By James John
There’s little that can beat video when looking to promote a business, as it invokes all of the senses within the viewer, and prior to thinking about a concept, you must first define the objective of the production. It might be to introduce your organisation, or to present a new product line, or even to give your customers an insight into the people behind the company, and once the goals have been established, it is time to think about the concept.
The Storyboard
As you may already know, the storyboard is a step-by-step narrative of the film’s content, which can either be drawn up by commercial artists or by using state of the art computer software, and for a short film of 10-15 minutes, the storyboard would contain many images and captions that incorporate evert section of the finished production. In order to create such a production, you would need to enlist the help of leading video and digital content specialists and they can be found with an online search.
The Project Budget
One of the first things a video production firm would ask is concerning the budget for the production, as this defines the scope of the project in many ways. A healthy budget might involve shooting the footage at an exotic location using top props, while a more limited budget might be best used to create a short animation film. Simply put, the video production company would make you aware of the various options that would be suitable for your planned budget, helping you to make the right choices.
Client Approval
This might take some time, as the creative team would welcome the client’s input and would happily tweak the storyboard to incorporate any new ideas, and once the storyboard has been approved by the client, the schedule can be put together to shoot the raw footage.
Shooting the Film
As you would expect, the project director would want as much raw footage as possible, using various camera angles and backdrops until he or she felt they have enough raw footage with which to create the final cut. Whether filmed on location or in the studio, time is money, so the project manager would ensure that everything that is required is on-site, minimising the actual filming time.
The Video Editing Process
This is when the magic happens, as highly skilled video editors do their stuff by adding background music and combining various layers, while inserting professional transitions that really do make the film a professional production. Once the production is completed, you, the client, would be invited for a preview and providing you are happy with everything, the next stage would be to decide in what formats the video will be produced. Various formats are used for web viewing or for TV, and if you would like the film put onto a DVD, the production team would create a sleeve design and a print for the actual disc.
The video production team can also help with marketing and distribution, and when the film is released, you will see the dramatic effect it has on your customers and realise it was a very worthwhile investment that will pay dividends in more ways than one.
