Video production process
3+2 stages to make your video process and production easy and enjoyable
The video production process is one of the most important factors to consider when creating a video. It describes all aspects from conception to final distribution. A video production process can broadly be divided into three main categories: pre-production phase, production, and post-production. I’m adding two more categories that don’t fit well into the standard pre and post-production process.
Why is video marketing important?
- Video is a versatile and engaging content format that gives your audience a true picture of your brand, business, or service.
- You can convey any message, build trust, evoke emotions and build deep connections with your fans
- A successful video strategy should be your main marketing strategy focus
- More than 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands, more than other types of content
- Video on web/landing sites increases conversion rate by 80%
- 90% of customers say that videos help them make purchasing decisions
- Corporate video production can help businesses to spread awareness of their brand, products and services
Why is a video production process important?
The video production process is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it ensures that all aspects of the video project are taken into account and considered before production begins. This includes everything from the initial concept and storyboarding, through video editing to the budget and distribution plan.
Secondly, it helps to keep the project on track and within scope, ensuring that deadlines are met and the final video project meets the client’s expectations. Finally, a well-organized and executed video production process can help to save time and money in the long run.
What happens if you lack a good process?
If you don’t have a good video production process in place, it can lead to a number of problems. Firstly, your project may suffer from scope creep, which is when the scope of the project gradually expands beyond what was initially agreed upon. This can cause delays and cost overruns as additional work is required to complete the project.
Secondly, you may find it difficult to keep track of all the different elements of the project, leading to a disorganized and chaotic production process. This can lead to errors and mistakes being made, which can be costly and time-consuming to fix.
Finally, without a clear video production process, it will be difficult to measure your progress and gauge whether or not you are on track to meet your deadlines. This can result in a lot of stress and anxiety for everyone involved in the project.
What are the stages of the video production process?
There are three standard stages of the video production process: pre-production phase, production, and post-production. I’m adding two more stages that don’t fit well into the standard pre-production and post-production process. I call them the business fundamentals stage and the marketing and distribution stage.
Business fundamentals stage. Planning stage.
The business fundamentals stage answers questions about how the video project fits into your larger marketing strategy and video objective. Start by crafting a simple brief or a summary of information that outlines and logically orders key points and that serves as a guide throughout the pre-production and production stage.
Target audience
First of all, understand who are you making this video for? We are all different and you cannot please everybody with one video. Having a specific target audience and knowing your audience is extremely important.
It will help you keep the focus on who you’re making the video for, what story you need to tell, and how to distribute your video to keep your viewers engaged and excited. Always try to narrow down your viewers to create a more targeted and effective video.
The goal of your video
Then think about what action do you want your audience to take after watching your video? The goal of the video should be very clear from the start. What do you want people to do after watching it? Buy a product, sign up for a service, visit your website, and share the video with their friends?
Without a clear goal, it will be very difficult to measure the success of your video. The goal is tightly connected to the specific Call to Action. Think of an effective way how to build up your story into the final action call to action that you want people to take.
What resources do you have available?
What budget, talents, editors, videographers, animators, and equipment will you have available? This will help you determine the scope and scale of your project. Do you have enough resources to produce the video in-house or do you need to outsource some of the work? It will also help you to choose the type of video you’ll make.
Topic and core message
When you have a clear goal, think of how to achieve this goal with your video. Think of the topic of your video, its core message and what will the viewers get after watching it? What are the key takeaways and what should viewers learn from them?
What type of video do you want to make?
This again depends on the goals of your video and the most effective way to achieve them. Common video types are:
- Explainer Videos
- Testimonial Videos
- Demo Videos
- How-To Videos
- Brand Videos
- Event Videos
- Presentation Videos
- Animation Videos
Publishing and marketing platform
Where do you plan to release your final video? Youtube? Instagram? Is this a standalone video or one in a series? What type of video is it? Who is the video for? Each platform serves a different purpose and different people. If you know your target audience, your goals, and the type of video you’re making, you should have no problem choosing the right platform.
The timeline for your project
How long is the video? This will help you determine the scope of the project and how much work you’ll need to do to meet your deadlines. The best way how to approach a timeline is to set SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. SMART goals will greatly help you to manage and complete your goals.
Measure success
Now that you know what you consider success and how to achieve it, you need to understand how to measure it. SMART goals can help you here again. As we discussed earlier, your video should have a goal. Clicking the call to action? Sharing the video? Whatever that is, know it, know the metrics that represent this goal, and measure these metrics.
Pre-production phase
After you have all the business fundamentals in place, it’s time to develop the concept for your video strategy and begin to plan and prepare for the pre production process.
Start by developing a story. Blog on how to develop a great story is coming soon
Continue by writing your script
Use the traditional 2 column script writing method. Write your audio in the left column. Insert matching visual ideas in the right column. State the purpose of the video near the beginning.
Write conversationally.
Language should be relaxed and clear. Stay simple and avoid complex speech and jargon. Keep sentences short and crisp. Write in the first person. Use gestures and visual language.
Write the script the way you want your video subject to speak. Write for your audience and the platform where they are. Keep your target audience in mind. Script every single word to keep the communication clear.
If you practice your script and if you accidentally say a line that is different from the script, think about why and consider rewriting it to a more natural flow.
350 words are equivalent to a 2-minute video. Keep that in mind to keep the proper length of your video
Create a storyboard
A storyboard is a tool that filmmakers, video producers, and animators use to plan out and communicate their ideas for a project. It’s like a comic book version of a film or animation and is made up of a sequence of drawings, with notes about what is happening in each scene.
Creating a storyboard can help you to visualize your ideas, figure out what shots you need, and to work out any potential problems with your project before you start filming or animating. You can simply write your storyboard down in a paper notebook or use any suitable software.
Begin by sketching out each scene in your project, using as much detail as you can. Write down what is happening in each scene and what the characters are doing and talking about. Include notes about camera angles, special effects, locations, and anything else that you think is important.
Once you have your storyboard ready, start gathering the video team, and talents (actors), scout for suitable locations, gather your video equipment and schedule your shoot. Organize pre-production meetings, site visits and start preparing for the actual production phase.
Production phase
The production phase is filmmaking where all the actual shooting takes place. It involves setting up the video, lighting, and sound equipment, and shooting all the raw materials for A and B roll footage. It is the most expensive and time-consuming phase of making a video. During the production phase, the director is responsible for making sure that the film’s vision is realized on screen.
The director works with the cast and crew to plan out each scene, decide on the camera angles and shots, and make sure that the actors are performing their scenes correctly. The director also has to worry about the film’s budget and schedule, making sure that the film stays on track and on budget.
DaVinci Resolve is the latest edition and its popularity is growing rapidly (I use DaVinci as well). It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.
Post-production: The video editing process
Post-production is the phase where you organize and video edit the actual raw footage from the production stage. The most important tasks for video editors are visual effects and audio effects. Some of the common visual effects are 3D animation, color correction and compositing.
Audio effects include adding music to set the tone and mood to keep viewers attention. Foley, which is the recreation of everyday sounds, and ADR or Automated Dialogue Replacement, which is the process of dubbing in new dialogue to replace unusable audio from the production stage. If the video requires it, add voiceover to make your content more relatable, emotional, and fluid.
After the visual and audio effects have been added, the video editor will also create the movie’s title sequence and credits. Once all of the post-production work is finished, the video is ready to be released which leads us to the last stage
Marketing and video distribution
You have already chosen the platforms where you want to distribute your video content. Now it’s time to start creating the marketing materials such as trailers, posters, and social media posts for your finished video.
You can also distribute your video through paid advertising on platforms like YouTube and Google. Finally, don’t forget to track your video’s analytics so you can see how well it is performing and make changes if necessary. Some of the metrics that you can measure the success of your video are:
Who watches your video? How long have they watched it? How many times did they watch it? How effective is your video Call to action? View count, Play rate, Social sharing, and comments, How many times was the video played entirely?
Contact us
Videography is an essential marketing strategy in 2022. By fully understanding the video production process, you can create high-quality video content that will help you reach your business goals.
If you need help with any stage of the video production process, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our video production team would be happy to create a video to remember. Vancity. Media is a video production company that takes care of your digital marketing.
About author:
Filip Blaho is a digital marketing expert residing and traveling the Cascadia area. His love for media of all kinds led him to focus on the most important of all, VIDEO.
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