A guide to video production

Over the last few years, video content has surged in popularity across all major platforms. It’s touted as the next generation of content marketing and as a millennial, I’m inclined to agree. Videos are like nachos – in the right situation, they’re delicious and easy to consume. On the flip side, they call for a long grocery list and some serious prep time.

Recently, we were given 15 days to produce video content for a client. That’s a tight timeline, but with level heads and a solid plan, we were successful. Here’s how we did it.

Step 1: Script, Sign-off, and Storyboard

We started with the script. You’ll need to consider tone, reading speed, and flow, as they’ll affect your viewer’s perception. Reading the script aloud helped me tremendously, and got it ready for storyboarding. After a few meetings, we settled on video length, animation style, and audio. Four days in and our producer turned over the first keyframe storyboard. We got this.

Steps 2: Editing My Beloved Drafts

We attached each keyframe to one or two sentences to be sure the storyboard and script worked perfectly in tandem. This totally transformed how we heard our message, but was a lot harder to do than anticipated. I stress ate my way through this part of the process and want to thank CLIF for their delicious protein bars (CLIF is not an active sponsor of the Stryve Blog. They’re just awesome).

We did five or six editing rounds, and a third of the keyframes and script wound up getting replaced – nothing was safe from editing! Our producer added our chosen voice actor, and our first roughs were born.

Step 3: Finally, Some Video Roughs!

Our deadline was coming up fast, so we delivered immediate feedback on each rough. Our background was too boring in the last one, the tokens needed more colour in the next cut… and so on. We approached each rough with fresh eyes and didn’t hold back when it came to criticism.

Say you wanted to make the perfect sandwich – not just a good sandwich – the perfect sandwich. You wouldn’t go with your first of combination bread and meat, you’d taste test a sandwich lineup and iterate sandwich by sandwich. Not enough zip to sandwich #1? Throw some mayo on sandwich #2! It’ll take a lot of bread and a lot of time, but you’ll undoubtedly arrive at the sandwich of your dreams.

With video production, you need to treat each rough as a step towards the perfect video. Too long? Cut scene 2. Too choppy? Rework line 5. Sometimes you need to see what doesn’t work to realize what does. What’s left on the cutting room floor isn’t waste, it’s progress.

Step 4: The Perfect Video

We had several rounds of feedback over a few days before committing to our final cut. The journey was stressful but rewarding, and we learned a lot about creating high-quality video content:

1. Define a clear message for your video by being concise and direct. Your audience will thank you.
2. Don’t be afraid of editing! Done right, editing will make your initial ideas even better. And finally…
3. Open collaboration is crucial throughout every stage of the process. Work as a team, and remember each person’s contribution is valuable.

Even after the stress of producing a ‘bumper-to-bumper’ production, I’m still a millennial in love with video… and CLIF Bars.

Key products: G Suite, Slack, AudioJungle, Voice123.