The five things a video brief has to settle before the first shot

A video is rarely lost in the edit. It is lost at the point where nobody wrote down what it has to do, who it is talking to, and how long it runs.

Here are the five answers without which the first shot is a bet, and why each one gets expensive when it arrives a week late.

The length, which is not a preference

"About a minute" and "thirty seconds maximum" are two different orders. Not because one is longer, but because the second imposes a pace, a number of shots and usually a different script.

Length is not something you discover in the edit. It decides what gets filmed, what gets written and what gets cut. A client who gives it at the end is asking you to redo what already existed.

And it is almost always dictated by something else: the platform. Which brings the next question.

Where it will run, before the format

Format is not an export setting, it is a framing constraint. A shot composed for 16:9 does not crop to 9:16 without losing its subject or its captions, and a client who asks for both after the fact is asking for two edits.

Ask it in that order: where first, format second. A client can say "on our Instagram page and on the site", they cannot always say what that implies. Translating is your job, but they have to have answered first.

The case that comes up most: the video is planned for a website, then somebody decides to put it in a story. If that was written down at the start, it is a second export you allowed for. If not, it is a second edit you are giving away.

What the viewer should do afterwards

This is the question clients find odd and the one that changes the result most.

A video meant to get a click does not end like a video meant to explain, which does not end like a video meant to bring somebody into a shop. This is not taste: it is the last second, the last shot, and often half the script.

If nobody can answer, that is fine, but it is better known before than after. A video with no intention is a video judged on how it looks, and how it looks can be argued about indefinitely.

Where the footage comes from

Three possible answers, three different jobs.

You film it. That needs a date, a place, people and permission. The brief then looks as much like a shoot as like an edit.

The client supplies footage. That needs a link, and above all knowing what is in it. "I have some videos" sometimes means four unsorted hours shot vertically on a phone. Watch it before you quote.

Everything is animated. That needs the logo, the brand guidelines, the assets and a list of what has to appear on screen. This is where the brief is longest, because nothing exists before you.

Voice-over and music, together

The two belong in one question because they answer the same thing: who supplies what, and who pays.

A voice-over is a script to write, a person to record and a usage right. Three things that are not in an editing quote if nobody asked for them.

Music is a licence. A client who sends a commercial track saying "this one" is asking for something illegal without knowing it, and saying so belongs in the brief, not in the delivery.

The script deserves a question of its own: is it already written? "We trust you" means the writing is inside your scope. It should then be inside your quote.

The full list of questions this trade asks is here: the brief for a video or a motion piece. It is a proposal rather than a standard, to shorten and reword to the way you work.

And on how many rounds to allow for, which matters more on video than on anything else: how many rounds to plan.

Frequently asked questions

What should a video brief contain?

The target length, the formats and where it will run, who it is for, what the viewer should do afterwards, where the footage comes from, and who supplies the script, the voice-over and the music. Without the length and the format you can neither film nor edit.

Why ask for the format before filming?

Because a shot framed for 16:9 does not crop to 9:16 without losing its subject or its captions. A client who asks for both formats after the shoot is asking for two edits, not two exports.

Can a client supply their own music?

Only if they hold the licence. A commercial track sent over by a client is not usable, and the brief is where that gets said, not the delivery. Allow for a licensed library or a budget line for music.

Who writes the script for a video?

Settle it explicitly. "We trust you" means the writing is inside your scope, and it should then be inside your quote. A script supplied by the client gets read aloud and timed before it is accepted: a script that runs long does not fit the length that was asked for.