How to Prepare for a Training Video Shoot: A Pre-Production Checklist

A training video has a job most other videos do not: it has to be accurate, repeatable and clear enough that a brand-new staff member can follow it without a human in the room. That raises the stakes on every detail. If a presenter mangles a compliance line, if the wrong software version is on screen, or if a stakeholder decides after the shoot that a step is out of order, you are not tweaking in the edit. You are booking the crew again.

The fix is boring but reliable. Move every decision you can to before the shoot. Adelaide shoot days are typically costed by the half or full day, so an hour lost to a missing swipe card, a noisy air conditioner or a presenter reading cold off a script for the first time is an hour of a paid crew standing still. Pre-production is simply the practice of making those decisions early, in writing, so nobody is improvising on the clock.

Pick and confirm every filming location before shoot day, then walk each one at the time of day you plan to film. A meeting room that is silent at 8am can back onto a lunchroom that roars at noon. Around Adelaide, the usual culprits are open-plan offices, air-conditioning cycling on and off, and CBD street noise through single-glazed windows.

For each location, confirm 4 practical things:

- Access: who unlocks the space, are swipe cards or a building contact needed, and is there lift access for gear. - Power: enough nearby outlets for lights and chargers, so you are not running leads across a walkway. - Noise: the quietest realistic window to film, plus who can pause a noisy machine, phone or PA system if asked. - Look: tidy the background in advance. Clear the whiteboard of last week's notes, hide cables, remove branded competitor mugs and anything confidential.

If your training video shows a real workspace (a warehouse process, a kitchen, a plant room), book that space when it is not in full operation, or ring-fence a corner. Filming a forklift induction while the shift is running is slow and unsafe. If you are within 100km of the Adelaide CBD, an in-person recce is worth the trip; further out, ask for photos and a short phone video of each room before you commit.

Your on-camera talent is the highest-variance part of the day. Lock in exactly who is appearing, and have a named backup for anyone business-critical. A key presenter calling in sick with no plan B can cancel a whole shoot.

Once presenters are confirmed, prepare them properly:

- Send the final script early so they can read it aloud a few times, not memorise it, just get comfortable with the phrasing and any technical terms. - Decide on the delivery method. Most training presenters do best with an autocue (teleprompter) so they can hit exact wording on compliance or safety lines while still looking down the lens. If you would rather they speak naturally to camera, give them a short bullet outline instead of full paragraphs. - Brief them on pace and pauses. Encourage a clean pause between sentences and a full reset if they fumble a line, rather than pushing through. Clean takes cut faster and read better. - Cover the basics: where to be, when, what to wear, and that they should arrive fed and hydrated. A presenter is sharpest in the first hour, so schedule the hardest, wordiest sections early.

If your presenter is a subject-matter expert who is nervous on camera, tell your production team in advance. A calm director who breaks the script into short, achievable chunks will get a natural performance out of almost anyone.

Wardrobe is small to plan and expensive to fix. Give presenters clear guidance a week out:

- Favour solid, mid-tone colours. They read cleanly on camera and stay on-brand. - Avoid tight stripes, fine checks, herringbone and busy patterns. They can shimmer or strobe on screen (the moire effect). - Skip pure bright white and pure black next to skin; softer tones hold detail far better under lights. - Go easy on large logos, slogans and reflective jewellery unless they are deliberately part of the brand. - Bring a backup top. Coffee, makeup and nerves happen, and a spare shirt saves the day.

If multiple people appear, coordinate so the group looks like a team, not a clash. For training content that will live for years, steer presenters towards timeless, plain clothing rather than a trend that dates the video in 18 months. If safety gear (hi-vis, hard hats, gloves, eye protection) belongs in the process you are filming, have it clean, correctly worn and ready, because an auditor or a new starter will notice if it is missing.

This is the step that saves the most money and gets skipped the most. Before the shoot, get written sign-off on the final script and shot order from every stakeholder who could later say no: the subject-matter expert, the manager who owns the process, and anyone in compliance, HR, WHS or legal whose wording is non-negotiable.

Sign-off means:

- The steps are in the correct, current order (not last year's process). - Every technical term, product name, figure and safety instruction is exactly right. - Any regulated or legal language is worded the way it must be, word for word. - Everyone has seen it and agreed this is what gets filmed.

Lock the script a few days before the shoot, not the night before, so presenters have time to prepare. Once it is signed off, treat changes as the exception. A stakeholder who reviews after the shoot instead of before is the classic cause of a re-shoot, and re-shoots cost real money and delay the launch.

Training and explainer videos lean heavily on things that are not filmed live: software walkthroughs, dashboards, diagrams, logos, lower-third name tags and title cards. Gather all of it before the shoot so nothing holds up the edit.

A practical asset checklist:

- Screen recordings: capture software or system demos in advance at the highest clean resolution you can, using demo or dummy data, never real customer records, patient details or anything confidential. - Brand kit: supply your logo in a high-resolution transparent file (PNG or vector), plus brand colours and the exact fonts, so on-screen text matches your other materials. - Names and titles: provide a spelling-checked list of every presenter's name and job title exactly as they should appear on screen. Wrong spellings are a common, avoidable re-export. - Supporting graphics: any diagrams, org charts, product shots or existing footage you want included, in their original high-quality files rather than screenshots. - Accessibility: decide early if you need captions or a full transcript. For internal training and public-facing induction content, captions are usually expected, and confirming this up front shapes how the video is delivered.

Hand these over as one organised folder before the shoot. A production team that already has your assets can build the finished video far faster than one waiting on a logo file a week after the camera has been packed away.