The Video Production Process

Video production can be an expensive endeavor, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. With the proper preparation, you are sure to have a successful shoot no matter what time of year or weather is out there. When starting a project, it is essential to understand the process.

There are several steps needed before you can even begin shooting your video. The first step in planning any production for clients for both online and offline videos is to have producers or directors who have an idea of what they want from specific material(s) created based on their expectations. The producer or director will then communicate before this starts, including the freelancers/videographer and client. Sometimes many individuals/freelancers will be involved in the project. Project contracts are essential to ensure everything is outlined in detail and what type of material will be used. There are obvious times where agreements aren’t needed, such as when it’s only one person working on the project (Editor) because a simple email outline will work just fine.

Define The Goal of The Video

The ultimate goal of any video is to create a specific response from the viewers. The video’s target audience can vary, as there are videos with very varied content, which can vary from simply learning a recipe to buying a product, service, gadget or having a person attend a certain event. You need to know what is your ultimate outcome. What do you ultimately want your audience to do after watching your video? Do you want them to take a specific action or do you simply want them to feel a certain way about your brand?

You want to keep your objective always top of mind because you don’t want the main theme of your video to be lost or the viewer to receive the wrong message; If this happens, all the effort invested in the video will be wasted.

Creating a video just for the sake of it will not merit results that you want. You need to be crystal clear what you objective is and what the end result will be.

Now let’s look at the process of creating a video production project and the various stages involved.

Preproduction Phase

There are pre-production, production, and post-production stages that need to be completed in order for the final product to look great. The first step of these stages is pre-production, planning out your strategy and script ahead of time. 

Next comes production, where the video will shoot with key team members, including cast members and directing directors or producers if needed on set and managing finances at all times during the project’s duration. Finally, editing has been completed after quality checks have taken place by editors who make sure everything looks good before finally releasing it onto YouTube or other streaming platforms like Netflix or Hulu live stream their content after they have earned rights through contracts made beforehand with channels which can produce the said type of videos for them.

Postproduction

This process is totally independent from Pre and Production. It consists of the selection of the recorded material, the shots that will be used for the editing and montage of the work are chosen. In this last phase, production is responsible for obtaining the final product, that is, the recording master from which the copying process will proceed. 

Here’s a more detailed outline of the steps involved. 

1. Choose a Topic

The first step in developing a video is to understand what the main topic is and what is expected to be explained with this material. Another important point is to analyze if a video is the best way to explain that particular topic rather than dwelling on an article or an interactive infographic.

Knowing the past of the company allows us to return to the genesis of entrepreneurship and retake those points that are considered valuable to continue reinforcing, understand the teachings of past experiences and understand what it is that does not have to be repeated.

2. Create a script

Once you have defined the topic that you are going to talk about in your video, the next step is to develop a script that allows you to orient yourself with the images you need, the text you have to say, the locations or places to film and what is the order of each scene when you need to edit.

At Kobe Digital we opted for the technical script format that separates the image (animations, video clips, plates, movements, etc.) from the sound (voice-over, audio effects, musical curtains, etc.).

3. Select materials and film

After designing a script, the images or illustrations to be used for the video are selected.

In this same stage, the filming of each of the scenes is carried out following the guidelines indicated in the script.

4. Edit and perform animations

The videos require certain pieces of artistic composition such as logos, informational sockets, introductions and plates. Programs such as After Effects or Cinema4D are used to make these animations.

During the editing or montage of the video, the best shots are selected and all the elements that make up the script are combined. Among the most used video editing programs are Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro.

5. Review

At the end of editing, the video is reviewed to retouch those aspects that were not quite right before uploading the video to YouTube.

6. Deliver the video

Finally, here at Kobe Digital, once the video editing is finished, the client evaluates the video and, if necessary, lets us know of any updates or needed modifications then we deliver the final video.

Often times, once the editing is complete, there will only be minor modifications needed. 

Production team members

Here’s a list of the top team members for a video production project. The producers are in charge of: planning, managing and directing the technical, human and economic resources that are necessary to carry out the elaboration of said products:

• General Producer – He is in charge of and responsible for the entire team that makes it up.
• Executive Producer – He is the one who contributes the capital, organizes and controls the project. It can be both a company and a person.
• Producer – He is the head of the technical organization and money management. It may be the case that it is the project manager himself or an executive that the company places as his representative.
• Co-producer – Executive representing other companies that are associated in the production of the project.
• Associate producer – Company or person that contributes capital to production in order to obtain a profit. Generally does not intervene in the production process.
• Production manager – He is the delegate of the executive producer, when a production acquires such magnitude that it requires it. It can assume the administrative management.
• Production manager – He is responsible for the filming stage.
• Production assistants – They are in charge of maintaining contacts with the team to solve problems and take care of the needs of the different work departments.
• Production secretary – Execute the bureaucratic tasks of production.
• Production assistants – They take care of providing the urgent needs that arise during the recording.
• Secretary of administration – Executes the bureaucratic tasks of administration and accounting.

At Kobe Digital we are here to provide you with the best video production agency in Los Angeles.