3 Steps of Video Production

October 25, 2022

What really goes into video production?

Well 3 easy steps; pre-production, principal photography and post production.

Of course it's not as easy as it sounds but let's dig in.

Here are the 3 steps of video production in detail:

Step 1: Pre Production

Pre-production mostly consists of producing, departments' prep work, and meetings.

Producing:

There are several things our amazing producers do in order to get the ball rolling and help us get ready for the big day of the shoot.

The producer is the backbone to the production, and having an experienced producer who is on top of things could save disasters that nobody except the producer thinks about ahead of time.

Some of the responsibilites of a producer consist of the following:

Budget breakdown and allocation
Finding locations
Hiring cast and crew
Managing paperwork and contracts
Make sure production is on schedule and budget

Prep Work:

All depatments need time to prepare separetly as well as prepare and brainstorm together.

Taking the time to prepare can benefit the production so much. People would simply have a much better idea of what they want to go for on the day.

Different departments such as directing, cinematography, production design, and even editing could get together and brainstorm and prepare ahead.

This is the time where you have the time to throw out ideas and experiment, find out what you need on the day, ask questions and prepare yourself in order to ease things during the actual shoot.

Meetings:

A huge part of pre production is meetings along different departments. This is usally organized by the 1st Assistant Director in order to get everyone on the same page and answer any questions that the team might have.

During these meetings people point out to potential worries regarding their departments, how far along the process they are and connect with other departments.

There are usually several meetings leading up to the project, and this really helps put everyone on the same page.

Step 2: Principal Photography

After all that prep work, finally the day has come!

Everyone has everything ready and we are going for picture.

This is the day where everyone shows up on time as told by the 1st AD, get their teams together, and go for it.

The director will be the lead person of this day, they will start off by doing a blocking in order to show everyone what is really happening within the 1st scene of the day. Then, they will prepare with the actors while the team is busy setting up the space with set decoration and lighting.

Once all is ready, director and actors run through rehearsals, which greatly helps the whole team including camera, production design and sound.

Camera, sound and ACTION! We are live! All that work leading up to this moment is finally paying off.

This process keeps going on for all the scenes, controlled by the awesome 1st AD who is taking care of tracking time and making sure we get all the shots that we need.

Once the day is over and all the shots are in the can, the team begins to wrap. Making sure all equipment is back in the truck, everything is wrapped and taken out the location, and doing a dummy check to see if we have left anything behind or not. The assistant editor has all the footage by now and is already making a couple of backups.

Step 3: Post Production

By this time you have hopefully gotten some rest and are ready to watch the dailies; AKA all the footages combined in one file in order for the team to review it.

The editor starts off by putting together an editor's cut. This is all up to the editor creatively and they would do whatever feels right to them, which is usually genius!

We then move on to the director's cut, and final cut. Where the director's comments are taken into consideration, sound is added, music is added and more.

The final product is reviewed by the producer once again, AKA the boss! If all is good then the project is handed off and out for people to watch.

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