The idea of these videos is to show everyone all the fun they have had and I guarantee everyone watching will be looking out for a shot of themselves or at least someone they are close to. It seems vain but it’s true. This being the case the more shots that are focused on people, the more people will be in the video and therefore the more likely they are to see themselves. 

You need to try and get shots where people are enjoying themselves, laughing and joking together, everyone will do this at some point though do be mindful of what you are filming. While it may seem funny to film the guy asleep in the audience, the company that have put on the event - the ones that are probably paying you to be there - will not want you to advertise the fact someone didn’t enjoy it or found it boring. It means they didn’t do their job properly and you would have just highlighted that to their entire management team watching in the audience. Long story short, they won’t like you very much for it and probably won’t ask you to do another one. Besides, there will be plenty of funny moments to chose from that will also make them look good! 

Don’t just focus on the same group of people. You will find that as you are filming you will naturally be drawn to some people; they have the loudest laugh, or make eye contact and smile every time you go near them with the camera rather than shy away. It is very easy to focus on just these people because they are giving you good material but don’t fall into that trap; you need to make sure you get footage of everyone. Remember, they are all going to watch this. Not every shot has to be funny: look out for sweet moments, tables raising glasses for a ‘cheers’. Just because someone is quiet doesn’t mean they are not having fun, it just means you might have to be more subtle filming them so they don’t necessarily notice. 

Keep an eye out and get to know the people you are filming. If the event is much shorter or the group of people have never met before this could be a bit trickier as you may not have enough time or they can be a little guarded while they try to make a good first impression. However, for larger company groups that are at an event for a longer period of time, getting to know them can help you to capture some really key moments. You can generally work out who is known as the company ‘clown’, the geek, which groups/people are really close, who is seen as quite sensible or hard working. This in turn means you can look out for shots of the company ‘clown’ living up to their name, the sensible person acting out of character and being a little silly, the hard workers letting their hair down. If this doesn’t happen then look out for them emphasizing what they are known for, the hard worker working away when everyone is having fun for example. But as I said before be mindful in the edit that you don’t fill it with the same people.  Try to include only the most amusing moments, or the ones where the most people were involved as it means more of your audience will enjoy seeing it again. 

Similar to the above, look out for management. Everyone likes to see management being silly and having some fun though again be careful, there is a line and you don’t want to cross it. I once managed to capture a managing director dancing away on a table after many drinks and was very quickly asked to delete the footage by the event organizer. 

There are no set rules when it comes to the framing, do whatever is most appropriate for the action just make sure the action fills the frame. If you are watching 2 people laugh together get in close so you bring the audience to them, especially if they are stood in a crowd as it will draw your attention to them specifically. Then again, if there is a group of people being silly stay slightly wider. These shots are about the people so just make sure they are the focus of each shot.