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Video concept & planning

CONCEPT – video concept and planning from briefing to shooting schedule

A good film is finished before the camera rolls. I plan it with you — from the first idea to the shooting schedule.

Why planning comes first

Nothing gets invented on the day of the shoot.

A shooting day is the most expensive day of a film: crew, equipment, location and the people on camera all come together at once. Whatever is only decided on that day costs time — and is missing from the edit later.

So every shoot of mine starts from a concept you have seen and approved. You know in advance what the film says, how it looks and which shots will be filmed.

Tablet showing a shooting schedule as a timeline beside a printed call sheet, a walkie-talkie and a clapperboard, lights and a camera blurred in the background

01

A clear goal

What should the viewer know, feel or do afterwards?

02

Approval before the shoot

Changes cost nothing on paper and half a day on set.

03

A shooting day without idle time

Every shot has its place in the plan, every person their time slot.

The building blocks

From the first conversation to the shooting schedule

Which building blocks a film needs depends on the film: an event trailer needs no voice-over script, a commercial no scouting of a conference center. We take what your film needs.

  1. Three people at a wooden table in a bright loft, printed storyboard frames, a concept paper and a laptop showing a reference film in front of them

    01 / 07

    Briefing & goal

    It starts with a conversation: who should the film reach, where will it run — website, social media, trade fair, event — and what should happen afterwards? That becomes a briefing we can both refer back to.

    • Audience and key message
    • Channels and formats
    • Length, date, scope
  2. Desk from above: a concept paper headed “Imagefilm — Konzept”, a script with pencil notes, a notebook with small shot sketches and a tablet showing a shot list

    02 / 07

    Idea, treatment & script

    From the briefing I develop the idea of the film and write it up as a treatment: what you see, what you hear, in which order. Where people speak, a script, interview questions or a voice-over follow.

    • Treatment as a PDF
    • Script or voice-over
    • Interview guide
  3. Moodboard on a white studio wall: photographs of a couple in evening light, a villa and vineyards, fabric samples in green and beige and handwritten keywords such as “calm, warm, real”

    03 / 07

    Moodboard & visual language

    How should the film look? Light, colors, pace, wardrobe, places — the moodboard shows it before anything is filmed. It is the quickest way to get everyone seeing the same picture.

    • Moodboard with references
    • Color and lighting mood
    • Look for wardrobe and set
  4. Wall in a darkened studio with three rows of hand-drawn storyboard frames for a hotel film: arrival by car, lobby, pool at dusk, dinner, connected with red thread

    04 / 07

    Storyboard

    The storyboard breaks the film down into pictures: shot by shot, with the camera’s angle and movement. It is where you see the film for the first time — and can still change everything.

    • Drawn storyboard
    • Camera movement per shot
    • Order of the scenes
  5. Floor plan of a restaurant on a drafting table with drawn camera positions, movement arrows and light positions, a ruler and a small model camera beside it

    05 / 07

    Shot list, camera plan & schedule

    The storyboard turns into a plan for the shooting day: which shot is filmed where, where camera and lights stand, who is needed when. With the schedule, everyone involved knows when to be where.

    • Shot list
    • Camera and lighting plan
    • Schedule and call sheet
  6. A filmmaker seen from behind holding a viewfinder in the empty lobby of a hotel with marble floors and a curved staircase, a camera bag and a location checklist on an armchair

    06 / 07

    Location, casting & organization

    I look at the locations before the shoot — how the light falls at the planned time, where there is power, where it gets loud. Then come cast, wardrobe, props and the coordination with the hotel, restaurant or organizer.

    • Location check with photos
    • Cast and props
    • Coordination with the venue
  7. A workplace in the evening: piano keys in the foreground, an editing timeline with a music track on the screen, headphones and handwritten sheet music beside it

    07 / 07

    Music & sound

    With me, music is not laid underneath at the end but planned along: where does it come in, where does it go quiet, where does the original sound carry? On request I compose the soundtrack myself, built on the edit.

    • Music idea or shortlist
    • Plan for sound and interviews
    • Original score on request
    Sound design & original music

From sketch to frame

What is in the storyboard ends up in the film.

One picture in two halves: on the left a pencil drawing of a woman walking along a hotel pool at sunset, on the right the same shot as a finished film frame

That is the point of planning: on the day, what was decided beforehand gets made. Spontaneous shots still happen — but in addition to the planned ones, not instead of them.

Two ways

With the shoot or without

Concept and production

The usual case: I plan the film, shoot it and edit it. Whoever wrote the concept is also behind the camera — nothing gets lost in a hand-over.

  • Concept, shoot, edit and music from one person
  • One contact from the idea to sign-off
  • Photographs from the same day on request
See finished films

Just the concept

For agencies and marketing teams who shoot themselves or have a crew: you get the concept and the planning as finished documents and produce them with your own team.

  • Treatment, storyboard and schedule as PDFs
  • Bookable on its own, even a single block
  • A hand-over to your team on request

How it runs

Four steps to the shooting day

  1. 01

    Conversation

    You tell me what you have in mind. I ask until the goal is clear.

  2. 02

    Concept proposal

    You receive the idea as a treatment, with a moodboard and an offer.

  3. 03

    Review & approval

    We refine it until it fits. Only then does the detailed planning start.

  4. 04

    Detailed planning

    Storyboard, shot list, schedule and organization — ready for the shoot.

What I plan for

  • Brand film
  • Hotel film
  • Commercial
  • Event trailer
  • Recruiting film
  • Interview film
  • Social media clips
  • Music video
  • Wedding film

Questions about the video concept

More questions answered on FAQ.

Planning something like this?

Tell me briefly what it is about. Anything still open we settle by phone or email; after that you get an offer. Scope and price are fixed before anything is photographed or filmed — the inquiry itself commits you to nothing.

A session starts at 250 euro plus VAT. What lies above that is decided by the scope. How pricing works

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Cover: The Corporate Shoot Guide

Free guide

The Corporate Shoot Guide

Events, employee portraits and image film

From briefing to delivery: events, employee portraits and image films, with a sample briefing and checklists.

53 pages · PDF · In English · free