Good Video Productions
"My company would like to produce a video, but we don't know where to start..." Small business or large corporation... Thirty-second TV commercial or 'corporate image' video. "Where to start" can be an intimidating first step unless your organization is directly experienced with television and video production. Even then, forethought and planning are the critical ingredients for success. With a well-conceived and appropriate plan, even an unseasoned producer can avoid costly mistakes and outright financial disaster. But no organization or individual needs to learn the hard way. The wheel of electronic visual communication has been re-invented so many times that there is now absolutely no reason not to be able to produce an effective and useful video production. Planning is the key; here's how. Video and television communication (like all communication) can be boiled down to simple terms. It is important to consider and identify these basic terms before you make another step, even if you intend to have professional producers do the entire project. There are (naturally) any number of professionals available to help facilitate your success: communications consultants, creative directors, freelance producers, professional scriptwriters, TV media advisors and video advocates galore. These and other and production agents will be useful in helping to make the most of your efforts... For a price. But regardless of whether you choose to use such outside services, or opt to do your own producer-related work, it is still important to arm yourself with a few basic tools that will help insure the overall effectiveness and eventual success of your production efforts. What follows is a basic video production primer that will save you time, frustration, dignity and best of all, money... FIRST Remember that all things VISUAL begin as something WRITTEN. For now, concentrate on the written aspects of your production, (the audio or narrative portion). The moving pictures, titles, text and graphics will come later. Open your notebook and open your mind. The first page should be blank in both areas. For now, forget any preconceived notions about art film, MTV or Euro-style advertising (you know the ones... Where the product has nothing to do with the message, and you don't even know who the sponsor is until their logo comes up at the end, and even then you're not sure what it is you just saw). Unless you are very experienced at abstract visual communications, leave the esoterica to Hollywood. 2 Write three things at the top of your first blank page: 1. What I am trying to communicate. (As brief as possible; one sentence, one topic). 2. Why I am producing this video. (Your mission statement is as few words as possible). 3. Who I am communicating with. (Be specific. Be realistic; "The buying public" is neither). EXAMPLE # 1: (Industrial production) 1. "The proper way to clean the pizza ovens." 2. One-on-one training is time-consuming and repetitious. Video training saves time & money. 3. All current and future "Pizza Joint" employees, supervisors included. EXAMPLE #2 (Commercial Production) 1. "Pizza Joint is a great place for meals, and now we offer home delivery." 2. We are implementing home-delivery on a trial basis and we need to let our customers know. 3. Pizza Joint customers familiar with our product, and potential new home-delivery market. Make up some trial examples of your own... They needn't be cryptic or overly brief, the important thing is to boil down your ideas into one clear, concise message and motive with a well-defined target audience. People respond best to simple notions and pointed concepts especially in the age of information overload and sensory congestion on the electronic highway. (I promise not to use that highway-word thing again in this article). SECOND Outline your basic ideas (that's right, the dreaded O-word) in narrative form. And if you missed outlining way back in Composition 101 you need not panic, because here it comes again: Roman Numeral Number One: I. Introduction, Background, History, Production Purpose or Motive and other pertinent information appropriate to your opening statements... "Here at Widgets West we've been building the best widgets in the world for over fifty years. Hi, I'm Henry Ford, President of W W Inc., and I'd like to share some valuable news with you that is going to forever change the way you look at widget manufacturing." This introductory segment should explain who you are (or your company) what your communication mission and goals are, and should let your audience know what they may expect if they are to view the rest of the video. This is a good place to throw in whatever tidbits of company or product history that may be useful to your message and motive. "Southern Colorado's best value in home-style pizza just got better!" We also lay groundwork for the next section, where we will provide proof for our opening: Roman Numeral Number Two: II. Supporting Data, Processes, Proof and Information. The "Nuts and Bolts" of the tape. 3 "You know that P J's Pizzas are better because we use only the freshest ingredients and best quality herbs and spices in our authentic Old-World recipes. But did you know P J's now delivers?" This section provides the backup arguments to assertions presented in the first segment. Whether we are producing a 30-second ad or a 30-minute marketing or informational video, the case we make for our mission statement and communication purpose occurs here. "As you can clearly observe in this time lapse sequence, at no time did the Westbound vehicular traffic at the intersection exceed the maximum rated average of 100 vehicles per hour. Peak traffic flows on the date in question occurred between the hours of 5:15 and 6:15 p.m. when a total of 78 vehicles entered the intersection." Roman Numeral Number Three: III. Conclusion, Summary & "Pitch" or Call to Action. This segment re-affirms section #I, and should convey the precise reason we went to our production efforts... "The supervisor on duty should be sure to follow these steps at the end of every shift... And remember, a clean pizza oven makes for a safer work environment and a better-tasting pizza." "Widgets West continues to lead the world in state-of-the-art widget manufacturing technology. We think you'll find these improvements in our widget fabrication and delivery processes to translate to higher reliability and greater savings to you and your customers." "We think you can now agree that this intersection will easily support the additional traffic projections that the construction of the new Kwiky Mart would translate into. It is our hopes that this committee will vote favorably on our development proposal." "Great tasting P J's pizza plus free delivery makes an unbeatable deal! Call today!"
If your writing and composition needs a bit of help, this might be the appropriate time to bring in objective advisors, or a creative writer or script consultant that can help fine-tune the process. STORYBOARD Now you're ready to designate what VIDEO attaches to the audio bed, voice-over or narrative that we've completed. Notes on these visuals will be written in the left margin in the appropriate spaces next to the audio script. (Format your script to allow for as much room for video margin notes as you need, even little pictures if you prefer). This layout, with an audio column on the right half of the page and a video column on the left is known as a STORYBOARD. The storyboard is an essential ingredient to every video production, and is what is used to generate a PRODUCTION SCHEDULE. 4 SHOTSHEET The video notes on the left side of your storyboard are compiled into a SHOTSHEET, which gives a name (or numerical designation) to each particular video clip or scene, (such as "Storefront" or "logo"). The shotsheet is useful because it allows us to simply make note of the fact that (for instance) the opening of the production and the end are both the same scene, perhaps designated as SHOT #1, "Storefront." Next might be; SHOT #2, "Wide Interior at Reception area" and so forth. SHOOT SCHEDULE Once the shotsheet has been put to paper in a logical fashion a SHOOT SCHEDULE is generated. The Shoot Schedule may not necessarily follow the same order as the appearance of scenes in the finished production, as shot #1 above illustrates. Another example; because of lighting concerns, maybe all of the outside scenes are shot at the same time even though exterior scenes may alternate with interior scenes in the finished production. EDIT SCHEDULE Editing is where all of the various audio and video elements of your production are brought together into an EDITED MASTER. Editing is where the real magic of television takes place; where the ideas and concepts that once were purely visions begin to form real images on the TV screen. Ordinarily all of the planning, conceptual work, audio and video recording is finished by the time the final elements are brought into the edit suite. Audio elements include a finished and approved voice track, a background music bed (if appropriate) special sound effects and so forth. Video elements include camera raw video footage, logo slicks or artwork, a list of titles for computer-generated titling, and possibly even 3-D video graphics or animation on data disk. All of these components are mixed and assembled in one or more edit sessions. Typically an approval copy of the finished production is furnished to you on VHS which may be viewed by you or your production team for possible late changes. (Be forewarned however, that changes are usually charged back to the producer, especially if they were present during the edit sessions.) If multiple copies or DUBS of your production are to be made, usually a SUBMASTER is made to help protect the edited master from the rigors of mass duplication. There are naturally many details of video production omitted from this basic outline. But like anything else, an effective, successful video production begins with a good plan. You don't need a lot of background or huge budget to produce a good video. But, you do need a place to start. May I suggest that you go back to the top of this article, the place right after the line that says: "My company would like to produce a video, but we don't know where to start..." Tom Peru TIMELINE Every production that is in the conceptual, or planinng stage is said to be in DEVELOPMENT. A useful tool that will help this stage is the construction of a development TIMELINE with projected schedules, goals and completion dates for the various elements of planning and actual production.
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Updated 8/12/2005 |
Your outline can now be expanded (or
condensed) and refined into a SCRIPT. The script begins as a running narrative of
everything we are to HEAR on the production. This narrative should have stand-alone value
in and of itself... much as if it were to be a purely audio presentation such as a radio
program or a descriptive telephone conversation. Even if you already know what and where
visuals occur, always finish your narrative first. If there is no voice-over for a
segment, fine... Write "No VO" or "music up" or "natural
sound" and assign a time value ( ex: 12 sec). 