A video brief costs little next to the shoot and the edit, yet it decides most of the result. Every later choice, from the script and the locations to the music and the pacing, is made against it. When the brief is vague, those choices are guesses, and guesses get corrected in the edit, where changes cost the most.
A good brief does not need to be long. It needs to answer a set of questions clearly before anyone writes a script or a quote. This guide walks through those questions, then shows how the brief turns into a shot list.
Why the brief matters
A clear brief does four jobs. It lets production teams quote on the same basis, so you can compare proposals fairly. It gets your own stakeholders to agree before money is spent. It becomes the yardstick for every approval, so feedback is judged against what was asked for rather than personal taste. And it prevents the most expensive kind of change: the one that arrives after filming, when someone realises the video was meant to do something else. An hour spent on the brief can save many more in filming and editing.
What to put in the brief
Most briefs fit on one or two pages. Use the headings below as a template, and write in plain sentences rather than marketing language: the production team needs facts it can plan from.
One objective
Write down what the video must achieve, in one sentence. Not three objectives, one. What should the viewer think, feel or do after watching? A video asked to raise awareness, recruit staff and sell a product at the same time usually does none of them well.
The audience
Describe who will watch it: their role, what they already know about you, which language they prefer and where they will be watching. A procurement manager at a desk and someone scrolling on a phone on the way to work need different videos, even for the same message. If there are two audiences, such as customers and staff, decide which one comes first.
The key message, in one sentence
If you cannot state the message in one sentence, the video will struggle to say it in two minutes. Write that sentence into the brief, and make everything else in the video support it.
The call to action
Say what you want the viewer to do next: visit a page, register, call, apply or share. If there is no action, say what the video should leave behind instead, such as a changed view of your organisation. Keep it to one clear action; several requests at the end of a video pull the viewer in different directions.
Where it will be seen
List the channels: social media, your website, screens at an event, a presentation, an internal meeting. Each has its own conditions. Social video should make sense with the sound off, so it needs on-screen text; an event screen may have no audio at all; a film on your website can afford to run longer. If the video will play at an event, note the size and shape of the screen, whether there will be sound, and who will play it.
Length and cut-down versions
Set the length of the main version, then list the shorter cut-downs you need and the shape of each: 16:9 for websites and screens, 9:16 for vertical social formats, and 1:1 or 4:5 for feeds. Planning the cut-downs before filming lets the crew frame shots that work in every shape.
Tone, with reference videos
Describe the tone in plain words, such as warm, confident, calm or energetic, and add two or three reference videos. For each one, say exactly what you like about it: the pace, the music, the colour, the way people speak to camera. ‘Like this one’ is not a brief; ‘this pace and this style of interview, but warmer’ is. Say what you want to avoid as well, because that is often easier to agree on.
Mandatory content
List everything that must appear: logos and end frames, disclaimers, product shots, spokespeople who must be on camera, and any wording that has to be exact. Mandatory items that surface after filming are expensive to fit in. Attach your brand guidelines, and say who must approve any claims or figures that appear on screen.
Language versions
Decide early whether you need Arabic and English versions, and how: separate versions, one version with subtitles, or a voice-over in each language. The answer changes the script, the on-screen text and sometimes the filming itself. Our guide to subtitles, voice-over and on-screen text in Arabic and English goes through the options.
Deadlines and the approval chain
Give the final delivery date and the reason for it, such as a launch or an event, because a fixed date shapes the whole schedule. Work backwards from it, leaving time for reviews, translation and subtitles, so the schedule is honest from the start. Then name the approvers at each stage and the number of review rounds. If a senior person has the final say, involve them at the brief and treatment stage, not only at the final cut.
A budget range
Share a range, even a broad one. Without it, one team proposes a single camera and another a full crew, and you cannot compare them. A range lets each team show what it can achieve for the money, and where the trade-offs are. Sharing it does not mean every proposal will come in at the top of the range; it means the proposals will be comparable.
Practical constraints
Note what is fixed or limited: locations and when you can film there, access and filming permissions, who is available and when, products or equipment that must appear, any days to avoid, and who on your side will accompany the crew. Constraints are far easier to design around at the start than to discover on a shoot day.
From brief to shot list
Once the brief is agreed, the production team turns it into a sequence of documents. Each one narrows the options, and each is worth approving before you move to the next:
- Treatment: the creative approach in prose, covering the idea, the structure, the look and references. This is where you agree what the video will be before anyone writes dialogue.
- Script: the words and the pictures side by side, including voice-over, interview questions or dialogue, on-screen text, and what the viewer sees at each moment.
- Storyboard: sketches or frames for the key scenes. It is essential for animation and complex shoots; for interviews, a simple one is often enough.
- Shot list: every shot the crew needs, with the location, people and props, and the version or format each shot serves.
- Production schedule: the plan for each shoot day, covering times, locations, crew and the people on camera, and what happens if something runs late.
The production team writes each document; you approve it. Your job at every stage is to check it against the brief, not to redesign it.
Changes get more expensive at every step. Moving a scene in a script takes minutes; moving it after filming may mean another shoot. If you are still deciding what kind of video you need, our article on choosing between a promotional, corporate or awareness video may help before you write the brief.
What the production team will ask you
Expect questions like these. Having the answers ready shortens the whole process:
- Who approves the work at each stage, and how quickly can they respond?
- Is there existing footage, photography, music or brand guidance we should use?
- Who will appear on camera, and are they comfortable being filmed?
- Can we film at the locations you have in mind, and at what times?
- Which parts of the brief are fixed and which are flexible?
- What has worked, or not worked, in your previous videos?
- Where will the video be seen first, and on what date?
Common mistakes, and how to avoid them
- Too many messages. Each extra message dilutes the others. Choose one, and move the rest to other pieces of content.
- A committee that approves late. Name the approvers in the brief and bring the most senior one in early. Late opinions from someone who never saw the brief are the most expensive kind of feedback.
- Scripting before briefing. A script written before the objective is agreed is usually rewritten.
- Leaving the second language to the end. A language added after the edit rarely fits the timings, the on-screen text or the pace.
- No budget range. Proposals that cannot be compared lead to decisions made on price alone.
- An unrealistic deadline. Compressing the schedule usually removes the review time, which is where quality is protected.
A brief built around these questions takes a few hours to write and can save far more than that in production. If you would like a team to work through it with you, see what ARZO's multimedia team produces, or request a proposal and share your draft brief.
