Why Welsh-language video campaigns need different production planning in Cardiff

What to take away

Why Welsh-language video campaigns need different production planning in Cardiff

Cardiff is not a generic UK city with a Welsh label attached. It is Wales's media capital, and a large share of the work commissioned here has to exist in two languages before it can be signed off.

That changes the brief. A campaign that would be a single shoot in Manchester becomes a bilingual production with two scripts, two casts or one bilingual cast, two edit passes and two caption sets. The planning happens before anyone books a camera.

Public bodies in Wales carry statutory Welsh language duties. Brand marketers who sell into Welsh-speaking communities face a commercial version of the same question: if the audience expects Welsh, an English-only film reads as an afterthought.

Audience size is easy to overstate and easy to misread. Welsh speakers cluster in particular age groups and regions, and confidence in the language varies enormously. A viewer who uses Welsh daily responds to a different register from someone who learned it at school.

Start with the audience. Segmenting Welsh speakers by age, region and language confidence is ordinary market research, and the Office for National Statistics publishes cultural identity data that supports it (Cultural identity - Office for National Statistics). That data feeds the same target audience work you would do for any campaign.

Welsh language duties that shape bilingual video commissioning

The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and the standards made under it place duties on public bodies in Wales. In practice, a body with a Welsh language scheme or standards must treat Welsh no less favourably than English.

For video, that means Welsh-language versions of campaign films, explainers and recruitment content where the English version is published. It is not enough to subtitle an English film into Welsh if the duty requires an equivalent Welsh-language service.

The Welsh Language Commissioner oversees those standards and handles complaints. That matters at commissioning stage, because a thin Welsh version is a governance risk for the client, not just a creative disappointment.

Two practical consequences. First, the Welsh script is a source script, not a translation of convenience. Second, sign-off involves Welsh language officers, who need time in the schedule.

Commissioners should ask early whether the duty applies to the channel. A social media cut, a website hero film and a staff training module can fall under different rules.

Duty aside, the commercial case rests on demand. Structured audience research shows how many viewers need Welsh first and how many will accept a subtitled English cut.

Bilingual scripting and casting around BBC Cymru Wales

BBC Cymru Wales is based in Cardiff and commissions in both languages. Its presence sets the standard local crews and freelancers are used to, and it keeps a deep pool of Welsh-speaking talent in and around the city.

That matters for casting. A Cardiff video production company can usually find presenters, voice artists and actors who can perform naturally in Welsh, rather than reading phonetically. The difference shows on camera within seconds.

Bilingual scripting works best when written as two parallel scripts, not one script and a translation. Idiom, rhythm and sentence length differ. A 30-second English read may run long in Welsh, so timing is checked in both.

Casting is also a legal area. Choosing performers on the basis of language ability is normally a genuine occupational requirement, but the selection process still has to be fair and documented under the Equality Act 2010 (Equality Act 2010: guidance - GOV.UK).

In practice that means a casting call which states the language requirement, an audition recorded in the relevant language, and a written rationale for each shortlisted performer. That rationale protects the commissioner and makes the buyer persona work behind the campaign explicit.

Writing the two scripts

Cardiff's production sector and the crews available

Cardiff has a compact production sector. Studios, edit suites, sound facilities and equipment hire sit within a short drive of the city centre and Cardiff Bay, which keeps travel time and costs down.

Crew depth is strongest in factual, corporate and broadcast work, reflecting the BBC Cymru Wales and independent sector base. Drama and high-end commercials are usually crewed by bringing people in from Bristol or London.

Availability is the constraint, not distance. Cardiff crews are booked by broadcast contracts, so a bilingual campaign competing for the same freelancers needs to reserve dates early.

Freelance engagement brings its own paperwork. Contractors are often inside IR35 for public sector clients, so rates, status determinations and payment terms need agreeing before the shoot rather than after.

Sector conditions also shape what clients ask for. Media and communications policy, including broadcasting matters, sits with government and regulators rather than the city, and it is worth knowing where those boundaries are (Media and communications - GOV.UK).

For a commissioner comparing suppliers, a documented operating workflow is a better signal than a showreel. Ask how the two language versions move through pre-production, shoot and post.

Budget and scheduling implications of two-language shoots

Two-language work does not double the budget, but it does not come free. The shoot day is often shared, which protects the largest cost line, while scripting, casting, voice and post are duplicated.

Voice sessions are worth booking as a single block where the same artist records both languages. That saves studio time and keeps the tone consistent between versions.

Scheduling is where campaigns slip. A single-language job might allow two weeks for approvals. A bilingual job with a Welsh language officer in the chain needs longer, especially around school holidays and end of financial year.

Build the versioning plan into the edit brief. If the editor knows from day one that two cuts are required, the timeline, graphics and lower thirds are built to flex.

Accessibility, subtitling and versioning for Welsh and English cuts

Accessibility is a commissioning requirement, not a post-production afterthought. Public sector bodies in the UK have published accessibility obligations for their websites and apps, which covers the video embedded in them (Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies - GOV.UK).

Captions are the baseline. The international reference point is WCAG 2.1, which sets out captions for prerecorded media at Level A and audio description at Level AA (How to Meet WCAG (Quickref Reference)).

For a bilingual campaign, each language cut needs its own caption file. Burned-in subtitles are a common shortcut and a common failure: they cannot be switched off, they break when the video is resized, and they are not a substitute for a caption track.

Welsh caption accuracy deserves its own check. Place names, job titles and formal terms are easy to mistranslate, and a native reviewer should read the caption file rather than just the script.

Versioning should be planned as a matrix rather than a list. Language, aspect ratio and duration multiply quickly, and each combination needs a named owner and a delivery date.

Versioning checklist

Before final delivery, run the same quality checklist across both cuts. Caption sync, audio levels and graphics timing drift between versions more often than people expect.

Common questions