How Do I Get More Out of One Video Shoot?
Decide every use of the footage before the shoot, then capture it all while the crew and lights are set up. The set-up is the expensive part, so extra people, short pieces and stills cost far less once it exists. Count every deliverable before the quote, since each cutdown and format adds edit time. Planned this way, one day can give you a main video, social cutdowns, stills and pieces for other teams, such as recruitment and staff retention.
Key Facts
- The spine of most of our jobs is one hero video of two to three minutes plus three to five cutdowns.
- One recruitment shoot can also give you an about-us video for your website and a piece that helps you keep staff.
- We've filmed a conference opening film and two award introductions in one auditorium on one day.
- We hand footage over as a synced multi-camera Premiere project, so anyone can edit it later.
Why Does One Shoot Go Further Than You'd Expect?
Because the set-up costs the most, and everything after it costs less. Lighting the space, building a good-looking frame and getting the crew in place is where the money goes. Once that exists, extra people, award introductions or short pieces add little, and filming them in the same setting makes them feel connected. A good quote lists the extras separately, so you can see what each one adds. How shoot days themselves are priced is in what goes into a video production quote.
What Can One Shoot Give You?
Videos for more than one team, as long as each use is planned in. Most shoots have a main purpose, and the same footage can serve several others.
| Main purpose | Also from the same shoot |
|---|---|
| Recruitment video | An about-us video for your website, and a piece for staff retention, because being filmed for doing great work is a staff benefit in itself |
| Brand film | A loop on a screen at a trade-show stand, or while people register for an event |
| Event coverage | Stills, a highlights reel, vox pops, quote images and the presentations themselves |
| Long case study | Shorts, ads and pre-rolls, with captions and thumbnails suited to the audience, plus material for written posts |
| TV ad | A year of social content and lifestyle stills, captured on the same days |
| A core video for several sites | A short addition for each site, instead of reshooting the whole thing at every venue |
We're not just looking at the one thing. How can you get the most bang for your buck and use this in as many ways as possible?
How Do You Get a Hero Video and Social Cutdowns From One Shoot?
Count every deliverable out loud before anything is quoted. The spine of most of our jobs is one hero video of two to three minutes plus three to five cutdowns. A typical tally looks like this.
- A two-minute hero video
- A 30 to 45-second cutdown
- Two or three social clips
- 15-second resizes
- Behind-the-scenes and on-set social content
- Product stills
Each aspect ratio then multiplies the edit, so every item deserves its own line on the quote. Whether to frame for vertical, landscape or both is a separate decision to make before the shoot.
How Do You Plan a Long Video That Also Feeds Ads and Blog Posts?
Decide where it will live before the shoot. A longer piece earns its keep when it's cut many ways across the places your audience sees you, so the use case comes first. Settle your brand and positioning before production too. For one of our own long case studies, we planned to cut a large share of it into shorts and build an ad funnel around them, with captions and thumbnails written for the marketing and communications managers we wanted to reach.
Can One Shoot Day Launch a Whole Campaign?
Yes, if the plan works backwards from every channel. Budget pressure is mostly a planning problem. Build a grid of what each channel needs, then shoot video and stills off one shot list. On one campaign that ran across three states, a grid like that let two shoot days supply the video and the stills the print ads were designed from.
A brand launching with nothing but mock-ups still needs assets before it reaches the shelves. Treat the mock-ups as inspiration for the sales story rather than a shooting spec, keep the set-ups simple and energetic, and agree the stills before the day.
How Do You Add Stills to a Video Shoot?
Give them their own station and their own time. Photography strobes and continuous video lighting clash, so we set up a separate area for stills and let the photographer take creative control of it, while video runs in the main space. Squeezing stills in between video set-ups is the biggest hidden schedule killer on a shoot day. Outdoors, they also compete for the same good light, which is one reason adding stills can change a quote.
How Do You Shoot Several Videos in One Room on One Day?
Rank them, so the main video sets the tone and the others echo it more plainly. The hero video carries the feeling. The supporting videos carry an echo of it but are cleaner and more conventional, and that restraint is what lets the hero read as the hero. Say this out loud to the crew so nobody over-builds the supporting pieces. Then mark the run sheet by video, build in breaks and resets in case anything runs over, and keep every prepared asset in one folder.
How Do You Keep Footage Working After the Shoot?
Shoot with the bigger edit in mind, and hand over files anyone can use.
- Build a library. Interviews across sites and roles, captured once, can be cut for careers pages, international recruitment and job boards long after the shoot.
- Think a few months ahead. If each job is shot with a larger edit in mind, you'll soon have enough for a cross-section piece, such as a quarterly showcase, without searching the archive.
- Mark the best answers. Timestamps noted on the day give the editor a shortlist.
- Ask for a synced project. We hand footage over as a synced multi-camera Premiere project, so whoever edits it next, us or anyone else, doesn't redo the set-up work.
Making a new video from footage you already have is covered in reusing footage.
Is Behind-the-Scenes Footage Worth Capturing?
Yes, when each clip has a point. Plenty of behind-the-scenes footage gets shot and never used, including ours, because nobody decided what it was for. Give each clip an angle, such as the support a client needed on the day, and it can run as a weekly short. It works best as a layer alongside the main videos, showing the people who made them.