Like many small businesses, you may be looking to film a corporate video highlighting a product, showing off your workplace, or filming a specific event for your company.
The problem you run into is not having enough money to hire a professional production company.
With today's technology, there are simple steps you can use to make your video extremely professional with as little resources as possible . These simple tips are easy to perform, can take little time, and will create a substantial effect on the quality of your video. Whether you are a brand new beginner to video productions or a well experience cinematographer, you still need a proper strategic plan in order to successfully film your project.
Step 1: Know your Audience
One of the most important aspects of video productions is knowing your audience. Who is going to be watching this video? Is it a hip trendy video for a start-up tech company? Is it a promotional video for a retirement home? During the pre-production phase, you need to have proper market research of your audience. This includes age, interests, income, gender, etc. You also need to know the distribution methods of your content. Will this video be displayed on a website, social media, YouTube? This will help you make adjustments to how you will film your project. Is it a short video that requires a smaller file size with lower resolution? Or is it a homepage video that you want your customers to watch when entering your website? The last thing you want is a low quality video on your homepage. This will create distrust in your brand and product, turning customers away.
If you plan to post to social media, there are guidelines and tips posting on Facebook's website to help you decide how you want to promote and distribute your video.
Knowing this will allow you to strategically plan how you want to shoot and edit the video. For example, If your audience is younger, you will need a lot of quick action shots and sharp angles, vise versa for the older generations. This will be helpful in the editing process to create a mood and feel to the video.
Step 2: Know your setting and layout
If you are filming a live event, you will only have one shot at it. Make sure that you know the layout of the room and what sort of equipment you will need. Are you shooting a wedding, sporting competition, corporate event or award show?
Knowing the layout of the room will allow you to plan shoots accordingly. If you are filming a live event with a lot of moving parts such as a wedding, you should bring people for support. Be careful though, you want to optimize profits so it is a give and take on how many people you want to bring. Hiring additional skilled videographers can be pricy but well-worth it if you want quality as a top priority.
Along with gathering the appropriate crew members make sure you know your equipment. The three basic film equipments that are a must have for event filming are cameras, microphones, and tripods. This does not include handheld stabilizers, lights, or audio recording devices.
Here is a great guide on some fantastic beginner film making equipment that you might require for your shoot:
Another important aspect of knowing your equipment is to simply make sure everything is properly charged. You should make sure you have all the batteries charged the night before. For microphones and lights that require batteries, bring back up batteries just in case. This is crucial, the last thing you want to have happen is your microphone dying in the middle of the event.
Make sure you test the audio beforehand and make sure your microphones are turned on. A simple mistake that happens to beginners is forgetting to turn on the microphone. Always bring a Tripod with you, nobody likes shaky videos.
Step 3: Know your shots
Storyboarding can be crucial, especially for promotional videos. Have a clear strategic plan for what you want to accomplish with the video. This will make the whole process easier. If you have a vision of what the end product is, you can plan your shots around this. This makes the editing process easier for transitions and timing purposes.
The first step to planning your shots is sitting down with the clients and understanding their needs. This is vitally important If you are filming content for somebody else. This will ensure both parties are satisfied with the end video. Money talks so make sure your creative vision is aligned with the client. Planning your shots will allow you to show off your cinematic vision and be creative. Thinking of ways to transition of one scene to another will force you to plan your shots around that.
These 3 simple steps will take your beginner video productions to a high end professional quality video. Make your company stand out from the competition. Nobody likes to be average.
