Video Production Process: How It Works
Step 1: IDEA
The video creation process starts with an idea. It could be as simple as a quick introduction video you need to record with your webcam, or it could be a more complex project like a promotional video or documentary. There are many types of video projects that CIRT can help you with.
Step 2: PLANNING
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Once you have the idea, the next step is planning. You start your planning by defining your scope as well as your goals of the video project. The scope is guided by your audience and the stakeholders, and the goals are defined by a tangible outcome from people watching the video. Even with a low-key webcam introduction video, you minimally need a script or outline of what you will say. Whereas with a documentary, in addition to a script, you’ll need to visualize what the final production will look like using tools such as storyboards and shot lists.
Step 3: PRODUCTION
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This is where you begin to collect the pieces that you need for your project. In some cases you will be recording new video segments to assemble in the Post-Production step. However, in addition to your new video footage, you might be taking photos, gathering existing photos or video, obtaining or recording music, and even doing more mundane tasks like obtaining permissions for using media elements. If you follow your plan, you’ll have everything you need to go to the next step. Remember, the planning process will minimize the need to go get something at the last minute that you forgot.
Step 4: POST-PRODUCTION
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The post-production process starts with the importing of all of your media assets into a computer to start the editing process. Editing is where you tell a story, and you tell that story by placing your media pieces in a logical sequence. The sequence is governed by your storyboard from the planning stage, but generally it follows a basic beginning-middle-end pattern. What professional editors like Adobe Premiere, or Final Cut Pro X, do is to not only allow you to assemble the basic media elements, but add music, sound, titles, narration, etc. Then these programs will also provide a way to “render” a video file that can be published in some form.
Step 5: PUBLISHING
The idea of “publishing” video may be somewhat strange as a concept. Video has evolved from film as the sole distribution form, to the addition of video discs (DVDs and Blu-rays), and also the web in the form of streaming video (Canvas Studio, YouTube, etc.). So the many ways of distributing your video has democratized the video creation process, allowing you to control, and multiply, the number of ways to get your story out to the public.
