What is the video production process?
Around the figurative halls of our figurative office here at Freytag Films, we like to say that “production is a process.” This little adage helps us and our clients remember that the craft of production is inherently multifaceted, collaborative, and deserving of our time and attention. We’ve written this article to give you a (very) high-level of the process from start to finish.
Producing a video happens in four phases:
Development
Note: Sometimes development is folded in with pre-production, but we like to keep them separate since it’s such an important (and sometimes underrated) step.
Pre-production
Production
Post-production
Step 1: Development
This is the creative ideation stage of the process.
The job of development is to understand the goals of a project and develop a creative vision that will guide a production toward that goal. During this stage, an agency or production company will create some form of a guiding document—such as a treatment, script, or storyboard. Oftentimes all three of these documents are created and become the foundation of a production.
Once a creative vision has been established, it’s time to get organized.
Step 2: Pre-Production
Pre-production is all about organizing the necessary people, places, and materials to produce a video. This includes (but is certainly not limited to, as any producer will tell you)…
Assembling a crew
Auditioning and casting actors
Scouting and booking locations
Creating a shot list
Renting gear
Writing schedules (know as “call sheets”)
Buying props
Organizing catering
Booking transportation and accommodations
Buying insurance
Balancing the books
A whole, whole lot more!
A producer’s job during pre-production is to ensure that everyone has what they need on the day of filming. It’s a very tedious but absolutely critical step in the process, and some would argue that this stage never really ends. No matter how well-planned a production is, problems will arise. Producers exist to ensure things continue moving on-time and on-budget, no matter what.
Next up, we turn all of our planning and ideating into action.
Step 3: Production
This is the simplest and most complex part of the process.
Production is finally when we get to call, “Lights! Camera! Action!” The success of production truly does depend on the quality a project’s development and pre-production process. (For that reason, we always recommend investing healthily in those two phases.) Ideally, production is the execution of a well-thought-out plan. There’s always a degree of improvisation on set, sure, but really, all of the hard decisions should’ve already been made.
If you think of production as the gathering of all necessary materials to make your video, then you can think of the next step—post-production—as the assembly of those materials.
Step 4: Post-production
Post-production is the coming-together of all the previous steps of the process. This is where your video is really brought to life. Post-production includes (but again, is certainly not limited to):
Video editing
Music composition
Color correction and grading
Sound design and mixing
Voiceover recording
Animation
At the end of “post,” you’ll finally be able to sit back and watch your video from beginning to end. (We recommend doing so with a snack.)
So what happens after post-production?
After post-production comes some form of exhibition or distribution. This could mean advertising your video across social media and TV, or it could simply mean screening your video at an event. Exhibition is all about showing off the vision you just spent so much time making a reality.