Video Production Process: Step-by-Step Guide
What is the video production process?
Video production is more than simply pressing the record button on your video camera.
From concept to completion, the video production process is divided into three stages: pre-production, production, and post-production. The first phase (Pre-Production) is where all of the planning and coordination takes place, the second phase (Production) is when all of the elements that will be in your final video are captured, and the third phase (Post-Production) is where all of the elements are edited together and combined to create the final video.
Why Is The Video Production Process So Important?
When creating a video, there are numerous factors to consider. Completing each step of the video production process will help you meet your deadlines and stay within your budget, ensure your video stays true to its objectives, and require less editing and reviewing in post-production.
Following the video production process will result in an effective, engaging video that inspires viewers' trust, increases audience engagement, and is widely shared on social media. It's an obvious choice!
The Video Production Process: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
Pre-production, production, and post-production are the three stages of video production. These three stages are further subdivided into easy steps.
Pre-Production
This is the preliminary stage of the video production process. It is the stage where all of the planning and coordination take place before the shooting begins. The following are the major steps in this phase:
Conceptualize your Video:
Define the video objective.
Why do you require a video? Is it to raise brand awareness, or will it be used for an investor pitch? The primary goal of the video will influence everything, from the message and narrative to the aspect ratio required.
Understand your audience.
Who is the video intended for? Investigate your target audience and what they want to see to set the tone and feel of the piece and create a video that will appeal to them.
Set your budget & timeline.
Set a reasonable budget and deadline. With new video technology advancements, you can create high-quality videos that entertain your audience while effectively telling your story on a limited budget. Rather than creating a video from scratch, you can use stock footage. This reduces your production costs and efforts. IndieVisual, a one-stop shop for all India-centric stock footage, sells stock videos.
Plan the Content
Write a script:
A script must be written following the video's goal. A video script serves as your video's blueprint and foundation. It is the planned chronological order of scenes, actions, dialogues, and voice-overs in your video.
Create your storyboard:
A storyboard is a visual representation of the script. It is beneficial to pre-visualize the video by depicting it through illustrations of the various shots that must be included in the video.
Make a list of production elements:
Think about the various production elements, such as lists of people, places, props, and the production set.
Find Your Location
Based on your video objective and script, you must scout for a location. A quiet, well-lit room, for example, is the best choice for a simple product shoot displaying a variety of products. However, if you are doing a fashion shoot, you will need to find a suitable set that allows for both outdoor and indoor shoots. Anticipate and prepare for any issues that may arise. If you're filming outside, for example, have a backup plan in case it rains!
Vet the Talent
After confirming the location, you must select the appropriate talent for your video. To complete the shoot, you'll need to find a specialized videographer and/or photographer team. If you're filming a scripted story, you'll need to hire actors or voiceover artists, as well as other crew members such as make-up artists, stylists, set designers, and so on. If you're filming a testimonial, this means asking your satisfied customers to speak on camera about their experience.
Decide the equipment
A good camera, microphone, and lighting setup are the primary pieces of equipment required to shoot a video. Many establishments also rent out video equipment. This will enable you to use much higher quality kits than you could otherwise afford. However, if you hire a corporate video production company, you won't have to worry about the equipment.
Schedule the shoot
It is critical to plan the shoot ahead of time so that you are not scrambling on the day of the shoot. Before committing to a date, consider your deadline as well as the availability of actors, other crew members, and the shooting location.
Production
The meetings are over, and the planning is finished. It's now time to have some fun! During the production phase, you will record all of the interviews and footage for your video. This is the point at which the story begins to take shape.
All of the raw materials for your video will be collected during the production phase. If you have specific visions, ideas, or visuals that you want to see in the final product, make sure you communicate them clearly to your producer before the end of the production phase.
The production phase includes:
- Setting up the audio/visual/lighting equipment
- Interviews are being conducted.
- Creating voiceovers (if they are needed for your project)
- Obtaining a b-roll (extra footage that is used to support your story)
We recommend that the primary point person be on location to act as the conduit between the video producer and your brand, especially if you are using an external video team.
Post-Production
Edit and Polish
Post-production is the third and final stage of the video production process. This stage transforms your project from raw footage to a polished video that is ready for distribution. Post-production includes the following steps:
Editing your video
This entails selecting the best shots, removing unnecessary moments, and arranging each clip to create the appropriate length video with only relevant content. If you don't want to learn how to edit your video, there are plenty of companies that will handle post-production for you - just remember to budget for this cost during the pre-production phase.
Adding sound.
Including background music and sound effects that complement the mood and tone of your video keeps viewers engaged.
Adding graphics.
Using text and graphics to highlight information in your video can help it come to life. In this step, you can also make your video look more professional by adding a frame and your logo, as the Creator Economics video podcast does with Riverside's software:
Riverside's Editor feature allows you to add graphics, equalize audio, and remove background noise before downloading your video, saving you a significant amount of time in post-production!
Rendering your video.
This entails creating finished video files in the appropriate formats and quality for your preferred hosting and distribution platforms. The majority of platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, prefer mp4 files.
The format will differ depending on where you intend to share the video: Because Instagram prefers vertical videos, it's a good idea to create a landscape video that can be cropped for sharing on various social platforms.
What’s involved in video post-production?
A variety of specialists are involved in the video post-production process, including video editors, sound engineers, and color graders. They are in charge of assembling all of your video and audio elements to create the perfect video for your brand.
It can be a time-consuming process, with numerous stakeholders providing feedback at various stages. As a result, a comprehensive video post-production workflow is essential.
MARKETING/DISTRIBUTION
So you've completed your video. If you followed the steps correctly, you should be pleased with the result. It's now time to put into action the reason you made the video in the first place. This includes showing it to people for fun, using it as a marketing tool for your company, or posting it on social media to make a point or express an opinion. You should be able to do so now that your video production project is finished.
Understanding these stages of video production is critical if you want to create video content for your website, marketing needs, or anywhere else you may require it. Because an unprofessional video can have the exact opposite effects on your business (and your bottom line) as a sleek, professional video, careful and strategic planning is essential when running a business to ensure that your video output will produce positive results for your company.
CONCLUSION
While each production company and video project is unique, some key elements will ensure your video project runs as smoothly as possible. Whether you're working with an internal video team or a video production company, make sure you have a video production process in place that accounts for all of your project's variables.