What goes into a video production?

As a leading video production company we know a thing or two about putting a great video together. The steps behind making a great film are actually really simple, and over the years we’ve found that films always have three main stages; pre production, production and post production, with each stage being broken down into a number of other steps. 

The Key Stages of a Video Production

1) Pre-Production

What is it? Pre Production is everything that happens before any filming has taken place.

The Idea Phase: This is where the clients have their first thoughts about what great could look like. It’s important to think about where the films will go and what you want to achieve with the film. Nothing too deep, just an overarching mission statement.

The Creative Brief: One of the most important stages of the production. The creative brief is a client's way of handing over a production to a production company. Creative briefs are often referred back to throughout the whole production and act as a touchstone for everyone involved in the production. A creative brief will include a paragraph on what the film is and why it’s important to the brand, it will include a little bit about what the clients want to achieve with the film and who they want to be affected by it, it will have a timeline and a budget in it as well. These are just a few points that can be in a creative brief, everyone's process is different. 

Creative Workshop: For small productions a creative workshop could be as simple as a quick Zoom call to make sure everyone is on the same page, for larger productions the creative workshop is a perfect time for the whole creative team to get together and share ideas on what great could look like. Often, in creative workshops we will bring a mood board - a document that contains a number of visual inspirations of films we’ve seen and liked - we will also play a number of films that we think align well with what the production could achieve. These sessions are great as people can speak openly and freely about what they like and don’t like. 

Script: For some productions we will write a script. This sounds fancy but in reality it is a bare bones document that mainly relates to what you will see and hear. Often we include what people may say but the words are just placeholders to allow you to visualize the film and for us to guid interviews. The script is a great tool as it allows the client to sign off on the film based on something that feels reel. 

The Shot-list: Once we’ve signed off on the script, we put together a detailed shot list. This is a visual guide to how the film will look and will relate directly to the script. This gives clients the ability to see how the film will relate to their brand in terms of feel, colour and mood. 

Recce: for some shoots we require time to come in and have a look at locations to ensure that a) the video production is possible and b) that we are aware of all the best ways to set the production up. Seeing the location is especially useful for ensuring we don’t waste precious time on shot days.

Planning: Once we’ve got sign off on the story and shot list we can begin to put together an actual plan. For smaller productions this can simply be a task of finding a good day that works for the team to film on and arriving, for bigger productions this will include organising accommodation, dealing with contributors, organising crew, hair and make up, stylists, permissions and licenses, models, equipment rental, food, agents, and ensuring there is a precise running order for the days ahead. 

Rigging: for some shoots we will need to arrive early to rig up sets, whether this is lighting ups or rails for cameras. Thai is saved for the larger shoots and studio work. 

2) Production

Everything that happens during the actual video production day from interviews, staged scenes and pick up shots. 

3) Post Production

Selects: The first thing we do when we return back from a shoot - other than back up the footage a hundred times - is sorting through the footage to find the selects. Simply put, selects are all the shots we captured that we will consider putting in the film. The reason we highlight all the selects is to help us save time on the long run continually sifting through footage that isn’t good enough… the shot of the grass as the videographer was walking and accidentally recording, the perfect shot of the scene with the producer's shoulder taking up half of the shot… things like that. 

Edit: Over the space of a few days to a few weeks we will begin to turn the collection of shots in to a living breathing story for you and your brand. This process takes a long time as video needs to ‘feel’ right, not just look pretty. The timing have to be perfect and we need to make sure we are telling the very best story with the shots we’ve got. We often involve clients in this stage and send them rough edits for early feedback. This ensures the edit isn’t going off piste and allows us to work collaboratively with you in creating your perfect film. 

Colour Grade: We record films in a setting called Log, this sounds weird but what it means is that our cameras are set to a setting that allows us to capture ALL the information they are seeing. The result is that the footage we capture looks gray straight out of the camera. So the very last thing we do after editing the film together is editing the colour back into the footage. This takes us a couple of days. Think of it this way, editing a photo can take a couple of minutes… a film is thousands of photos. 

Sound Mixing: Often the sounds in the films you see are actually added afterwards in a process called sound mixing. For brand films this is really present - just think of the aerial shot of people running on a race track, the drone can’t hear the panting and the footsteps. We add it all in afterwards and edit it in seamlessly along with the chosen music for the piece. 

Amends: After the film is finished we offer 2 rounds of amends. Now, it’s really important to include as much feedback in these two rounds of amends as possible to stop the editing process from dragging on and costing you more money in the long run.  

3) Ongoing 

Many clients we work with come back over the months and years after the production to get new edits and amends to films as their marketing needs change. This is really common and is a super cost effective way of keeping a fresh look across your brand. 

To learn more about the types of video productions we deliver, why not check out the home page!!