Now that you have your brief, references, script and storyboard, you can start to plan your video production. Essentially, you need to make lists of everything you’ll need to deliver your video production successfully.
Based on the script and the storyboard make a list of the following components:
Locations
Cast
Props
Equipment
Crew
Extra Resources
Now is the time to see whether all of those amazing ideas on paper are achievable in real life. If not, it might be a good idea to revise your script and storyboard to simplify your project.
Can you substitute that helicopter shot for some stock footage? Does the scene work just as well in a smaller location?
The main goal of this stage of your video production process is to give your team the best chance of actually delivering the project by bringing a reality check on its scope. Make creative revisions if you can without dampening your ambition too much.
Scheduling and budgeting
Once you’re happy with your plan, you need to write a schedule for each stage of the production and post-production.
How many days can you afford to shoot?
How many days will be required for editing?
Which cast and crew are needed on each day?
What is the final deadline?
When do internal reviews and revisions need to happen?
What is our backup plan?
An important part of this stage of the video production process is to build in some contingency reserves. You need a buffer should things go wrong or take longer than planned — both in terms of time and money.
On complex video productions it is sometimes helpful to plan for re-shoots or to break up the phases of production with a little post-production in between.
For example, let’s say you’re filming a lot of interview material for a documentary. You might want to edit these into the film's structure first and then plan to shoot the illustrative material (cutaways, re-enactments, illustrations, etc.) after this has been completed. That way the final structure reveals what you need to film next.
Pro tip
Being able to share all of these plans, scripts, references, storyboards, etc. in a single, unified, online platform is essential to keeping every member of your video production in lock-step with each other. LucidLink gives you that single source of truth by keeping every file, no matter how large, in sync.
Production
Finally, the day has arrived, you’re actually going to make something!
The production stage of every video production can be one of the most exciting parts of the process. Getting up early, carrying heavy gear and recording something memorable on screen.
Crewing up
Find the best talent you can and try not to skimp on assistants. You’ll need to find the right talent for the job, in front of and behind the camera.
Crew - Depending on the complexity of your video production you will need someone in charge of these key areas:
Director - Holds the vision and makes all the key decisions
Assistant Director - Chief of Staff to the director, often runs the crew on set and keeps production moving
Producer - Partner to the director, helps keep to budget and schedule
Camera - This can be one person or a whole department. (e.g. Director of Photography, Camera Assistant, Clapper/Loader, Gaffer, Key Grip etc.)
Sound - Can be one person or a whole department. (Sound Recordist, Boom Operator, Assistants.)
Hair/Make Up - Even on a one-person interview having a little blusher to take the shine off a forehead can really help.
Costumes/Props - These need designing, managing, fixing and coordinating
Catering - Potentially the most important hire — an army marches on its stomach.
Pro tip
If there’s one thing that can make production a more enjoyable experience it’s having decent snacks and food on hand to keep everyone well fed, watered and calm during the chaos of a shoot.
Cast
Finding the right actors or contributors to your project is the domain of directors, with the help of casting directors on large productions.
Engaging, interesting and unusual characters are a surefire way to make your final film more interesting to watch. Diversity and inclusivity aren’t just boxes to be checked but can be guiding principles for discovering hidden talent.
Shooting
This is where the “getting punched in the mouth” part of the planning process often happens. Not everything goes to plan all of the time.
You may have to change locations at the last minute if the weather or the light don’t cooperate. Sometimes an actor or contributor's performance takes longer to get right than the scheduled presumed.
Do the best you can with what you have and be as creative as possible. Above all, remember that you’re making a video. It should be fun!
What matters is what the camera can see and the audience will believe, even if you have to ‘cheat’ things on the day the audience will never know.
Digital workflow
One key aspect of video production is designing and testing your digital workflow with all of the key players.
How will your footage be shared from production to post-production?
What file formats are the editors expecting?
How will backups of your data be made on set?
What platform will you use for sharing that day’s footage (dailies) for review?
Pro tip
One simple solution to sharing large media files fresh from the camera is to upload them to LucidLink.With one shared filespace, all your footage is instantly available to the rest of your creative team.
Thanks to LucidLink’s unique file streaming tech you access just the frames you need, without downloading the entire file.
This means your editor can get started almost as soon as the director has yelled cut.
Re-shoots
Hoping for the best and planning for the worst is a solid strategy for anyone taking on video production. This includes planning to re-shoot.
Sometimes this can be as simple as filming a close-up of an actor saying a specific line of dialogue to cheat into an existing scene, recording new lines of off-screen dialogue as ADR (additional dialogue replacement) to lay underneath a reaction shot, or even filming whole new scenes that add an important structural element to the final film.
Adding the possibility of a reshoot to your schedule and budget relieves some of the pressure on the main production shooting block and allows for greater creativity in post-production.
Post-production
