Personal step by step process of a Commission

The general process of a Commission set by a client is fairly straightforward, and usually allows a set brief for the media practitioner. Here are my personal thoughts on what the general process of a Commission would be.

• A commissioner is usually set a brief or commission for a client or company, which will normally be a product to advertise, promote or simply to help the company or client. This could be in the form of a video, film, song, essay, book, newspaper etc.

• For a commission to begin, initial contact needs to be made between the media practitioner wanting to do the commission brief and the client setting the brief.

• Either the client will contact the practitioner and arrange a meeting/phone call or general contact, or vice versa and the practitioner will apply for the commission usually by a meeting or interview.

• Traditionally in either case, the media practitioner will have to show past work, rough ideas for the commission and explain why they should be picked over others. (The practitioner by this stage will be drawing up ideas, brainstorming, getting rough ideas for the commission)

• Brief contact between the practitioner and the client will then be made, usually in the form of an interview, meeting or brief discussion over the phone if no alternative.

• This is where the practitioner will give a clear idea of the work they would like to do on the commission and clear areas of work they will undertake, what they will create (video, film, book, essay, song etc) and when they will have the project finished by.

• Only if the practitioner is successful, will they receive a call back or another meeting or discussion. The client will arrange another meeting and will accept the commission as what they want, giving feedback on the general idea and suggesting definite improvements.

• The client will address clear aspects of time completed, the brief and what needs to be thought about for the commission, and the practitioner will agree to these and usually will sign a contract or binding document.

• The practitioner will then begin work on the commission under the influence of the client, and will produce work suitable for the commission.

• The practitioner will traditionally now create a rough cut of the commission, whether the project is a sculpture, painting, exhibition, a film or a video, and will arrange a meeting with the client to see their response.

• The practitioner will receive varying feedback from the client, depending on client satisfaction. They will then go back to the commission at the latest stage and change the work depending on client feedback. This will alter the commission, and the client will want to then see a next draft of the commission project.

• The practitioner will then create a next draft after the rough cut draft, and the previous process of client feedback and changing work will occur once again until the client is generally happy with the commission and the commission can be considered a finished product.

• The practitioner then can get credited to other clients, or receive a further commission with the same client or company.

Clear examples of a commission such as this can be seen in my blog post of previous commission here, or can be seen in the blog post about music artists, which is explained above in another blog post.