Intro
Tom Maclachlan, the founder of Chop Chop Film, presented a very practical How-To workshop on creating effective and easy film content for campaigns at Progress 2026.
This article outlines Tom’s tips for making a video, through writing a good, targeted brief, creating a script, and the practical shooting basics you need to make the video you’ve been imagining. There are a few practice exercises throughout to help you refine your ideas, and plenty of bonus tips from Tom.
Production Paralysis
All too often, video projects get stuck. This is what we call ‘production paralysis’. So why does this happen?
Reason 1: Not sure what the steps are.
You know you need a video, but you’re unsure of the process. What order do you do things in? How do you start? Do you need to shoot?
Reason 2: The Brief is fuzzy.
The what and the why aren’t clear. Maybe you have too many goals, an unclear message, or no call-to-action.
Reason 3: Not sure how to make video
The HOW: You’re stuck without the skills yourself, or someone to do it for you.
This workshop took participants through everything needed to do to get a video project off the ground.
The Basics
Here’s what you need for a good video. We’ll take you through all of these in detail.
- A good brief
- A script
- Practical shooting basics
Tom’s Tip: Your phone has all the capabilities you need to make an effective video.
Step 1: Get the Brief Right
Choose your Purpose
Every possible purpose needs a different approach. Are you raising awareness? Educating? Fundraising?
Here are a few options to choose from:
- Awareness: make more people know
- Education: explain clearly
- Advocacy: mobilize people to act
- Fundraising: inspire giving
- Recruitment: attract volunteers or staff
- Engagement: build and energize community
- Policy Influence: persuade decision makers
- Internal Communication: align and strengthen teams
Come up with a purpose statement, e,g: “we want to raise awareness amongst tourists of the importance of sunscreen,” “we want to attract new volunteers for our mentoring program,” or “we want to inspire donations for our climate action appeal.”
Think of the purpose as your video’s rudder.
Next, Define your Key Message
This is the one thing you want your audience to remember. It should be short, sticky, and clear. In the film industry, this is called the ‘logline’, the one sentence summary of what the film is about. It’s kind of like the spine of the film.
Tips:
- Aim for one main message, up to three at most.
- Avoid jargon and long explanations
- Think: if my audience remembers one sentence, what should it be?
Some examples:
- “Together we can restore wetlands and protect wildlife”
- “A small monthly donation keeps three children in school”
- “Join us to demand stronger climate action from parliament”
Now, Add a Call to Action
What should your audience do next after watching the video?
Examples of strong Calls to Action:
- Learn more
- Sign up
- Join us
- Donate today
- Subscribe
- Volunteer now
Tom’s Tip: Emphasize value over action – “Help a child stay in school” rather than “Donate now.”
Avoid ‘engagement bait’, like “Like this post if you agree.”
And Finally, Choose your Genre
Select the format that best suits your brief. It could be:
- Animation
- AI Video
- Brand
- Case Study / Testimonial
- Documentary
- Event
- Explainer
- Internal Comms
- Live Action
- Podcast
- Short Form / Reels
- Training / How-To
Tom’s Tip: Actors with dialogue are often hard to pull off well. Can you do a voiceless actor with music and voiceover over the top? It will save you the money of using expensive actors. Like the Smith Family ads, get actors, but do it without them doing any speaking.
Practice Writing a Brief
Time to practice with a 3 minute Brief Writing exercise.
Try writing a Brief for your campaign or project:
- Choose your purpose
- Define your key message
- Clarify your Call To Action
- Specify the genre
Step 2: Script Writing
Hook and Go
Use the ChopChop ‘Hook and Go’ method: It’s good for social media, you can use it for lots of different types of videos.
As a guide, 150 words = 60 seconds of video.
Here it is:
Get people’s interest early with the HOOK. “Just how deep does the ocean go?” Stop people scrolling, engage them in the video. You have 3-7 seconds to hook your audience
After the hook, introduce the PROBLEM: the thing that troubles your audience.
Then, SOLUTION: this is where your organisation comes in to save the day.
Then, CALL TO ACTION: 10-20 words on what the audience should do next.
Here’s a breakdown of how this might look in a video that lasts for just under a minute:
Script Format
The classic script format is comprised of two columns: one for words, and the other for visuals. You add one sentence per row, and describe the accompanying visuals.
Tom’s Tip: Don’t assume knowledge. Work hard to minimise the use of jargon.
Script Writing Exercise
Time to practice: Write your hook, problem, solution, and call to action. Just do words for now, visuals can come later. Feel free to play with the structure. Focus on sounding clear, rather than polished.
Step 3: Practical Shooting Basics
Tom’s Tip: A lot of the time, you don’t even need to shoot! Consider animation, or text videos.
Rule 1: Your Camera
Your phone camera is enough. A small tripod helps. Otherwise, stabilise with your elbows against your body.
A mic helps but clear on-camera audio can still work well. You can fix it in post production if you need to improve the audio.
Good planning beats fancy gear.
Rule 2: Five essential shots
- Wide Shot: establishes the scene. Answers “Where are we?”
- Mid Shot: Focuses on the subject from the waist up. Answers “Who are we with?”
- Close-up: Highlights emotional details. Answers “What matters emotionally?”
- Cutaway/B-roll: Supplementary footage that supports the story. Answers “What supports the story?”
- Interview: Captures direct speech. Answers “What does the person actually say?”
These five shots will get you unstuck and provide enough material for a useful edit.
Tom’s Tips: Be careful with close ups, we tend to use them too much. Cutaways are essential, make sure to capture some B-roll. An interview with the person centred, looking right at the camera, is a bold statement, use this for high energy videos.
Here’s a simple formula for the sort of shots you might want to capture and use in your film:
- 1 x Interview to establish the narrative
- 2-3 x Wide Shots to set the scene and context
- 3-5 x Mid Shots or Action Shots to show subjects and activity
- 3 x Close-ups to highlight details and emotions
- 5 x Cutaways / Detail Shots for editing flexibility
This combination will provide enough material for a useful edit.
Rule 3: Lighting
Some basics:
- Go for beauty lighting; a big light in front of the subject. Usually, you can just face people towards a window.
- Keep the light in front of them or slightly to the side. Avoid harsh overhead light.
- Avoid midday sun – morning or late arvo sun is kinder. Ideally, if you’re shooting outside, go into the shade.
Tom’s Tip: Don’t put your subject right against the wall. You want some space. Give the shot depth. Have some colour in the background, and perhaps blur the background. Behind them should be darker.
Rule 4: Audio
Make sure to record somewhere quiet, and watch for background noise. This can make good footage feel amateur. Get the mic or phone close enough to the speaker, and watch for things like scratchy clothing creating noise. If possible, listen back to make sure you’ve captured high quality audio.
Some Final Tips and Tricks
Choose your Path for how it gets made. You have two options for creating a video; either you DIY the whole thing, using your brief, script, and the shot list to film it with your team OR you get some professional help. You can bring your brief, script, and plan to ChopChop or a freelancer, who will help you shape, shoot, and finish it.
Editing Tools
Here’s a few editing tools you can use:
- Adobe PremierePro: professional, complex, and paid
- DaVinci Resolve: a powerful, free alternative
- Canva: user friendly, generalist tool, but can be frustrating for video
- CapCut: a mobile based editor, good for on-the-go
Key Rules to Save You
- No brief, no video. Make sure you at least get the purpose and Call To Action down.
- Only one key message.
- One clear Call To Action.
- A phone is enough to get started.
PSA: ChopChop built an app for this!
About the Presenter
Tom Maclachlan
For the past 20 years, I’ve helped purpose-driven organisations tell stories that move people to act. I’ve founded three video production companies dedicated to the for-purpose sector, partnering with nonprofits, advocacy groups and governments to raise money, shift public opinion, and win campaigns.
Today, I’m the founder of ChopChop, an Australian video service built for comms and marketing teams who need high-quality, on-brand videos without the cost, delays or complexity of traditional production. ChopChop streamlines more than 300 steps of filmmaking into a simple system so organisations can turn important ideas into persuasive, accessible videos in minutes of their time.
My career began as a playwright and journalist before turning to filmmaking to make complex stories simple. Across hundreds of campaigns, I’ve learned that anyone trying to make a difference has a story worth telling. My job is to help tell it clearly, creatively, and with impact.