.
Final Edit
Pictured above are screenshots of my editing timeline for the final edit.
4 Be able to review work on completion of a brief

Feedback: from peers, from client, from audience, from supervisor; contribution to
workplace goals; own suitability for industry
At this stage I wanted to extend the audience review beyond the Client, my Lecturer and
Joni. I reviewed it in Teams class online and I found the feedback really useful and helpful.
The feedback is fair and positive for me. I had to work around the constraints of Lockdown
and my client. At this time there were many media demands on Stephen’s time as he speaks
for the sector. The aim was to create an advertising awareness piece that would highlight
the struggles and the contribution of this sector during COVID-19. The piece highlights their
very important contribution to overcoming the Pandemic and the spirit and energy they
brought to providing the much-needed PPE. The same qualities will help the Northwest
Manufacturing community recover and thrive in the future.
I feel we achieved what we agreed to do. We had clear communication and I learned a lot
working with Stephen about negotiating a brief, time management and being able to adapt
contingency plans when necessary. It was very much a team effort with the Stephen and
Joni Murphy my class colleague. Joni got COVID-19 about a month into the second lockdown
and was in hospital and well as having to recover since returning home.
I worked very much as a team with Joni on research, pre-production and planning and I did
the production locations, shot list, and the aesthetic ideas for the style of the piece. I
managed the shoots and edits and we reviewed footage by me sending it to her and
discussing it as she was following the legal rules around isolating pre and post COVID with
complications she experienced.
I hope to put the Short piece forward for an Advertising Production category in the NICMA
FE Awards at the end of March. Entries have to be in by 16-03-2021.
Final Comments on my personal learning
COVID restrictions have made delivering on this brief incredibly difficult so I was thankful for the
support and experience of the client, colleagues and lecturers.
The process of writing this project up however, has been helpful in that the journey taken and
the problems faced along the way have taught me how to adapt in the toughest circumstances
and turn in a completed project, even when the odds are stacked against me.
Bibliography
My Portfolio
https://tjharveykelly.weebly.com
Live Brief examples – Portfolio & Films discussed in class, Examples in

www.faustinastarrett.weebly.com/students
MOODLE 2 - http://ilearn.nwrc.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1076
www.youtube.com/bfifilms
Use the links and resources provided on Moodle For your course (NDCMP –CREATIVE
MEDIA PRODUCTION) as well as the links below.
www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines – BBC producers’ guidelines
www.bbctraining.com/journalism.asp – BBC online training modules
ADDITIONAL Websites/Books
www.allpm.com – a project management site with useful resources
www.skillset.org/interactive/careers/article4754-1.asp – Skillset’s pages on the role
of a project manager
www.bbc.co.uk/academy/collegeofproduction/
www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/school_report/7496032.stm
Bailys P, Freedman A, Procter N et al – BTEC Level 3 National Creative Media
Production, Teaching Resource Pack (Pearson, 2010) ISBN 978-1846907371
Hardy P – Filming on a Micro budget (Pocket Essentials, 2004) ISBN 978-
1842433010

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TJ Harvey NDY2 – Creative Media Production 2019-2021

Unit 5: Working to a Brief in the Media Industry 2021

Manufacturing a New Tomorrow

I approached the client who is a personal

1. How did the manufacturing industry react to the first lockdown?

2. As of (insert current date) what is the manufacturing industry doing to fight

Kieran Kennedy, Managing Director of O’Neills International Sportswear

With my father having connections from all over the

Kieran is the perfect candidate for an interview as a part

Conal McFeely, Ex Trade Union Representative, Chief Executive of Creggan Enterprises

Another tie to the Manufacturing Industry that has

COVID-19 Health & Safety Restrictions

Shortly after postproduction began

To start, we could no longer set up

3 Be able to apply a response to a brief

Since Joni was unable to attend the shoot due to the

Because there was very little equipment being used,

4 Be able to review work on completion of a brief

Final Comments on my personal learning

Live Brief examples – Portfolio & Films discussed in class, Examples in

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