The Brief

One shoot day. A week of content. Your own faces on it.

Skim, don't read — everything here is short on purpose.

30+

Clips in one session

3–4

Reels out of it

6–7

Stories out of it

People on camera. Just you.

The point of this session

You two, on camera, being yourselves.

Everything before this was faceless or AI-cast — this strand isn't.
Two Scouse brothers, naturally bubbly, trying to help as many Liverpool businesses as you can.
The personality is the content — the product and the proof thread through it.

● Phase 1 — this shoot

Bite the bullet

Get comfortable on camera.
Introduce yourselves. Say why you do this.
Let your own personalities carry it.
No tricks, no engineered hooks — just be genuine.

● Phase 2 — once Phase 1 lands

Add the viral-hook layer

Once you're comfortable on IG, layer in hook-engineered reels.
We measured why the last batch stalled: payoff landed at 12–14s into a 15s clip.
That's a hook problem, not a pacing one.
Not shoot day one — once the personality content has a base.

≤8 The rule: first 1–2 seconds, a bold claim, ≤8 words, a number/price/time in it. Skip "so today I wanted to talk about…" — start on the payoff.

On camera: the direction

Energy

Bubbly, light-hearted, quick — how you two actually talk to each other.

Register

Scouse warmth, not the dialect turned up for effect.
Talk like a mate who runs a shop down the road — not an accent for the camera.

What never changes

British throughout — it's actually you.
Never say "AFLAI" on camera. Say "us" or "afullerlifeai."
No "voice call" framing (PHMG rule) — chat, WhatsApp, web, forms are all fine.

Technical setup — keep it simple

Phone on the tripod, vertical. Camera's for B-roll where a bit more polish helps.
Face a window. Natural light, in front of you not behind you.
Quiet room, phone mic is fine. Self-recorded is the format, not a compromise.
2–3 takes of every scripted bit. Natural beats clean — give me options to cut between.
Block A first, while the setup's dialled in. Demos, proof, B-roll after.
Over-shoot B-roll. Costs nothing, turns 4 talking-head pieces into 14 reels in the edit.

Liverpool-first, on purpose

Goal: the go-to AI partner for Liverpool, every trade — not one vertical.
Say "Liverpool" out loud where it's natural — streets, areas, the fact you're from here.
Not a gimmick. Genuinely where you're starting.

No fabricated testimonials

Learned this the hard way on the POV trades reels — a dramatised character claiming a result reads like a fake review.
You're founders, not customers. Lean into "we built this."
Never invent a client's reaction. Proof (Calderstones, SMF, Hawarden, Root 69…) stays screen-recorded fact.

Sweat The Small Stuff

The bits that separate a clip from a creator

Neither of you has done this before — this is the muscle memory a working creator already has. Skim it once.

Camera angles — mix these across the session

Don't shoot it all from one spot. The angle is part of the story — cutting between angles is what makes it feel edited, not recorded.

The Confident Default

Chest-to-chin height, tilted slightly up. Eye-level or below feels confident — too high and you're looking down, apologetic.

Use for: intro, mission, explainer

The Close Hook

Closer than feels natural — top of your head out of frame. Hold 1–2 seconds, then cut wider. Stops a thumb before it scrolls.

Use for: opening line of any Phase 2 hook

The Walk-and-Talk

Handheld, moving — into the office, down a street. Real motion, not another static talking head. Keep the wobble.

Use for: one piece per batch, not everything

The Two-Shot

Both of you in frame. This is where the brother dynamic actually shows — banter, not solo explainers.

Use for: intro, banter, anything unscripted

The Over-the-Shoulder Demo

Camera behind/beside whoever's on the concierge or quote tool — screen and face in frame. Caught doing it, not narrating after.

Use for: every product demo shot

The Punch-In

Same shot, zoomed in on the cut. A free second angle off one static tripod.

Use for: I'll apply this one in the edit

Where you look

Lens, not the preview. Set the framing, then ignore the screen once rolling.
Two-shot: look at each other, not the lens. Keeps the banter real.
Peak energy in frame one. A gesture, a walk-in, before you even speak.

Cut density — the fix for what we measured

27–42% visual stimulation on the last batch. Genuinely low — a static angle held 12+ seconds barely registers.

The fix: a cut every 1.5–3 seconds — angle change, punch-in, or B-roll insert.
Not more energy in delivery. More angles to cut between.
You don't think about this while filming — it's why over-shooting matters.

On-screen text

Bold hook text, first line only, then it clears.
A caption running the whole video reads corporate. One line that appears and clears reads like a creator.
Bottom captions carry the rest, timed to your speech — I build both in the edit. Just talk naturally.

Sound

Trending audio, low under your voice, helps discovery. Check the Reels tab before a shoot. Save it for B-roll cuts — not under the talking pieces, it fights your voice.
A £15–20 clip-on lav mic is the one upgrade worth it — search "wireless lav mic iPhone." Audio and picture get judged separately.

Making 5 clips look like 5 different days

Change one visible thing between pieces — a different spot, jacket on/off, sitting vs standing.
Shoot each piece's B-roll same sitting as its talking-head clip — light and clothes need to match.

Posting mechanics — the small things that move the needle

Tag the location — Liverpool, or the area. Real lever, most businesses skip it.
Tag the client as a collaborator on proof pieces — puts you in front of their followers too.
End on a genuine question. Comments are the heaviest signal in the first hour.

The first 30–60 minutes matter most. Reply to early comments live if you can — it boosts spread.
Don't delete a quiet post. A flop is data, not a failure. Deleting resets what the algorithm's learning about you.

After The Shoot

Getting footage to me for editing

You direct and shoot — I edit. One thing to get right: where the footage lands.

Drop raw clips here

AFLAI — Shared HQ/ 03 — Content/ Founder Content — Aug 2026/ raw/ talking-head/ ← Block A, every take demos/ ← Block B proof/ ← Block C broll/ ← Block D stories/ ← Block E edited/ ← finished cuts land here

Keep every take — options to cut between is what makes 5 pieces feel like a proper week.
AirDrop to a laptop and drag in, or the Drive app straight from your phone.

What happens next

You shoot A–E, ticking off the shot list.
Raw clips land in the folder above — right subfolder, no renaming needed.
I cut Reels from A + C, Stories from E — B-roll and demo clips thread through both.
Exports land in edited/. You post manually via Instagram — deliberately off the automated pipeline for now.
Once Phase 1's got a few weeks behind it, Phase 2 reuses this same footage — new cuts, not a new shoot.

Posting Plan

One shoot → one week, mapped out

A starting shape, not a rule — move things around freely.

Mon

Reel #1 — The intro

Tue

Story — behind the scenes

Story — Q&A x2

Wed

Reel #2 — The mission

Thu