Low-Budget Video Production: Visual Communication for Small Charities (FutureLearn)

Offered by The Open University,
Low-Budget Video Production: Visual Communication for Small Charities (FutureLearn)

Understand how video can expand and enhance your organisation’s communications and develop practical skills for your productions. Learn how to produce your own low-budget video to convey your charity’s message. Small charities understand that to compete in a tough economic climate they should engage with digital media and video content. But a lack of staff, time, knowledge and resources can get in the way. This practical video production course is designed to bridge that gap and help small charities develop the skills they need for successful video production.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Understand the strength of video in telling powerful human stories
You’ll gain an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of video as a medium of communication, where and how to use it to powerful effect, and how to tie it in with your charity’s overall message and ethos.
As part of the course, you’ll also have access to a well-researched collection of videos made by small charities, inspirational examples of the type of visual storytelling you could be able to achieve.

Learn the production skills you need to communicate your work and impact
You’ll get to grips with creative thinking and visual storytelling, and work through the editorial decisions that can make your video stand out and deliver its message effectively.
You’ll also master how to make a low-budget production using the technology you have readily available such as smartphones. You’ll develop practical skills to plan and structure a low-budget video production, shoot video in several different visual styles, and tackle a basic edit.

Gain in-depth insight into video production from experts at The Open University
You’ll be guided throughout by Tot Foster, who has just completed research to develop training and support in video production for small charities that takes into account their specific circumstances, together with Senior Lecturer in Design, Dr Theodore Zamenopoulos.

What topics will you cover?

Week 1. Understanding the medium.
The strengths of video – powerful human stories
Potential online and offline uses of video for small charities

Week 2. Planning a production
Editorial decision making
The production team and resources

Week 3. Practical production skills
Realising a range of visual styles using your phone
Interviewing

Week 4. Making your video count
Editing and distribution
Reflections

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explore the strengths and weaknesses of video as a medium of communication, where and how to use it to powerful effect
  • Investigate how to plan and structure a low budget production with available team skills and resources
  • Develop a range of practical skills in low budget production using readily available technology
  • Apply creative thinking and visual storytelling skills
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Copyright for Multimedia (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University,Emory University,University of North Carolina

Copyright for Multimedia (Coursera)

Copyright questions about different formats (data, images, music and video) can be especially difficult. Sometimes the law specifically distinguishes between these different formats, and in most cases there are media-specific considerations that impact a copyright analysis. In this course we will look at four different media, paying special attention to the unique issues for each one and the kinds of information that is important when making copyright decisions for each type of material.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
How to Create Video for Online Courses (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Edinburgh

How to Create Video for Online Courses (FutureLearn)

Discover tools and techniques to plan, film, and edit high-quality videos for online learning. Learn how to create effective and engaging educational media. Increasingly, as education pivots online, educators are looking to filmmaking as a way of creating new and exciting content. On this two-week course from the University of Edinburgh, you’ll learn how to turn your mobile phone into a full-featured video production suite to create effective and engaging online course videos and media.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Bring Your Story to Life – Video Post-Production (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado Boulder

Bring Your Story to Life – Video Post-Production (Coursera)

In this course, we will explore the power and artistry of picture and sound editing. Although you’re welcome to use the editing software of your choice, we’ll be demonstrating non-linear editing using Adobe Premiere. We’ll share with you our editing workflow for completing a visual story, from scripting and writing conversationally to the visuals, to recording voice overs, to building the rough cut, and polishing with the final cut.

Aug 31st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Unlocking The Creative Brain: Develop and Teach Skills For Creative Thinking (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Central Queensland University

Unlocking The Creative Brain: Develop and Teach Skills For Creative Thinking (FutureLearn)

Explore the neuroscientific principles underpinning creativity, and learn the scientific methods to foster creative classrooms. Discover the neuroscience of creativity. Creativity is an extremely important skill but it can be difficult to explain and to teach others. There is a science to it though, and we can link research into the brain’s functions to the creative process.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success (Coursera) Coursera
Imperial College London

Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success (Coursera)

In today’s ever-growing and changing world, being able to think creatively and innovatively are essential skills. It can sometimes be challenging to step back and reflect in an environment which is fast paced or when you are required to assimilate large amounts of information. Making sense of or communicating new ideas in an innovative and engaging way, approaching problems from fresh angles, and producing novel solutions are all traits which are highly sought after by employers.

Aug 31st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Ready, Set, Future! Introduction to Futures Thinking (Coursera) Coursera
Institute for the Future

Ready, Set, Future! Introduction to Futures Thinking (Coursera)

Do you want to think about the future with more creativity and optimism? Do you want to see what’s coming faster, so you can be better prepared for disruptions and more in control of your future? Do you want to get better at changing what’s possible today – in your company, your industry, your community, and in your own life? This course will introduce you to the practice of futures thinking, as developed and applied for the past 50 years by the Institute for the Future, a Silicon-Valley-based research and learning group founded in 1968.

Aug 24th 2026
4 Weeks
Ready to Roll – The Video Production Process (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado Boulder

Ready to Roll – The Video Production Process (Coursera)

If you’ve done your pre-production thoroughly, then you should feel confident moving on to this next step — gathering the raw materials that you will use to build your visual story. These raw materials are your camera shots, including b-roll and interviews. The production stage is where you will finally collect the images and sound that will communicate directly to your audience. We’ll show you how to enhance your visual story by raising the quality of your shots: getting proper exposure, using the rule of thirds; and shooting sequences that promote continuity.

Aug 31st 2026
5-12 Weeks
VR and 360 Video Production (Coursera) Coursera
Google AR & VR

VR and 360 Video Production (Coursera)

Welcome to Daydream Impact Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 video production course! Our mission is to give you the skills needed to use VR to advocate for a cause and communicate your mission. This course will introduce you to Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 video production, guiding you through a step-by-step process to create VR content. To begin, we recommend taking a few minutes to explore the course site and review the material.

Aug 31st 2026
4 Weeks
Rebo-binario (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

Rebo-binario (Coursera)

Te damos la bienvenida al curso en línea Rebo-binario, un curso diseñado para incentivar el desarrollo de habilidades mentales relacionados al pensamiento computacional y creativo para la resolución de problemas y la reflexión crítica. Para lograr este cometido echamos mano de estrategias del pensamiento computacional y la creatividad como saberes para el uso y apropiación de herramientas digitales y tecnologías informáticas.

Aug 31st 2026
3 Weeks
Image and video processing: From Mars to Hollywood with a stop at the hospital (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Image and video processing: From Mars to Hollywood with a stop at the hospital (Coursera)

In this course, you will learn the science behind how digital images and video are made, altered, stored, and used. We will look at the vast world of digital imaging, from how computers and digital cameras form images to how digital special effects are used in Hollywood movies to how the Mars Rover was able to send photographs across millions of miles of space.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks