As you sit and watch your favorite movie or TV show, you probably don’t think about how much work or planning was put into creating it. How long did it take them to film? How difficult was the editing process? Who came up with the idea or script? Depending on the type of film, video production companies spend a good amount of time planning, filming and editing. From the storyboard to the big screen, here’s how your favorite videos and movies are made.
Pre-Production
Although you might think that a good film starts with a storyboard, this step actually comes a little bit later in the pre-production stage. Before a storyboard is created, there are a few other things that need to be decided first.
Even before video production companies start coming up with video ideas, they have to determine both their budget as well as their goals. The topic of a video will depend on what you want to achieve. Production companies have to decide if they want to increase brand awareness or perhaps improve engagement. Once they know what their marketing goals are, they then start brainstorm ideas that will help meet those goals.
Once there’s an idea, its time to start writing a script. After the script is written, producers have a good idea of what shots they will need. This is also when they create their storyboards.
The last step in the pre-production phase is figuring out equipment, locations, talent and when to shoot.
Production
Now that all the necessary planning is done, it’s time to start production. This is where storyboards and shot lists come in handy. An important step is making sure the cameras and lights are all set up properly before filming starts so that the footage doesn’t get messed up.
One thing that all video production companies do is get B-roll footage. B-roll is basically any footage without subjects in it. When editing a film, B-roll can come in handy when trying to establish the setting or even when you need to add some length or extra scenes to a film.
Post Production
After everything has been filmed, its time to take it to the post-production phase. Now, editing isn’t just piecing the clips together and adding some music behind it. Many of the aspects you love in your favorite movies are created in post.
Editing starts by importing the footage into a video editing software and then sorting and labeling it so it’s easy to find. Then, the editor will start making cuts and piecing the footage together.
At this point, it’s time to add sound. If there are going to be any voice-overs, now is the time to record and add these to the film. When adding music, editors need to make sure it matches the tone of the film and is at the right volume.
Just as you would edit a photo to get the colors right, video production companies like to color correct their films. You want the colors to appear as rich as possible as well as all the clips to match, so colorists will come in and play with the colors on a few clips to make them all match.
Another key part of this stage is creating graphics and text. Many video production companies prefer using motion graphics in their video to animate their logo or any text they are adding.
Once the editing process is finished, it’s time to export and publish the video. Where producers display their final product is dependent on how it will contribute to their marketing goals.
As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into creating a quality video. If you are wanting some video content for your company but don’t have the time or resources to create it, give us a call here at Fusion 360, an award-winning video production company.
