Before the Cameras Arrive: A Practical Guide for Healthcare and Life Sciences Teams
Filming inside a hospital, medical office, laboratory, biotech facility, research center, or training environment usually involves more planning than filming in a typical corporate office.
The camera equipment is only part of it.
You may have physicians, researchers, patients, technicians, executives, or employees appearing on camera. Certain areas may be restricted. Scientific information has to be accurate. Privacy and compliance issues may need to be addressed. And because everyone involved probably has another job to do, the production cannot interfere with the work taking place around it.
If you already know you need professional assistance, you can review our healthcare and life sciences video services. This article is about what to decide before the production begins.
For organizations with broader production needs, you can also see our Chicago video production services.
1. Decide Exactly Who the Video Is For
“Healthcare audience” is much too broad.
A patient preparing for a procedure has very different needs from a physician evaluating a new technology. A researcher, investor, employee, donor, caregiver, sales representative, or regulatory reviewer may need something different again.
Before writing a script or scheduling an interview, define the primary audience.
Ask:
- Who will actually watch this?
- What do they already know?
- What terminology will they understand?
- What should they understand after watching?
- What should they do next?
- Where will they see the video?
A patient-facing video may need simple language and reassuring visuals. A video for physicians can generally assume a higher level of technical knowledge. An investor presentation may need to explain the science while concentrating on milestones, opportunities, and the broader significance of the work.
Trying to speak to everyone in the same video often results in speaking effectively to no one.
2. Decide What You Can—and Cannot—Show
Before the production crew arrives, determine what areas, people, screens, documents, equipment, and activities may be filmed.
This is especially important in hospitals, clinics, laboratories, research facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and controlled environments.
Create two lists:
What we want to capture
This might include a laboratory, procedure demonstration, physician interview, equipment operation, research activity, facility exterior, employees collaborating, or close-ups of a product.
What must not appear
That might include patient information, computer screens, confidential documents, proprietary processes, restricted equipment, badges, labels, research data, or people who have not been cleared to appear.
Making these decisions beforehand is much easier than discovering during editing that an important shot cannot be used.
3. Bring Privacy and Compliance People Into the Process Early
If your production involves patients, protected health information, clinical environments, regulated products, or sensitive research, do not treat privacy and compliance as something to check after filming.
Get the appropriate people involved before the script and shooting plan are finalized.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has specific guidance concerning filming, media access, and patient information. Among other things, HHS cautions healthcare providers about allowing film crews into areas where protected health information may be accessible without the necessary authorization.
Do not assume that an identifiable privacy issue can simply be blurred or edited away afterward.
Your organization’s privacy officer, compliance department, or legal counsel should determine what rules apply to your particular production.
For pharmaceutical promotional content, regulatory review may also be required. The FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion focuses on prescription-drug promotional communications being truthful, balanced, and accurately presented.
The production company does not replace your compliance department. Its job is to work within the guidelines your organization establishes.
4. Establish Who Has Final Say on Scientific Accuracy
Healthcare and life-sciences videos can go through endless rounds of revisions when nobody establishes an approval process beforehand.
Identify the subject-matter expert early.
Depending on the project, that person might be:
- A physician
- A researcher
- A clinical specialist
- A medical director
- A product manager
- A training manager
- A regulatory or medical affairs representative
Then decide who has final approval.
This becomes especially important when a technically accurate explanation is rewritten to make it easier for a general audience to understand.
You want clarity without changing the underlying meaning.
5. Simplify Complex Information Without Oversimplifying It
One of the hardest parts of healthcare and scientific communication is deciding how much technical information the audience really needs.
Experts naturally use the terminology of their field. Patients, donors, investors, new employees, or members of the general public may not understand it.
That does not mean the information needs to be “dumbed down.”
The National Institutes of Health recommends plain language that communicates information clearly and accurately without unnecessary complexity.
Video also gives you an advantage that written material does not always have.
Instead of explaining everything verbally, you may be able to show it.
Animation, graphics, diagrams, demonstrations, close-up photography, laboratory footage, equipment operation, and carefully selected b-roll can sometimes explain in seconds what would otherwise take several paragraphs.
6. Choose the Right Person to Be on Camera
The most senior person is not automatically the best person to explain something.
A physician may be ideal for discussing treatment. A researcher may be best for explaining the science. A technician may be far better at demonstrating a procedure than the department head. A patient may provide the human perspective that no executive can duplicate.
Choose people based on what the audience needs from them.
Also decide whether each person should:
- Speak conversationally in an interview
- Follow prepared talking points
- Read an approved script
- Use a teleprompter
- Demonstrate something while speaking
- Provide voice-over rather than appear on camera
For a conversational interview, over-rehearsing can make someone sound stiff. For highly technical or tightly regulated language, however, precise wording may be necessary.
Our guide on preparing someone for an on-camera interview goes into this in more detail.
7. Plan the Location Around the Work Being Done There
A hospital, clinic, medical office, research center, or laboratory cannot simply stop operating because a video crew has arrived.
That makes scheduling important.
Before shoot day, find out:
- When the location is least busy
- What rooms will be available
- Whether patients or visitors will be nearby
- Whether security clearance is required
- Whether crew members need badges or escorts
- Whether PPE is required
- Whether equipment can be moved
- Whether certain rooms have restricted access
- Where equipment can be unloaded
- Where cases and production gear can be stored
- Whether elevators or loading areas need to be reserved
- What electrical or safety restrictions apply
Also listen to the location.
Laboratories and medical facilities may contain ventilation systems, refrigerators, alarms, machinery, paging systems, or other equipment that sounds perfectly normal in person but becomes distracting during an interview.
A five-minute location check can sometimes prevent an hour of audio problems.
8. Make a B-Roll List Before the Shoot
Interviews explain the story. Supporting footage helps viewers understand and visualize it.
Do not wait until the interview is finished and then ask, “What else should we shoot?”
Prepare a b-roll list beforehand.
Depending on the project, useful footage might include:
- Physicians consulting with colleagues
- Researchers working in a laboratory
- Employees undergoing training
- Close-ups of equipment
- A procedure being demonstrated
- Laboratory processes
- Facility interiors and exteriors
- Manufacturing or testing areas
- Medical devices in use
- Hands performing detailed work
- Team meetings
- Researchers reviewing information
- Appropriate patient interaction when properly authorized
Think about what each person on camera is going to discuss and capture images that illustrate those subjects.
If someone discusses a piece of technology for two minutes and you never film the technology, the editor has fewer ways to make that section visually interesting.
9. Decide Whether One Shoot Can Serve Several Audiences
A production day may involve coordinating physicians, executives, researchers, employees, locations, equipment, and a professional crew.
Once everyone is assembled, it makes sense to ask whether you can capture material for more than one purpose.
For example, the same production could potentially generate:
- A main company or organization video
- A physician interview
- A patient education segment
- An internal training piece
- Short clips for LinkedIn
- Website content
- Investor presentation material
- Recruiting footage
- Conference or trade show material
- An internal version with more technical detail
- A shorter public-facing version
- A library of general b-roll
Not every project needs all of these. The point is to think about them before the cameras leave.
We discuss this approach further in How to Turn One Video Shoot Into Months of Marketing Content.
10. Think Through Training Content Differently From Marketing Content
A medical training or procedural video has a different job from a marketing video.
The viewer may need to perform a task correctly after watching it.
That means close-ups, camera angles, sequencing, terminology, graphics, and narration should be planned around what the learner actually needs to see and do.
If the instructor says, “Now attach this here,” the camera needs to show exactly what “this” and “here” mean.
For more detailed planning, see our employee training video planning checklist.
11. Establish the Review Process Before Editing Starts
Healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical, and scientific projects can involve more reviewers than an ordinary corporate video.
Determine who will review:
- Medical or scientific accuracy
- Brand standards
- Regulatory issues
- Patient/privacy concerns
- Names and credentials
- Drug, device, or product terminology
- Graphics and charts
- Captions
- Claims and statistics
- The final call to action
It also helps to establish one person who gathers everyone’s comments and sends the editor a consolidated list.
Five reviewers sending five separate—and sometimes contradictory—sets of revisions can slow a project considerably.
12. Decide What the Final Deliverables Will Be
Do not wait until the final edit is approved to start discussing formats.
Consider whether you will need:
- A full-length video
- Shorter versions
- Vertical social clips
- Captioned versions
- A transcript
- Versions without music
- Versions without graphics
- Presentation files
- Website versions
- Internal-use versions
- Different calls to action
- Raw footage
- Individual interview files
- A general b-roll library
Knowing this beforehand can change how the crew frames shots and what additional footage it records.
Experience and Reputation Matter More When the Details Matter
Any production reflects the organization that puts its name on it. That becomes especially important when physicians, patients, researchers, medical products, scientific information, or sensitive environments are involved.
A production company should be able to explain how it will prepare for the shoot, work within your facility’s requirements, handle interviews, capture clean audio, organize footage, manage revisions, and communicate when an unexpected issue comes up.
Video One Productions has been producing business video since 1987, and our work has included healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech, clinical documentation, medical interviews, training, and corporate communication.
You do not have to take our word for the quality of the experience. You can read our Google reviews and see what clients have said about working with us.
A Simple Pre-Shoot Checklist
Before your shoot, make sure you can answer these questions:
- Who is the primary audience?
- What must the viewer understand or do afterward?
- Who is responsible for scientific or medical accuracy?
- Who has final approval?
- What areas may the crew film?
- What must not appear on camera?
- Are patient releases, privacy reviews, or other permissions required?
- Who should appear on camera?
- Will speakers be interviewed, scripted, or use a teleprompter?
- What b-roll needs to be captured?
- What versions and formats will eventually be needed?
- Who will consolidate revisions and approve the final video?
If those questions are settled before production begins, the shoot is much more likely to stay efficient—and the finished video is much more likely to be useful.
Planning a Healthcare or Life Sciences Project in Chicago?
The best productions usually begin well before the camera is turned on. A little additional planning can save substantial time during filming and editing, particularly when technical information, busy professionals, specialized environments, and multiple reviewers are involved.
If you are considering a healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical, medical, or scientific project, learn more about our healthcare and life sciences video production capabilities.
For other types of corporate work, visit Video One Productions’ Chicago video production company page. Or, if you already have a project in mind, contact Video One Productions and tell us what you are planning.
