Motion and video: the format and the length fixed before the first shot

Format and length, where it will be shown, footage or animation, voice-over, music and its rights: asked before you shoot.
Format is not an export setting, it is a framing decision. A video shot for 16:9 and then asked for vertically does not survive the crop, and the request always arrives after the edit. Add the length actually expected, whether footage exists or everything is animated, the voice-over, and the rights on the music, all of which decide the budget long before the look does.

This is a suggestion, not a standard. We do not do your job: this list is a starting point, to be added to, cut down and rephrased to suit the way you work.

The questions

17 questions. Motion, film, advertising. Five minutes of brief.

The video

These four answers decide the format, the edit and the time it takes.

  1. What kind of video?

    Dropdown · Required

    The answers offered:

    • Motion design
    • Corporate film
    • Advertising
    • Tutorial or demonstration
    • Event aftermovie
    • Logo animation
    • Channel branding
  2. How long are you aiming for?

    Dropdown · Required

    The answers offered:

    • Under 15 seconds
    • 15 to 30 seconds
    • 30 seconds to a minute
    • 1 to 3 minutes
    • Over 3 minutes
  3. In which formats?

    Multiple choice · Required

    Tick several if the video is used in several places: the edit is planned for that from the start.

    The answers offered:

    • Landscape (16:9)
    • Vertical (9:16)
    • Square (1:1)
  4. Where will it run?

    Multiple choice · Required

    The answers offered:

    • Instagram
    • TikTok
    • YouTube
    • LinkedIn
    • Your website
    • A screen at a show or in a shop
    • Television or cinema
  5. Who is it for?

    Short text · Required

  6. What should the viewer do after watching it?

    Dropdown · Required

    This is what decides how the film ends.

    The answers offered:

    • Just know who we are
    • Understand how it works
    • Get in touch
    • Buy
    • Come and see us
    • Apply for a job

The material

What you already have, and what is left to make.

  1. Where does the footage come from?

    Single choice · Required

    The answers offered:

    • I already have the footage
    • It needs filming
    • All animation, nothing to film
    • Stock footage
  2. The link to your footage

    Short text · Optional

    WeTransfer, Drive, Dropbox: a link is enough, the files are too heavy for this form.

  3. Is the script written?

    Single choice · Required

    The answers offered:

    • Yes, the script is ready
    • I have the ideas, not the words
    • It all needs writing
  4. Does it need a voice-over?

    Single choice · Optional

    The answers offered:

    • Yes
    • No
    • Let us discuss it
  5. And the music?

    Single choice · Optional

    The answers offered:

    • I have a track in mind
    • You choose
    • No music

The style

Enough to settle the look before starting.

  1. Dominant colour

    Colour · Optional

  2. Your logo and brand guidelines

    File · Optional

    As vectors if you have them: an animation starts from the outlines, not from a screenshot.

  3. Videos whose look you like

    Long text · Optional

And finally

Your deadline, and anything that did not fit the questions above.

  1. When do you need it?

    Dropdown · Required

    The answers offered:

    • As soon as possible
    • Within 2 weeks
    • Within a month
    • No particular deadline
  2. Anything you would like to add?

    Long text · Optional

    A constraint, a question, a detail I ought to bear in mind.

  3. Any other files to attach

    File · Optional

    On top of what is asked for above: screenshots, sketches, documents. HEIC from an iPhone is fine.

The colours to offer

A client who writes “blue” and a studio who reads “blue” are not talking about the same colour. A list of shades settles it straight away.
  • Deep black
  • White
  • Screen red
  • Bright orange
  • Amber yellow
  • Turquoise
  • Electric blue
  • Neon purple

How it works

  1. 1

    You pick your trade

    When you sign up, and the questions on this page are already in your account. You cut them down, add to them and rephrase them: nothing is fixed.

  2. 2

    You send one link

    Your client answers from their phone, when they can, and uploads their files. They install nothing, create no account and choose no password.

  3. 3

    What follows stays in one place

    The conversation, the chasing, the later rounds of questions, the deposit and the balance, and the delivery of the files, which can open on its own once the payment settles.

What it costs

Free up to five orders a month, with no card and no time limit. Past that a paid plan takes over, and nothing about the way you work changes.

Frequently asked questions

What should you ask before producing a video?
The format and the length, where it will be shown, whether footage exists or everything has to be animated, whether there is a voice-over and who records it, the music and its rights, and how many rounds of revisions are planned.
Why does the format have to be asked before the shoot?
Because it decides the framing. Cropping 16:9 to vertical throws away half the image and shows on every shot. Ask for the format in the brief, with the platform beside it, because the platform is what imposes it.

Think something is wrong?

A question that is missing, one that means nothing in your trade, a word that is not the right one: write to us and we will fix it.

Write to us at [email protected]

These questions are already waiting for you

Create your studio, pick your trade, and this brief is there. You send one link, your client answers once, and you follow what happens next in the same place.

The other trades