Pre-Production
Before the cameras roll, the first step to producing your video is proper planning. The key to a problem-free shoot (production) is to make sure you cover all the details in pre-production. The time spent in preparation will determine the success of your shoot. If you’re scrambling around to gather equipment or changing locations at the last minute, it will reflect on screen.
For one or two days of production, planning can move quickly. But for longer form videos that require more resources and longer shoot times, pre-production can require more extensive planning. And although proper planning will not guarantee a perfectly smooth production, it will help eliminate most of the issues that could degrade your production value.
Production
The day of the shoot has arrived. Hopefully, all of the prep work in pre-production has paid off and everything proceeds seamlessly. Again, great planning makes for a great shoot.
Once the cameras start rolling, the director will guide the shoot along, making sure all of the shots are captured or all the interview questions are answered thoroughly. It’s common to have multiple takes for a single scene or interview. In post-production, it’s normal to cut between various takes to capture the best performance or find the most passion or energy in a response. The visual elements needed, the shoot is “wrapped”, and production is over.
Post-Production
After all of the visual elements have been captured, it’s time to start the post-production process. Most people think of this phase of production as editing only, but there are actually many different steps that need to happen in post-production. The post-production phase can sometime take the longest time to complete. Revisions, approvals and the creative process can be time-consuming.
Distribution
Once the video is finished, it’s time to share it with the world. There are a variety of ways to distribute your video, and the key to knowing which distribution platform you should choose is to understand your target audience.
- What is the most likely way they would watch your video?
- What is the call to action in your video?
- How can they respond?
All of these questions need to be asked so that you can leverage your video’s distribution to reach your audience effectively.