In the digital age, video is a traffic powerhouse. In 2022, research revealed that a staggering 82% of Internet traffic was attributed to video, underscoring its undeniable popularity. This popularity is mirrored in the use of video in business marketing as well. With this surge in video content, efficient production and review processes are essential for a range of video types. In this article, you will learn what video production is, the steps to producing great video content, and why an efficient video production process is important for your team. Let’s dive in!
What is video production?
Video production merges visual and audio elements to captivate a specific audience and tell a story. Its versatility in bringing brands to life makes it a fundamental tool for marketing teams to engage consumers along their journey with your brand. In fact, 91% of businesses will use video as a marketing tool in 2023.
With this surge in digital content consumption, 2022 witnessed an impressive array of video types tailored to engage viewers:
- 66% of video marketers created live-action videos in 2022.
- 57% of video marketers created screen-recorded videos in 2022.
- 55% of video marketers created animated videos in 2022.
Steps in the video production process
The video proofing and production process brings your story to life. There are three core steps to this process. And each step is vital.
(1) Pre-production: planning for your video
Video production begins with planning, which involves crucial discussions with your team. Here’s a checklist to consider:
- Define your video’s objective: Is it to drive website visits or boost brand awareness?
- Establish the budget and scope.
- Select the story you want to tell.
- Set a project timeline.
- Work on scriptwriting.
- Decide on casting choices.
- Determine your production team and equipment requirements.
- Scout suitable filming locations.
These initial steps lay the foundation for a successful video production journey.
(2) Production: from ideas to action
The production phase is where the magic happens. Here, interviews and footage are captured, and the storyboards start to breathe. This phase can vary in duration from days to hours, depending on the project’s size, as various departments like the director, cinematography, lighting, and art collaborate to bring the video to life. The production phase involves:
- Set up equipment for sound, lighting, and video.
- Capture interviews and essential footage.
- Record additional sound if needed.
- Film outtakes and extra footage.
(3) Post-production: edit and review videos
Post-production is usually the second-longest stage after pre-production. Typically, there are multiple stakeholders who need to review and approve edits, revisions, and final cuts. This is your final chance to make sure it is perfect.
Your producer will scrutinize all footage and transcribe all interviews conducted. Next, they will assemble the story, and the video editor will work their magic to put all the clips together. Finding the perfect software to aid in this process can be overwhelming due to the plethora of choices. That’s why we recommend the following user-friendly options:
- Wondershare Filmora: a budget-friendly, user-friendly video editing tool that continually introduces fresh features.
- Final Cut Pro: a modern, pro-approved tool with a unique “trackless” timeline.
- Adobe Premiere Pro: provides a comprehensive range of features to empower pros to craft impactful stories.
After you’ve made your desired edits, it’s time to get feedback and approval from your stakeholders. The most highly recommended online proofing solution for this task is PageProof. PageProof simplifies the review and approval process by allowing all your stakeholders to provide real-time feedback in the same place – saving hours of time.
Benefits of PageProof
- Support for the broadest video formats like mp4, m4v, avi, mkv, mov, and gif.
- Support for reviewing subtitle files like SRT and VTT.
- Reviewers can mark and comment directly on video frames, even across time, and control playback speed.
- Handy volume control for video and audio reviews
- Gridlines for checking the alignment of elements.
- Workflows make it simple to get feedback from the right people, in the right order.
- Checklists can be added to a proof, making it simple to highlight essential items to be checked for reviewers proofing the video.
- Seamless integration with Premiere Pro and After Effects through the PageProof Adobe add-on allows you to send your proof directly from your design tool, and comments are brought back in layered over the timeline.
Collaboration is key to the video production process
Effective communication, along with regular feedback, is vital for successful collaboration. Particularly in the dynamic field of video production. The creation of video material often involves numerous team members and decision-makers. Given its complexity and the size of the team, it is critical to establish a collaborative review process at each stage of production.
Traditionally, email would have been at the heart of the feedback and sign-off process. If you’re relying on email for script and video review and approval, you’re already facing challenges:
- You can’t annotate and provide feedback on videos accurately.
- Managing multiple change requests from your team is complicated, leading to chaos.
- Video formats aren’t compatible, necessitating multiple software conversions.
- Meeting deadlines becomes harder as the number of video assets to produce increases.
With PageProof, you can set up video production workflow templates for multiple projects with pre-assigned review steps and reviewers. Whether it’s script review in pre-production, image evaluation during filming, or final video review in post-production, PageProof streamlines the process for a seamless video production experience.
Examples of best video content
Staying creative is the key to breaking through the noise. To fuel your next video adventure, we’ve curated a selection of 10 best-in-class video campaigns from 2022. They are filled with innovative concepts, captivating visuals, and ingenious brand messaging. Which one’s your favorite? Find out more.
Wrap Up
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital content, video marketing is an absolute must-have. Hence, mastering the video production process is your ticket to success. Regardless of your budget, following the three-step process outlined above is essential to ensuring your video content resonates with your target audience. Throughout the process, continuous collaboration is crucial to keep the project focused, streamline timely revisions, and meet project completion deadlines. With PageProof, you can simplify your path to video marketing excellence. Happy producing!
Note: This article is updated frequently to reflect the continuous rollout of features. The most recent being Dec 2023.