Navigating the Video Production Process In 2024
Hiring a video production company is an extremely exciting time of any marketing campaign.
You’ve just started a brand-new marketing campaign. They come in with all of their fancy equipment. Pull up lights, big microphones on boom poles, and have cameras all over the place.
But hiring a video production company isn’t a straightforward process.
There is a seemingly endless list of tasks your video production company undertakes before, during and after the filming day, to ensure your marketing team’s vision is accurately met, and that your finance team can be relaxed knowing their budget isn’t going to explode.
To help you understand the process of video production, in this article we’ll be dissecting all of the details of the video production process that you may not have known existed.
This will ensure your marketing team can rest assure that you’re well supported by your video production company, whether that be us, or one of the many others across Australia.
The Approach To A Company
This is the step you’ll be most familiar with – your initial approach to a video production company.
As a video production company, we love to learn of the 2 major pieces of information from you that make the biggest impact on our work with you.
The Brief
The first is your brief. The more detailed a brief, the better.
When clients approach us, the key items we’re looking for in a brief are as follows:
- What the purpose of your film is
- How it works in with your current marketing campaign
- Who we are targeting
- A bit about your brand (for new clients), including what you really sell, your brand’s impact, the emotions your customers feel when using your product, your core values and beliefs
Often, marketing teams will solely outline their vision for the film. How it is going to look, feel, and the type of shots they are after.
Whilst these pieces of information are valid, if the foundational elements of your brief are unsteady, then none of your vision will come to life.
This is why it is critical that your brief is as detailed as possible.
For clients who struggle with this, we do offer support and guidance in this area, to make sure your brief is as stable as possible.
Budget
The second key piece of information we need to learn from clients, is your budget.
This is extremely important.
An effective film can be created at almost any budget. However, we need our clients to be upfront and honest surrounding their budget so we know what is and isn’t possible for their film.
For example, if you’re wanting actors in your brand film, but only have a budget of less than $6,000, you probably can’t afford to have actors.
Being honest about your expectations for your film, relevant to your budget, will ensure everyone is happy.
After approaching a video production company with your brief and budget, the next step is the proposal.
In this step, we take on board all of the information you have provided us with, and we return to you a proposal for your film.
A proposal is a rough guideline for how your film will look and feel. It includes a summary of your brief, with a detailed analysis on how we will use film and storytelling elements to target your desired audience.
In the proposal, we will also provide you with a rough investment estimate for the film. However, it is important to note that this is more accurately delivered following the pre-production stage.
Pre-Production
As the marketing team, once you approve the company’s proposal, the next step is pre-production.
This is where the bulk of the work for your brand film happens.
Here’s an insight into our pre-production process.
We start by scripting your film.
This can be a verbal script (if your film contains dialogue) or it can be a written guide as to how the film will flow.
From here, we dissect the ‘Script Elements’ including the number of characters or people involved, the props required, locations to shoot at, costume and makeup requirements and the best time of day to film, amongst other variables.
This helps to accurately dictate what the labour requirements for your film are.
Once this is complete, we return to our clients with a refined quote, should the current plan be over-budget.
At this point, if a re-plan or re-script is required to reduce the costs, this is where this occurs.
Once our client approves everything, this is where we’ll move onto storyboarding.
Storyboarding is the process of creating a visual timeline of how the film will look.
You may have seen storyboarding occur in Hollywood films by people called Storyboard Artists.
It is also commonly completed via using digital software programs, or in our case, a web software called Milanote.
After our storyboard is finalised, we then design a shot list.
This tells our Director of Photography and Director all the shots that are required to be captured over the shooting day or days, to ensure nothing is skipped over.
Now, we are ready for filming.
Production
Production! The fun part of filmmaking!
And hopefully, for your brand and for your marketing team, this is also the fun part of the video production process!
Because it is!
If pre-production has been thoroughly completed, with no stones unturned, then it makes production a breeze.
During production, for each day of filming, a document known as a call sheet is produced.
A call sheet is a document outlining the times that all key characters and crew are required on set, and what time they wrap up (finish).
It also contains everyone’s contact details, outline the filming locations, nearest hospitals and parking.
Then of course, there’s the filming!
Light’s, camera, action!
Filming can last anywhere from 1 day, all the way through to multiple weeks, depending on the size, scale and requirements of your brand film!
Post-Production
Post production, also known as editing is the process of cutting all footage, audio and effects together to craft your brand film.
Every production company will have a slightly different post-production process.
For us, our post production process is as follows:
After all the footage is uploaded to 3 storage facilities (for safety in case of corrupted hard drives, fire or theft) we then cull through the footage and audio.
Culling is essentially getting rid of the bad and unusable footage, and keeping the good.
From here, we build the audio bed of your film.
This includes music, sound effects, natural audio and voiceovers (if applicable).
We’ll then build a rough sequence, adding the visuals on top of the audio bed. This creates the first draft sequence.
If pre-production has been thorough, and production has accurately followed pre-production, then building the first draft should be an extremely simple process – as the full sequence has pretty much already been built out on paper.
After the first draft is created, it’s all about refining the film.
Once we’re happy with the final product, we’ll then colour correct the film and add a colour grade.
This makes it look super visually appealing, and takes a flat image, transforming it to help the shot tell the story, and give the emotions your film desires.
The Results
And then it’s over to you!
Once we’re happy with how the film looks, we deliver you and your marketing team the final film to seek your feedback.
When all of your boxes are ticked, it’s a wrap!
Then, it’s over to you for publishing the film in whatever platform it has been created for! From TV, to digital streaming services, social media or websites!
The Key Takeaways
We hope you’ve enjoyed this look into the video production process.
Video production involves a lot more than what meets the eye. But at the end of the day, it is an extremely fun and exciting process that marketing teams and brands will thoroughly enjoy every moment of!
If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to reach out to us – we’d be more than happy to clarify any information you’re unsure about.
Need A Hand Forging A Deep Connection With Your Clients?
It’s not always easy to forge a deep connection with your clients. Which is why we’re here to help.
Brand story films are your brand’s north star. They help you to make decisions internally, and act as the centrepiece of your marketing strategy.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you forge a deep, emotive connection with your consumer through a brand story film, contact us via:
didier@fixonmedia.com.au
+61 400 801 891
All the best,
Didier Le Miere
Director | Fixon Media Group