6 Facts to Know About Your Video Marketing Company’s Production Process

6 Facts to Know About Your Video Marketing Company’s Production Process

There are a lot of businesses out there that may balk at the idea of hiring a professional video marketing company. Perhaps they assume that they can create videos on their own. Or maybe they think that they can buy some gear, and easily build their own internal production department. But the thing is, video marketing companies do more for you than you might think. There’s a lot more to creating effective video marketing content than pointing a camera at something and hitting “record.”

The following are six things that you should know about the production process of a video marketing company.

1. How the production process starts

Every professional video marketing company will begin with a consultation to identify exactly what kind of needs you have, what your brand’s identity is and what you are trying to accomplish with your video content. If you decide that they are a good fit for your video marketing campaign, they will begin the discovery stage, in which the company will learn all they need to know in order to develop a thorough plan of action for your videos. Once everyone is on the same page, they will move into pre-production.

2. What they do in pre-production

Once the initial phases of meeting, exploration and discovery are complete, it’s time to dig into the nitty gritty details and preparation that will lead to the actual production. In pre-production the production agency will consider or prepare: outlines, shot lists, schedules, drafts of a script (if applicable) and more.

Pre-production is also the time for considering all props, casting actors and other talent, and procuring all crew members, locations, equipment and creative items needed for the day of production. There’s a lot involved, but the better the planning, the smoother and more successful the day or dates of filming, sound recording and other production will run.

3. What kind of equipment they use

A good video marketing agency has access to a high-quality equipment. Every facet of production requires equipment of some kind. While a simple filming can require a camera and a tripod at the bare minimum, larger productions can require any number of specialized pieces of equipment.

The following is a breakdown of some of the equipment you can expect a video production company to use:

Camera equipment

Most video production companies will have more than one camera. This ensures that their crew can shoot more than one project at a time, or productions that require multiple camera angles of the same shot.  A successful video production company will use technologically-relevant equipment, like high-quality cameras and lenses, as well as other specialized gear, like sliders, dollies or steadicams.

Lighting equipment

One of the biggest differences between amateur and professional videos is the quality of lighting. A good video production company has an assortment of lighting kits for use in various environments as well as numerous color gels and flags to help control the look of the lighting. They’re also well acquainted with considering the power supply, to ensure generator a production has adequate access to electricity.

Sound equipment

Without proper audio gear, your video is toast. Because of this, video marketing companies tend to invest in high-end sound equipment, from lavelier mics and boom mics to sound mixers and in-studio sound mixing equipment.  For larger productions they may also bring in a specialized crew member, or audio engineer to manage the different inputs of sound.

Editing equipment

A good video marketing company will have a number of editors working on several projects, which is why numerous high-end computer systems with professional grade editing software are required.
You might be thinking, “That’s a lot of equipment that’s required for just a five-minute video”; but, it makes a huge difference. Some companies will outsource different facets of the production because of the cost of such equipment, but it can be beneficial to work with a company that does everything in-house.

4. What their workflow is like

There are four main stages in the workflow of a video marketing company. These stages include:

Discovery

During this stage, ideas and goals for video content will be discussed and a strategy will be conceived.

Pre-production

The creative approach and production of videos are planned during the pre-production stage, which includes scripting, casting, scheduling and much more.

Production

This is the stage in which the video is filmed, audio is captured, or visual elements are procured or designed.

Post-production

In this phase, the footage and/or visual elements are edited and potentially color-corrected. Then the sound is mixed and any voice over, graphics, subtitles or effects are added.

5. How much input you will have

Obviously, you’ll want to have a lot of input in how the content is created. A good video marketing company will work closely with you during the developmental stage in order to pinpoint exactly what you want. They will come back to you following the pre-production stage to ensure that you sign off on everything before they go into production. Once they go into production, they’ll begin editing and they’ll send different cuts over for your input.

6. How long it will take

The duration of the production process varies greatly depending on numerous factors, such as: how long the content is going to be, how many locations or actors are needed, when talent is available and how the video progresses through post-production.

Of course, a professional video marketing company will be able to estimate and devise a timeline prior to filming. During the pre-production phase they’ll evaluate all of these factors are and create a full production schedule.

These six things are essential to know about the video production process and how video marketing companies work. As you can see, a video marketing company will invest a great amount of time and hard work into developing your video content. The results will prove to be worth the investment!
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