When you either make a video yourself or work with someone to produce a video, it’s good practice to follow a certain video production process. In this video, you will learn what the video production process is when I work with clients. What you can take away from this process is how you can apply these steps to your own video creation or what you can expect when you work with me. The ultimate goal is to create a video that does what it’s supposed to do… communicate a message to its intended audience and get a certain result and/or action.

#1 – Who is it for?

We always start by talking about who the audience is for your video. This is critical, but not always done well.

For me, I compare this to creating a profile or avatar of your audience. That means we know who they are in as much detail as possible, so being very specific is important here.

It’s definitely not good enough to say “everybody”.

#2 – What’s up with them?

Once I know who your audience is, we then move onto understanding their unique challenge, problem, situation, goals, etc. In other words, we want to know what’s up with them so we can craft your video’s message to show that we understand what they’re going through.

Another key aspect of this step is knowing what the consequences would be, or currently are, if they do not resolve the issues we’ve identified.

#3 – What should they do?

A marketing video doesn’t do much good if we don’t direct your audience towards an action. So you must be clear about what you want your audience to do once they’ve seen the video.

This can simply be to visit your website, or it can be as specific as clicking a button below the video if the video is featured on a landing page.

#4 – Write the script

We can now proceed with putting all the previous steps together and writing a script that clearly communicates your message to your audience. This means the script will help your target market know the video is for them, and it will somehow tell them what the next step should be.

Ideally, the script will also be engaging and entertaining to grab, and keep, the audience’s attention.

#5 – Bringing it to life

It’s taken four steps before we get to actually make something. And here is when we either record a voiceover for your animated video or begin filming your live video.

But why record a voiceover beforehand? The voiceover determines the final video length and since it is narrating your video, it’s critical that we get this part right before making anything else.

Filming is done at a time and location that works best for you and for the video.

#6 – Animation or editing

If we are working on an animated video, I can begin working on a storyboard once you have approved the voiceover. This takes anywhere from one day to several days. Afterwards, I begin working on the animation and I will show you a draft to ensure that you are ok with the look and feel of the video.

If we are working on a live video, then this is the time I take the footage we filmed and piece it together. I look at all the research and information we collected previously and use that to put together your final video.

Ask any filmmaker where the movie is really made and they’ll likely tell you that it’s in the editing. So this is a critical step in the production process, whether it’s for an animated or live video. As a result, this step usually takes the longest time… typically, anywhere from a few days to one or two weeks.

#7 – Checking in and delivery

Video production is a process, so it’s important for me that you’re involved and kept up to date in that process… because it’s your video! So what I do is show you what I’ve done to get your approval at each stage in the process.

This ensures that we’re on track with what we want to create and greatly reduces the need for revisions after the video is complete.

And once the video is totally done, it’s delivered to you in the formats of your choice. Usually, this is a 1080p HD MP4 file that will look great online and on large screen TVs, too.

And that’s it! You now know what the video production process is.

Hopefully, you’ve got a better understanding of what I do for you, and also what you can do if you’re making your own videos.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments, or if you want to get a video made for your business.