Video content planning
Initial concept
As a content planner, I am responsible for transforming the broad theme of food waste into specific executable video content. With the assistance of the team leader, we communicated with the customer to determine the initial content basis:
2*90-second videos: popular science main video and interview main video, used to explain the problem in depth
2*30-second videos: promotional short films A and B, which resonate with the audience
2*15-second vertical screen short videos: slice content, adapt to social media dissemination
The design concept of this hierarchical structure is to create a complete content ecosystem, from popular science education to emotional resonance to social media transmission.
Specific content planning
When formulating the specific content, I studied the current situation of food waste in Singapore in depth and found that “According to the data of the National Environment Agency of Singapore (NEA), Singapore wastes about 2 bowls of rice per person per day on average. In 2023, a total of 755,000 tons of food waste will be produced nationwide, accounting for the whole country. 11% of the total amount of garbage (NEA, 2024)” is the localisation data. I transform abstract statistics into visual language:
Popular science video: from personal behaviour (pouting a bowl of rice) to social problems
Interview video: Design 3 respondents from different backgrounds to reflect the process of change from cognition to behaviour
Timeline precision planning: using the DaVinci Resolve standard, the picture accurate to seconds corresponds to the narration.
Especially in the design of the interview content, I avoided the indoctrative answer, but guided the interviewees to share their real experiences, so that the audience had a sense of immersion.
Adjustment and optimisation in practice
In the actual production process, I found the gap between planning and execution:
Challenge 1: Interview content timeout
The original plan was to have a 25-30-second speech per person, but when it was actually filmed, it was found that we had to record longer than expected. I re-examine the value of the content in the editing and delete unnecessary fragments.
Challenge 2: Content Duplication Problem
During the editing, it was found that the 90-second popular science video and the 30-second promotional film A were similar. As a content planner, I made a strategic decision: to cancel the 90-second popular science video and focus on the 30-second promotional film as the main content carrier.
Challenge 3: Practicality Assessment
After the production of the second 30-second video, it was found that it did not contribute much to the overall information structure. I decisively cancelled this part of the content, reflecting the principle of “less is more” in content planning.
Audience analysis and communication strategy
As a content planning, I choose the target audience to young people in Singapore, especially college students. In terms of content design:
Use life-oriented scenes (takeaway, refrigerator) to increase resonance
Vertical screen short videos adapt to TikTok/Instagram Reels communication habits
The language style is close to daily dialogue, and avoids too formal missionary intontone.
Videographer
Equipment selection and technical strategy
As a cameraman, I choose to use my personal device Canon R5 and Sigma High Speed Prime series lenses. After analysing the actual needs, the 40mm and 28mm lenses have been able to meet the needs of all shooting scenarios.
Strategic consideration of equipment selection:
Considering that the food waste theme requires the shooting of a large number of real-life scenes, the use of large-scale professional equipment will be too eye-catching and destroy the natural state of the scene to be photographed. Therefore, I have formulated a dual-device strategy:
Main equipment: Canon R5 + HSP lens, used for interviews and lenses allowed by conditions
Auxiliary equipment: iPhone 15 Pro Max + Blackmagic Cam, used for some B-roll shooting
Through later colour matching, the mobile phone material can be seamlessly integrated with the host material. This flexible device matching allows me to capture more natural and realistic pictures.
Lens language and composition strategy
In terms of visual expression, I have adopted a clear lens language strategy:
Depth of field control: Most B-roll and close-up lenses use the large aperture of T1.5 to create a shallow depth of field effect. This design makes the audience’s visual focus clearer, especially when shooting key images of food waste, it can effectively guide the audience’s attention.
Interview composition: The basic cross-shooting composition method is adopted to ensure the professionalism and visual comfort of the interview picture. This traditional but effective composition method makes the respondents look naturally relaxed while maintaining a sense of balance in the picture.
Exposure Control and Technical Challenges
In terms of technical parameter setting, I have adopted a strict exposure control strategy:
ISO management: The native ISO of Canon R5 is 800. During normal shooting, I use ISO 800 to control exposure by adjusting the shutter speed. This method ensures the consistency and best performance of image quality.
Challenge Case – Late Night Interview A Shooting: I encountered the challenge of insufficient light when shooting a late-night interview. Although the brightness of the picture is not enough, the natural light atmosphere on the scene is very good, and the rash addition of artificial lighting will destroy this sense of realism.
Solution: I choose to adjust the ISO to the second gear of 3200 and turn on the in-machine noise reduction function. Although the increase in ISO will bring noise, the noise reduction algorithm of Canon R5 is excellent, and the final exported picture not only maintains the natural light atmosphere, but also ensures the available image quality standard.
The philosophy of shooting with real material
As a cameraman, I insist on finding and shooting real materials on the scene, instead of deliberately posing. This decision is based on the following considerations:
The principle of authenticity: Food waste is a problem closely related to everyone’s daily life. Only by shooting real waste scenes – really dumped food, really expired food, actual garbage – can the audience have the most real and profound feelings.
Emotional communication: The posed pictures often lack emotional tension. The traces and details of life brought by the real material can effectively and profoundly convey the seriousness of food waste to the audience, and produce stronger emotional resonance and behavioural change motivation.
Integration of cross-role skills
At the same time, serving as a content planner and editor gave me a more comprehensive perspective on camera work:
The impact of pre-planning: As a content planning, I know the role of each shot in the final film, which makes me more targeted when shooting, not only avoiding excessive shooting, but also ensuring the quality of the key picture.
Post-production considerations: Understanding the editing process allows me to consider the post-processing space of the picture when shooting, such as reserveing a sufficient dynamic range for colour matching, and a suitable picture length for the editing rhythm.
This multi-role experience has made me a more comprehensive visual storyteller.
Editor
The establishment of an efficient editing process
As an editor, I benefitted from the detailed preparation work in the early content planning stage. Because precise timeline planning has been formulated at the planning stage, the editing process has become extremely efficient.
Advantages of the prefabricated timeline: Because the content planning stage has accurately matched the time period, picture content and narration of each shot, the material can be directly arranged according to the preset timeline after import, which greatly reduces the trial and error time in the editing process.
Workflow optimisation: This “planning first” working style has made me experience the value of cross-role collaboration. As a person in charge of planning and editing at the same time, I can ensure a high degree of consistency between creative ideas and final realisation, avoiding the deviation of understanding between planning and editing in the traditional production process.
Material management and post-processing
Multi-device material integration: In the face of the materials of Canon R5 and iPhone 15 Pro Max, I have established a strict colour matching workflow. Through the conversion and colour matching tool of DaVinci Resolve, the colour style of the mobile phone material is unified with that of the host material to ensure the visual consistency of the final film.
Audio processing: The processing of interview audio adopts a standard noise reduction and equalisation process to ensure the clarity of the voice while maintaining a sense of naturalness. The ambient sound of the B-roll screen has also been carefully adjusted to enhance the immersion of the picture.
Output format
Main content output:
Interview video and main promotional video: 4K DCI format output
Format selection: H.264 encoded MP4 format, balancing image quality and file size
Social media content:
Vertical screen short video: 2K vertical screen DCI format output
Platform adaptation: optimisation of vertical screen proportions specifically for TikTok,
Instagram Reels and other platforms
Technical considerations: Technical considerations: The choice of H.264 MP4 format is based on compatibility and communication efficiency. This format can not only ensure image quality, but also ensure smooth playback on various platforms and devices, which is especially suitable for the needs of social media communication.
The balance between efficiency and quality
This project made me deeply realise the importance of “prefabricated planning” to the efficiency of post-production. Although the editing process is relatively simple, this simplicity is based on full preparation in advance.
Time management: Because of the clear timeline guidance, I can devote more energy to the optimisation of picture details and the improvement of sound effects, instead of wasting time on the arrangement of basic materials.
Quality control: Simplified editing process does not mean lowering quality standards. On the contrary, this method allows me to focus more on the fine processing of each picture to ensure that the final film achieves the expected dissemination effect.
Reference：
National Environment Agency, 2024, Total volume of food waste generated in Singapore from 2014 to 2023, viewed on 26th August, 2025, <https://www.statista.com/statistics/961794/volume-food-waste-generated-singapore/>.