What is a Creative Brief?

What is a Creative Brief? Creative projects, like video production and moviemaking, require documentation that outlines the various information required to produce the project and achieve the vision of the order. Creative briefs provide a valuable component of the filmmaker’s planning in which the key details of the video production are outlined with a vision and appropriate goals in mind, but what is a creative brief?

Used throughout various types of creative projects, including advertising and in video production as well as with various other forms of creative work, creative briefs are documents that can be used by professionals to capture key details of a person’s request for video production through a series of questions and appropriate answers.

Let’s take a look at what is included in a creative brief for a film or video production project.

Background Details and Project Objectives

Every creative brief begins with a brief background of the project and the objectives involved. When asked to answer a creative brief series of questions, the background details and project objectives should be one of the easiest pieces of information to provide.

The key importance is to outline the purpose of the video, whether it is part of a major campaign or if it is something entirely new. This is also where the key outcomes or goals of the project are outlined.

Target Audience

Including the target audience in the creative brief is equally important. Knowing who a video is supposed to reach or what the key audience details are as important to the production.

You may see details that are very basic regarding the target audience, but some creative briefs will include advanced audience targeting details including buyer personas and outlines of potential demographic information relative to the audience of the project.

Message

What’s the main idea or key message of the video? This is included in the creative brief to help the production crew understand what their focus should be and how they can tailor a story to meet the needs of the key message. Every creative brief will include details that will help the production crew understand how the message should be delivered in order to meet the goals of the project.

Distribution

Creative briefs also include distribution details that pertain to the individual video project. Where will you distribute the video? What platforms will the video be shared on? Is there a particular length, aspect ratio, or call to action that should be used based on how and where the video will be distributed? These are all key considerations in the distribution area of the creative brief.

Tone

Some videos are produced with a very serious tone of voice and others have a light and fun tone. The best way to outline the tone of the video for your production crew is to share links or samples of other videos that you like which resemble similar guidelines or elements that you wish to use in your video. This helps the production crew to define appropriate guidelines for your film.

Requirements

Creative projects can be extremely unique, but perhaps you have some elements that are absolutely required in the video project? These are included in this section of the creative brief. Consider things like a logo, tagline, particular sound clip, or some other necessary element that you want to be included in your video to make it engaging.

Timeline

How much time does the production crew have to complete your video? This should be included to help outline the appropriate rounds of filming, revisions, and other needs.

Budget

Do you have a budget in mind? Is there a particular amount of money that you are willing to spend on production? Be realistic about the budgeting and outline what you’re willing to spend in the creative brief otherwise you may find that your production team comes up with an elaborate production that is well beyond your budget — and this can waste time leaving everyone frustrated.

Approval & Revision Process

Make sure that your creative brief outlines the creative process in detail and includes information on how to go about revising the content and later approving it. How many revisions will you get? Who is involved in the approval process? What steps will be expected of you?

Now that you know the answer to the common question, “what is a creative brief?” Are you ready to fill out a creative brief for a video project? Give Beverly Boy Productions a call!