Videography for youth arts academies and showcases

An academy showcase is really many small shows in one evening. A video plan works when each group has a clear place in it, and each family knows how they will see their child’s routine.

What makes an academy showcase different?

A school concert has one audience and one school behind it. An academy has several classes, ages and teachers, and parents who mostly come to watch one child.

That changes the questions you ask: who needs a complete routine, how a family gets theirs, and who at the academy decides what is shared outside the family. Your answers shape the coverage more than the venue does.

For school-run events, our school event videography service covers the wider school brief. For concerts alone, see school concert videography.

How do you plan complete routines for every group?

Start with the running order. List each routine in sequence, with the group name, the number of performers and any costume or stage changes between items.

Then decide which routines must be recorded from start to finish. For most academies the answer is all of them, because that is what families came for. If only some groups are being recorded, say so plainly in the brief.

A short checklist for the brief:

1. The running order, with group names and rough timings.
2. Whether any routines happen at the same time or on two stages.
3. Where performers wait, enter and exit.
4. Lighting changes, props or backdrops that affect what the camera sees.
5. Items that need clean sound, such as a solo or a spoken piece.
6. Who updates the running order if it changes on the day.

The run-sheet filming planner turns this into a printable sheet you can share with us and your teachers. Our guide to performance and stage events explains how stage lighting and sound affect what is possible.

How should families receive their child’s routine?

Decide the delivery method before you decide the films. If every family expects a separate file, we can cut the full recording into one file per routine, named by group. If you prefer one shared recording, the academy should say who may watch it and for how long.

Some questions to settle with your own committee:

• Will families get a private link, a download, or a screening at the academy?
• Who sends the link, and who answers questions about it?
• What happens with groups where a child appears in more than one routine?
• How long will the recordings stay available to families?

Parents also film from the audience. If the academy has rules about that, agree them with us so our crew and the audience do not block each other. The guide on coordinating parent filming with official coverage has practical ideas.

What should the academy decide about children’s images?

The academy, not the videographer, decides who may be filmed and where recordings may be shared. Check what your enrolment forms already say, and who signs them. If the forms do not clearly cover recording and sharing, ask families before the showcase.

Give us a simple list of students who must not be filmed or shared, using the names or group positions you hold. We plan camera angles and editing around it.

Keep the family copies and any public film separate. A highlight for your website or social media needs its own check of who appears in it. The private and public version planner and the guide on public and family-only versions help you decide. For wider rules on filming and publishing, see our permissions guide.

What we confirm for your event

• How routines that overlap, or two stages, are covered.
• One file per routine, named by group.
• How a running order that changes on the day reaches the crew.
• Where the crew stands, so families can see and film too.
• The list of children who should not be filmed.
• Which films are in the quote and which are extra.

A second camera or a same-day screening can be arranged on request. Our event videography service has the full range, and the pricing page explains how a quote is built.