How A Video Is Made
Videos are one the most powerful tools that a marketer can use. Yet, how a video is made is something that few people outside of the video industry know and understand.
We’ve often found that a lot of our clients that were new to the video production process were surprised to learn about the amount of work that goes into creating a video. It’s always fun to see their reaction when we show up on the shoot date with a boatload of equipment for a simple interview video.
We’ve also noticed that clients that were not properly informed and educated on the video production process with previous video production agencies have had bad experiences.
At Lapse Productions, we always educate and consult our clients on the video process. Our goal is to create video content that falls in line with their marketing strategy and create a positive experience.
To help in further educating our clients we have written this blog post that goes into how a video is made from start to finish.
How is a Video made?
Technology has made the creation of video content as easy as possible. With just a simple click you can record a memory or create your next ad. However, creating a professional video is still something that requires a bit more than just an iPhone.
Behind every professionally created video there are countless hours spent planning it out, shooting it, and editing it. The process itself is pretty similar to how a movie is made but on a much smaller scale.
We call this process the Video Production Process.
The 3 Stages of Video Production
The Video Production Process consists of 3 parts:
- Pre-Production
- Production
- Post-Production
What is Pre-Production?
This is the planning stage where the idea is fleshed out and preparations are made for the shoot date.
- Project Overview and Goals
- Budget
- Scope
- Goals
- Benchmarks
- Deadline
- Idea and story development
- Research
- Script/Story creation
- Music selection
- Production preparation
- Cast and Crew scheduling
Pre-Production timeline is usually 1-3 weeks.
What is Production?
This is the actual shoot date where we capture all the footage required for the video. On average, shoot dates are half days (under 5 hours) to one full day (10 hours).
Production timeline is usually half day (5 hours) to full day (10 hours).
What is Post-Production?
This is where we edit the footage that we captured and work our magic to create your video product. The first draft usually takes about 2 weeks to complete.
- Data backup (3 backups, 2 physical – 1 cloud backup)
- Video Editing
- Review and approval
- Final delivery
Post-Production timeline is usually 1 to 3 weeks.
The Importance of The Video Production Process
Following the Video Production Process has 3 key benefits:
- Accurate Pricing
- Time is money and when it comes to video production, wasting time results in a lot of extra costs. Poor preparation in the Pre-Production stage can result in issues in the Production and Post-Production stages. This can inflate costs quite drastically. For example, if an extra shoot date was required to make up for lost time then the entire cast and crew would have to be brought back in. This would double the Production cost! So say the Production cost (the cost of the cast and crew on shoot day) was $2,000 then it would now be $4,000.
- Fewer Revisions
- Having a well developed Pre-Production will result in a smoother Production and Post-Production (Editing). Things obviously might change from Pre-Production to Production, but if everyone has the same vision for the project then changes that are made in the shooting stage can be made to fully serve the project when it’s being edited. Otherwise, after a certain amount of revisions, the changes will have to be charged, which results in increased project costs.
- Predictable Timeline
- Videos take time to capture and edit. There are lots of factors at play that need to be taken into account. If this is done properly then it can save a lot of time and money not to mention make the entire process exactly according to plan.
Conclusion
By this point you should have developed a stronger sense of how a video is made. You learned that a video is created through the video production process. The video production process consists of pre-production, production, and post-production. You also learned about what each of those parts entails. We hope this has been helpful. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to dario@lapseproductions.com.
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