One project, different audiences: a story-use map

1. Describe a use, rather than a broad audience label

Labels such as “clients”, “staff” and “social media” leave the actual viewing situation unclear. Describe who encounters the film, what they already know and which question brings them to it. A channel is a destination; it does not explain the question by itself.

For example, a proposal reviewer comparing relevant experience has a different task from an existing project contact checking what has changed. Both might watch a video on a laptop. That shared screen does not make their information needs identical.

Make one use card for each real request:

• Team requesting the film and named owner:
• Viewer and situation in which they will see it:
• What the viewer already knows:
• Question the film should help answer:
• Relevant action or conversation after viewing:
• Likely destination and date needed:
• Priority: primary use, secondary use or possible later use:

Keep speculative uses separate from confirmed ones. An idea without an owner or destination may be worth recording, but it should not automatically expand the production brief.

2. Find the facts that every version must preserve

List the project facts and contribution that must remain accurate wherever the story appears. These might include the commissioning team’s actual role, the stage shown and the status of the result. A shorter version still needs enough context to avoid implying something different.

Then connect each audience question to evidence. This may be an approved explanation, a speaker with direct knowledge or a visible detail. If the evidence is missing, changing the opening line will not solve the gap.

• Audience question:
• Specific point the film would make:
• Evidence or first-hand explanation available:
• Context needed to understand the point:
• Person who will check it:
• Information that must remain consistent across uses:

Use the interview evidence worksheet to prepare a speaker’s examples once the required point is clear. The use map decides why an answer is needed; the interview worksheet helps prepare the answer itself.

3. Sort the differences before asking for versions

Compare the completed cards and describe what actually changes. Some uses may share the same story and approved film. Others may need a different introduction, emphasis or explanation. A new duration or viewing format is another decision to discuss, rather than evidence that the story must change.

Use these three working groups:

• Shared explanation: the main question, evidence and necessary context are substantially the same.
• Different emphasis: the evidence overlaps, but the opening, sequence or amount of explanation may need to change.
• Different story: the viewer needs another question answered, new evidence or a different account of the work.

These are discussion categories, not production packages. Ask the production team what can be achieved with the proposed filming and edit scope. Do not assume an additional version is only another export, or that material captured for one purpose will cover every later request.

4. Work through a fictional comparison

Imagine a fictional contractor has completed a building refurbishment. Its business development team wants to explain a coordination challenge to prospective clients. Its internal team wants a short account of a handover lesson for colleagues.

The client-facing use might need a clear description of the original constraint, the contractor’s role and the finished result. The internal use might need the sequence of a particular decision and what colleagues should check next time. The same exterior view could help orient both audiences, while the interview prompts could be quite different.

The useful decision is to identify which statements and pictures genuinely overlap. If the internal lesson needs a new speaker or details that cannot be used publicly, record that as a separate requirement. Avoid burying the difference inside a request for “one more short version”.

This is an invented planning example. It does not describe a Live Images client, project or production result.

5. Give each proposed use an owner and a decision

Ask the requesting teams to review their own cards before the filming brief is agreed. Someone must decide which use takes priority if the proposed story becomes crowded or the available evidence supports only part of the request.

Summarise each decision in one line:

• Use and requesting owner:
• Primary audience question:
• Shared film or proposed separate treatment:
• Evidence and filming implications to discuss:
• Destination or format requirements to confirm:
• Approver for this use:
• Decision: include in discussion, defer or remove:

Carry the agreed decisions into the written scope. Keep later requests attached to their original use card so a change can be assessed clearly. Approval of one film does not, by itself, settle a new story, destination or version requirement.