First decide whether video is the right medium
Use video when seeing a person, place or process adds meaning. A chief executive acknowledging uncertainty on camera can carry tone that a circular cannot. A technician demonstrating a lock-out sequence can show hand positions that a paragraph may obscure. A walkthrough can make an unfamiliar site feel navigable before a visit.
Use a short written update when the message is a date, policy clause or list people will need to check later. Often the useful answer is a pair: a concise video for context and a written page for detail, links and version control.
Before planning shots, write one line in this form:
After watching, [specific group] should understand
and be able to.
“All staff should understand the new system” is still vague. “Warehouse team leaders should know what changes on Monday and where to report a failed scan” is filmable.
1. A change announcement: film the decision, its effect and the next step
A leadership announcement needs more than a polished piece to camera. Staff will mentally ask: Why now? What changes for me? What happens next? Who can answer a question?
Capture these elements
- One accountable speaker. Usually the person who owns the decision, speaking in plain language rather than reading a press release.
- A visual example of the change. Show the new workspace, screen, equipment, uniform or customer interaction if it can be filmed safely.
- Two or three affected colleagues. Short, specific contributions work better than a parade of titles. Ask what will be different in their working day.
- A clear next action. Put the deadline, intranet address or meeting instruction on screen and repeat it in the accompanying text.
Do not fill the edit with anonymous shots of people typing or walking through corridors. If a cutaway cannot illustrate the change, identify a location or show the work, it is decoration. Film fewer, more informative sequences instead: an operator using the new step from beginning to end; a manager answering the question staff raised most often; signage changing at the actual entrance.
2. An operational or project update: show evidence of progress
For a construction programme, office move, system rollout or engineering project, viewers need orientation. Start with a stable wide shot that establishes the place. Then move through medium shots of the work and close details of the thing that has changed. Record a short explanation beside the relevant area when noise and safety allow; otherwise capture the pictures and record the explanation in a controlled location.
| Question staff have | What to film | Useful on-screen detail |
|---|---|---|
| Where are we? | Recognisable entrance, site overview or simple annotated plan | Location and date |
| What is complete? | The finished area being used or tested | Milestone, not a vague percentage |
| What happens next? | The next work area, delivery or rehearsal | Next date and affected team |
| Does this affect me? | Changed route, workstation, process or access point | Action and contact |
Continuity matters if updates recur. Agree two or three repeatable viewpoints and photograph their exact positions. Returning to them makes progress visible without elaborate graphics. Keep a simple record of the date, weather, lens position and any temporary obstruction; that saves guesswork on the next visit.
3. A process or training message: film the decision points
A demonstration should follow the task in the order a worker performs it. The most valuable pictures are usually the points where a mistake can occur: the correct control, the warning indicator, the acceptable result and the response when something goes wrong.
- Record the whole process once in a wide or medium view so the editor understands the sequence.
- Repeat critical steps for close-ups of hands, controls, labels and results.
- Capture the common error only if it can be shown safely and cannot be mistaken for the approved method.
- Record the trainer explaining why each critical step matters.
- End with the escalation route: stop work, contact a supervisor, consult the current procedure, or another precise instruction.
A camera cannot make an unapproved process authoritative. Have the process owner sign off the demonstrated sequence before filming, and keep the written procedure as the source of truth. Add a review date to the video record so an old film does not outlive the process it describes.
4. A staff story: film a real piece of work
Employee stories become generic when the questions are “tell us about your role” and “what do you like about working here?” A more useful structure follows one real contribution. Ask the employee to describe a recent problem, show the part of their job involved, and explain what changed because of their work.
We regularly film people who have little or no camera experience. The best material usually arrives after the person stops trying to deliver a perfect corporate sentence. We keep questions short, let an answer run, and ask for a concrete example: “What happened on Tuesday?” tends to produce more usable detail than “How do you demonstrate our values?” A two-camera interview setup can also preserve natural answers because the editor can shorten pauses without forcing repeated performances.
Film the contributor doing the actual task where permission, confidentiality and safety allow. Ask them what should never be shown: customer information on a monitor, identification badges, whiteboards, prototypes or colleagues who have not agreed to appear. A five-minute location check before the crew unpacks can prevent hours of masking and replacement work.
Plan one filming day as a set of reusable assets
An internal team rarely needs only one master film. A sensible capture plan can create a two-minute update, three short clips for Teams or an intranet feed, a still frame for the written post and a clean quote for a presentation. That does not mean filming everything. It means identifying the useful versions before the day.
- Record interview answers with enough context to stand alone.
- Leave clean space around the speaker for captions and platform crops.
- Capture ten to fifteen seconds of stable action before changing angle.
- Record room tone and a few clean workplace sounds for natural edits.
- Take a named slate or written note for each department and location.
If vertical clips are required, decide before filming. A wide group shot composed only for 16:9 may be impossible to crop into 9:16 without removing the people who make the shot meaningful.
Accessibility belongs in the filming plan
HSE guidance says workplace communication should be accessible, clear, concise and easy to understand, with the format chosen for the workforce. For video, plan captions and a transcript from the start. Record clean speech, avoid putting a speaker against a busy background, and leave room for caption placement. If meaning depends on a chart, gesture or silent action, describe it in the narration or provide an equivalent explanation.
Captions should include relevant non-speech sound and identify speakers where that is needed for understanding. We cover the production choices in our guide to captions, subtitles and audio description. The wider HSE workplace guidance recommends consulting workers and disability groups about the formats they need.
A briefing sheet that prevents avoidable reshoots
Give the production team these answers before the call sheet is locked:
- the exact audience, desired action and publication channel;
- the one person who approves factual accuracy and the one person who approves the edit;
- names, roles and availability of contributors;
- locations, access times, noise patterns and safety requirements;
- confidential material, restricted areas and people who must not appear;
- required captions, transcript, languages and aspect ratios;
- the date after which the information becomes inaccurate.
Finally, test the draft with two or three people from the intended audience. Ask them what they think they must do next. If their answers differ, the problem is in the communication, even if the pictures look excellent.
