Shoot Production

Video production

Video production, simply put, is the process of producing video content. From advertising spots, product demos, social media content, tutorials, or customer testimonials, video can help you increase brand awareness and generate new business. Video has the power to evoke a more effective response than other marketing assets and has become an integral element of modern business, with 81% of companies adopting it in their digital marketing strategy. It has also become a prime selling point for consumers over the last decade, with billions of people watching video content daily.

Before you begin the production process, it is important to understand current trends and today’s best practices. First, start with a clear goal in mind, as the type of video you opt to create will depend on what you are trying to achieve. Second, is to understand your target audience - this is more comprehensive than demographics, and extends to understanding their deeper desires and motivations. Third, is leveraging your video content depending on the buyer’s intent or stage in the sales funnel - different videos are needed for awareness, consideration, and conversion, but each should give consumers direction or incorporate a call to action. Now, to actually bring consumers to action, your content should be relevant, enticing, deliver a clear message, and create a relationship with viewers. Video analytics software can be used to test this and gain a clearer picture of consumer behaviour. Finally, ensure that your content has the right search engine optimisation and tagging so that your videos can be found easily.

Video production can be broken down into three main steps: pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-production is the planning stage - where setting the groundwork takes place. This includes strategic planning, setting goals and a budget, establishing the scope and timeline, storyboarding and script creation, identifying the talent and production team, sourcing equipment, and location scouting. Production is the creating stage - where the footage is captured. This covers sound, lighting, and video equipment setup, recording voice-overs, capturing b-roll (extra footage to support your story), or conducting interviews. Your vision should be clearly communicated here to ensure your final product is successful. Post-production is the final stage - where your raw material is assembled and edited. This also includes music selection and adding effects or motion graphics, reviews and approval, and final delivery.

During pre-production, organisations undertake a creative consultation. Here, the creative agency or production house gathers information from the client regarding their objectives, brand guidelines, message, target audience, format, budget, and timeline, and draws up a creative brief. This should be detailed enough to serve as inspiration for the creative team. Once a consensus is reached, the agency will create several solutions to the brief that can vary in tone, messaging hierarchy, or production approach, but all with the aim of achieving the objectives it set out.

When a concept has been agreed upon, the agency will compose a script and storyboards that demonstrate the visual narrative for each frame. The script provides the context and is accompanied by all speech, voiceovers, acting notes, and supers (text that is placed over visuals). Meanwhile, the storyboard will detail camera angles and movements, focus points, and visual treatment. Mood films or images can be used to further clarify the intent. When both the client and agency are satisfied, the script is sent to the media agency for approval. Broadcasters must follow strict guidelines and are prohibited from transmitting misleading, harmful, or offensive ads. Once the script is approved, the production process begins. This involves making choices about the director, talent, music, location, and styling.

The entire commercial production generally takes anywhere from four weeks to six months, depending on the scale of the project. Similarly, the actual shoot can last from one day to several weeks. While it is often envisioned to be the glamorous side of advertising, shoots can be long and tedious. After shooting is complete, the rough cut of the video is finessed into the final ad through editing, colour grading, overlays, and sound engineering. This is then sent to the media agency to be compared with the approved script. If it is given final broadcasting approval, it is digitally delivered to stations to be broadcast in its allotted time. Specialists in TV commercial production will purchase optimum airtime that ensures the commercial is seen by the right people at the right time.

Nowadays, video production is an effective, affordable way to get your audience on board with your brand and start building a personal connection. According to recent data, today’s consumers tend to prefer simple, authentic content over video that seems artificial, making video content more cost-effective than ever. Whether you are looking for exposure, social media shares, or sales, video production would be a noteworthy addition to your content marketing strategy. For example, the numbers show that including a video on your landing page can increase conversions by 80%, and 93% of businesses state video content helps them gain new social media followers. With online videos accounting for more than 80% of consumer internet traffic in 2020, it surely has something measurable to offer.