I read briefs every week. Some of them are excellent: clear, concise, and give me everything I need to produce an accurate quote and a strong creative direction. Others are a single sentence that says something like "we need a video." Both types of client want great work. The difference is that a good brief gets us there faster, cheaper, and with fewer headaches along the way.

This is not about being difficult or demanding a formal document. It is about making sure I understand what you actually need before I turn up with a vehicle full of kit. The brief does not need to be long. It needs to be clear.

Why the brief matters more than you think

The brief is the single most important document in any video project. It determines the quote, the crew size, the kit list, the shoot schedule, and the edit approach. A vague brief forces me to guess, and guessing means I either over-prepare (costing you more) or under-prepare (costing you quality). Neither is acceptable.

A good brief also protects you from scope creep. If we agree up front that the project is a two-minute brand film with three interviews and B-roll, then everyone knows what "done" looks like. Without that clarity, projects expand: one more interview, a few extra locations, a social cutdown that was not in the original plan. Each addition costs time and money, and by the end, the budget has doubled while nobody is quite sure how it happened.

Black and white photo of Moss Davis checking phone next to camera equipment in a field

What to include in your brief

Here is what I need to know. You do not need to present this in any particular format. An email, a shared document, or a phone conversation all work. But these are the questions I will ask if the brief does not answer them.

1. The objective

What is this video supposed to achieve? Not what it should look like or how long it should be, but what business outcome it serves. Are you trying to recruit graduates? Launch a product? Explain a complex service to potential customers? Train new staff? Raise awareness of a cause?

The objective shapes everything. A recruitment video has a completely different tone, pace, and structure from a product launch film. If I do not know the purpose, I am making creative decisions blind.

Good objective statements are specific: "We want to increase applications for our graduate scheme by showing what it is actually like to work here." Bad objective statements are generic: "We want to raise our profile." The first one tells me what to film. The second one does not.

2. The audience

Who is going to watch this? The answer changes the language, the tone, the visual style, and the pacing. A video for your existing customers is different from a video for people who have never heard of you. A video for 25-year-old graduates is different from a video for C-suite procurement managers. Internal communications have a different register from public-facing marketing.

If the video has multiple audiences, say so. I can often structure a shoot to produce one set of footage that gets edited into different versions for different audiences. But I need to plan for that from the start.

3. The tone and style

This is where reference videos are worth a thousand words. If you can send me two or three videos that feel like what you want, I can immediately understand your expectations. It does not matter if the references are from completely different industries or budgets. What matters is the feel: is it warm and personal, or clean and corporate? Fast-paced and energetic, or slow and considered? Handheld and documentary, or tripod and polished?

When sending reference videos, tell me what you like about each one specifically. "I like this" is less helpful than "I like the colour grading and the pacing in the first 30 seconds, but the music is too upbeat for our brand."

If you do not have reference videos, describe the tone in plain language. Words like "professional but not stuffy" or "energetic without being cheesy" give me a starting point. Avoid jargon that means different things to different people. "Cinematic" in particular means something different to every person who says it.

4. The distribution plan

This one gets overlooked constantly, and it is arguably the most important practical detail in the entire brief. Where is this video going to live? The answer determines the aspect ratio, the length, the format, and sometimes the entire creative approach.

A video for your website homepage has different requirements from a video for Instagram Reels. A film for a trade show screen needs to work without sound. A YouTube video can be longer and more detailed than a LinkedIn post. A video for a sales presentation might need chapter markers or a specific structure that matches the deck.

If you need multiple formats from one shoot, tell me in advance. I can frame shots to work in both 16:9 and 9:16, but only if I know to do it while I am shooting. Cropping 16:9 footage to 9:16 in post means losing most of the frame, which usually looks terrible.

5. The logistics

Practical details that affect the quote and the schedule:

Moss Davis on location in a forest setting with camera equipment

What NOT to include

There are a few things that well-meaning clients include in briefs that actually make the process harder.

Shot-by-shot scripts. Unless you are a director or have extensive experience in video production, writing a detailed shot list usually does more harm than good. You end up constraining the creative process to a sequence of shots that may not work in practice. Tell me what story you want to tell and let me figure out how to tell it visually. That is what you are paying me for.

Technical specifications you have researched but do not fully understand. I appreciate the effort, but when a brief says "we need 8K RAW with a 180-degree shutter and LOG gamma," it usually means someone spent an hour on YouTube. Tell me where the video will be shown and at what quality level, and I will handle the technical decisions.

Mood boards that contradict each other. Five reference images in five completely different styles do not give me creative direction; they give me creative paralysis. Pick a lane. If you are genuinely torn between two approaches, tell me honestly and I will help you choose.

Unrealistic scope for the budget. If you have a budget of £1,500 and you want a three-day shoot with drone work, motion graphics, a voice-over artist, and five final deliverables, I need to manage that expectation early. The brief is the right place to be honest about both what you want and what you can spend.

A simple brief template

If you want a format to follow, here is a simple structure that covers everything I need. Copy this into an email and fill in the blanks:

Project: [What is the video for?]
Objective: [What should the video achieve?]
Audience: [Who will watch it?]
Tone: [How should it feel? Include reference links if possible]
Distribution: [Where will it be published?]
Deliverables: [How many videos? What lengths? What formats?]
Location: [Where is the shoot?]
Talent: [Who appears on camera?]
Timeline: [When do you need it?]
Budget: [What is your budget range?]
Other: [Anything else relevant: brand guidelines, existing assets, approval process]

That is it. Ten lines. It takes 15 minutes to fill in and it saves hours of back-and-forth emails, misaligned expectations, and mid-project surprises.

What happens after you send the brief

Once I have a brief, I will come back to you with a quote, a treatment (for larger projects), and any questions. The quote will be based on what you have described, broken down into shoot days and post-production. If the brief is clear, this usually takes 24 to 48 hours.

For simpler projects, we might go straight from brief to booking a shoot date. For more complex work, there is usually a pre-production call where we discuss the creative approach, confirm the schedule, and align on the deliverables. Either way, the brief is the foundation everything builds on.

My day rate is £995/day with all kit included. Video production starts from £1,500+VAT. Photography from £400+VAT. For larger productions, Singularity Film handles full-crew projects.

If you have a project in mind and want to put a brief together, send it over. Even a rough outline gives me enough to start the conversation.

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Ready to brief a project?

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Moss Davis

Videographer and director based in Cheltenham. Corporate, brand, and commercial video production with a full lighting and audio package on every shoot.