Video Production in Adelaide
How to Write a Video Brief (Free Template and Examples)
If you have ever asked a studio "how much for a video?" and got a vague answer, the missing piece was almost always a brief. A video brief is a short document that tells the person filming what you want, who it is for, and what it needs to achieve. Here is the core of how to write a video brief: answer 6 questions clearly (goal, audience, message, references, deliverables and budget), and your first conversation with a studio goes from guesswork to a real quote. You do not need to be a marketer or know any film jargon. Below is a plain-English template you can copy, fill in and send, plus worked examples for a wedding and a corporate video so you can see what "good" looks like.
Key takeaway
A video brief is just clear answers to 6 questions: goal, audience, message, references, deliverables and budget. Even half a page of specifics turns a vague "how much for a video?" into an accurate quote and a video that does its job. The reference links matter most, because showing a studio what you like aligns taste before anyone picks up a camera.
Why a video brief saves you money and time
A good brief is the difference between a fast, accurate quote and weeks of back-and-forth. When a studio can see your goal, your audience and your budget on one page, they can tell you straight away whether your idea fits your budget, where to spend and where to save, and how long it will take. Without a brief, they have to guess, and guessing gets padded into the price to cover the unknowns.
A brief also protects you. It becomes the shared reference both sides agree on before anyone books a camera. If you said you needed a 60-second cut for Instagram and a 3-minute cut for your website, that is written down, quoted and delivered, rather than remembered differently by 2 people 6 weeks later.
You do not need to write pages. Half a page of clear answers beats 5 pages of waffle. The point is not to sound professional, it is to be specific.
The 6 questions every video brief must answer
Every useful brief covers the same 6 things: goal, audience, message, references, deliverables, and budget with timeline. Work through them in order and you will have written a proper brief without realising it. Each one below has a short explanation and, further down, a template line and a worked example so you can see exactly what to write.
1. Goal: what is this video actually for?
State the one job this video has to do. Not "to look good" but the real outcome: book more wedding enquiries, explain a product so support tickets drop, capture a milestone for the family, launch a song. Pick one primary goal. If you list 5, none of them get served well. A wedding film's goal might be "relive the day and share it with family who could not travel". A corporate video's goal might be "get a warm lead to trust us enough to book a call". The goal quietly decides everything else: length, tone, where it gets watched and how it is shot.
2. Audience: who is watching, and where?
Describe the person on the other end of the screen and the place they will see it. A video for LinkedIn viewed on a laptop by a procurement manager is a different edit from a 15-second vertical clip a bride's friends thumb through on Instagram. Note the platform (website homepage, YouTube, Instagram, a trade-show screen, an internal training portal) because it sets the aspect ratio, the length and whether it needs to work with the sound off. "Sound off" matters more than most people think: if it plays on autoplay in a feed, it needs captions and must make sense silently.
3. Message: what do they need to feel, know or do?
Write the single sentence you want stuck in the viewer's head at the end. For a corporate explainer: "These people understand my problem and make it simple." For a music video: "This artist has a look and a world of their own." Then list any non-negotiable points that must appear: a specific product feature, a safety step in a training video, a tagline, a phone number or a call to action on screen. Keep this list short. A 90-second video can carry maybe 3 key points before it turns into a list nobody remembers.
4. References: show, do not just tell
This is the highest-value part of any brief and the one most people skip. Send 2 or 3 links to videos you love and, just as usefully, 1 you dislike, with a line on why. "I like how calm and unhurried this wedding film feels" or "this corporate video is too corporate, we want warmer" tells a studio more than 3 paragraphs of adjectives. References align taste before a single frame is shot, which is where most disappointment comes from. You can pull them from YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo or a studio's own showreel. If a particular JLM Studios piece caught your eye, name it.
5. Deliverables: exactly what you get at the end
Spell out the finished files you expect, because "a video" can mean wildly different amounts of work. Note the number of final videos and their lengths (for example, one 3-minute hero film plus three 20-second social cuts), the aspect ratios (16:9 landscape for YouTube, 9:16 vertical for Reels and TikTok, 1:1 square for feeds), and any extras like captions, a logo animation, licensed music, colour grading or raw footage. If you need the same story in a long and a short version, say so up front. This single section is the biggest driver of an accurate quote.
6. Budget and timeline: the 2 numbers that make it real
Give a budget range, even a rough one. Studios are not trying to spend all of it, they are trying to design the right shoot for it. A half-day corporate shoot with one camera, a full-day multicam event, and a music video with a location and a crew are very different scopes, and your budget tells the studio which conversation you are actually in. If you genuinely do not know, ask for options at 2 price points. Then give your timeline: the shoot date (a wedding date is fixed, an event has a hard deadline) and when you need the finished video. Rushed turnarounds cost more, so flag them early rather than at the end.
The fill-in-the-blanks video brief template
Copy this, fill in the blanks, and send it. That is the whole thing.
PROJECT: [what you are making, e.g. wedding film / product explainer / music video]
1. GOAL: The one job this video must do is ______.
2. AUDIENCE: It is for ______, who will watch it on ______ [platform]. It [does / does not] need to work with the sound off.
3. MESSAGE: After watching, I want them to think or do ______. Must-include points: ______.
4. REFERENCES: Videos I like: [link 1], [link 2]. Why: ______. One I do not like: [link] because ______.
5. DELIVERABLES: I need ______ final video(s), roughly ______ long, in ______ aspect ratio(s). Extras: [captions / music / logo animation / raw footage / none].
6. BUDGET and TIMELINE: My budget range is ______. Shoot date / deadline: ______. I need the finished video by ______.
LOGISTICS: Location ______. Key people or things that must be filmed ______. Anything else the studio should know ______.
If you can answer even half of these, a studio can quote you properly.
Worked example: a wedding film brief
PROJECT: Wedding film.
GOAL: A film we will actually rewatch on our anniversary and send to my parents overseas who cannot travel.
AUDIENCE: Us and close family, watched on a laptop and phone, shared privately. Sound on.
MESSAGE: Capture the feeling of the day, not just the events. Relaxed and emotional, not flashy. Must include the ceremony vows and both speeches.
REFERENCES: [2 links to warm, documentary-style wedding films]. We love that these feel real and unstaged. We do not like heavily slow-motion "music-video" edits.
DELIVERABLES: One 4 to 5 minute highlight film for sharing, plus a longer full-ceremony cut. 16:9. Licensed music sorted by the studio.
BUDGET and TIMELINE: Range noted in our enquiry. Wedding date is fixed (in the brief). Final films within 8 to 10 weeks is fine.
LOGISTICS: Ceremony and reception at [venue], getting-ready shots at the hotel. Please film my grandmother, she is the reason we are doing this.
Worked example: a corporate video brief
PROJECT: Corporate brand and explainer video for our homepage.
GOAL: Get a warm website visitor to trust us enough to fill in the contact form.
AUDIENCE: Business owners in Adelaide comparing 2 or 3 suppliers, watching on desktop and mobile, often with the sound off first. Needs captions.
MESSAGE: "These people get my problem and make it simple." Must include: what we do in one line, 2 proof points, and a clear call to action to book a call.
REFERENCES: [2 links to warm, human corporate videos]. We like founder-to-camera plus real footage of the team. We dislike stock-footage-heavy videos that could be any company.
DELIVERABLES: One 90-second hero video (16:9) plus three 15 to 20-second vertical cuts (9:16) for social, all captioned.
BUDGET and TIMELINE: Range in our enquiry. We would like to film in the next 4 to 6 weeks and launch with our new site.
LOGISTICS: Filming at our office and one client site. Founder and 2 staff on camera. We can supply our logo and brand colours.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a video brief be?
Half a page to one page is plenty. The goal is specificity, not length. Clear answers to the 6 core questions (goal, audience, message, references, deliverables, budget) beat several pages of vague description. If you can only answer half of them, send it anyway, because a studio can fill the gaps in the first conversation far faster than starting from nothing.
What if I do not know my budget for a video?
That is fine, and it is common. Instead of a single figure, ask the studio for options at 2 price points, for example a lean single-camera half-day versus a fuller production. Sharing even a rough range helps, because a studio is not trying to spend all of it, they are trying to design the right shoot to fit it. Withholding budget entirely usually leads to a quote that misses what you can actually afford.
Do I need to know film or camera terms to write a brief?
No. A good brief uses plain English about outcomes, not jargon about lenses or frame rates. Say "I want it to feel warm and calm" rather than trying to specify a technical look. The single most useful thing a non-expert can do is send 2 or 3 reference videos they like and 1 they do not, which communicates taste more precisely than any technical term.
Should I send the same brief to multiple studios?
Yes, and a written brief makes comparing quotes far easier, because every studio is pricing the same clearly defined scope rather than their own interpretation. Just make sure the deliverables section is specific (number of videos, lengths, aspect ratios, extras), so you are comparing like for like. If one quote is much lower, it is usually because they assumed less work, which the brief helps you spot.