The Basics of Video Production - An Overview for Beginners
Video Production / Getting Started
If you are looking to enhance your marketing efforts, creating video content is the right step for your business. The popularity of video content has caused a shift in the social media landscape, making it essential for businesses to keep up with this trend. In order to switch from text-based marketing collaterals to fully featured video ads, you must overcome some hurdles. This is why you need to have a clear understanding of the video production process.
Video production has been one of the most rewarding forms of creativity in recent years, especially as it can help you tell your story and share your ideas with an audience around the globe. In order for video production to work best for you, it's important to understand some basic principles that will make all the difference in how well your videos turn out!
In this article, we’ll go over an overview of the three different stages of video production.
Because video content is an audio-visual medium, it can require twice or even three times the amount of preparation as text content. For this reason, it’s necessary to dedicate ample time to prepare logistical requirements before a shoot.
The planning, preparation, and conceptualization of your video will fall within the pre-production stage. This includes the scriptwriting and storyboarding process where the key visuals and narrative flow of your video are conceptualized. Using the script and storyboard as your reference, you can then move toward looking for the ideal shooting method and locations.
Keep in mind that your video’s output should be in line with your marketing goals. For example, you can stick to animated visuals if your main goal is to develop an explainer style video that relies heavily on characters, text, or statistics as imagery. On the other hand, if you want to appeal to your target demographics’ live experiences, it’s better to shoot in a location instead of a studio.
The development of a fully animated video is generally easier to plot, especially if you will use as few live footage elements as possible. The planning of a shoot on-site or even in a studio can be challenging and time consuming. You’ll need to account for all the logistics you need to reserve, from video production equipment to securing a reservation. This is why it’s recommended to have a proper shooting calendar to avoid missing deadlines or going over budget.
As a general rule, it’s best to maximize your time when shooting a video. This is because everything you use for the shoot will cost money to run, whether it’s the equipment you rented or the actors you paid for the day. For this reason, you should always keep track of your schedule and stick to the script.
After gathering the necessary footage for your shoot, your next step is to trim the unnecessary elements and keep only the essentials. When dealing with animated videos, the post-production step can coincide with editing the footage (if available) or finalizing the voice over. However, polishing live footage requires a different approach.
Your creative team needs to utilize different video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut, or Davinci Resolve to string together the separate clips you have. You may also need to implement additional effects or key visuals through Adobe After Effects, Blackmagic Fusion, or Nuke, depending on your storyboard and script.
Remember to keep your video tight and straight to the point. Although you can upload longer videos that run for hours, videos with the best conversion rates are usually under two minutes or so.
While it’s vital to have a basic understanding of the tenets of video production, it’s a different matter to lead a creative team to develop quality output. Since there are many ways to approach video production, it can be difficult to start from scratch if you want to create a video that succeeds. Thankfully, you can partner with experienced creative agencies to turn your video ad concepts into a reality.
At Mustard Productions, we work with our clients to align our output with their marketing goals. This is why our videos are always in the service of our client's needs, allowing them to receive authentic results and recognition from their target demographic. If you need to work with a professional video agency in Calgary, contact us today!
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