Several brands, one project film: resolving requirements before design

Begin with the commissioning arrangement

Write down who is commissioning the film, which organisation will publish each version and whose work it explains. These may be different entities. A project owner allowing filming does not automatically determine the visual identity of a supplier's case study; equally, paying for production does not settle another party's brand conditions.

Ask the appropriate project contacts for the actual applicable requirements. Record the document name, version and owner. Keep a distinction between a compulsory condition, a preference and an example someone likes. A previous film can be useful reference material without being an authority for this project.

Separate the decisions that tend to get bundled together

Brand discussion becomes easier when it concerns specific elements. The opening identity, speaker titles, project naming, partner credits, colours and final call to action need not all follow the same rule. A client may need a precisely worded credit without requiring its colours throughout the film.

For each element, ask what job it performs. An opening identifies the story's source. A participant label identifies a person. A project credit acknowledges a contribution. Treating all three as opportunities to make a logo larger can make the viewer's task harder.

Build a short list of elements requiring agreement. Do not design several elaborate alternatives while the underlying authority remains uncertain.

Make conflicts visible and assign the right decision

Quote the conflicting requirements in your internal working record and explain where they collide. “Both manuals require sole opening-logo placement” is a resolvable issue. “The brands do not work together” is too broad to direct a decision.

Name the person who can agree an exception for each organisation. The marketing coordinator may gather responses but should not silently waive another party's requirement. Ask whether one shared treatment is acceptable or whether separately scoped versions are genuinely necessary.

If an exception is approved, capture its limits: this project, this version and these destinations. Avoid turning a one-off accommodation into a permanent brand rule.

Copy this brand decision sheet

Add the film/version, intended publisher, destination, current brand-file location and outstanding exceptions above the table. Below it, record which decisions must be settled before design begins and who will send the consolidated instruction to production.

A blank “approver” field means the decision is not yet ready to rely on. “Use both” is incomplete unless the treatment, order and context have been agreed.

A fictional example: equal logos, different responsibilities

A specialist contractor commissions a film about an installation. The project owner requests a project credit, while an internal reviewer interprets this as equal opening branding. The coordinator asks the owner to confirm the requirement. The agreed arrangement is a clearly worded project credit, with the contractor identified as the commissioning organisation.

This invented example illustrates a clarification process, not a recommended hierarchy for every project. It says nothing about any Live Images client or actual contractual rights.

Check the proposed treatment in context

Review a representative frame or simple layout before the treatment is applied everywhere. Check project spelling, credit wording, readability and whether the combined picture accurately conveys the organisations' roles. A technically correct logo can still sit beside a statement that overstates its owner's contribution.

Then test the agreed hierarchy against the short versions. If the only credit disappears in a short edit, ask whether its intended use requires a different arrangement. Record that decision rather than assume approval of the main film covers every derivative.

Use the shared-project contribution worksheet for the factual attribution question. Use this sheet to settle the branding instructions that follow from it. Bring the agreed requirements to the production discussion before treating extra versions or design work as included.