There are a lot of things that go into the creation of a video. Most businesses choose to hire a production agency to create their video. But suppose you attempt to produce the video yourself. In that case, you must understand the importance of a video production checklist and everything enlisted in it.
This article will cover the contents of a video production checklist, from pre to post-production, and the video production steps to prepare you for the successful production of your video.
Box One: A Strong Storyboarding and Scripting
Every successful outcome is a result of excellent planning and coordination. For the first box of the video production checklist, you need to state how you want your video to go, and this starts with a script and a storyboard.
Storyboarding: This is different from a script, as it is a visual representation of your video and not a written one. It helps you to organize visible entities that will cause viewers to focus on the video. It is like a script, but optimized for editors and camera operators, and can be changed during the shooting to account for new ideas. Still, it’s an excellent way to visualize your story before you start shooting the video.
The Script: The importance of a good script should never be underrated because without it, you might bore or irritate your viewers. Simply put, if you want your audience to pay attention and understand the words your actors or voice-over artist, you need a well structured script.
When writing your script, it is best to begin with a catchy phrase or flashy visual that gets your viewers’ attention and defines your video’s objective. Make sure to write your script in the language your viewers will understand and end the video with a call to action.
Box Two: Recruit Excellent Cast
Poor acting equals terrible ratings and fewer views. It’s essential to pay attention to the sort of actors you are recruiting for the video. Top talent is not the only goal; but, the message of your video is likely to be well-received and engaged with when the acting is excellent.
You do not need to do an award-winning performance for your video to pass your message to the viewers. However, hiring relatable actors that will make the video engaging is essential.
Box Three: A Top-Notch Set
You can use two main sets for shooting your video: location shooting and controlled set.
Controlled Set: This is a temporary setup in a room, confined space, or building. It is primarily a location that is undisturbed by anything. This type of setting enables you to have control over the shooting area. Although it takes a lot of work to make the set feel more authentic, you can pull it off as long as you have enough on your budget.
Location Shooting: This is a common type of shoot, especially for movies. This set already creates everything needed, like parks, mountains, etc. But the downside is the issues with noise interference, uncontrolled lighting, and bad weather.
Box Four: A Quality Camera Equipment
After selecting the set, you will need to get quality camera equipment that suits your needs and learn how to operate it effectively. So here are the steps to getting a quality camera.
Choose the right camera, an affordable one, depending on your budget, and one you could easily control. The right camera gives you different options of lenses to achieve your video shoot.
Select the best lenses because your video’s quality depends on them. You can get a different type of lens, such as a lens with the ability to zoom without diminishing its quality. You can also research various lenses and choose the one that suits your needs.
Box Five: Set the Camera
Camera settings can be complex, but you will get the hang of it with frequent usage and practice. Here are a few settings that are important to your video production.
White balance is the color temperature of the footage. The shot is warmer when the white balance is high, and the cooler shot results from a lower white balance.
ISO determines the sensitivity of your camera to light. You can increase the ISO in dark shots, while in bright shots, you can lower the ISO.
Frame rate determines how quickly your video is measured and recorded in frames per second. News broadcast and live video shoots at 30fps, and slow-motion videos shoot between 60fps to 120fps. So, you can pick any of these depending on what you want.
Aperture: This is measured by the tag “f-stop.” It determines the amount of light that comes into the camera, and a low f-stop equals ample light and vice versa.
Focus determines what aspect of your footage is clear and which aspects are blurry. It has an auto-focus setting that readjusts during the shoot.
Shutter speed measures how fast the camera snaps. It’s related to fps in video shooting; a lower shutter speed can blur your motion.
Box Six: Have A Three Point Lighting System
Ensure you tick having a three-point lighting system for your project. The lighting systems include:
Key Light – this is the primary source of light
Fill Light – this light provides depth and softens the shadows of your image.
Backlight – this should be behind your image to remove shadows and do background separation
Box Seven: Start Video Shooting
After you have done the above on your video production checklist, you can begin the actual work. Here are tips to help you out.
- Create a video shoot schedule – the schedule must be created to make your team productive.
- Make sure you stick to your script and do not stray from your defined objective.
- Ease the work of your editor by shooting good footage.
- Pay attention to the footage continuity, although the master editor can undo some mistakes.
Box Eight: Edit Your Video
After you have all the footage needed to make a video, the editor can ideally sync footage until it becomes a finished product. Take your time to go through this phase and furnish your video well with something your viewers can enjoy.
Here are a few tips to help your team edit your footage.
- Use the stock of footage to support your video.
- Cut out the fluff, and keep videos that achieve your set goals.
- You can add special visual effects to your videos to engage your viewers.
- Add up a background sound depending on the concept of the video you are using.
Conclusion
The production of a quality video takes longer than most people think due to the many processes that go into it. But the video production process becomes faster when you have a productive video production checklist. Next time you want to make a video, use this detailed and efficient video production checklist to boost productivity.