“A testimonial video and some social clips” is not enough information to plan a shoot or price an edit. The producer needs to know what viewers should understand, which experience can support it and what files will actually be delivered.
Use a production brief after the commercial scope and customer access have been discussed. Its purpose is to remove avoidable interpretation between the client, interviewer, camera operator and editor. It should be short enough to use during the project and specific enough to settle a delivery question.
Start with the viewing situation
Write down who will watch, where they will see the video and what question it should answer. A salesperson sending a focused clip after a meeting has a different task from a homepage visitor deciding whether to investigate the product.
Choose one primary viewing situation first. Other versions can follow, but give each a purpose. “Put it everywhere” leaves the editor guessing about framing, pacing, captions and context. Wistia’s scripting guidance uses audience, takeaway and placement as planning questions; the brief below makes those decisions explicit for a customer interview.
Do not write an outcome that the footage cannot demonstrate. A process account can explain how a team works. It cannot, without supporting evidence, establish that every viewer will save the same amount of time or achieve the same result.
A completed production brief
Fictional exercise: a logistics software supplier wants a customer coordinator to explain how handover notes travel between shifts. All people, material and project decisions in this example are invented.
| Field | Agreed example |
|---|---|
| Main audience | Operations managers reviewing shift-handover software |
| Viewing situation | A product page section about handover responsibilities |
| Main question | How does the coordinator leave a usable handover for the next shift? |
| Evidence to capture | The coordinator describes one anonymised handover, with a simple process diagram |
| Main deliverable | One 90–120-second horizontal edit, 1920×1080 MP4 |
| Additional deliverable | One 25–35-second vertical extract, 1080×1920 MP4, for the agreed company LinkedIn post |
| Text delivery | Reviewed subtitle file for the main edit; burned-in captions on the vertical extract |
| Reviews | Two consolidated editorial review rounds; factual corrections tracked separately |
| Open production condition | Customer location and permission for background activity still require confirmation |
These are choices for this example, not platform requirements or a recommended standard package. Another project may need a different runtime, resolution or set of deliverables.
Turn the evidence into a capture plan
The coordinator’s explanation is the main material. The diagram helps the viewer follow the sequence. Additional footage should clarify the real task rather than imply activity that did not happen.
For the fictional shoot, the shot list includes the interview, the participant pointing to an approved diagram and a close view of blank handover materials prepared for filming. It excludes customer records, staff screens and operational details that have not been cleared. The camera operator checks readable framing and usable sound before the full conversation begins.
If the shoot must be remote, confirm who supplies the recording setup, how a test will be reviewed and what happens if the recording is unusable. Do not quietly treat a remote call recording as equivalent to an agreed on-site production. That is a scope decision to make with the client.
Give the editor a narrative route, not a fake script
Outline the planned sequence: the handover problem, the coordinator’s concrete example, the changed responsibilities and any limits the participant identifies. Mark it as an editorial hypothesis until the interview provides the material.
Link the transcript passages and approved supporting assets when they exist. If the customer says something different from the brief’s expectation, change the outline to fit the evidence. Do not assemble unrelated fragments to make the customer appear to state the supplier’s original claim.
Use the interview brief to prepare neutral prompts. Then use the evidence register to distinguish source material, interpretation and supported publication wording.
Define acceptance at the file level
The production brief should let the recipient check a delivery without guessing. Record filenames, aspect ratios, runtimes, caption treatment, language and the assets that are included. State whether source footage, project files, thumbnails or translations are part of the agreement; their presence should not be assumed.
For the fictional project, acceptance includes a legible vertical crop, captions matching the approved speech, no uncleared screen content and the correct customer name in the agreed version. It also includes the two specified files opening and playing correctly. It does not mean the client has approved a future paid advertisement or a later re-edit.
If the vertical extract cannot retain the explanation within its runtime, propose a narrower useful moment. Do not compress every stage into an unreadable montage just to say that every step appears.
Leave a clear route for the next decision
End the brief with the unresolved production conditions, their owners and the date of the next check. A draft shot list is not proof that filming is booked, and a proposed customer is not proof of access.
Once work begins, record revisions against the agreed deliverables in a change-request log. Once the master is approved, use the sales-asset handoff for additional uses. A good brief makes the intended output clear while leaving the customer free to describe what actually happened.