In this article, we’ll cover:
- Coming Up With a Topic and Writing a Script For Your Video
- Starting Pre-Production Planning
- Shooting and Editing Videos
- Uploading and Promoting Videos
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Warning: this blog is peppered with lyrics from catchy pop songs…not responsible for ear worms!
Are you planning to produce a video in 2023? As Run DMC once said “it’s tricky tricky tricky” (if you don’t know who that is… look it up!)
Follow these basic steps to get started:
First, come up with a topic for your video. This is obvious, but hard to do. Start by asking yourself, what story do I want to tell? What is your vision for this video? The best videos have only one topic and don’t try and cover too much ground in a few minutes. The key is simplicity. As Pharell Williams said, “We’ve come too far, to give up who we are” Think about who you are as a company today, write a lot about it, then distill.
Second, write a script. See above. Obvious, but hard to do. There’s nothing like staring at the blinking cursor, not knowing where to start. Sometimes it’s best to share the work with someone else- brainstorming is a powerful thing at this stage. It’s not going to be perfect the first time around. The most important thing is to create “something to kick against” and then iterate until it works for you and your team.
At Bee Video Productions, we can take your draft script and distill it down a bit further. Our expertise is video, so we can easily find opportunities to ‘show’ with images rather than ‘tell’. On the other hand, if you want us to do the whole script, that’s great too. Sometimes outsiders can add an insight into your company that you hadn’t considered. Then, we’d put the script past you for creative notes, fact checking and brand alignment.
Some production companies will start production without a locked script or even no script at all. We won’t. We never have and I don’t think there is a scenario in which we would. Skipping this step is not a good idea. It’s going into battle without a battle plan.
Third, start pre-production planning. Every project has a slightly different pre production plan, but mostly it revolves around storyboards, call sheets, shot lists (for live action), animatics (for animation). But this planning phase is also super important. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Fourth, shoot the video. This is where all the planning pays off. Shoot days are very expensive, with lots of gear and lights, as well as nerves and lots of human contact (remember that?). You only have a day to get all your shots, it’s costly and logistically difficult to reschedule or book another shoot day if you don’t get everything. In the immortal words of Pitbull, “Give me everything tonight. For all we know, there might not be a tomorrow.”
That said, this is the fun part! You’ve planned as much as we can, now you can put some of the paperwork away and relax a bit. Our goal at a Bee Video shoot is to have fun on set. We want people to go home and tell their families what an exciting day they had… There was a camera crew at the office and they were in a video!
There is a bit of method to this madness. Relaxed happy people come across much better on camera. 90% of the time, we are not working with trained actors. We can’t ask people to get into a character. They have to be comfortably themselves. Having a calm, relaxed set is the easiest way to achieve that.
Fifth, edit the video. By now, you’re a few weeks away from when you locked the script.You’ve had your shoot day or locked the animatic, so now you’re in post production. This is the point where the vision you distilled down to a short story, is going to come to fruition. Selecting the right images, music and graphics to correspond with your script is critical. Make friends with your editor, they are going to be your best friend. They now have your vision in their hands.
Sixth, circulate for approvals. We’re almost ready to deliver. The video looks good. But do others agree?? As Freddy Mercury said “Don’t stop me now, we’re having such a good time”. But very few videos are made in a vacuum. There is usually a team of experienced people that need to approve your video. Hopefully they’ve been in loop all along and what you send them is in line with what they were expecting. Approval rounds usually go like this:
Script: circulate for approval- lock script
Storyboard: circulate for approval- lock storyboard
Rough cut: one round of approvals
Fine cut: one round of approvals
Seventh, upload the video. There are many many platforms where your video can live. YouTube, Google, Vimeo, embedded in your website (not usually recommended) each with it’s own considerations and pros and cons.
Eighth, promote the video. Video should not a sunk cost. When promoted properly and with the right KPI’s you can measure and correlate sales increases with the the success of the video campaign. In the wise words of Smash Mouth: “Get the show on, get paid!”
Hopefully these tips will help you as you launch into your own video project. But if you read this and thought, this is a bit much maybe I need some professional help… look no further. Making videos is what we do all day! To paraphrase Billy Ocean, we can help your ideas get out of your dreams, and into your screen.’ Get in touch at https://BeeVideoProductions.com