In this series, we are exploring the production decisions which need to be considered when making videos for your products. Video, as a combination of audio and visual, gives you multiple ways to present your message. Understanding the options available to you, and the time/money/engagement implications of each, will help prepare you for your first meeting with a video producer.
Pre-production is the process of creating and refining the plan for making your video. It starts with broad ideas which then get chipped away at until a solid understanding of Who/What/When/Where/How is achieved. The goal during this phase is to make all the important decisions so that the next two phases, production and post-production, are a simple matter of following the plan.
As the client, the workload starts on your plate. You are the expert on the product, the brand, the company, and the audience. Since the video will be serving your marketing needs, you should have a solid understanding of your message and who you are talking to before you sit down with the producer. I recommend having a bullet point list of 5 items or less to my clients who want a two-minute (or shorter) video.
The first real document in the process is called the treatment. No more than a paragraph or two, it provides the highest-level overview of what the video will be. It will take the talking points you’ve identified and introduce the creative way in which that information will be imparted. This is the first step which a producer will be able to assist you. It is quite common for a producer to take your information and write up several treatments which illustrate ways to structure the video.
While working on the treatment you will also begin to consider the topics we’ve previously gone over: talent, location, and graphics. The budget should also be at the edge of your thinking – either the one you have to work with or the one you are trying to figure out. I tell my clients to think big while working on the treatment. I want them to have their best ideas before letting the reality of their situation (budget and other resource availability) bring the ideas back down to earth. That way there will always be some nugget of the original vision in the final video.
The treatment is your guiding principle; your thesis statement. In the next article, we will go deeper down the rabbit hole as we cover the ways in which that idea becomes the actual video. Have a question or comment? Please leave it below and be part of the discussion!
