Five executives, one morning at QT Queenstown, delivered the same day

On Sunday 28 September a Queenstown event producer sent us a brief. An international company was bringing its executive leadership team to QT Queenstown for a meeting on Friday 9 October, and wanted five of those leaders to each record a short message to camera for an internal staff video. Each leader would read a prepared script on autocue, each needed a different backdrop, and the whole thing had to fit inside a four-hour window when the executives could step out of their meeting.

We sent a proposal the same day and were booked the next. On the day, all five messages were filmed in about two hours, and the finished selects were with the producer the same day, against a promise of three working days. This is how that came together.

Planning the day before the day

Executive time is the most expensive thing on a shoot like this, so the work happens before anyone sits down. The scripts ran 75 to 111 words each, which is 30 to 50 seconds at a natural autocue pace. That left room in a 20-minute slot for a rehearsal read and two or three clean takes, without anyone feeling rushed.

A few days after booking, the producer told us the footage would be edited by an overseas production company, as part of a project they already had under way. That changes how you shoot. We sent a short list of technical questions to pass on: frame rate, resolution and codec, whether they wanted log footage or a finished grade, audio tracks, framing and headroom for their graphics, and how they wanted the files delivered. Their editors work on a North American timeline, so we filmed at 23.976 frames per second rather than our usual New Zealand 25. Getting that right before the shoot is what lets footage drop straight into someone else's edit. It cannot be fixed cleanly afterwards.

Five looks from one room

The brief asked for five backdrops that were different enough to tell the speakers apart, but consistent enough to sit together in one video. We planned five frames across the meeting room before the first executive arrived, using its walls, furniture and features, and reset the set between speakers while the next person read through their script on the prompter.

The room's own lighting was very warm, which looks lovely for a function and turns skin orange on camera. We lit each speaker ourselves, shot in Sony's S-Log3 on our FX30 for the widest range to grade from, and recorded broadcast audio for every take. In the grade we brought skin tones back to neutral and kept a little of the hotel's warmth, then used one grade across all five setups so the leaders match when they are cut together.

Checking every take against the script

A scripted message to staff has to be word-perfect. A dropped "our" or a swapped phrase is easy to miss on set and painful to find in the edit. So before delivery we checked every take, word for word, against the scripts. One leader had revised his script by email that morning, so his takes were checked against the new version, not the one on the original run sheet.

The delivery came with a short notes file: which take we chose for each leader and why, the clean alternates if the editor wanted a different read, and the changes each speaker made on the day. One of the leaders also recorded an extra message while the camera was set up. It was not in the brief, so we graded and delivered it as a bonus.

Delivered the same day

Each leader's best take went over in 4K and 1080p, colour graded, with the audio normalised to broadcast loudness and a second of clean handle at each end so the editor has room to cut. All eighteen original camera files were kept, ungraded, in case the overseas team wanted to start from the log footage.

The producer's message after delivery said it all: everyone involved was very happy with the output.

Why speed matters on corporate work

When the camera stops, the people in the video have moved on to their next meeting, but the project has not. Somebody is waiting on those files to start an edit, approve a script change or hit a launch date. Planning the technical side before the day, and checking the work properly before it leaves, is what makes a same-day turnaround possible without cutting corners.

It is how we approach all our corporate video, from internal messages and training to filming at events and conferences, and our video editing for teams who want the footage cut for them. Planning an event of your own? Start with our event video checklist.

If you have leaders, speakers or a conference coming to Queenstown, tell us about it and we will plan the day around their time.