Despite the ease of project management offered by remote production platforms like Cinebody, and the simplicity of user-generated at its core, sometimes there’s a bit of intimidation associated with the idea of managing your first project on your own. This may be especially true for folks who may not consider themselves to be, well, production savvy. 

Fortunately, even those without any video production experience will find this intimidation factor to be short-lived. For one, Cinebody is made for people ranging from first-time project managers simply looking to connect with their community to video production veterans with the goal of creating T.V-ready content. Even those completely new to the concept of user-generated content will likely feel they’ve got the hang of it by the time project #2 rolls around. Secondly, we’re here to help make sure that’s the case. 

Below are four things we recommend you keep in mind while setting up and managing your first remote, UGC project. These tips will help ensure that you’ve got all the boxes checked and tackle project management like a pro from the get-go.

1: Onboard your filmers the right way

There are two main ways to get your filmers into a Cinebody project; Distributing either the Smart Link or the 1-5 digit join code which you set when building your project. However, as a safety net, consider including both the link and the code in your onboarding materials. This gives users two ways to get into the project regardless of what kind of device they’re using or if they’ve already got the Cinebody app or not. 

Speaking of onboarding materials, whether you’re connecting with your filmers via email or social media, the language you use and the contextual information you include in this messaging is crucial in not only informing your filmers of what to expect but also exciting them so that they’re more likely to take the bait. Onboarding materials that are confusing, bland, or both will may fail in compelling certain users to join the project and capture the footage you need. That said, you’ll want to make sure that you include any and all information a filmer needs to know about the project (i.e, what it’s for, how their footage will be used, etc.) and a strong call to action that excites them about being chosen to film. This is a great way to ensure that you receive high-quality footage and a large volume of it, especially from first-time users.

Curious as to what you should say? Check out these onboarding email templates on our Knowledge Base and use them as a guide when composing your onboarding messages. 

2: Get that shot list fine-tuned before onboarding filmers

The shot list is the heart and soul of your Cinebody project. It’s the tool you’ll use to instruct your participants on what to film on a shot-by-shot basis and how to film each shot. That being said, a little thought and strategy go a long way when composing your project’s shot list.

Shot descriptions for each shot should have a healthy balance of both specificity and brevity. That is, they should clearly communicate the ask as simply as possible so as to avoid any confusion. Your shot list can be as 1 shot or 100, but we find that the magic number for first-time social projects is 5-7 shots. You’ll want to make the task of filming the entirety of the shots on the shot list feel like a manageable one (even though filmers get the hint when they start filming). Try to also limit each shot to 1 ask. For example, if you’re having your filmers answer 5 questions, that would result in 5 separate shots; one for each question. 

Lastly, you’ll notice that Cinebody allows you to make changes to your shot list at any point during the project, even while your filmers are actively filming. While this can be a luxury in certain situations, you’ll want to try to avoid making major mid-project changes to your shot list and ensure that it’s built out and fine-tuned BEFORE you start onboarding filmers. If you’ve got a filmer that joins the project on day 1, but you make a major change to the shot-list on day 3, there’s a chance that individual could miss the change or that they’ve already completed the initial ask(s). 

3: Pay close attention to ‘project dates’

Your project dates are essentially your project’s activation window or the threshold of time in which filmers can film a clip to your project. They won’t be able to do so before the ‘start date’ or after the ‘end date.’ Setting and communicating project dates accordingly can be a great way to incentivize timely participation, but trying to onboard filmers before the project is actually active can sometimes impact filmer participation, as the early boards will join a project with no filming capabilities. Not everyone will wait around for you to activate a project and start filming.

All that said, your project’s start date should be set to a date prior to the time you decide to onboard your filmers (whether that be by distributing the link or code) so that they can join an active project and hit the ground running. Your end date, on the other hand, should be set to a date that gives filmers adequate time to comfortably participate fully. You may even add a day or two of padding to your shot list to give any stragglers time to upload their clips.  

Should you find yourself in a position in which you need to either extend or condense your project’s activation window, you can do so at any time by following these instructions. But ALWAYS remember to click the ‘Save Dates’ button!

4: Decision: Keep a close eye or let it fly

Upon launching your project, you’ve got a decision to make as to how to go about managing your project. If you’re mass-onboarding a large number of filmers, your global consumer base, for example, you may opt to let your project run itself, passively letting clips come in as people come across the onboarding materials that you presumably posted on social media. Here you’re relying on participants to take it away and film as they see fit which oftentimes can result in a diverse bank of authentically captured footage. Read this article for more details on this strategy.  

However, you could be managing a selected group of filmers who you’re relying on to capture specific content with a particular message or aesthetic that is, for example, in line with your brand’s essence, etc.  In this case, you might opt to keep a closer eye on incoming footage and play more of a director’s role. The beauty of a lot of user-generated content platforms like Cinebody is that clips are uploaded automatically from a filmers device to the cloud, which allows you to review footage and provide feedback in real-time. Here, you should make use of the notify tool, which allows you to send directorial feedback, Important reminders, or encouragement to either one filmer in particular or all filmers on the project at once. This is a great way to more efficiently capture footage that is conducive to your creative vision.   

Remember, user-generated strategies are new-ish to everyone, so you may develop and refine your own process over time. These four tips will help you build your repertoire of killer user-generated content from your first day as a video-production pioneer. Something tells us you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. 

Aaaaaaaand, action!