A great video production process will maximise your success. There’s thee main stages, pre-production (planning and scripts), production (filming) and you guessed it, post production (editing). This article has more detail about the perfect video production process. In the meantime, readon…
Pre-Production
Planning and scripting
First, we need to understand what you want, you can use this online form.
We’ll ask a bunch of questions like ‘what’s the problem you solve for your customers’, ‘are there other videos you’ve seen which you like’, ‘what do you want to say’ and ‘how will you distribute them’.
The answers to these questions will help us recommend a pragmatic way to make the videos. Should they be based on interviews, talking direct to camera, narration, use an expert presenter, text, animation? Does the final purpose and budget mean high production standards are warranted, or not?
We’ll provide an estimate, quote and possibly options for you to accept and informtion on How We Like to Work (Ts and Cs)
The outcome from this phase is a plan of action, a script and/or shot list.
Production
Filming and creating content
Plan in hand we move to execution. Setting a date to shoot. In more complex jobs, there may be locations and actors to arrange, props, permissions, subcontractors.
The most common locations are our studio, at your premises, your client’s premises. Occasionally we will hire a studio or office, eg co-working facilities.
There are other ‘assets’ or content that may need to be created or gathered at this point. Cartoons, motion-graphics, intro-stings, stock footage, old photos, voice recordings. Basically all the pieces of the puzzle to make the final video.
We will need your logo and style guide at this point.
The outcome off this phase is to have all assets (the raw material) created and organised in our project folder.
Post Production
Editing
“Def’n Edit (verb): prepare for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. Choose material for (a film or radio or television programme) and arrange it to form a coherent whole.”
With all raw material in hand we will build up the videos. A rough cut, refined cuts, music, titles, motion graphics as per the script. Getting the pacing right is part of the magic to ensure it’s engaging. There’s a lot to juggle.
We will send you a draft to review, via a website called Screenlight. This app allows you to leave notes at the correct time in the video, so all comments are in the one place. It’s sometimes handy to discuss the first draft on Zoom.
We will output a final video for you to download from the same Screenlight website. Once you have that video file you can upload it to where-ever it needs to go.
Video Output Formats
Most of the videos we make are destined for the internet and a high definition (HD) .mp4 format is more than sufficient. If you need a 4k output, be sure to let us know before filming.
Let us know where the video will go in the end. Reels need to be filmed vertical rather than landscape so we need to know this ahead. Square videos maximise the realestate on Facebook. Most times we film landscape.
We keep the raw footage and all files for a period of at least six months should any changes be needed.
We hope that gives a clear picture of our video production process!