How to Prepare Your Team for a Video Shoot Day

What to worry about. What not to worry about. And what you can do ahead of time to help your business' video production run smooth like butter.

The cameras are ready. The crew is booked. The brief is solid. And then, on the morning of the shoot, someone arrives having barely glanced at their talking points, the building manager has arranged for a tree to be pollarded, and someone told the team at the office that this will "only take a few minutes" when in fact we need the entire day.

We've been doing this long enough to know: it's almost never the kit that lets a shoot day down. It's miscommunication and human error. And hey... that's not point fingers at anyone -- it's a learning curve, and frankly it's just what happens when preparation gets left until the last minute.

The good news is this is entirely fixable 🎉!

Here's a handy guide to what you need to sort out BEFORE the crew arrives.

Understand the scale of your video production.

"Wow! That's a lot of kit you've got there!" is something we hear a lot.

And this is because most people simply do not realise how much equipment can go into shooting really high end looking video.

You might have seen a guy at a wedding with a small DSLR camera on a handheld gimbal, or someone shooting an event with a camera backpack and a tripod and therefore, understandably, assume that something roughly along these lines is likely to turn up at the office to shoot your corporate video.

Only to be rather shocked when a van arrives, full to the brim with lights, and stands, and boom arms, and easyrigs, and huge cinema cameras, and lenses, and cables, and sandbags, and crew members and all sorts of wierd and wonderful things to take over your office for the day.

Now that's not to say that you can't shoot stuff with small, stripped-back setups... you totally can. But... often that's not the case. If you're expecting really good results and have paid for that, you should expect a proper lighting set up, and this can take up a lot of space.

There is a lot that goes on behind the camera that you may not know about, so just make sure you understand the scope of what you're signing up to and that way you can prepare yourself and your staff for the level of logistical disruption that youn may be instore for.

If you want that Hollywood polish, expect some Hollywood to turn up to shoot it.

Prepare your location.

If you've hired a location for your shoot then this won't necessarily appy to you as this will generally fall under the production team's pervue to make ready.

If however, as is often the case when shooting video for a business, you have opted to shoot on location at your office for instance, it's massively important that your space for the crew to arrive ahead of time... as much as possible.

This can mean a number of things:

1. Tidy up - Sounds obvious but it's so often overlooked. You want you and your business to look at your best in the video, and so the area you're planning to shoot in should also be made to look its best. Yes, the crew can do this before they turn over the camera, but all you're doing is eating into valuable shooting time that they could be using to do what they're best at, rather than tiding Brian's messy desk.

2. Dress the set - Push the boat out guys! Ok, so you've run the vacuum round, emptied the bin, and taken all the mugs to the kitchen. Great. But let's be honest, the blank white wall and water cooler hardly make the scene pop! Think about acquiring some bits and bobs to make the place extra special. Grab some pot plants. Some awards. Some wall art. But don't only think about adding stuff, sometimes taking away can work wonders. Get rid of the recycling bin. Declutter the window cil. Ask Margret to move her golf clubs from the corner. Whatever it is you do, don't just expect an expensive camera to make your dreary office look like the Kardashians' pool house. Spend some time and thought making the space as attractive as possible and you'll give your creative team so much more to work with.

3. Expect stuff - A film set can often be quite large, and if you look at all the lights and cameras that are currently doing the shooting, they likely came out of an equally large case or bag that, during the shooting day, will need to go somewhere. That's in addition to the crew's backpacks and coats and cups of coffee etc. If your space is tiny and simply cannot accommodate these things then that's a logistical problem that can be solved, but often it's simply a case of thinking ahead of time where this stuff can sit during the shooting day and preparing for it.

4. Warn the team - Depending on where exactly you're planning to shoot in your space, it's really important that the other members of your staff who are working in the building are aware of what is happening, where and when. Let them know how long it's likely to take, who might end up on camera in the background, what sort of disruption is likely to be unavoidable etc, and allow them to make other plans if necessary and not to book in client meetings on Friday in room 6.

5. Sound - This is soooooooooo important, I cannot stress enough. If you are planning on recording live sound, be it an interview of piece to camera, you will need silence. This means tuning off fridges that hum in the background, closing all windows and doors, NOT scheduling the gardener to mow the verges on the shoot day, and not having staff OR CUSTOMERS talking or making noise nearby. It's vital that your staff understand that they will not be able to have a laugh and a chat while the camera is rolling and that telephone calls will need to be taken elsewhere. The need for good sound recording conditions really can be quite disruptive and this needs careful consideration beforehand.

Being good at your job doesn't make you good on camera

This is the assumption that causes more problems than any other.

Your founder is a great communicator. Your head of marketing has been pitching for years. Your MD can hold a room. None of that automatically translates to performing naturally on camera -- because being on camera is a genuinely unusual experience.

There's a crew in the room. There's a lens pointing at your face. Someone is asking you to say the same thing again because the focus pulled slightly, which has nothing to do with how well you said it. Or maybe you're being asked to do it again precicely because of the way you just said it! And we need to move on because we're running out of time. And underneath all of it is the low hum of knowing this will be edited, published, and watched by real people, on the homepage of your website!

Under those conditions, keeping cool, calm and charismatic, taking directions without getting self concious, delivering what you the video needs under time pressure can be tough at the best of times.

So really it just comes down to preparedness. Know your stuff. Be honest with the producers. If you think you might not be able to deliver a script confidently down the barrel of a camera then opt for an interview style shoot where you don't need to prepare a script at all. Or hire an actor.

You can read our article about when to hire an actor or cast your own guys here.

Choose the right people -- not just the available ones.

The first question to answer is who actually needs to be on screen.

This isn't always the most senior person, or the one who was most enthusiastic about the project at the kick-off. The best contributors are usually the ones who genuinely believe in what they're saying and talk about it naturally in their day-to-day. A confident mid-level manager who lives and breathes the subject matter will almost always give you better footage than a director who's been handed three bullet points that morning.

Whoever you choose, confirm them directly. Not through their PA. Not in a group email. Directly. Contributions confirmed through a third party have a habit of arriving on the day with a completely different understanding of what's required of them. And build a backup. Senior diaries are volatile. If your CEO cancels on the morning, you need to know exactly what your plan B looks like.

Rule of thumb: Confirm your lineup at least a week before the shoot. And then double check the day before. Otherwise you're creating unnecessary risk.

Brief on messages -- not scripts.

The instinct is to write a script. Scripts feel safe. In regulated industries especially, they feel controllable and auditable. They also produce some of the worst footage you'll ever see.

Unless someone has genuine presenting or acting experience, reading from a script on camera looks like reading from a script on camera. The natural rhythm disappears. The warmth disappears. What you're left with is someone carefully reciting words they don't quite own -- and audiences can feel it immediately.

What works instead is a message brief. Two or three key points per person. What the video is for. Who's going to watch it. What they personally need to land. That's it. When contributors understand the purpose of the film and who it's for, they can draw on their own expertise and say it in their own words. The result is almost always more convincing -- because it's more real.

Send the brief in writing at least two weeks out. Then schedule a short prep call the week before. Let them say the key messages out loud. That one thing -- saying them aloud, rather than just reading them on a page -- makes an enormous difference to how they land on the day.

If you're using autocue, practise. Properly.

Some formats do call for scripted delivery. A tight piece to camera. An exec statement where the language needs to be precise. A short, polished introduction where every word is deliberate.

If that's your situation, the preparation requirement goes up, not down. Get your contributor to read the script aloud before the shoot. Several times. Something that looks clean on paper can feel entirely unnatural when you actually say it. Sentences that passed legal review can still sound clunky when delivered.

The only way to find out is to hear it.

Better yet, ask them to record themselves on their phone and listen back. Does it sound like them? Are there any words or phrases that feel written rather than spoken? Any awkward rhythms?

Important: Fix any of this before the crew arrives. Script changes on set waste time, break flow, and pile pressure onto people who need to feel calm and focused. An hour of prep at home saves two on the day

Sort the logistics early.

This sounds obvious. It's where things fall apart more than you'd think. Every contributor needs to know where they're going, what time they're needed, and what to wear. Not the day before. At least a week out, in writing, confirmed received.

On wardrobe:

• Avoid busy patterns, fine stripes, and checks -- they create a strobing or moire effect on camera.

• Leave noisy jewellery at home -- bangles and bracelets interfere with sound recording.

• Think about the tone the video needs to project. Smart casual reads differently to formal. Polished and authoritative is different to relaxed and approachable. Dress to match.

• Think deliberately about colour schemes. If you have muted brand colours, (blues or blacks), or maybe bright colours, think about how your subjects clothing can compliment them, or at the very least not clash with them.

• Most importantly: wear something you feel comfortable and like yourself in. Confidence in how you're dressed shows on screen.

• Ask everyone to bring a second outfit option on the day. We can advise once we've seen the set and the lighting.

And if you're coming to a location or studio rather than shooting on your own premises, make sure everyone has the full address, parking details, access instructions, and a mobile number to call on the day.

On the day.

A good production company will handle settling contributors before they go on camera. At Plucky, we build time in with each person before their interview. We walk them through what's going to happen, we explain why retakes exist (it's almost always a technical reason, not because they got something wrong), and we make sure they're relaxed and focused before we press record.

The single most helpful thing you can do is enforce one rule on set: Crew and the active contributor only. No observers. Hold that line -- even with senior people who feel they have a right to watch. Nothing makes a contributor more self-conscious than colleagues watching from the back of the room.

Create a quiet waiting area for contributors who haven't been called yet. Water, somewhere to sit, and their message brief to review. Keep it calm. Build genuine buffer time into your schedule. Not optimistic time. Real time. Every interview runs longer than the time allocated. A schedule with no slack will be off the rails by midmorning.

After the shoot.

Thank your contributors on the day. They gave up their time, they did something unfamiliar and probably a little uncomfortable, and a personal thank you means something.

Let them know what happens next and roughly when. People who feel informed are far more responsive when you need them to review and approve footage at the edit stage.

Set up your approval process before post-production starts -- not in the middle of it. Agree who needs to see the cut, how many rounds of feedback are included, and what the deadlines are. Late feedback from contributors who weren't briefed on the process is one of the most common causes of delay once the edit is underway.

Working with Plucky on your shoot.

Contributor preparation is part of every project we produce. We cover this in our preproduction process -- from the initial brief through to making sure everyone on screen is ready before the cameras roll. If you want to understand the full journey from kick-off to final delivery, read What Actually Happens When You Hire a Video Production Agency. And if you're still at the planning stage, How to Write a Video Brief is a good place to start.

Ready to talk? Get in touch