This post is designed to take you through our pre-production workflow and what you can expect if you call us to help with your next video project. I am hoping I can answer some of your questions right now in this post and alleviate any worries or questions you may have about the pre-production process. Even if you don’t decide to give us a call this process should be pretty universal with any media company out there. Another company may have a different set of questions for you, but make no mistake, if you are using any company worth their salt they definitely will work with you on their version of the pre-production process before the actual production begins.

First off, you might be wondering what the term pre-production actually means. pre-production is the term used in the video production industry to describe the planning stage of the project. When you hear pre-production, think planning. As we all know, planning out any project or any work related event is crucial to the success of that project or event. That is no different when it comes to pre-production for your next video project.

When you call us or reach out to us through our contact form on our website, we will follow up with you and ask you five very important questions that will begin the planning stage. We encourage all of our clients to be as detailed as possible when answering the questions. This will be the foundation for how we can go about helping you accomplish your goals. Below I have listed the five questions that we will ask that we would like you to think about when planning your next video.

1. What is the project goal?
Ask your self, why do I want to make this video?
What is the outcome you are looking for. Is the video suppossed to motivate your employees? Is it a training video to teach your employees a new procedure you have established? Are you launching a new product you want to tell the world about? Those are just a few examples of what could be your project goal.

2. Who are you trying to reach by making this video?
Who is this video intended for?
In other words, who is the target audience that you want to see your video? This is the same concept you think of when you use other forms of marketing. Always be thinking about and catering to your target audience, especially with your video.

3. What reaction are you trying to receive from that target audience?
Ask yourself what should be the audience’s response after they watch your video? In other words, what do you want the audience to feel or do after they watch your video? This is a very important question to ask yourself because the answer will determine the style, speed and flow of the video.

4. How soon do you need the project delivered?
What is the timetable and schedule for your project?
For example, you might think you need this video created for your annual sales conference that happens at a certain time every year. That would mean our deadline for the video would be at a very minimum of at least one week prior to your annual sales conference date. We would need that week to get the video to your conference venue to make sure it plays ok and works within their audiovisual system.

5. What is your budget for this project?
This seems to be the part nobody wants to talk about but it is the most important. Lets start this dialogue right away. This doesn’t need to be the elephant in the room during the planning stage. Establishing the budget and coming up with a fair number that works for both parties is the best thing to establish so we can turn to the part we both actually care about, which is making an awesome video for your company.

By asking yourself these five questions and providing detailed answers to them you are setting yourself up for success. Of course, for most larger projects these questions just cover the foundation and we will want to build off of that. That is what we are here for and we encourage you to contact us so we can set up a free consultation to discuss and help you plan out your next video project.