Here are our processes to help you create better video.

A how-to guide to the planning process of video.

I get the feeling this will become a work in progress, but at lunch yesterday this idea came up in discussion. In a few weeks I'll be presenting a workshop on video production methodologies, strategies and some of the best tips we've learned.

It was actually one of those lightbulb moments.

The things that often cause the most stress for the team, come from a lack of education to our clients and that is totally on us. We sometimes assume knowledge, where it's best if we lay it out first. Here is what we have learned so far, this is what we use every day.

Start with the end in mind

If you don't know where you're heading from experience I can tell you the journey will be complex. You need a clear purpose to the work and even more importantly, a clear delivery date. From the delivery date, we work backwards to design a pre-production, production, post-production, review and delivery schedule.

With the end in mind, you need to be very clear about where it will be delivered. TV, Cinema, Web, Social.

Then you need to think about your outputs, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 5:4. Where do you want it to go and what are you hoping for it to do. These are a few of the commonly used sizings across platforms. The reason this matters, is that we actually frame the shots based on the outputs. Fixing it later will give far from ideal results.

Allow time for planning

We're not a news crew. Sure some people are, but for the way that we work, it's all about careful planning and reducing the variables. A call to say can you shoot tomorrow? Most often we can figure something out and we totally get it when an opportunity arises. However, if it's a campaign that's part of your strategic marketing, best to be talking about it six weeks before. If it's a TVC, longer the better.

Details, details, details

The more the better. What, why, when, where, how. One of our favourite things is detailed briefs. We are terrible mind reader, however with a little planning, it's all possible. What really catches us off guard is an interview for one person and suddenly we have four in front of us at once. We have framed, lit and set up sound for one. It can take another 30 or 40 minutes to reset even a simple change.

Shoot Day

We love to have our clients on-site so they can witness everything that goes into production. The big part to remember on the day is that we are usually running to a very tight schedule and that every minute of the day has generally been planned out. Also, sometimes at video village if the footage looks grey, don't worry, you can just drop some lingo and ask, "is that feed still in log?"

Post Production

This is where both the magic and the tears happen. It's all in the can, we've got the footage. Now it's time to put it all together. From our detailed pre-production, we will work to a post schedule to deliver an assembly draft. This is basically a rough cut so that we can run it past the client to provide feedback before we take it any further. The key here is to understand that it will still be a bit rough. This stage it's so much easier to make changes before we've taken it too far.

As we progress through the post-stage after that first round of feedback, we will present a delivery candidate. This is for final sign off or small tweaks, as by this stage it is all but signed off.

Once the delivery candidate has been approved, we then create all of the different outputs per the production schedule. From here, we just share the magic.

Scope of Work

What I'm sharing below is from our documentation when we present a Scope of Work to a client. It lays out all of the most important pieces of information. This is how we start every single project.

Key Deliverables

Here's where we lay it out. What we are actually making.

FORMAT: 1 x 90 second production

OUTPUT: 1920 x 1080p H.264

PURPOSE: Remember that bit about starting with the end in mind? This is where we write it down.

Timeline

This is where we put in the precise date range of the project.

Concept Development 

Here's where we add a little bit of magic. We're a creative company after all. Having discussed the project, we then work through it with our senior creative team to develop the concept into something really special.

Milestones

Content production will move through four phases in alignment with key delivery dates.

STAGE 1 - Pre-Production 

Inclusions: 

• Site visit, for technical requirements and further vision and audio inspiration. The number of site trips required determined after the first visit
• Storyboard development and finalisation
• Required output confirmed 
• Run sheet for all phases including detailed timelines
• Filming equipment preparation 
• Film crew organisation

STAGE 2 - Production 

Inclusions:

• Onsite filming by tprmedia – Exact time confirmed in pre-production 
• Clients are welcome to attend these days in an observation role and will be provided with a client monitor to review the filming in real time with a live signal coming from the primary camera. 

STAGE 3 - Post Production 

Inclusions:

• Raw footage assembly 
• First round draft presented
• Feedback - Scope allows for two (2) rounds of major feedback 
• Final confirmation of content with screen supers and music
• Colour correction 

STAGE 4 – Delivery

Inclusions: 

• Complete product delivered
• 1 x final round of feedback 
• Delivered in H.264 1980 x 1920p

TPR MEDIA Team

Here, we list the specific roles that will be used on the project. Here is an example list.

Production Team

• Director x 1 
• Producer x 1

Camera

• A Camera (Director of Photography) x 1
• First AC x 1
• B Camera Operator x 1

Lighting and Rigging

• Key Grip x 1
• Assistant x 1

DIT

• Director of Information Technology x 1

Support Crew 

• Production Assistant x 1 
• Runner x 1

BTS

• Camera Operator

Post Production 

• Editor x 1
• Colourist x 1
• Motion Graphics Artist x 1

Administration

• Finance Coordinator (as needed) 
• Team Assistant (as needed)

Costs by Phase

Then we break it down, by the phases of the project, as well as listing the inclusions and exclusions and I've provided an example budget below for a content piece.

1.  Pre Production Phase $5,500 (ex GST)
2.  Production Phase $22,000(ex GST)
3.  Post Production Phase $5,500 (ex GST)
4.  Final Delivery $2,500 (ex GST)

   Total $35,500 ex GST

Exclusions 

• Additional formats for delivery of content 
• Additional production costs for content pieces outside of the listed key deliverables.

So there you have it. That's how we do it. All our information shared and this has all been developed to actually help to guide and assist our clients through the process.

I hope this helps you too.

tpr.media