This flow chart resource has been jointly developed by South West Museum Development and James Stuart of Lightbox Film Co. for museums wanting to manage or commission a film making project.

1. Film brief

Write a film brief to explain/ justify the project

2. Strategic promotion

Consider the end product and how people are going to see it – who is your target audience?  Where will it be published? How will you promote it and is it part of a campaign?

3. Creative development

  • Treatment (A document that presents the story idea of your film before writing the entire script) Write a short creative piece to set the tone of the project and resulting film/output.
  • Inspiration. Find and keep examples of other videos that represent what you are looking to achieve.

4. Pre Production

  • Script. Will there be dialogue? Write down what will be said. Keep it simple and clear e.g. a voice over or an interview: write down questions and answers you might expect.
  • Recce. Look at the space for filming purposes, check the light & sound meet your needs. Consider any external noise that may affect voice recordings during filming.
  • Storyboard. Plan the sequence of shots.
  • Casting. Who are the contributors/talent? Do you need permissions forms for them?
  • Logistics. Time, dates, locations, people, weather forecast.
  • Shot list. Have a short hand list of the shots so as not to miss any on the day.
  • Production Schedule. Planning the shoot timetable, setting timings across the day(s) to keep on track.
  • Call sheet. Communicating with everyone involved – where they need to be and what time. Keep a list of phone numbers in case people need to get in contact.

5. Production

  • Location filming. Capturing the content. Refer back to plans made in pre-production.

6. Post Production

Editing

  1. Start with an assembly edit – this is the Editor’s first cut of the entire video. The editor strings together all of the usable footage and organises it into a chronological sequence that corresponds with the film’s script.
  2. The Editor then prepares a ‘rough cut’ to share for review – more shot selection, approximate trimming, the sound is untreated, unfinished, and will require sound editing.
  3. Refine. Final edit finessed for delivery.

Delivery of final video

Ask for formats for use on social channels along with a master and subtitle file.

7. Distribution

  • Hosting the video. Consider hosting on a third party platform like Youtube or Vimeo. You can then embed this using a specific embed link into your website.
  • Social Media Channels. Upload to planned social channels and optimise – include good descriptions, hashtags, tag contributors or affiliated organisations and relevant links (where possible).
  • Subtitles and audio descriptions. Upload your subtitle file or write captions on the platform. YouTube has a subtitle tool. You can export the subtitled file from YouTube and use  it on other channels as well.  Also consider commissioning audio descriptions , using services such as Vocal eyes.
  • Artwork thumbnail. This is the placeholder thumbnail that people see before watching – decide what to use and, if you create one yourself, make it engaging to entice people to watch.
  • Reporting. Check the defined metrics using online analytics to see if you have met the objectives of the project e.g. increased visits to website, increased number of new followers etc.

8. Review

  • Review the entire process; note the learnings, things you would change for the next time and share these with your team and record them centrally.
  • Let us know how it has gone so we can share your learning with other museums embarking on producing video content.