Video production for museums and cultural institutions

What this is about

Two sets of rules meet on the same wall. Conservation caps illumination and exposure time for sensitive material, keeps heat sources away from surfaces, and defines minimum distances that quietly forbid the tracking shot in the concept. Rights sit on top: works still in copyright need permission from the artist or estate, photographs of an object are not automatically usable in film, and objects on loan often arrive with contracts that exclude moving-image reproduction entirely. Access is the third variable — the galleries are open to visitors, so filming happens before opening, on closing days, or with a security escort at night. Sound in a stone hall is its own problem, and there is nothing soft to fix it with.

Sector routine beats general experience: knowing the field's approval paths and constraints produces more realistic plans than more shoot days without that context.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Illumination limits for light-sensitive works cap both intensity and cumulative exposure, so a lit close-up may be allowed for minutes and not for a full setup
• Loan agreements can exclude moving-image reproduction of a specific object, and that exclusion outlives the exhibition it was written for
• Works still under copyright need clearance from the artist or estate before they appear in shot, even as background in a gallery walk-through
• Minimum distances, barrier lines and a no-touch rule mean an art handler positions and moves anything the camera needs closer to
• Filming happens outside opening hours or on closing days, with security present, and the building's climate control is not switched off for your comfort

What the plan has to deliver

A production plan is useful to this role when it provides the following:

• A rights list per object, checked against loan contracts and copyright status before the shot list is written
• A lighting concept signed off by conservation, with permitted levels and maximum exposure time noted per room
• A night or closing-day window with security, key holders and an art handler booked as part of the crew

Common pitfalls

What most often goes wrong in practice:

• Designing a gallery tracking shot that crosses barrier lines conservation will never move
• Filming the highlight of the exhibition and learning afterwards that it is a loan with a moving-image exclusion
• Bringing hot lights into a room whose climate has been stable for a decade

With TillyGen

TillyGen builds the shot list object by object with rights status and lighting limit attached, so a blocked loan or a capped exposure changes one scene in the plan and not the night's schedule.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.