Film and edit social video on the phones you already own
Prohibition’s social media video course is a hands-on day for UK marketing teams. Your people plan, film and edit short vertical video for TikTok, Reels, Shorts and LinkedIn on the phones they already own, and leave with two or three finished, captioned videos. A full day is £1,800 and a half day £1,200, for up to six people, excluding VAT.
What will your team make on the day?
Each team leaves with two or three short vertical videos, captioned, cut for each platform and ready to post on Monday. Everything is filmed and edited by your own people, on your own phones, about your own organisation.
This is the kind of video a marketing team needs every week on a realistic budget: a product in use, a customer story, a behind-the-scenes clip, a reaction to something in the news. Cinematography and colour grading are left out, because a feed rewards a good idea far more than a graded shot. If you want finished video made for you, that is a job for Prohibition’s video production team, and we will happily point you there.
Is a phone good enough for social video?
Yes, and for social it is often the better tool. Phones shoot vertical natively, they are quick enough to catch something as it happens, and people talk more naturally to a phone than to a camera on a tripod.
Two small purchases earn their place: a clip-on microphone and a small LED light. Bad sound loses viewers faster than soft focus ever will. We tell you what to buy on the day, after we have seen what you already own.
Which editing apps does the course teach?
We teach the app your team will still be using a month later. For most teams that is CapCut, which is free to start, runs on phones and desktops, and writes captions automatically.
Some organisations block CapCut on work devices because ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, also owns it. Public sector and regulated teams often fall into this group. For them we use Edits, Instagram’s free editing app, or Adobe Premiere on iPhone, which Adobe made free after it retired Premiere Rush. Designers who already cut in Premiere Pro or Final Cut can stay there. Tell us on the scoping call what your IT team allows and we will plan the editing hour around it.
What does the course cover, step by step?
1. What to make
The formats that work in your sector, and why most brand video is scrolled past in the first second.
2. Planning
Scripting for vertical, shot lists, and getting a month of content from one afternoon of filming.
3. Filming
Framing, sound, light and keeping a phone steady, all hands-on with real content for your channels.
4. Editing
Cutting, captions, text on screen, pacing and music.
5. Platform versions
Why the same cut lands on TikTok and sinks on LinkedIn, and what to change without reshooting.
6. Captions and accessibility
Most social video is watched on mute, so captions are burnt in on every edit.
7. Publishing
Hooks, thumbnails, posting rhythm, and reading retention, which tells you far more than views.
8. Where AI helps
Scripting, captions and rough cuts. AI for social media content goes further.
How does a full day run, hour by hour?
| Time | Block | What comes out of it |
|---|---|---|
| 09:30 | Your video and your competitors’, reviewed honestly | An agreed list of what to make more of and what to stop |
| 10:15 | Formats and hooks | Six video ideas scripted for vertical |
| 11:15 | Filming, hands-on | Footage in the bag, shot on your own phones |
| 13:15 | Editing, hands-on | Two or three finished videos, captioned |
| 15:00 | Platform versions | The same edit cut properly for each channel |
| 15:45 | A filming routine you can keep | A monthly shoot day in the calendar, with owners |
A half day runs about three and a half hours. It keeps the formats work, the filming and one full edit, which is usually enough to convince a sceptical team they can do this themselves.
Can the day focus on editing footage we already have?
Yes, and plenty of teams book exactly that. They film all the time, and the footage sits on a shared drive because nobody feels confident cutting it. An editing day works through your own clips in the app your team already uses, and ends with posts ready to schedule.
Who runs the social media video course?
Chris Norton runs most sessions. He founded Prohibition, the PR, social and content agency behind Social Media Training, has worked in PR for more than 20 years, has run training since 2009, and co-authored Share This Too, the social media handbook published by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Video days add Andy Ireland, Prohibition’s head of production. Andy started out at ITV and spent more than 15 years in TV and media production, on soap operas, documentaries, adverts and sports promos, before joining Prohibition to lead its video team. Prohibition named him its Employee of the Year in 2024. He shoots and cuts client video every week, so the examples on the day are his, including the ones that flopped.
What does Prohibition’s video team make for clients?
For De Montfort University, Prohibition filmed once and delivered 16 social edits, each cut to its platform and sequenced across Results Day and the days after. That single shoot kept the university’s channels busy through its biggest week of the year. The course teaches the same method at a team’s scale: one afternoon of filming, several weeks of posts.
Who is the course for, and who should skip it?
Marketing teams who know they need video every week and keep not making it, because it feels like a production. Comms teams and press offices, where video is now expected for announcements and stakeholder updates. Photographers and studios who are technically strong and post inconsistently, for whom the day tilts towards turning existing work into social content.
No editing experience is assumed. A room where half have never cut a video and half use Premiere daily is a normal booking, and the exercises stretch both.
Skip it if you want a film school course in cinematography, or if you want finished video delivered to you. The second is a service, and Prohibition’s video team can quote for it.
How much does a social media video course cost?
A full day is £1,800 and a half day £1,200 for up to six people, excluding VAT, with extra attendees at £250 each. For a team of six that is £200 to £300 a head. Travel outside Leeds is charged on top.
For comparison, open one-day courses we checked in October 2026 charged £499 a head at Jellyfish, £1,095 at Silicon Beach Training and £1,295 at The Knowledge Academy. Those are courses for individuals with strangers, on generic examples. A private day costs less per person, and your team films its own content.
Social media video questions we get asked
Do we need to buy equipment first?
No, bring the phones you already have. After the day we will tell you the one or two purchases that would make the biggest difference, which is almost always sound and light. A new camera rarely makes the list.
Will we really film and edit on the day?
Yes, every team leaves with finished, captioned videos. A session where nothing gets made changes nothing on Monday.
What about music and sound rights?
Covered, because it is where brands get caught out. We go through the platform audio libraries, what a business account may use, and why a trending sound that suits a creator can land a brand in trouble.
How many people can attend?
Six is ideal, so everybody films and edits. We will run up to twelve, but beyond six people start watching rather than doing.
Can you run it online or at our offices?
Yes, we can run it at your offices anywhere in the UK, at our Leeds studio at Victoria Wharf, or live online. Filming works best in person.
Do attendees get a certificate?
Everybody gets a certificate of attendance. It is not an accredited qualification.
Where does video fit with our other training?
You are here
Social media video course. The craft of planning, filming and editing short vertical video.
TikTok training
Channel planning for TikTok itself. See TikTok training.
Content marketing training
The wider content plan video sits inside. See content marketing training.
Bring your phones and a month you need filling
Half day £1,200, full day £1,800, up to six people, excluding VAT. Delivered UK wide or online. Tell us what your team needs to film, and we will plan the day around it.
Part of every social media course we run, delivered in Leeds, Manchester, London and UK wide. Last reviewed November 2026.
