The 5 Stages of Video Production
If you understand the 5 stages of video production, you will have the knowledge needed to create higher quality videos that get you results.
If you want to benefit from video content, whether to boost awareness, engagement, leads or your sales, you must understand the five stages of video production.
Once you have an understanding of how videos are made and what goes into each stage, you'll have the knowledge and tools you need to create high-quality content that gets you results. Let get into it.
1. Discovery
Whether you're talking to a video production company or creating videos yourself, the first step is discovery.
This gives everyone involved in the project the chance to know your brand and understand what you're trying to achieve.
Even if you feel you already know everything there is to know about your brand, revisit it, and write it down. It's the best way to ensure everyone is on the same page, and it'll help you focus by reminding you of critical goals and objectives.
Here are some questions you should be asking yourself or topics to discuss with a video production company:
- Why do you want a video?
- What are your overall goals?
- Who is the target audience?
- What is your brand ethos?
- What action do you want viewers to take?
- What are your key messages?
- How will you measure the success of the video?
- Where will the video be published?
- What is your marketing plan?
- What is your budget?
Essential information and questions answered in the discovery stage serve as the project's foundation and is an integral part of the process.
The worst thing you can do is just pick up the camera and shoot. Without a proper strategy in place, your video will be destined to fail.
2. Pre-Production
This stage is all about planning and preparing for the success of the video shoot.
During pre-production, you need to:
- Write the script
- Create your storyboards or shot list
- Find/secure a location
- Prepare a production schedule
- Audition the cast
- Find the crew
- Hire equipment etc.
It's a lot of work getting every last detail right, but the planning and preparation stage before you start shooting your video is vital.
If you get it wrong, it could result in a lot of time and money wasted.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
3. Production
Using the pre-production plan, you can now start shooting your video. You will need to capture everything from A-Roll and B-roll shots to audio and even photos on set.
My advice would be to take your time and stick to the plan. If you've done everything right in the pre-production stage, shooting your video should run smoothly.
4. Post-Production
This is where the magic happens!
Post-production is one of the most exciting stages as you will start to see your video coming together. All that planning and effort you've put in is beginning to pay off.
You can now start editing your video, piecing together the raw footage and audio you captured, as well as adding things like motion graphics or visual effects to tell your story.
Music and sound effects can be incorporated to elevate your video, adding emotion and dramatic effect where necessary.
Next, you'll colour grade the footage, tweaking the tone and feel of each shot before adding any titles and motion graphics.
5. Delivery & Marketing
You've created a kick-ass video, but now you need to get people to watch it.
The final stage is delivery and marketing, something you should have outlined in the initial discovery stage of the video production process, but you need to go into more detail.
The first thing to think about is where you're going to publish the video. Publishing it on your website is a must, then there's social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Each platform will have its own requirements for video, which is why you must optimise your video for all the individual platforms.
You then need to think about the copywriting that will work alongside your video, tempting users to hit that all-important play button.
Finally, you can hit publish and launch your campaign!
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