Author: dev_team

Now that the weather’s warming up, why not film some of your next video outside? Indeed, some of the best online videos are created right in your own backyard, on the streets of a city, or in a park. Basically, anywhere the lighting is good and the ambience is interesting.

We’ve put together a list of useful tips for using these factors to your advantage. Use them to get the most out of your outdoor filming efforts! Keep reading to get the tips.

1. Use the sun as a backlight.

By placing your subject between you and the sun, you can achieve a backlit or “halo” effect that emphasizes the outline of your subject. This can be a desirable effect for romantic or emotionally charged scenes. As a bonus, the subject doesn’t have to squint into the sun.

This technique works best when the sun is at a 45 degree angle. If it’s too low, you risk getting lens flare, so try this after midday. Find out more about how lighting works for video in our recent post.

2. Use the “golden hours” of daylight.

Another option, depending on the look and feel you’re going for, is to film when the sun is low in the sky. Roughly an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset, the sunlight turns golden.

This magical time is referred to as the “golden hour” because nearly everyone and everything looks better in this lighting. Filming with the sun at your back will give your subject a rosy glow.

3. Use a wide aperture.

By manually selecting a wide aperture and zooming in on your subject, you’ll be able to blur the background and sharpen the image of your subject. This is a nice way to visually create ambience without distracting from the subject.

This is particularly important outdoors because it will help minimize the impact of any unwanted movement in the background. By limiting visual distractions, you’ll keep the focus on your subject.

4. Use a microphone.

Perhaps this goes without saying, but outside environments tend to have ambient noise. This can negatively impact the sound quality of your recording.

To solve this problem, use a clip mic or a boom mic—both of which you can place close to the person speaking—to make sure the focal sound is the speaker, not the background. You can find out more about getting the best sound in your video in our recent blog post on the topic.

5. Use filters.

Most cameras these days come with a variety of filters that will eliminate the slight annoyances of outdoor filming that can be distracting, like reflections and glare. A UV filter, for example, will reduce glare, while a polarizing filter will reduce reflections from water and windows.

Read your manual to find out what filters your camera has, and use them! If your camera didn’t come with any, don’t fret. You can often fake this in post production, or buy specialty filters for your camera.

6. Avoid autofocus.

Shooting outdoors often means that there will be several objects in your depth of field, such as buildings, trees, etc. This can confuse the autofocus.

If you’re not careful you’ll end up with footage that keeps focusing on the trees behind your subject, and blurring your subject. Always try to use the manual focus when you’re shooting outdoors to keep this from happening.

Do you have any tips to add to the list? We’d love to hear them. Feel free to leave them in comments below, or give us a shout via Twitter

“That’s a wrap everyone!” is one of the last things you’ll hear on set when a project finishes production. Actors go home, the crew puts away all the equipment and the video is handed over to the Post-Production Producer. It might seem like the hardest part of the journey is done but you’re far from over.

Any production would not be the same without the Post Producer. Post-production is a huge part of the production process as it includes all the editing, sound design and color correction of a TV show, movie or commercial. It’s the Post Producer’s job to see that all of these elements are completed, on-time and on-budget.

Editing a video is a little like playing Tetris… you must place the clips in the correct order so that they flow seamlessly. This can be an especially lofty task since scenes are typically shot out of order. Oftentimes, scenes that were shot days apart when weather conditions were completely different look as if they occurred 10-minutes apart in a film or television series. Therefore, Post Producers must be process oriented, have attention to detail and be creative in order to piece together these scenes.

Once editing is completed, the next step in post-production is sound editing. Often overlooked, sound is just as important as the visuals. Just imagine Jurassic World or The Avengers films without the incredible sound design. Inserting dialogue, sound effects and music make the final product more powerful and enjoyable. During what is known as final mix, all the audio tracks are layered within the piece to give it depth and make it sound as realistic as possible. It’s the Post Producer’s job to ensure the sound follows the Director’s creative vision.

The final mix is not the final step. Most Directors like to finish up by creating a ‘look’ to their work. Although it starts by correcting any errors in color or exposure and matching shots captured on various days or different cameras, color grading is used to set the tone of the project. These days, color grading is used more and more to produce artistic effects. A Director might plan to wash his entire movie out to give it a bleak, post-apocalyptic look. Or turn up the colors to make everything feel surreal.

Post-production workflows vary greatly depending on the Editor and Director, as well as the specific project they’re working on. Whatever the process may look like, it’s the Post Producer’s job to keep things moving forward.

And that’s a wrap on post-production! Funny thing is, nobody calls out anything at the end of post-production… except for maybe a long sigh and the sound of a popping cork.

I can not tell you how many times I’m asked that question either casually with friends or more often from prospective clients and my answer is usually a very tongue and check, “Well, you can probably find somebody on Craigslist for about $300 or you can go to an ad agency, staff A-List talent and make a Super Bowl Ad for $20,000,000. Right now you are coming in somewhere in that range.” I’m seeing clients demand for video increasing but they don’t always understand what they are purchasing as a creative buyer.

There used to be a rule of thumb that a video cost $1000 for every finished minute. We always thought that was pretty funny because a :30 spot should then cost $500. That’s nonsense! The fact is, the content duration has very little to do with price. Production value is where the overall price of production is determined.

So let’s look at a few pieces and production workflows that can help educate a buyer in the market for content on how far money goes on video content and who to reach out to. I’m basing this on what I see in the San Francisco Bay Area’s market where the demand for video production is around Branded Content for the web as well as commercials.

Let’s assume a media buyer was looking for a video selling a Ford Mustang as we take a look at these three tiers of video production:

The Videographer

Budgets $500 — $5000

Typical work : Event Coverage, start-up videos, corporate interviews, how-to-pieces

Typically this is a lone solider who wears a lot of hats. New and clever names are emerging to describe this type of video maker such as Preditor (Producer/Editor) or Shreditor (Shoot/Editor). Like the previous names suggest they are often a one-man-band where they shoot and edit. We are seeing more and more competition in this space. The only barrier for entry in to the industry of video production is to have access to a camera and a computer. Some people like the control of doing all parts of a production and as their workload increases they get better cameras and computers but stick with this workflow because it works for them.

The Production Company

Budgets $3000 to $250,000

Typical Work : branded content, local commercials, internal videos, corporate pieces, university outreach, local broadcast spots, ad agencies

In this tier of production you are going to get a group of collaborators who start to specialize in different aspects of production who have likely built a book of regular clients. There will often be a director or producer who has the relationship with the client as they carry a project through from start to finish. In a small to mid-sized production company you’ll see people wearing multiple hats but when the workload increases individuals stick to their strength and delegate the responsibilities. Oftentimes a production company has many relationships with outside vendors and specialists such as: talent agencies, gaffers/grip houses and special equipment operators who they might collaborate with. Most production company’s have a physical location with a couple editing bays and serve as a post-house and many of their employees are editors. A majority of production houses will also have a studio space for filming. We are seeing some higher-end production companies representing a roster of talent with whom they may pull from to pitch toward clients on upcoming projects.

The Ad Agency

Budgets $50,000 — Unlimited?

I lightheartedly began the article about the Super Bowl commercial being astronomically expensive. Well, I wasn’t joking. I’ve worked on one before and let me tell you, they have very, very big budgets. The ad agency is the right direction for many established brands that need to focus on campaigns across different platforms of advertising where video (commercials) is just one of those channels. What a client should expect from an ad agency is a polished campaign and wide reaching placement of advertisements. Oftentimes an ad agency wins big accounts because of their creative track record, think Don Draper pitching copy in Mad Men.

While an agency might have an in-house video production team for smaller jobs they often outsource the bigger jobs to a production company. As budgets increase one should expect the look and feel of a Hollywood film. There will often be concept and narrative to a piece. The crew that shows up to shoot a high end commercial is going to be very departmentalized – much like when you sit through the credits of a feature film and you read job titles like “Script Supervisor” and “Best Boy” and wonder what all of those people do on a project.

Making the most of any video you create is important. Although they might be doing a good job of driving traffic and boosting conversions on their own, you should always look for ways to leverage those assets. One obvious method is repurposing. After all, why have only one video when you can have five versions of it? Luckily, video is quite simple to repurpose and with some careful planning, one video can be leveraged in many different ways.

Why Repurpose Video Content?

• Improved SEO

• Better audience targeting

• Wider distribution

• Gain more video views

• Refresh old content

The easiest ways to repurpose video content are to create a transcription and and edit your video into shorter clips. There are good reasons behind this approach:

Transcribe Your Videos

Transcribing your videos has a lot of benefits. For starters, transcriptions can make them more search-friendly because closed captions are something that Google can index. And internal tests by Facebook revealed that captioned videos saw an increase of 12% in view time, compared to non-captioned ones.

Once you transcribe your video, you can easily repurpose the text into other types of content like blog posts, podcasts and webinars. Since quality content is the basis of any good SEO strategy, any way to make content creation simpler is a bonus.

There are many services to choose from for transcribing videos and it’s usually very affordable and fast to do. You can also use speech-recognition software like Dragon or Camtasia. For a human touch, there’s Speechpad, a transcription service which costs about $1 per audio minute for transcription.

Break Up Your Videos

With video, shorter is almost always better. Consider cutting some parts from an existing video and throw them into clips of 10 to 30 seconds each. These mini-videos can then be used as teasers for a product/service, provide the latest update or games on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or elsewhere.

Recent studies show that with our dwindling attention spans, shorter is better. In fact, 56% of all videos published in the last year are less than 2-minutes long. But it’s important to note that video length is site dependent. For example, viewers are more willing to watch a 2-minute long video on YouTube than on Twitter.

GIFs are also a great way to engage with your audience on social media, especially on Instagram and Twitter. Product videos, testimonials, and webinars make good options for quick clips and GIFs. Whatever path you take, remember that these version receive more views and better engagement if you upload them natively to each social platform.

Stories capture our interest for a reason. From childhood on, we are drawn to the lessons we learn, the journeys we embark upon and the chance to free our imaginations.

Stories also make messages stick. Remember that teacher that used to tell stories about what he was teaching and how those stories made you remember what you learned? That’s the power of storytelling. In fact, stories activate our brains in a way to make us relate information to our own experiences. According to Princeton researcher Uri Hasson, storytelling is the only way to plant ideas into other people’s minds.

As one of the most engaging mediums, video is ideal for storytelling. As opposed to a print article or block of text online, videos have the power to create both compelling and lasting memories in the minds of consumers. Here’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about:

What could have been a simple PSA is transformed into a personal story that has a gut-wrenching emotional impact at the end. Even though we saw this video weeks ago, we still remember it.

That’s why over 50% of marketers across the world say videos have the best ROI, and why shoppers who view a video in the pre-purchase stages are 1.81 times more likely to make a purchase than non-viewers.

Some people say all good content is storytelling. That’s a myth. Sometimes content is purely informational. Storytelling goes beyond that. It’s about emotions, authenticity, experiences, needs and driving to action.

The key to good storytelling is to make it part of your brand. It’s not as hard as you think as your business is full of stories. It’s the very reason your company exists and why you have developed products and services for customers. With a strong insight into who your customer is and what’s their point of view and you have the foundation for brand storytelling.

Yet marketers still rely on explainer videos that detail the features of a product or service. What’s missing? The emotional tug provided by storytelling. If you struggle with how to weave storytelling into your content here are a few tips

Make it Personal. Storytelling isn’t a group effort, it’s a distinctly personal one. A single voice telling a story is always more powerful. Think about how your brand was born, what inspired you to create the company and what your personal mission is. But most of all think about what the needs of the ‘audience’ were when doing so.

The Hero’s Journey. Writer and theorist Joseph Campbell believed in every story there’s a hero, someone you care about. The hero encounters a challenge. In dealing with the challenge, the hero’s life is changed. Your story needs a hero who rises to a challenge.

Tap into Imagination. The best stories are those in which the viewer suspends disbelief and enters the story. To make this happen, the storyteller needs to provide some space for the viewer to imagine themselves in the scene. Provide the narrative space to do that.

Sharpening your storytelling skills will improve the content of your videos. There’s nothing all that new to effective video storytelling — and done well, there is nothing more powerful.

Video is the most consumed digital media… and that’s both a blessing and a curse. New possibilities for video content are only starting to be tapped but the sheer glut can be overwhelming to people. If you’re trying to stand out from the rest of your competition, your videos need to be at the top of search engine results pages. After all, if nobody can find your content, then you certainly won’t experience any conversions. That’s why optimizing for search engines is so critical to success.

Although you may know some video SEO basics like using keywords and optimizing the title tag, here are some powerful tips to maximize your video’s visibility in search results:

Optimize the Content

No matter how good you are at SEO, this is only part of the equation. If people are not watching your content, then you’re missing the point. Video content and SEO work together to give your brand more visibility.

To optimize your content, make sure it is “shareable” and “linkable.” Provide relevant and informative content that gives people a reason to share and encourages publishers to link to it. Your video must be high-quality, engaging, and valuable to the viewer to get the most growth.

Feel free to reach out to thought leaders and organizations people that may find your content interesting, or even to use your network to promote it accordingly. Even paid promotion may be useful, if you think that this can contribute to your goals.

Create Interactive Content

How about adding the necessary interactive elements to your videos to activate the viewers? Whether it’s the actual content, an annotation, or the caption, there are many ways that you can “gamify” a video to make it more interactive and engaging, helping grab the viewers’ attention.

You can even split the video into shorter clips, allowing your viewers to pick which one they prefer to watch, a strategy which has been implemented in many successful campaigns.

Repurpose the Content

Never look at a video as a “one-off” – it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There are so many ways to extend the lifespan and reach of every video you produce. For example, you may create a 10-minute video offering tips about web marketing. Instead of simply promoting the particular page its on, upload a preview of this video to your social media sites, leading your audience to your site for more details.

Beyond that, you can create an infographic, a slideshow, or shorter videos like pre-rolls, all leading to your web site. By leveraging your content in multiple ways, you can reach a wider audience and help them discover your page in an interesting and persuasive way.

Focus on Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization is no longer just a part of video SEO; it’s the central focus. Two years ago, mobile video viewing surpassed desktop viewing, and the gap only continues to widen. Although desktop video remains a key aspect of driving traffic, your video SEO campaign will die without mobile optimization.

When optimizing videos for mobile devices, make sure your website and video player are both responsive to mobile viewing. Many hosting services automatically offer mobile optimization for all your content. YouTube, Vimeo and similar platforms that are automatically optimized for mobile viewing.

Pick the Right Thumbnail

A video’s thumbnail is one of the first things viewers notice and it can affect their decision to actually click on the video. Make sure your thumbnail is eye-catching and relevant to the content of the video. An engaging thumbnail is one that leaves people wanting to know more about the video.

Some qualities that make an effective thumbnail include images that are colorful, well composed, tells a story, are branded and don’t look like “click-bait.” A watermark or logo on your thumbnail also shows potential viewers that this is a professional video providing quality content.

Upload to Multiple Platforms

Do not resort to only self-hosting your videos. This is problematic for several reasons. If done properly, self-hosting can help with your website’s SEO, so including a video on your landing page is also highly effective in increasing conversions.

YouTube is the key to getting your videos to rank so, at a minimum, all your videos should be uploaded there. Maximize your exposure and improve your rankings by uploading or posting a link to your videos on all your social networks. Other video hosting platforms like Vimeo and Dailymotion can also give your video more opportunity to grow.

Add Captions

Because Google is a text database, it can read closed captions and capture more information about the video itself. And the more text you can attach to your video, the more recognition you will earn from search engines.

You may even consider scripting your videos with keywords so they will be optimized for search engines. Here are some SEO tips for YouTube videos that will help your video projects rank higher with any Google search.

Add Calls to Action   

Part of interactive content is having a call to action at the end of your video. Calls to action should prompt viewers to do something, such as visit a website, where they are exposed to a product, service or content that’s designed to turn them into customers.

Calls to action don’t have to be a simple “Call us or email for more information.” While that may work for some people, it’s usually too generic. Consider being a little more creative with your approach:

Ask a Question – Then invite viewers to “join the conversation” with your brand’s social channels or a dedicated hashtag.

Enter to Win – A structured giveaway on a dedicated landing page of your website or on a social media site is an easy way to generate response and interaction with your brand.

Bring out the Vote! – Ask viewers to vote on something they care about in a simple poll on your website.

Sign up for a Webinar – If you give webinars to highlight elements of your product or service, asking a viewer to sign up for the next webinar is a great call to action to include at the end of your video.

Watch another Video – After the viewer watches your short overview video, invite them to take a deeper dive with more focused snackable content about your product or service.

The question almost every marketer asks at some point of their career is “How much does it cost to produce a television commercial?”

$5,000

$10,000?

$200,000?

$1,000,000?

More?

Like almost everything else in video production, the answer is “It depends.” For one thing, commercial budgeting has gotten a lot more complicated over the years. What used to be a simple set of costs are now a spectrum of possibilities across many media. Still, there are certain factors that affect the cost of a commercial. They include:

Length

Cost relates directly to length. The longer the commercial is, the more footage has to be filmed… and the more it will cost to produce. The number of versions of a spot can also increase the cost.

Location

If there’s more than one location, it’s going to take longer to shoot since the crew and equipment will need time to move from location to location. Not only does it take time to get from one place to another, it takes a lot of time to set up and break down all the equipment as well. Traveling expenses are required to get the film crew from one location to the next, and you may have to pay rental costs or other fees (i.e. insurance) in order to film in certain locations.

Crew Size

The more people that are required on the production crew, the more expensive it will be. And the level of complexity required to acquire the shots determines crew size. At the very least, your crew will need a Director, a Producer, a Director of Photography and/or Camera Operator and Sound Man.

For larger shoots, you may need a full camera crew (1st Assistant Camera, 2nd Assistant Camera, Steadicam Operator, etc.), an Assistant Director, Grip and Electric crew, Makeup, Hair and Wardrobe people and Production Assistants to help with all the small details. And don’t forget Craft Services… your crew needs to eat!

Equipment

If all you need is a camera and a tripod, then the equipment won’t cost much to use. However, full scale commercials can use a variety of equipment, including dolly tracks, sliders, drones, steadicams, jib arms and more.

Equipment costs depend on the size of the crew as well. Each crew member will have equipment that he/she will need. A single-day shoot using a three-person crew will cost less than a crew of 10 with a complete camera and equipment package.

Talent

Sometimes when you’re producing a commercial, it’s enough to feature yourself or a few real customers or employees. Other times, it becomes clear that you’ll need to employ professional actors to do the job. Their rates can vary widely depending on location, experience and whether they are union or non-union.

Post Production

How much time gets spent in post production varies depending on the amount of raw video an Editor must sift through and how complicated the story is to tell. Some commercials require simple graphic elements and while some are completely animated. The rule of thumb – the more graphics you have, the higher the cost will be.

Final Thoughts

Although commercials costs can range dramatically depending on different factors, many production companies are willing to work with you to stay within budget. Not only can they work with varying budgets, they can also create payment plans so that you don’t have to worry about having a smaller budget affect the quality of your commercials.

So don’t give up on that dream of producing a commercial for your company yet. With proper planning it can still be in reach.

In the last 10 years, the way audiences consume content has changed significantly. Timeshifting and commercial skipping are a part of life. Even worse for advertisers, people are cutting cords to search the web and interact with content on their own. That content has changed as well. Consumers want their stories in bit-sized chunks. They want rich media such as video. And they expect it all to be delivered when they want and how they choose.

Fortunately, it’s easy to keep up with this changing landscape when you invest in cutting-edge forms of content, such as video marketing. In today’s fast-paced world, video marketing is one of the few types of online material that provides the value, relevance and flexibility consumers need, all while catering to the on-the-go lifestyle they want.

Video Marketing By The Numbers

Not convinced video marketing is the way of the future? Here are a few statistics to help you understand exactly how popular video marketing has become in recent years, according to news shared by HubSpot:

• Video is projected to claim more than 80% of all web traffic by 2019

• Adding a video to marketing emails can boost click-through rates by 200-300%

• Embedding videos in landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80%

• 90% of customers report that product videos help them make purchasing decisions

• According to YouTube, mobile video consumption grows by 100% every year

• 64% of customers are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it

• 87% of online marketers are currently using video content in their digital marketing strategies

• A third of all the time people spend online is dedicated to watching videos

• Video ads now account for more than 35% of all ad spending online

• 59% of company decision makers would rather watch a video than read an article or blog post

Reasons To Use Video Marketing

As one of the fastest-growing and most in-demand forms of marketing out there, video marketing stands out as one thing all marketers should be using right now. Here are just some of the benefits of video marketing:

• Video content promotes the brand. A recent study states that 80% of customers remember a video they’ve watched in the last month according to HubSpot.

• Video marketing boosts your web site’s SEO. Sixty-five percent of business decision-makers visit a marketer’s website after viewing a branded video.

• Video content performs well on all devices. Video content is fit for consumption on all devices, ranging from computers to mobile phones.

• Video marketing strengthens your brand message. Through design, branding and tailored content, video marketing provides the perfect tool to let your customers know who you are.

• Video content goes viral. An estimated 92% of people who consume mobile videos share them with other people. That’s a higher share rate than many other types of content out there.

Today, video marketing is the best way to create content that’s personal and has a real impact on your audience. Consumers want to feel good about their choice, and video marketing, when done correctly, is the best way to create this feeling.

Let’s be honest, creating a video can be an expensive proposition. Often, the decision goes beyond the cost to determining whether to hire a production company (Prodco) or to just do it yourself (DiY).

Project Type

The type of project you’re producing definitely plays a role and there are advantages to both approaches. Identifying exactly what you’re looking to produce will help make the decision for you.

Hire a Production Company If…

Your goal is to create a commercial or a video that’s aiming for brand awareness. In those cases, you might want to pay for a more polished production than what you’d be able to achieve on your own. The work of a quality prodco will help reduce any chance of embarrassing mistakes and increase the chances your video being shared widely.

Do It Yourself If…

Your goal is to engage and retain customers. Such videos require a unique personality so they know who they’re dealing wit and inspire trust. The same goes for employee communications – connecting directly with your colleagues and employees is likely more important than high production value.

It Depends…

When you’re planning on selling content. The choice is really dependent on what your videos are all about and the portal they’ll appear on. If it’s a specific product, a prodco might be the way to go. If they pertain to cooking, crafting, or similar DIY projects, a hands-on approach might be best, and the most cost-effective option.

For educational or consultative content, especially if it requires graphics or lots of text overlays, a prodco might be the way to go to ensure the end result is sufficiently polished.

Budgetary Constraints

It would be wonderful if money wasn’t a factor in video production but that’s not the world we live in. Be realistic about how much you want to spend on your videos, and plan accordingly.

If you have less than $1000 to spend, you might be better off investing in equipment and learning how to use it than spending it all on a one-off project. Rentals and used equipment are great ways to keep costs down, too. In fact, for certain types of video, you might already have everything you need – a HD video-capable smartphone, a natural source of light and a way of capturing clean audio.

If you’re comfortable with spending more than $1000, you should be able to enlist the services of a freelance video professional or a prodco, although the scope of what they can do will depend on how much you’re willing to spend. The right partner for the project will work within your budget and come up with creative solutions to keep costs down. They should also provide different options for the outcome of the project, in terms of what a given level of spend can get you.

Believe it or not, budget isn’t a hard and fast rule here. For example, a simple interview with fixed lighting, one location, and proper audio equipment is not an expensive production, and can be done very cheaply either on your own, or with a professional. In this case, enlisting a prodco will benefit you by ensuring the right equipment is used, the shots are framed correctly, and everything is edited together properly, resulting in a polished video. If you go it alone, depending on your level of experience, you might not end up with a perfect result, but that might be good enough depending on your goals.

Hire a Prodco If…

You can justify spending a lot of money on the production based on your goals for the video, and can afford to do so.

Do It Yourself If…

You are really strapped for cash, don’t need any fancy special effects or equipment for the video to come out the way you want, and are willing to acquire the necessary equipment, or already have what you need.

Work Load

The idea of ‘sweat equity’ should never be dismissed and it’s possible that time trumps money when it comes to making videos. In theory, if you had endless hours to work on a video, you would eventually come up with a very professional result.

The real question is whether that’s a good use of your time… and if you even have any to spare in the first place.

Hire a Prodco If…

You’re a busy entrepreneur or small business and can’t allocate the amount of time required to see the project through on your own.

Do It Yourself If…

You have the availability to dedicate enough time to your video production to achieve the results you want. This might be more than you think, so take a hard look at your schedule and go over the time you think will be required.

The full process entails planning your video, script writing, acquiring equipment, setting up the shoot, filming it, tearing it down, searching for b-roll or creating your own, finding the right music track, and editing everything together. If you have to learn how to do any of those steps in the process, the time it will take will increase significantly.

In Summary

Hire a Prodco If…

• You don’t want to invest in video equipment

• The project is a one-off

• You want to hire on-screen talent rather than being the star of the show

• You don’t have the skills or time required

• The project requires advanced production work

Do It Yourself If…

• You’re interested in learning how to make videos

• Already have the necessary equipment, or are willing to acquire it

• The project only requires basic skills

• You have the time to commit to seeing your project through

• Don’t have the money for anything too fancy

Commercials are everywhere. They’re on your iPhone, they’re on your television, they’re on the sides of buildings. And they remain extremely effective when done right.

With proper planning and the right tools, you can learn how to successful produce a commercial. We believe there are eight areas you should consider when tackling your next commercial project.

1. Your Budget: The first consideration before beginning your project should be the budget. How much money and time do you have to spend to complete your commercial? Budgetary considerations will keep you “on track” while conceptualizing the final product. It will also help guide your decisions on all aspects of the project including production and post-production.

2. Scripts & Storyboards: Scriptwriting and storyboarding are the most time intensive processes in video production, and should be taken very seriously. The script sets the stage for all pre-production, production and post-production decisions. A properly written script needs to be interesting and entertaining to properly communicate your message or story. A storyboard can use illustrations or pictures that represent different scenes in the script. Substantial thought, imagination, and time are required to prepare a detailed script and storyboard, but the reward for completing this process will be a vastly superior end product.

3. Setting a Deadline: The complexity of your commercial will determine the timeframe necessary to meet your deadline. For example, an appropriate time of year for outdoor shooting or multiple locations are important factors. Should a set be required, allow time for design and construction. Also allow enough time for proofing and for the approval process.

4. Graphics: Animated logos, motion titles, and static text can be prepared before the post-production process begins. In the case of an animation, it may require several weeks to complete, thus it is essential to begin graphic design work well before production begins on your video. Be prepared to supply the production company you are working with .eps or .tiff files of any logos, as well as photographs, graphic artwork, or digital media files that will be used in your production.

5. Music & Sound Effects: The soundtrack of a commercial is instrumental in establishing specific moods or emotions for your viewers. Whether you go with production library music or custom music, plan to spend some time listening to various tracks to decide on the right music for your commercial. Should you choose to select a track by a popular artist, licensing can be obtained, but usually with a high price attached.

6. Professional Voice Talent: If professional voice talent is required, a correctly formatted script will be necessary. Be sure to underline emphasized words or phrases, and make notes on unusual pronunciations or audible inflections. Remember that the typed text on your script is exactly what will be read during the voice over session and heard on your completed commercial. It is helpful to read the script aloud to determine that the proper message is being communicated.

7. Production: The most glamorous part of the process includes all aspects of shooting, from the physical preparations for the shoot, such as building sets and finding props, to rehearsing the talent and actually shooting the spot. Commercial shoots can run anywhere from one day to several weeks depending on complexity.

 8. Post Production: Once shot, the assembly of the commercial begins. Graphics and animations are added in; voice over and music are mixed. Post-production normally takes longer to complete than production so make sure you’ve budgeted enough time to complete your spot. Find out what format and quality the broadcaster who will air the commercial needs. Improperly formatted spots will lose quality on screen.