Video production
Creative brief
A creative brief is a short document that defines a video's goal, audience, core message, budget and deadline before shooting starts. It is what a production company prices and plans against.
What it means in practice
A good brief fits on one page and answers four questions: what the video has to achieve, who it is for, where it will run and what the budget is. Everything else is a detail we can settle together.
In practice the brief is the cheapest tool for lowering production cost. With no stated goal a studio has to quote for the worst case, because it cannot tell whether you need one video or a six month campaign. The honest flip side: a brief that dictates shots and cutting rhythm kills the part you are paying a studio for.