Prepare a content day: create versatile content from a single shoot

Start with your customers' questions

Start by collecting questions that actually arise in consultations, emails and sales conversations. Which service is often misunderstood? What do prospects want to see before deciding? Which steps in your work demonstrate quality? Select a few connected topics from these. A clearly defined topic is easier to explain than the entire company history in one video.

Prepare a short production brief for each topic: audience, central message, desired response and suitable participant. A property company might explain how a property shoot works; a logistics company might show a specific handover step. These are possible subjects, not ready-made statements about your company. Check what can genuinely be shown on location.

Decide on output formats before filming

For each shot, note whether it will appear on a website, in a post, in an advertisement or as a short video. Google recommends different aspect ratios for its video and app campaigns: horizontal 16:9, vertical 9:16 and square 1:1. For preparation, this means discussing with the production team which crops are needed and which scenes must be filmed separately.

A recording cannot automatically be adapted to every format. When several people, large spaces or on-screen information are involved, a narrow portrait crop can lose essential content. Deliberately leave room for later text and subtitles. Also record which images are needed without text and which subjects should work as still images.

Source: Google Ads: using square and vertical videos

Build a shooting schedule with realistic transitions

Organise the day around locations, lighting conditions and people's availability. Allow time between interviews for sound checks, setup changes and short breaks. Group shots at the same location where this makes sense editorially and operationally. A prioritised shot list helps secure essential content first if delays occur.

Give participants the topics and a few guiding questions in advance. Ask for concrete experiences, explanations and examples from their work. Questions such as "What do you check before handover?" provide a clear starting point. Assign someone to coordinate rooms, clothing, work materials and potential interruptions. Also clarify which people, documents and areas may be recorded.

• Essential shots: content without which the planned communication objective cannot be achieved.
• Supporting subjects: work details, spaces, team interaction and suitable cutaways.
• Reserve shots: content that can be created additionally if time allows.

Capture useful variants rather than unlimited material

Review a test recording early: is the statement clear, the sound clean and the background appropriate? Record both a short and a longer version of important statements. This allows the editorial team to create different openings later without changing the meaning of an answer. Add understandable working situations that genuinely show what is being said.

After each topic block, briefly document what worked well and which statement is still missing. Avoid scenes that suggest a working reality that does not exist. For interviews, complete answers with understandable context are helpful: a sentence such as "We then check the documents" is difficult to interpret without the preceding context.

Plan the journey from raw material to publication

Assign one person to consolidate feedback. Professional review, spelling, image selection and change requests should be brought together. Agree which file version is approved and where finished content will be stored. A clear plan includes the topic, channel, format, approval status and intended publication date.

Then assess the original objective for each piece of content: does it answer a common question, explain a service more clearly, or lead people to use the next step? Feedback from sales and customer service supplements channel metrics. In Hamburg, anwision combines content planning with film, photography, and ongoing channel management. The appropriate scope depends on your topics, material needs, and available people.

A decision example: Which shots take priority on the filming day?

Suppose a company wants to explain its consulting service and create new team photographs at the same time. An interview with a subject expert is planned for the consulting topic. A work situation involving several employees is also to be photographed. If there is only one shared time slot, schedule the group first and organise the individual interview around it. The actual dependencies on location determine the plan.

Decide in advance what information each essential shot should convey. A conversation at a meeting table initially shows only a situation. A clear process, relevant detail or accompanying explanation is what reveals the nature of the advice being given. Discuss the cutaways too: which documents, tools or actions may be shown, and which actually contribute to understanding?

If a planned participant becomes unavailable at short notice, review the purpose of the shot. Someone else may be able to explain the process, but cannot take over that person's personal experience. Alternatively, you can capture a detail shot and record the professional explanation later. Document the gap so it is not overlooked during subsequent editing.

At the end of the day, compare the shot list with the material: which message is complete, which needs context, and which cannot currently be used? Share this assessment with the person responsible for editing and copy. A clearly documented open point is more useful than an apparently finished piece of content whose meaning must be guessed during post-production.