Hi.

On a recent coaching call inside Ready to Record, one of our members asked me a great question: she has an exhibition happening and wanted to know exactly what to record of it for her marketing and memory.

I gave her a little shot list off the top of my head, and afterward I thought, you know what, more artists need this.

So if you've got an exhibition coming up (solo show, group show, open studio, pop-up, art market etc) I want to send you into it with the same shot list in your back pocket.

Because here's what I see happen all the time:

Opening day arrives. You're greeting friends and collectors, giving your artist talk, answering questions, feeling all the feelings of seeing your work out there in the world. Then a few days later you realize the only footage you have is shaky, handheld video taken while walking through the gallery...and we can barely see your artwork much at all.

Or the opposite happens: You're so worried about what to record that you can’t really relax into being present at your own opening.

I want to help you skip both of those!

Here's a little “art exhibition video shot list" — the exact clips I'd record if I were there with you:

None of this involves talking on camera or doing anything that pulls you out of the experience. It's purely b-roll footage of your work in the gallery space, which future-you can use for reels, your website, your archive, or simply to remember the day.

The best part: You don't have to squeeze any of this in around your opening. Pop back into the gallery anytime in the weeks that follow — when the space is quiet and you have it to yourself — and record then.

Alrighty, here’s the art video shot list for you:

Bonus shot: An establishing shot. I don't always use these, but I always record them. A 20-second clip of the exterior of the building...with show signage, the entrance, the street etc. This anchors your work with a sense of place in the footage, which you'll decide later to use or not when you're editing.

Bonus, bonus shots: If you want yourself in the art exhibition footage: Bring a friend along on your return visit, hand them your phone and guide through recording just two specific shots...

• Shot #1 with a friend: Frame up a medium-to-wide shot of two or three of your pieces. Have them tap record and count silently to 10 (so you have clean heads to trim off later). Then you slowly walk across the frame through the space. That's it. Beautiful b-roll of you in your show.
• Shot #2 with a friend: Angle the camera so the wall with your artwork runs at a diagonal, *not* straight on. You walk into frame, stop in front of your work, hang out for 30 seconds like you're admiring it (because you are), and then either walk back out the way you came or walk toward the camera and out of frame. This one centers you as the artist with the work, instead of just the work alone.
• Two shots and maybe 10 minutes of your friend's time. Done. Then grab lunch or something together!

...

That's it, that’s the whole shot list.

Show up to your art opening fully present — no phone in hand, no extra decisions to make — and trust that you can come back later to capture your exhibition footage. ☀️

Keep creating,
Zach

P.S. What would you add? And if you save this for later so you're ready before your next show, I'd love to hear about it. Reply and lemme know.