How to Write a Video Brief That Gets You the Video You Wanted

The videos that disappoint the people who paid for them were usually made exactly as briefed. Nobody got anything wrong. The brief asked for a two-minute company overview, a two-minute company overview was delivered, and the job it was really needed for — a trade stand, a sales email, one slide in a board pack — was never written down anywhere.

There is a video brief template further down this page that you can copy straight into an email. Before it, the three decisions that do most of the work, because a template filled in without them is just a longer wish list.

A Brief Is a Decision Record, Not a Wish List

A brief exists so a stranger can make several hundred small choices the way you would have made them. Whether the chief executive sits or stands, how much room is left above their head for a caption, whether a line of on-screen text repeats what is being said or adds something to it — all of that gets settled on the day by someone who is not you.

Three answers drive most of those choices, and they are worth writing before you touch any template.

• What has to be true after someone watches this? Not “raise awareness”. Something closer to: a procurement manager who has never heard of us understands what we actually do, in the time it takes to walk to a meeting.
• Where does it play first? A LinkedIn feed, a trade stand with no sound, the top of a landing page and a darkened conference room are four different videos. Placement decides length, aspect ratio, and whether the thing has to work on mute.
• What gets cut when the day runs short? Every shoot day runs short somewhere — that is the nature of how a shoot day actually runs. If you have ranked the shot list, the cut is your decision. If you have not, it gets made by whoever is holding the camera at 4pm.

A Video Brief Template You Can Copy

One page is enough. Fill in what you know and write “not sure” where you do not — an honest blank tells a supplier where to help, while a confident guess gets quoted and then built.

• One-line summary. What we are making, and who it is for.
• The outcome. What has to be true after someone watches it.
• Audience. Who specifically — job title, how much they already know, how sceptical they are on arrival.
• First placement, then the rest. Where it runs on day one, and everywhere it is expected to end up later.
• Deliverables. The master, plus every cutdown, aspect ratio and captioned version you will need. Write them as a list, because each line is work.
• Length. A ceiling, not a target. “Under 90 seconds” is a useful instruction; “around two to three minutes” is two different edits.
• The single message. One sentence. If you have four, say which one survives when only one can.
• Who appears, and whether they have agreed. Names, roles, and whether anybody has told them yet.
• What exists already. Brand guidelines, fonts, logo files, previous footage, product photography, an approved script. This is a cost line wearing the clothes of an admin question.
• Locations and access. Addresses, who unlocks the door, and anything that cannot be filmed — a client’s data on a screen, a product not yet announced, staff who have not consented to appear.
• Dates. The hard deadline, what it is tied to (a conference, a campaign launch, end of financial year), and the date feedback on a first cut can realistically come back by.
• Budget. A band, and whether it is AUD or NZD. A range gets you an honest recommendation about what fits inside it; “what does it cost” gets you a middle number.
• Approvals. Who signs off, and who else will have opinions. Name the second group now rather than at the first cut.
• References. Two or three videos you like, with a sentence each on what specifically you like — the pacing, the lighting, the way the interviews sound. Not “the vibe”.

The Fields People Leave Blank Are the Expensive Ones

Placement and deliverables cost the most when they turn up late. Framing for a wide master and framing so a vertical crop still holds the subject are two different decisions, and they are made at the camera. Deciding afterwards means either losing the sides of frame you needed or paying for the day again.

The approvals line saves more time than anything else on the page. A first cut sent to one person comes back with notes. The same cut forwarded quietly to five people comes back with five sets of notes that disagree with each other, and round two becomes an argument rather than an edit. Decide who holds the pen before anyone sees anything.

References earn their place only when you say what you like about them. A film shot over five days with a lighting crew is a fair reference for tone and a misleading one for scope, and a supplier who cannot tell which part you meant will quote for the whole thing.

Send the Brief Before You Ask for a Quote

Two quotes written from the same brief can be compared. Two quotes written from two separate phone calls cannot, because each supplier has quietly assumed a different day. Send the same page to everybody, then read the replies for what they assumed rather than for the total — we have written separately about how those line items get priced.

Do not overdo it on a small job. One talking head in your own boardroom needs four lines and a phone call, and a four-page document will slow everyone down for no gain. The template starts earning its keep when there are several deliverables, more than one location, or more than two people who can say no.

Expect the brief to change after that first conversation. Anyone who has made much corporate and brand video will push back on at least one line — usually the length, or a shot list that quietly needs a second day. Put the change in the brief rather than in the email thread, then re-send it. That document is what everyone points at on the day.

What Not to Put in a Brief

• Gear. Naming a camera or a particular drone is an answer, not a requirement. Describe the look and the constraint — we need one aerial establishing shot, it has to hold up on a two-metre trade-stand screen — and let the person holding it solve that.
• Contradictions dressed up as adjectives. Authentic but polished. Short but comprehensive. Corporate but not corporate. Pick the side that matters and mark the other one negotiable.
• A shot list you are not attached to. Thirty shots in a one-day brief makes everything equally important, which makes nothing important.
• Somebody else’s finished film as the target. Use it for tone, then say what your day and your budget actually are.

None of this needs a form or a project tool. A page of plain text with the outcome at the top is better than most briefs anyone gets sent, and it costs you twenty minutes you would otherwise spend in revisions.

If you would rather talk it through and have someone else write it down, that is part of scoping any production properly. Tell us what you are trying to film and we will send back what we think the brief should say.