The Four Stages of Video Production

4 stages excellently executed and you could be giving the world the next Avatar, or perhaps more modestly, the next viral skit with 1 million views or again the next award-winning globally-acclaimed documentary.

4 distinct but interconnected stages.

Understand each. Master each. Failure in one will affect the execution of another. Take no stage granted and you’d undoubtedly give your audience a masterpiece 

PREPRODUCTION

This is where you lay a solid foundation for your video. This solid foundation comprises the following steps;

1. Concept and Script Development:  Every video content begins with an idea, after which you develop a treatment, and then move on to the screenplay or script as the case may be.
2. Assemble a Team: This is a very crucial part where you set out to hire the creative team for your production. This state would traditionally involve finding the right video production company (if applicable), hiring a director, cinematographer and assembling your cast. The size and scope of your team will be determined by the scale of your video production as the team for a TV jingle or skit will most-likely not be the same as the one for a feature-length movie or full music production
3. Budget Documentation: It’s important to highlight all major expenses and possible funds that’d be needed to bring your video to life. There are low-budget, high-budget and middle-budget productions and this is the stage where you define that scale.
4. Storyboarding: Again, this depends on the scale and scope of your production. When applicable, this phase will require the creative team to brainstorm and conceive visual representations of different concepts and ideas that will best tell the story at hand and in ways that will resonate with the target audience. Technically, every scene is broken down in chronological form with important notes to best communicate each aspect of the story.
5. Logistics: This stage ensures that all necessary operational planning and multi-level scheduling needed to achieve a smooth shoot/production are put in place. From technical assets needed for production to scouting of location, behind-the-scene elements to on-set insurance, everything gets broken down as crew and cast await the D-day when production starts.

PRODUCTION

Here’s the stage of light, camera and action.

The crew and cast forge ahead on their story-telling venture after a shooting schedule must have been developed in the pre-production phase. Depending on the scope, scale and schedules though, this is usually the longest and most cost-intensive production, it basically involves

1. Filming: This involves shooting and capturing footages and it gets done as the Video Director guides and instructs the camera man(or men), actors and other members of the cast and crew.
2. Lighting: This involves creating the tone and texture of your video scenes through the use of light.
3. Sound Recording: Poor sound quality can mess up great footages hence this is a very key process in the production stage. Quality sound equipment must be set up to ensure a flawless sound production. 
4. Development and Gathering of other elements necessary for production and post-production e.g. behind-the-scene images, archival footages etc

POST-PRODUCTION

A beautiful idea scripted during preproduction, well interpreted during production may get dented during post-production. To avoid this, it’s essential to take all the post-production processes with utmost excellence and seriousness.

1. All raw footages are edited, colour graded etc using Video Editing Softwares such as Adobe Premier Pro, Davinci Resolve, Light Works etc. You can read more on Video Editing softwares here;https://holoceneinnovations.com/2022/11/14/easy-video-editing-tool-for-churches/)
2. Add graphics, animations and effects where necessary
3. Add audio tracks and voice overs where applicable

MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION

Having a great content without knowing how to get it to the desired audience is like winking in the dark.

This is where a good marketing and distribution strategy comes in. Again, depending on the scale and budget of production, the business of marketing and distribution is usually handed over to a dedicated video distribution and marketing company.

It is however important to note that there are various distribution channel options for a video content which mostly would depend on the type of content, target audience and expected outcome. Generally speaking, video content can be distributed via these four methods and channels

1. Social Media platforms like
2. Email Marketing
3. Websites and Blogs
4. Paid Ads

Combining these four stages together, from Preproduction to Distribution along with other creative essentials such such as creativity, good story-telling etc would undoubtedly lead to an outstanding video production.