In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Digital Cut Productions is featured as one of the Top Video Production Providers in the United States. Check out their profile!
Video is a valuable resource in today’s marketing. Using video to tell your stories helps give your company an identity and captivate and inspire your audience. And when told creatively, they will leave your customers wanting to know more because emotion, authenticity, and personal connections are what drive action, revenue…and consumer loyalty! When it comes to video production, here are a few tips to help you understand and navigate the production process.
Establish Goals
When it comes to video production, it’s essential to establish the video’s goals before actual production. What goals does the video need to hit to be a success? Are you looking to increase sales, build brand awareness or highlight a service or product? Whatever the goal may be, it should be defined early on so you can measure success. The groundwork may be tedious, but careful planning before actual production can determine the success of the video.
Key Factors that Make a Difference
There are key elements that must be defined for a high-quality, impactful video. Identifying your target audience is an important factor. Once you know your audience, you can speak to their concerns or challenges and offer solutions. You also need to consider where and how the video will be viewed to determine the length and best creative approach. There are many marketing channels where you can implement video to make a measurable impact. Having a plan allows you to share your video content across all channels, maximizing viewership.
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Determine Your Budget
Many factors determine a video’s overall budget, but a skilled film production team will be able to advise on the best way to scale the production phase to accomplish your goals. The following factors are often included: video quality, video length, creative services such as scriptwriting, pre-production, the number of shoot days, crew size, number of locations, and post-production services such as editing. A production generally needs a director, director of photography, audio tech, and an editor. At the end of the day, budgets should be realistic. You can’t drive a Mercedes on a Toyota budget.
It’s Time for a Timeline
Video projects that are carefully planned with plenty of lead-time, a clearly defined goal, and an agreed-upon timeline have the best outcomes. The phases of video production are typically broken down into the pre-production phase, production phase, and post-production phase. With a firm understanding of the overall project, your video agency will allocate the right amount of time – making sure to hit any predetermined deadlines in the process. Pro Tip: If possible, build a little pad in your timeline, as there are often factors (i.e., weather) that could disrupt the production.
Partner Up
Once you have determined your goals, budget, and the audience you want to reach, you’ll need to find the right video production company to help bring your vision to life. To find the right partner, identify the criteria that are important to you – quality, professionalism, service, turn-round time, location, etc. Ask colleagues for referrals and/or look for a company whose work reflects the quality standards you’re after. Then schedule an introductory call or meeting so that you can ensure that their process and culture are a good fit with you and your team and align with your marketing strategy.
Get Creative
Once you’ve found the right video agency, share your vision, company culture, and customer persona to help the creative team craft the best approach. Allow the creatives to be…well, creative. Now is the time to think outside the box, while also remaining in sync with your company’s voice. An experienced creative team will develop a script and storyboards so you can begin to see the overall vision. This is the time to tweak and edit. Going into production with a clear vision of the final product will save you time and money on the backend.
Lights, camera…action!
With the storyboards and script approved, it’s time to shoot! Preparation is key. No amount of good editing can fix poor production. A skilled video production team will handle all the logistics, production schedule, shot lists, casting – whatever the production calls for – and advise you accordingly on the day’s events should you choose to be onset.
Editing aka Post Production
With production complete, it’s time for the post-production team (editor, producer, animator, voiceover talent, etc.) to take over. Remember those storyboards that were produced at the beginning? They are the road map for the editor. While a talented editor may inject some creative flair, such as visual effects and sound effects, the storyboards serve as a reminder as to the style and tone of the video to properly represent your company. Depending on the complexity of the edit, the post-production phase of the video editing process usually takes from two to four weeks.
Review Process
Once the initial version of the video is edited, it’s time to review. It’s important to determine with your video agency at the beginning of the production process the number of revisions allowed before additional edit charges are assessed. And because there were review and approval stages during the pre-production stage, there should be only minor tweaks and edits at this point. Nevertheless, you should have at least one round of revisions before the final video is delivered. Once the video is finalized and approved, it’s time to export the video to its final format.
Promoting Your Video
When the video is complete, it’s time to refer back to that distribution strategy you developed during pre-production to maximize its effectiveness. Depending on your audience and goals, video can be posted to YouTube, Vimeo, social media platforms, company website, landing pages, email campaigns, displayed in lobbies, showrooms, and tradeshows to name a few.
Do’s and Don’ts
Lastly, a few tips to keep in mind to avoid headaches and ensure a smooth production.
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Don’t skip steps to save time or money, the final delivery will suffer.
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Don’t plan for a large-scale production if your budget doesn’t allow it.
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Do listen to the professionals. They know what works and what doesn’t.