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If you’ve been tasked to make a video, be it a fun family video or a serious work-related project, you will find success by following the below steps.
1. Determine your audience and objective
Your objective lays out the foundation for the rest of your project. Without a firm grasp on the message that you plan to deliver, you are going to have a difficult time succeeding with these steps.
Knowing your audience is another essential starting block to creating a successful video. Even if you have a clear objective, your video may fail to effectively deliver its message without a solid understanding of who your audience is.
Say you are making a video that explains how an ATM works. This seems straightforward enough, but now consider that your audience is elementary-aged children. Your approach to this explanation would have to change, or you risk the children not understanding the more complicated concepts involved, like the difference between cash and credit. The scope and focus of a project can vary greatly by changing the intended audience of a given subject matter.
2. Write a script
Now that you have developed a clear objective and you have a firm grasp of who your audience is, it is time to speak to them. To effectively get your point across through video, it is important to understand how various elements, things such as imagery, narration, film, and audio, will work to enhance the script.
Less is more when it comes to writing a video script. The benefit of video over text or audio is that you can display moving images, allowing the producer to show the audience what is going on, instead of simply telling them.
While writing the script, think about the imagery that will play overtop; this will boost efficiency while filming because each of your shots will have already been planned out, and now all you need to do is execute them.
3. Plan the shoot & gather materials (voiceover/imagery/videography)
When the time comes to film your video, most of the heavy lifting should have been completed in the planning phases. Any necessary actors, props, or locations need to be decided upon and permitted, and every scene and line must be reviewed and practiced. If every party involved in the film shoot knows what they are doing ahead of time, it will limit the amount of time wasted during the filming phase, which can significantly reduce production costs.
4. Film the video
The day has finally come. This is the moment where all your previous effort pays off.
While all your planning should allow things to run smoothly on set, hiccups do happen, and you must be prepared to adapt on the fly. Maybe the weather isn’t cooperating, or an important actor is sick. You must effectively react to these unknown variables and make the most efficient use of your time in any given situation. A successful producer will always have a backup plan for production in case things do not go as expected. When it comes to filming a video, time is money.
5. Edit the video
Editing can make or break a production. You could have a brilliant script, perfect actors, and great scenes, but if the final product is not edited together in a cohesive fashion, the entire production can fall flat just before the finish line.
Editing should complement the script and provide imagery or audio to match a given narrative, scene, or mood. In the planning phase, a strong producer will keep in mind the necessary elements that will be used to make a final edit and plan ahead so that the final production blends seamlessly. If the video production is planned well, all needed assets will be available to the editor and it will simply be their job to compile the final pieces into a polished product that matches the producer’s vision.
We hope these tips help make your next video production a success!
