How do you make sure your field production footage is perfect for your audience?

1 Know your audience

Before you start shooting, you need to have a clear idea of who your audience is and what they expect from your content. Your audience will influence your choices of style, tone, format, length, and delivery platform. For example, if you are producing a documentary for a TV network, you will need to follow their guidelines and standards, as well as consider the interests and preferences of their viewers. On the other hand, if you are producing a short video for social media, you will need to adapt your content to the specific features and limitations of each platform, as well as engage your followers and potential customers.

2 Plan your shoot

Once you have defined your audience, you need to plan your shoot in detail. This includes researching your location, securing permissions, scouting the best spots, checking the weather, creating a shot list, scheduling your crew, packing your equipment, and testing everything before you leave. Planning ahead will save you time, money, and stress, and will also help you avoid common pitfalls and problems that can ruin your footage, such as poor lighting, bad sound, unwanted interruptions, or technical malfunctions.

3 Choose your equipment

The equipment you use for your field production will depend on your budget, your project, and your personal preference. However, there are some essential items that you should always have with you, such as a camera, a tripod, a microphone, headphones, batteries, memory cards, and cables. You should also consider using additional equipment that can enhance your footage, such as lenses, filters, lights, reflectors, stabilizers, drones, or action cameras. Whatever equipment you choose, make sure you know how to use it properly, and that it is compatible, reliable, and suitable for your location and conditions.

4 Shoot your footage

When you are ready to shoot your footage, you need to apply some basic principles and techniques that will ensure your footage is clear, consistent, and compelling. These include framing your shots, using the rule of thirds, keeping your camera steady, avoiding zooming and panning, adjusting your exposure and focus, capturing different angles and perspectives, following the action and emotion, and recording enough coverage and b-roll. You should also monitor your sound quality, check your levels and meters, use a windscreen or a boom pole, and avoid background noise and distortion.

5 Backup and organize your footage

After you finish shooting, you need to backup and organize your footage as soon as possible. This will prevent you from losing or damaging your files, and will also make your editing process easier and faster. You should copy your files to at least two different storage devices, such as external hard drives or cloud services, and label them clearly and accurately. You should also review your footage and delete any unusable or redundant clips, and sort them into folders or bins according to their type, scene, or category.

6 Edit and polish your footage

The final step of your field production is to edit and polish your footage to create your final product. This involves importing your files into an editing software, selecting the best clips, arranging them into a sequence, trimming and cutting them, adding transitions and effects, correcting the color and brightness, enhancing the sound and music, adding titles and graphics, and exporting your video to the desired format and resolution. You should also review your video several times, check for errors and inconsistencies, and get feedback from others before you publish or distribute it.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?