Crafting the Perfect Video Brief: A Guide

A Strategic Approach to Audience-Centric Content

Each production company might have their own unique way of doing things, but starting with ‘The Brief’, is the initial step in our Filmtime Fastcut Production Process, is a solid move. It provides a clear picture of your vision to video production companies and helps them understand what you aim to achieve.

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Understanding your audience is paramount, from identifying personas to tailoring content for various platforms. Delving into the ‘Look and Feel’ ensures your brand’s aesthetics are accurately translated, emphasizing the importance of visual examples.

The journey through a Filmtime shoot involves defining deliverables, from working titles to key messages and visuals. As experts in the Filmtime Fastcut Production Method, we simplify the process, allowing you to focus on what you excel at.

Elevate your brand with videos tailored just for you – it’s all about you and Filmtime. Let’s embark on a conversation to bring your vision to life.

Understanding Your Audience

When planning your video content, the audience is arguably the most crucial aspect to consider.

Firstly, you need to identify ‘Who’ your audience is. What are the personas or avatars you’re aiming to connect with? The more precise you can be about this, the easier it will be to tailor your key messages to their needs.

Next, consider the ‘How’. How will your audience be viewing this video? Content designed for social media (viewed on a small screen, often without sound) differs significantly from videos created for trade shows (typically looped on a screen as a sales aid) or testimonial or corporate videos that will be featured on a website and usually played with sound. If your content is intended for a social media story or another specific platform, there may be unique considerations to keep in mind to maximize your exposure.

Lastly, think about the ‘What’. What action do you want your audience to take after watching your video? This is crucial as it helps clarify your key messages and enables us to produce a video that delivers results for you. Just like any marketing endeavor, providing us with a clear understanding of your audience lays a solid foundation for your video project.

Getting the Look Right

While we’ll rely on you to help us grasp your brand and its aesthetics, it’s crucial to nail down the desired ‘Look and Feel’ of your video.

A simple way to convey the aesthetic you’re aiming for is to share examples of videos you’ve seen and liked, and that you feel would work well for your project. These examples can give us a good sense of elements like editing pace, production values, shot composition, and music choice – all contributing to what we like to call the ‘Look and Feel’. The more specific we can be about your vision in this area, the better our chances of hitting the mark!

Defining the Deliverables

Now we’re getting to the exciting part – the actual videos you’re planning to create as part of your project.

In this section, we’ll need some detailed information about the specifics of the videos you’re producing:

Working Title
This is just to ensure we’re all on the same page when referring to the video. We can finalize the actual title later in the process. The working title might start as something simple like ‘Case Study #1’ or ‘Product Video #4’, and usually becomes more detailed and descriptive as the project progresses.
Estimated Length
If you’re unsure about this, we can provide guidance. Typically, our content ranges from 30-120 seconds, although it can be longer if you have a captive audience.
Estimated Length
If you’re unsure about this, we can provide guidance. Typically, our content ranges from 30-120 seconds, although it can be longer if you have a captive audience.
Video Objectives
It’s crucial to know whether the individual videos within a project or campaign have unique objectives, or if there’s a unified goal across all deliverables.
Video Placement
This helps us understand where the finished video will be displayed. For instance, does it need to be a 1:1 aspect ratio and under 60 seconds for an Instagram post, or filmed in a vertical 9:16 frame for Facebook stories?
Additional Notes
Details like the names and titles of people appearing in the video, specific locations, or other important information for that video. And now, the best part…
Key Messages
For each video, we ask you to identify 3-5 key messages you want to communicate. These messages form the backbone of your on-camera interview and guide us during the editing process in deciding which parts of the interview to include.
Key Visuals
We also need some ‘Key Visuals’ that align with your key messages. This gives us something to show while the audience is hearing your key messages. For example, footage of a warm interaction between your customer service team and a customer, while the interview audio describes your approach to customer care.

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