video production

In 2022, video accounted for 65% of online traffic, a 24% increase from the previous year. This staggering statistic highlights the paramount importance of videos in our daily lives. With platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and the ever-growing spectrum of streaming services, the need for outstanding video content has never been higher. As a result, meticulous preparation for a video shoot is essential to ensure content resonates and makes a mark in today’s saturated media landscape.

Understanding the Video’s Purpose and Audience

Before embarking on any video shoot, it’s essential to pinpoint who is the audience and what platforms will it be shown on. Is it promotional, aiming to sell a product or service? Perhaps it’s educational, seeking to inform or instruct. Or maybe it’s purely for entertainment, designed to engage and captivate.

Once defined, the content must be tailored to resonate with the target audience. This ensures that the final product will not only achieve its objective but also captivate its viewers.

Pre-Production Planning

A well-laid plan is the foundation of a successful video shoot. This begins with a series of pre-production meetings, brainstorming, listening to the client, and sharing examples of work we all like (or dislike!). Then comes scriptwriting, turning the idea into a structured narrative, followed by creating a storyboard. Then comes the selection of the perfect location. If a studio is needed, be sure it’s the right space for you. Warning: not all studios are soundproof – some promote themselves as studios but are more for photographic (no audio) work.  Some studios come with equipment, and some come with none. It may be required to obtain permits and ensure the location is easily accessible for the crew and equipment. Your crew will appreciate an elevator – minimal stairs, please!

Technical Preparation

The gear is vital and you are paying your crew to know what equipment will best suit the needs of your production. Technical planning will happen offline, a task the client is not asked to think about. A good crew will have plentiful kit and a deep knowledge for how to use it. A comprehensive equipment checklist ensures nothing is forgotten – from cameras and microphones to lights. If you are dreaming of drone footage or go-pro footage, speak up! Your crew will do your best to tick every box for you, but beware, especially around Washington DC, no-fly zone rules are in place. Your crew will be thinking about all the details so you don’t have to – from visual and audio details such as controllable audio from AC to the flight path, ensuring crystal clear sound quality, which can make or break the viewing experience.

Logistical Considerations

Time is of the essence. Every moment on a shoot costs money. Proper scheduling ensures there’s enough time for setting up, shooting, and much-needed breaks. Your producer should always have a contingency plan in place, be it for bad weather, equipment malfunctions, or other unexpected challenges. And let’s not forget budgeting – knowing where every dollar is allocated ensures no unpleasant financial surprises. Ask questions during the planning phase, to get a sense of the depth of organization and planning your team will offer. 

Importance of Rehearsal

Practice makes perfect whether it’s a script, a teleprompter read, or an interview. Familiarizing with scripts, scenes, and transitions is essential. It helps reduce errors, prevents countless retakes, and ensures everything runs smoothly on the day of the shoot.

Post-Production Preparedness

The shoot might be over, but the work isn’t. The edit is just as creative as the filming itself. Once filming wraps, your team will organize clips, create an efficient editing workflow, and plan for review rounds to fine-tune the end product.

Case Study: A Successful Video Shoot

Let’s dive into a real-world scenario: Striking Media’s recent filming with the Diener School for their Capital Campaign video Diener CC.

Filming with faculty, parents and students, the day was busy with multiple locations and logistics. Here’s how meticulous planning ensured success:

1. Pre-production meetings: Multiple planning meetings ensured that we knew exactly what content we needed to capture on filming day and the order in which it would all take place. 
2. Timelines: Clear deadlines were set for the delivery of questions, identifying which students would participate and what content we wanted to capture to highlight the fundamental needs for the capital campaign. 
3. Logistics: A single point of contact was established between Striking Media and Diener School ensuring clear communications, and a timeline for the day of filming.

The result? With all stakeholders informed, responsive, and on the same page, the shoot was a resounding success. It was a truly fun day where everyone had a sense of gratitude that this was our working life! It also dispelled all myths around ‘not working with children’ because these children were AWESOME! 

The mantra is simple: preparation is key. From understanding the objective and audience, through rigorous planning and rehearsals, to post-production finesse, every step matters. When everyone comes together, aligned and ready, magic happens. Lights, camera, action!

Video marketing is increasingly critical in today’s digital world. For those who feel the need to enhance their marketing success, working with a video production company can help you achieve desired outcomes. Here is a brief step-by-step guide through the process of efficiently working with a video production company.

Understanding Your Marketing Goals

Before you even begin working with a video production company, you need to have a good understanding of your marketing goals. This is critical for being able to effectively evaluate which company will fit your needs. There are three major steps at this stage.

Identifying Your Target Audience

Your target audience is who you will keep in mind during the process of developing the video. Understanding your audience’s demographic and psychographic characteristics is critical for tailoring your communication. You may even segment your project into multiple audiences. Striking Media will take the time at the first step of the production process to identify who your audience is, what platforms they view and how to best reach them.

Determining Key Messages to Communicate

Once you have a good understanding of your audience, you need to identify the key messages that you wish to communicate to them. These messages will serve as the basis for constructing a video. Typically, these messages may be informational (learning about a new product), persuasive (identifying a call to action), or even value-driven (associating your company with certain characteristics).

Setting Measurable Goals & Objectives

The final part of this introductory step is to create goals for your video marketing project. Goals should typically follow the SMART format – they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Writing effective goals will be useful to evaluating the success of your efforts and your partnership with a video production company.

Choosing the Right Video Production Company

Before you begin working with a video production company, you need to find one that meets your needs. Like selecting virtually any place for a partnership, this typically involves research.

Research and Recommendations

Start by doing what virtually everyone does – turn to Google. Find video production companies in your area and review their ratings and recommendations. Look at Google My Business Reviews. Another effective tip is to use Linkedin as a tool. Further, ask colleagues at different organizations if they have any recommendations or experiences. Ideally, you’ll be able to narrow your list to a handful of companies. Reach out and talk to them – all good production companies are open to a discovery conversation.

Portfolio Review and Past Work Analysis

It is often said that the best predictor of future success is past success. Thus, it makes sense to review the portfolio of the companies that you are considering. Think about several things when looking at their past work:

• Does their aesthetic match what you want for your brand?
• Are messages communicated effectively?
• Do they get your attention and keep you engaged?

Aligning the Vision: Making Sure the Company Understands Your Goals

Of course, you also need to ensure that the company seems to understand what you want out of the project. After all, a video production company will not deliver a quality product if they are not on the same page. When discussing your product, ensure that they understand your brand, the tone of the message, and other things important to your company’s identity.

Budget Considerations

Finally, many decisions may come down to looking at your budget and the quoted price tag for the projects. Like most things in life, you tend to get what you pay for. Thus, a quote that seems too good to be true, may be. However, you will typically find that quotes often fall within a certain range based on your project. Evaluate those that fit within your budget based on the aforementioned things. Consider ancillary costs that may apply to your project, such as a voice over artist, or graphics.

Pre-Production Planning

Once you’ve selected a video production company, it is time for pre-production, which is essentially a videographer’s term for the planning process. This includes the following steps.

Developing a Creative Brief

A creative brief is a document that outlines the different deliverables for the video. It will tend to include the following sections, which you created during the first step of this process.

• Background
• Objectives
• Target Audience
• Key Messages

Collaboration and Communication: Setting the Right Tone

During pre-production, you will work with the video production company to outline the overall tone in which you want to communicate the message. You might want to communicate your key messages with humor, urgency, persuasiveness, genuineness, warmth, or some other method. Determining this can help you effectively collaborate as the project develops.

Timeline and Milestones: Establishing a Realistic Schedule

Key to any project is creating a thorough timeline. Typically, it is effective to set a series of small goals – or milestones – that help you move forward towards the final product. It is important to be realistic when considering how much time different aspects of the process will take. A professional video production company will help you understand what can and cannot be done on certain schedules as well as what tradeoffs may be needed to meet certain timelines.

Production Phase

The production phase entails the creation of the concept for the video and the actual filming process. It is typically broken down into several different components.

Scriptwriting, Storyboarding and Content Planning

Scriptwriting denotes the process by which the content of the video is created. Meanwhile, storyboarding provides a visual representation of the video. You can think of storyboarding as somewhat of a comic book, giving you a visual lens of your storytelling. This process helps you to get a sense of the shots that will be needed and how to achieve them. Pre production interviews would also be done at this stage.

Location Scouting and Set Design

When you determine the intended setting of the video, your production company will engage in location scouting. This involves finding a suitable setting for filming that allows quality video content to be filmed. Professionals can evaluate locations based on aspects such as lighting and the uncontrollable noise at a location, which could be air conditioning, being under the flight path or traffic noise.  Once a location is selected, permits may be acquired and details such as set design will be discussed. A rented location, or a client’s office space can be dressed to look good on camera and create the right tone. Striking Media has props they can bring along to dress a set ranging from bigger items to a simple vase or books.

Casting and Crew Selection

The video production company will spend time casting roles for the video as well as bringing in crew. Many companies will have their own crew members or trusted independent contractors they frequently work with. Depending on the concept for the video, casting may involve hiring actors or using some of your organization’s staff.

Filming: Logistics & Coordination

The final step of the production process involves filming. Here, everything done so far comes together as your video production company will shoot the various scenes needed to make your video. Just like you may have seen in the movies, there will likely be multiple takes while feedback is provided to get the best shots possible.

Post-Production

If production is seen as the part of the process where the video is created, post-production can be viewed as the time where it truly comes to life. Below are the various steps that will occur.

Editing and Assembling the Footage

Professionals at your video production company will work to edit the clips and string them together into a coherent story. This typically involves selecting which takes best represent the tone and concept for the video. Once this is completed, the next step focuses on aesthetics.

Adding Visual Effects and Sound Design

The next stage involves editing for aspects such as lighting and clear audio. Your video production company will also add in any visual effects or sounds that need to be included. After fine tuning these aspects of the video, it will be time for review.

Review and Feedback: Collaborative Adjustments

The production company will advise on the timeframe between completion of filming and delivery of the video. Once the first version is prepared, you will be able to review the video. Here, you will want to reflect on how well it fits your concept and goals. You can work together to make tweaks to the video that make it better fit the desired final product. A professional video production company will be able to help let you know what can be adjusted.

Finalizing the Video: Preparing for Launch

The final post-production step involves creating the final copy of the video. Once this is done, the video will be ready for you to launch!

Distribution and Promotion

With the video finished, you will get busy with the launch. However, your job is not yet done as there is still important marketing work to be done.

Choosing the Right Platforms for Distribution

An important decision is to identify the optimal platform for your video. In the digital age, this likely includes identifying which digital channels make the most sense. You will choose from things like Linkedin, YouTube, your website, TikTok, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Promotional Strategy: Leveraging Social Media and Other Channels

Speaking of social media channels, you will want to utilize your organization’s social media to heavily promote your video. This is key for drawing viewership in. One of the benefits of modern video production is that a video can easily reach a wide audience through effective social media promotion, increasing your likelihood of hitting your goals. Behind the scenes photos are a fun way to share content and gauge interest.

Monitoring Engagement and Gathering Feedback

As you promote your video marketing, you’ll want to pay attention to the metrics. Things like built-in social media analytics can be used to gauge the popularity of posts of your video while other aspects (such as YouTube’s analytics) can provide more general information about the performance of your video.

Adjusting Strategy Based on Performance Metrics

If these metrics are not optimal, you will have an opportunity to adjust your distribution strategy. Using the real time metrics provided by many sites is key for being able to identify problems and make decisions quickly, helping strengthen your video marketing campaign.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a number of steps in the process of collaborating with a video production company, however with the right support the process should be a fun experience.  If you want to add quality to your video marketing efforts, we would welcome an opportunity to speak with you about your needs and goals.