Preparing a shoot at your offices: the checklist

A shooting day is won or lost before the day itself. Here is what we ask clients to prepare, and why each point matters.

Which spaces should you prepare for a shoot at your offices?

Scout two or three spaces: a bright office, a lively common area, a place that tells the story of your work (workshop, warehouse, laboratory). Variety of settings is what makes an edit rich.
Think about noise: air conditioning, the coffee machine and the open-plan floor are far louder on a microphone than to the ear. Set aside a quiet room for the interviews.
Tidy, without sterilising: the boxes on the floor and the screen covered in sticky notes will show up on camera. But an office that lives is more credible than an empty showroom.

How do you prepare the team and the people on camera?

Tell the team: a surprise shoot produces closed faces and requests to blur people out. A simple note in advance settles nearly all of it.
Book people into a specific slot: “available during the day” always ends in waiting. A one-hour slot per person, somewhere quiet, is plenty.
On clothing: what people usually wear, avoiding fine stripes and third-party brand logos. The instruction “be yourself, client-meeting version” works well.

What permissions do you need to film in a company?

Image rights: a written release for anyone recognisable. We provide a simple template, to be signed before rather than after. The CNIL, France's data protection authority is unambiguous on this: everyone holds an exclusive and absolute right over their own image and may object to its use. The authorisation must be expressed very clearly and without ambiguity, and the CNIL recommends obtaining it in writing, so as to have proof of consent and to define the scope of what was agreed. An employee therefore has the right to refuse, and that refusal is respected without their having to justify it.
What must not appear: screens with client data, confidential documents, unannounced prototypes. Flagging it before the shoot saves reshooting a scene.

How does a shooting day at a company run?

A simple schedule, built together in advance: the order in which people appear, the slots when the spaces are free, a named contact reachable on site. On our side, we arrive with a shot list drawn from the framing stage: every hour of the day knows what it is for. That is the whole difference between a production run like a project and a day of improvising. On this subject, see also how to frame a video before shooting.

What should you tell your teams before a shoot?

For the team, the day before the shoot, five lines are enough: filming takes place in the offices tomorrow from this time to that time; the areas involved are X and Y; if you would rather not appear on camera, tell [contact]; put away anything confidential on your screens and desks; work normally, that is exactly what we want to film.

That message settles in advance the three classic frictions of filming in a company: surprise, image rights and confidentiality. Everything else is handled on site.

What if your offices are not filmable?

A dated open-plan floor, shared desks, a space that is too small: it happens often and it is not a blocker. The options, in order of simplicity: film at a client's premises (with their agreement, and it is often more telling than your own walls), film outdoors for the interviews when the season allows, or hire a venue for the day for projects that justify a controlled setting.

The choice is made during framing, based on what the video has to say: a location is not a backdrop, it is part of the message. For events and shoots away from your offices, see the event filming and behind-the-scenes page.

What does the producer do during the shooting day?

So the day is predictable on your side too, here is what a well-run shoot involves. We arrive before the agreed time to set up without eating into the schedule. The setup is reasonably light: enough to film and record properly, not a film set that paralyses the floor. Between the planned sequences, we capture the everyday images that will serve the edit, staying out of the way.

What we ask in return comes down to two things: that the named contact is reachable to settle the small questions (can we film here, can we move this), and that the interview slots are respected. That is the only part of the day that cannot be recovered if it falls through. Everything else is our problem, not yours.

The checklist as a PDF, ready to tick off

One page, four sections, to circulate internally before the shoot. Free, no email asked: it is our way of showing you how we prepare a project. The PDF is in French for now, so ask us and we will send the English version.

Download the checklist (PDF, in French)

Frequently asked questions about preparing a shoot

How do you prepare your offices for a video shoot?

Scout two or three spaces: a bright office, a lively common area, and a place that tells the story of your work (workshop, warehouse, laboratory). Set aside a quiet room for interviews: air conditioning, the coffee machine and the open-plan floor are far louder on a microphone than to the ear. Tidy without sterilising: an office that lives is more credible than an empty showroom.

Do you need permission to film your employees?

Yes: a written image release for anyone recognisable, signed before the shoot rather than after. Studio Rouge Pomme provides a simple template. Also flag in advance what must not appear: screens with client data, confidential documents, unannounced prototypes.

How much time should you allow per person on camera?

A one-hour slot per person, somewhere quiet, is plenty. Avoid the “available during the day” slot: it always ends in waiting.

How should you tell your teams about a shoot?

Five lines the day before are enough: filming takes place tomorrow from this time to that time, in areas X and Y; if you would rather not appear, tell the named contact; put away anything confidential on your screens; work normally, that is exactly what we want to film. This message settles the three classic frictions: surprise, image rights and confidentiality.

What if your offices are not filmable?

It happens often and it is not a blocker. Three options, in order of simplicity: film at a client's premises with their agreement (often more telling than your own walls), film outdoors for the interviews when the season allows, or hire a venue for the day for projects that justify a controlled setting. The choice is made during framing: a location is not a backdrop, it is part of the message.

A shoot to organise at your offices?

Thirty minutes to understand what you want to produce, and to tell you frankly whether we are the right studio to do it.

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