Whether you’re a business or someone with a story to tell, you’ll want to know the stages, expected timelines, and costs of the video production process.
In this article, we’ll cover:
What Is Video Production?
Video production is a three stage process that professionals use to create videos.
The video production process will help you stay organized and on-budget as you work to complete your creative video project.
The basic video production process is similar to watching a film unfold on screen with a beginning, middle, and end.
Intro to Video Production: The Three Stages
Whether you are working on a small-budget social media video or a feature-length film, the video production process has three distinct phases: pre-production, production, and post-production.
Each phase of the video production process supports the next and will help you stay organized as you work.
Pre-Production
Pre-production is the very first step of producing a video. This initial step is where you set yourself up for success.
Pre-production is where you establish a creative brief, write the script, create storyboards, craft the shot list, scout for locations to film, and hire crew members.
In pre-production, you estimate costs, create budgets, and establish timelines of when specific pieces of the project should be completed.
The length of time that you spend in the pre-production phase depends greatly on what you are planning to deliver.
Considering distribution and marketing of the video production is also an important stage of pre-production.
Pre-production for a social media video, a music video, or an experimental short film may only be a few weeks. While pre-production time for a TV series or a feature-length film can take a number of months or up to a year.
Be diligent in the pre-production phase of video production—it will help things run smoothly, on-time, and as close to budget as possible once you enter the production phase.
Production
The second step is production—also known as principal photography. In this phase, all of the content is gathered that will be edited into the final video production.
Like pre-production, the length of time that production takes is dependent on what you are trying to create. The production time for a short video could take only a few days to complete, while a feature-length film may be in the production phase for months at a time.
In documentary filmmaking, it’s not unusual for a video project to stay in the production phase for years.
In the production phase, you will film scenes, gather b-roll footage, and record sound that gets used in the final video production.
If you’ve been diligent during the pre-production stage of the video process, the production process will be much smoother.
Spending enough time in pre-production also makes it easier to pivot when something unexpected happens on set that increases cost or delays timing.
Post-Production
Once principle photography wraps, you move into the post-production stage. At this point, RAW materials are handed off to editors and assistant editors who shape the story into its final form.
In larger-scale productions, any post-production work is typically handled by a different team of professionals.
In lower-budget video productions, it’s not uncommon that the director or videographer will handle the video production’s editing, too.
The post-production phase also includes colorists enhancing color, sound engineers mixing final audio, and VFX teams creating any special effects that will appear in the finished video.
Once a video project is in post-production, it’s not unusual for it to bounce between the editing team, sound team, color team, and VFX team for final approvals and last minute edit notes.
The post-production phase of a creative video production can take many months to complete, depending on the scope of the final deliverables. Staying organized in the pre-production process makes the work that gets completed in post-production run more smoothly.
What’s the Difference Between a Small Production and a Large-Scale Production?
The three stages of production remain the same regardless of the scope of your creative video production. The time spent in each of these stages can be very different depending on the size and budget of your video production and the final deliverables.
A large-scale video production—like a television commercial, a feature-length film, or a coordinated social media campaign—will generally involve a large crew of people, more stakeholders, bigger budgets, and tighter shooting and video production editing timelines.
Depending on what is being filmed and where it’s being filmed, you may find yourself overseeing million dollar budgets, working with union crews, and being asked to provide insurance certificates before you start filming.
A smaller-scale video production will likely have a much smaller team and have a less expansive budget. Small creative video productions generally come with less restrictions when it comes to who can be working on set or what kinds of documentation you need before you start video production.
In a small production, it’s not unusual for a videographer to also end up as the editor and colorist for a final piece. Small-scale video productions tend to have fewer stakeholders, require less approvals, and move through the three stages of the video production process at a much faster pace.
Examples of small productions that you might encounter include video explainers, social media sizzles, music videos, and short web documentaries.
How Do I Hire a Crew for a Video Production?
Figuring out who you need to hire is a crucial step of the pre-production process. Having a creative brief on what the final video product will look like ultimately helps determine who needs to be part of the team that makes it happen.
Small productions generally require less crew to get made, while a large-scale video production requires a much larger team of people.
On small-scale video productions, it’s not uncommon to hire a few talented freelancers to bring the project to life.
Examples of small-scale videos include event recap videos, video explainers, and social media reels. A small team that has a single creative handling video production, filming, and editing is usually plenty to make this style of video.
For a larger-scale and higher-budget video, bringing on a production company can be a great way to fill the various roles on set. A production company can also help determine the talent that you need to get the job done.
Working with a production company is a smart way to staff your video production with a team of specialized professionals which will make the time spent on set during production much more efficient.
Who’s on a Video Production Crew?
These are some of the common crew members that a production company may provide:
- Director: Creative leader on the days leading up to the shoot and during the production. Works with all of the talent and crew members to ensure a smooth day.
- Director of Photography (aka DP): In charge of camera, lighting, and capturing the shots in-camera during principal photography.
- Gaffer: Assistant that helps with lighting.
- Art Director: Works with Director and DP on location with props and set-dressing.
- Hair and Makeup: Preps talent so that they look their best once the camera is rolling.
- Wardrobe: Dresses any on-camera talent.
- Sound: Records audio during video production.
- Craft Services: Keeps a well-stocked selection of drinks and snacks on-hand for crew and talent during filming of the video production.
Cost and Budgeting
Making a creative brief and envisioning what the final product will look like is a big part of planning for the cost of video production. The pre-production stage of the video production process will also help you create a realistic budget and estimate what things may end up costing.
Equipment rental, location rental, insurance, and paying crew members during production and post-production are all elements that should be considered when producing a video. These numbers will help you create a realistic budget before you move into other stages of the video production process.
Using a spreadsheet to keep track of these costs during the pre-production stage is a great way to stay organized—it will also be useful for planning video production projects in the future.
What producing a video ends up costing is impossible to estimate without pre-production. It’s also highly dependent on the professionals you hire throughout the process, as well as the gear and locations you may end up renting.
Having a clear scope of how much you intend to spend before you begin a video project will help determine what the final product looks like and help keep your spending on track as production and post-production are underway.
Distribution and Marketing
Distribution and marketing is what happens once the video production has been completed. It’s how people see and engage with the final video.
As a creative video production moves through the process of post-production, it’s important to have your mind on distribution and marketing.
Although this is something that you should be considering in the early stages of pre-production, this final stage becomes more concrete once filming is over and the post-production team is shaping the video assets into its final form.
The final video product will often determine how it is distributed and marketed. Filmmakers creating feature-length film productions or experimental short films are often thinking about film festival deadlines in the earliest stages of pre-production.
When the produced video is tied to an event or product launch, the release should be tied to those deadlines and announcements. Different cuts and formats of the video might be used to promote it on specific platforms.
Do the research ahead of time to determine what platforms might be the best fit to get eyes on your final video project.
Staying organized during the three stages of the video production will help keep the process running smoothly, but also ensures you can deliver your final product on time and within budget.
License this cover image via Frame Stock Footage.
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