Make sure everyone who will appear on your video program knows what you're doing and why. Make sure they know that you are videotaping for a program you're going to show to other people and that it may be available on the web as well. Be especially careful about including children, because they can't give valid consent, only their parents.
The easy and safe way to get the release of your adult subjects is on videotape. Get all the subjects together and have them on camera as you say this: "You understand that we're working on a video to show to other people and on the worldwide web as part of the ministries of Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church, that your image may or may not appear in it, and that nobody is going to make any money on it, including you. Right?" After they nod, say this: "I'm going to focus on each of you and ask you to say 'Yes, I understand' on camera." Then go down the line, getting each person to tell you yes on camera. It's okay if they want to make some snide remark or make a joke out of it; just make sure they finish by saying yes. The whole process takes just a couple of minutes, even for 10-12 subjects, so there's no reason not to do it.
If you need to use children in your video, e-mail Penny Ford and she will fix you up with an appropriate written release.
When you're beginning, your program shouldn't last more than five minutes. If you need your program to run longer than that, hold off working on it until you've finished something shorter. If you're planning on having a person talk for most of the video, think about what they will be describing and try to include some shots of it, so your audience can see what they're hearing about.
Give yourself lots of time. Video production is a blast, but it's far more time consuming than most newcomers realize. As a rule of thumb, plan on two hours of production time and 4-8 hours of editing time for a five minute program. This idea of giving yourself time is particularly important when it comes to the schedule for showing your program. Remember, we're all volunteers who do this in our spare time. Plan on allowing at least two weeks for editing your piece after you have finished all your shooting and before you need to share the program.
