How do I prepare for a video shoot?

Most businesses brace for a film crew the way they brace for an office renovation. Rooms get cleared, staff get warned weeks out, and half the offices clears their calendars. Although this sounds like your prepared, most of this isn’t even needed. Instead, here is what you should do to prepare for a video shoot.

What do you need to organise before a video shoot at your office?

In most cases, to prepare your office, one email is all you need. Just give the office manager or reception a heads up on the date, the arrival time, the number of crew and roughly which areas get used.

Book a quiet room if the shoot includes interviews for use for the day. Choose a room that is relatively large, and bonus points for good views or interesting architecture. But ust know, even the most ‘boring’ rooms can look great on camera.

Ask about crew size before you sign anything. Twenty people and a truck of gear will shut down a workspace, so put the question to the Sydney production agency you’re expecting to work with and expect a specific number. A small team is a deliberate choice at CactusCan, which means the office keeps working around the shoot, phones keep ringing, and you get footage of a business doing its job rather than a set.

Who organises filming permits and location approvals?

Hand over the address and let the crew do the rest. Public spaces need council approval and the rules change from one local government area to the next, while private locations require written permission from the building owner or the business occupying the space. Neither of those should reach your desk, and if a quote leaves permits with you, ask why.

Give the crew two things to work with: the look you want and any locations already locked in. As a full service video production agency, CactusCan do the work so you and your team don’t have to. This includes sourcing locations and locations that fit within the video brief and budget.

When should stakeholders sign off on a video project?

Get every approver into pre-production, not into the final cut. The usual failure runs like this: one project contact approves the concept, the work gets made, and then legal or a senior executive sees it for the first time and raises something nobody had mentioned. At that point a change of direction is not a revision, it is filming again, and you pay for it.

Build your approver list before the first pre-production call and send it to the crew. Include:

The project owner or day to day contact
Legal or compliance, where claims and disclaimers are involved
The brand or marketing lead
Anyone appearing on camera

Have those people sign off on the concept, the key messages and the shoot schedule before filming has begun. Their requirements then shape the work from the start instead of arriving as corrections. Two revision rounds come as standard unless your quote states otherwise, and early sign off keeps those rounds focused on polish.

How should staff prepare to be on camera?

We recommend telling those on camera only the basics: the date, how long they are needed, and the topic. Do not circulate questions in advance, do not ask anyone to prepare notes, and do not run a practice session. Staff who memorise answers often deliver the flattest footage of the day, because their attention sits on recall instead of the idea they care about. Interviews run as conversations built around questions, so nobody needs to be good on camera, they need to know their work.

What should you wear for a corporate video shoot?

Wear what you would wear on a normal working day. Avoid very bright colours, heavy patterns and fine stripes, all of which do not work well on camera. Other than that, dress for the environment and the role you hold.

For example, match the PPE to the task if you are filming on site or in trades. Choose a cleaner set of your usual work gear, and make sure the gear is correct for the job being filmed, because footage of someone working without the right protection tells every viewer in that industry something you would rather not say.

What makes a shoot day run smoothly?

The best shoots feel like a normal working day that somebody happened to film. Keep your preparation to the few things only you can do, which is building access, a booked room, an approver list and a sensible choice of contributors, and leave the rest with the crew.

Preparation is our job. Access, approvals, locations and logistics sit on our side so your team can keep working while we film, which is the whole reason to bring in a crew.

If you are planning a shoot at your office or on site, get in touch with CactusCan and we will build it around how your business already runs.

CactusCan Media is your go-to video production company in Sydney, producing corporate video production, explainer videos, testimonial content, brand story videos, event coverage, and social media clips that drive results. As an experienced film production company, we combine creativity with strategy to deliver video content that resonates with audiences and supports your business goals. With a professional cameraman on every project, our clients know they’re getting high-quality, professional video production services they can rely on. Whether you’re planning your next corporate video or searching for video production services near you, our Sydney-based team makes the process stress-free and the outcome unforgettable.