Planning Your Video Project

So, you’ve decided to make a video? Whether you’re working with a professional video producer or creating a video yourself, it’s important to understand the production process. The first, and perhaps most important part of the production process is pre-production. Pre-production is where you plan out your entire video, from the general tone of your video to who or what will be featured in it.

Here are a few steps to planning your video:
1) Determine your goals
2) Determine what type of video you’re going to make
3) Plan the logistics of the video filming

First, you need to determine the goals for your video. What do you want your video to achieve? Knowing what you want your video to do will help you determine the tone of your video, the length, the resources you’ll need, and where it will live online or offline once it’s complete.

Here are a few things to think about when determining the goals for you video.
-Who is your target audience?
-What message are you trying deliver, or story are you trying to tell?
-What is the budget for your project?
-Why is this video needed?
-Where will your video live? (Social media, website, live events, etc.)
-When is the video due?
-What resources do you have available for this video? This can include people to help with or even be in the video.
-Will you be using your own gear and your own staff to create this video, or will you be working with a professional video producer?

It’s important to figure out your goals for your video and keep them in mind throughout the production process. This will help make sure you’re staying consistent with your messaging and keeping your project on track.

The next step in the pre-production process is is to determine what type of video you’re going to make. Once you have the goals for your project, you should be able to determine if your video should be educational or entertaining, or if you should have a serious or casual tone throughout the video.

Here’s a great example of an event video that could be used for educational and promotional purposes.

There are so many different types of corporate video that you could create, here are a few examples.
-Educational
-How-To
-Events
-Explainer
-Product Demo
-Brand Highlight
-Culture
-Thought Leadership
-Testimonial
-Client On Boarding Video
-Company announcement
-Entertainment (holiday, funny, special message for social media or emails, etc.)

The last step in the pre-production process is planning the logistics of your video. This includes all the who, what, where, and when’s of filming.

Here are a few things you can do to help prepare for filming
-Scripting and/or outlining the narrative of your video
-Creating a shotlist of footage that you’re going to capture
-Deciding who will be in your video
-Determining where and when your video will be filmed
-Preparing your interview subjects for filming
-Prepping your equipment for filming

Video production becomes so much simpler when you follow a solid pre-production process. Knowing your goals and planning your video is the most important thing in production, because it keeps your project on track and everything moving smoothly.
Here’s some more information on video marketing and how to get started. If you’re ready to create a video, let’s talk!