Website video policy

We encourage the use of video on the website. Whilst we expect that the majority of videos be created by council employees we welcome videos created by groups, individuals or agencies, which are relevant to Cheltenham. Contact the web team to submit your video.

The videos we publish will be:

  • no more than three minutes in length
  • punchy, attention-grabbing, entertaining and to the point, and
  • tell their story by demonstrating a service rather than describing it.

Please also ensure that the purpose of the video is non-commercial and non-political. Videos must also meet the general editorial policy of the council

The final say on video content

The web team reserve the right to refuse to publish any video. Anyone planning on creating video content should first contact the web team from the outset to avoid disappointment and unnecessary expense.

Planning a video

It may help to take the following into consideration when planning a film:

  • If a video is not exciting and entertaining, it will not be watched.
  • Videos that aim at what people want to see, rather than what you feel they should see, are more likely to be a success.
  • The purpose of the web is to be able to retrieve information quickly - anything that frustrates getting information quickly will be ignored. In other words, keep it snappy!
  • A video is a fantastic way to demonstrate in seconds or minutes what can be difficult to describe in a thousand words. What is easy to describe in a few words does not make a fantastic video - if it is better said as text, keep it as text! 
  • Remember that videos are not accessible to all internet users, therefore it is essential that any important information is not exclusively portrayed in video. It must also be available as text.

Optimise for the web

If you are commissioning a video to appear on the council's website you need to:

  • Speak to the web team first - it may be possible to create the video inhouse at a fraction of the cost.
  • Ensure that the production company supply you with a version that is optimised to appear on YouTube - your video should be in MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format (.mp4) at 640x480 resolution with MP3 audio.

Making your video easy to find

When we upload your video, we will add tags to describe the content. Adding this information helps other YouTube members find your video, so if you want an audience, help them out! The more accurate the tags are on each video, the easier it is for everyone to find cool videos to watch.