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Do it yourself: pre production
There are three stages to producing a video. These are, pre-production, which is the development of the programme structure and script, shooting, and post-production, or the editing process.
Ideally it should be approached in this order, but there are occasions, such as when we have to shoot a special event at short notice, that we shoot first and ask questions later as it were.
So what is pre-production? This is the stage that starts with kicking around a few ideas (and dare I say - fantasies?) and ends up as a focused, coherent script for a programme that can be produced within budget. You won't get the helicopter shots, shall we say, from a £5k budget unless you own the helicopter!
Anyway, as with all successful projects, the more thorough the front end work is, the better the completed programme will be.
Start first by clearly defining your aims and objectives and identifying your target audience. Printed below is the briefing form that we give to clients before we start a production which should come in useful for firing up your own video.
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You will have seen on the briefing form that Q5 asks about a deadline for completion. This could be an exhibition or a conference where the programme will be beneficial to the company, or it might coincide with a planned mail shot so that the video can be sent out to serious enquirers.
Having a deadline is useful because it means that the production can be concentrated on for a fairly short period of time and the investment can be realised quickly.
The production schedule below shows the processes of making a video and the sort of lead time that is comfortable. This is only an example and by no means sacrosanct. We have, for example, produced a programme in a week (one very long hard week!) for an award presentation and we have equally produced one over a year.
You will see from the schedule that we recommend that our client elects an executive producer to work with us. It's important to have someone to liaise with who has the authority to make quick decisions throughout the production.
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Now that you have identified your target audience, budget and aims and objectives it is time to produce a treatment. This defines the structure of the programme, what you intend to show, in what order, how you propose to present it and forms the basis for the script.
Draw up a storyboard,rough sketches or even photos of the basic things you want to show and write alongside them the key points they are to portray. Once you are happy that it follows a logical sequence and contains all the information you want to put across, you are ready to write the script.
Here are a few tips which should come in useful.
1. Remember that the written and spoken word are not the same thing. Spoken English is far more relaxed and can be less formal than say brochure or manual language.
2. Don't get bogged down in minute detail (unless you are making a technical programme for technical people), it's far better to present an overview of the subject which will give your viewers a flavour and encourage them to talk to you.
3. We speak at a rate of 2-3 words per second so this should give you an idea of run time, bearing in mind breaks and pauses.
4. Remember that every word has to have pictures to cover it. Will you have enough visual material? Wild life, training and industrial process videos can get away with long video sequences, but most other programmes need to be pacey with 2-5 second cuts.
5. Always keep in mind your target audience and make sure that the script remains specific to them. Once filming has been done it is quite easy to re-script and re-edit the footage for other audiences. Don't compromise.
6. Always talk to us about what you are doing, we are quite happy to get involved at any stage!
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