Planning your school video

Appointing a school video contact

It is a good idea that someone from within the school is in charge of planning your video. They have ‘insider’ knowledge of the school; the people, the locations, the timetable etc. All this is invaluable knowledge when organising and scheduling a school video production. We can then liaise with that person to ensure everything is in place for a successful video shoot. This gives you the best chance of success in planning your school video.

How to prepare ahead of the filming
Create a detailed schedule illustrating where, when and for how long we are filming in each location. Also list the staff and students that are involved together with the activity we are filming. Distribute this to staff so they know what to expect and what equipment is required.

Allocate approximately 20mins to each subject – The crew can film two subjects per lesson period. Allocate longer slots for sport and the sciences.

Organise lunch for the crew so that this can be had quickly and easily within the time allocated. Allow 10 mins for morning and afternoon break and 30 minutes for lunch.

Ensure that we have a balanced range of students in terms of ethnicity and year groups. Please choose lessons from across the year groups

Ensure that the same students are not used for more than one scene/lesson. Please do not rotate the same students as you run the risk of the same few students representing every subject

Please ensure any students that are likely to be disruptive are not present.

Compile a list of students who DO NOT have parental permission to be filmed.

P.E. students must be wearing the correct clothing for each specific sport including appropriate footwear.

Carefully choose interviewees. Students and Teachers should be able to talk confidently, enthusiastically and eloquently to camera and be able to deliver the key points concisely and succinctly. They should be prepared and have rehearsed their lines before they are interviewed. If someone is less confident, we do offer an autocue set-up which will help them deliver their script accurately and more easily. Have a look at a case study to get some ideas.

Ideally the interviews should be filmed in a quiet location and in batches. Avoid scheduling these sessions during noisy periods or near noisy locations, for example break time or near a sports field. Is there any scheduled maintenance planned which will create noise? After school may be preferable?

How to prepare the school and lessons for filming
In the days leading up to the filming remind staff and students that it is happening. On the filming day display some signage asking for quiet and awareness.

During filming have to hand a list of students who DO NOT have parental permission to be filmed. Arrange for these students to be located elsewhere during the filming. This is an essentials in planning your school video.

Bags and coats should be hidden from view.

Classrooms that are being used must be the best representation for that subject area in terms of appearance e.g. layout, the displays on the walls and the amount of natural light.

Make sure the staff within each lesson and location are fully prepared before the crew arrive. Equipment should be set-up, classrooms tidy and the students are fully briefed, smart and ready to go.

Uniform and appearance: Please ensure that the correct uniform is worn and that there is no nail polish, make-up or jewellery that violates the school rules. The teacher needs to check each student carefully before filming. Students must be smart and appear happy and smiley.

Teachers should be smart and professional looking and be happy and smiley.

Important filming requirements
In planning your school video, and to make the shoot day go as smoothly as possible we suggest:

Provide the crew with a secure base to store their equipment. On arrival we can load all our gear into this room and then get set-up from there. We can then return here throughout the day to get more gear, charge batteries or have break.

If possible please arrange parking as near to the main entrance as possible. We do have a lot of heavy equipment.

Contact us if you’d like to talk through your project or head over to our YouTube channel for inspiration. Our Getting the Best Shots guide to school video production is available below. Just fill in your details if you need help planning your school video.