A brief is not a product sheet. It is the list of decisions you take in the creator's place, so they do not have to guess them.
In Italy one is nearly always missing, and it is the one that decides whether the video can be published.
The line on what may be said
Many Italian products carry an origin, a designation, a manufacturing method. Those mentions are not mere selling points: they are regulated, and their use is not improvised in a script written the night before.
A creator acting in good faith will want to do well, and will say it is artisanal, traditional, made here forever. If the brand cannot claim that, the video is unusable, and nobody notices before publication.
The brief must therefore contain two columns: what may be asserted, and what may only be shown. To know which is which, the reference is your adviser or the competent authority, never the habit of the sector.
The seven lines of a usable brief
The product and what it does, in one sentence, in a customer's words and not the manufacturer's.
The person being addressed, and above all what makes them hesitate today.
The format: length, orientation, with or without voice.
What must be shown: three compulsory shots, no more. Beyond that you are writing a screenplay and losing the naturalness you came for.
What must not be shown: a competing brand in frame, a child, a number plate, a recognisable interior.
What may be asserted, as explained above.
The deadline and the usage: until when the video will run, and on which media.
What to leave open
The exact words. A text to recite produces a reciting voice, and that is the first thing people notice.
The setting, if the product can live in several places. The creator knows their home better than you do.
And the order of the shots. Let them edit as they see fit: it is their craft, and a video edited by whoever shot it breathes better.
The instruction that spoils a video
"Be natural, but say exactly this." The two cannot coexist.
Choose: either you impose the message and accept a reading, or you give the idea and accept that the wording escapes you. The second option almost always produces better videos, and the first makes sense only for a regulatory sentence.
What must accompany the brief
The product, obviously, but also the instructions if the gesture is not obvious. A video where the product is misused costs two shoots.
One example, only one, with a note on what you want taken from it: the structure, not the tone.
And the name of someone reachable during the shoot. Half the revisions come from a question that could not be asked.
What a brief must contain
| Field | What it prevents | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | A pretty, useless video | 1 line |
| Restrictions | A redo after approval | 3 lines |
| Formats and length | An unusable file | 1 line |
What is most often missing
The name of the approver, the expected date, the rights duration and the intended channel.
What to do when the brief stays vague
Three written questions, one grouped answer, then a quote that repeats the answers word for word.
After delivery
Group your feedback into one message, sorted: what must change, what would be better, what is personal taste. The third group should not be sent.
And ask for the original file plus a version without burnt-in text. That is what will let you reuse the video in another language or format without paying for another shoot.
