I think the best way to understand video production is to think of it as a PROCESS.
The process is always the same, whether you are producing a simple video or a complex one.
Here is a description of the process, step-by-step. It can be broken down into three phases.
- Pre-production
- Production
- Post-production
Pre-production is probably the most important and the easiest. Even if you want to outsource most of the work, you can (and should) do most of the pre-production yourself. Pre-production includes everything you do before you ever touch the camera. First, think about what you want your finished video to be. Ask yourself these questions.
- Who is your audience?
- What does your audience need or want to hear?
- What does the audience already know?
- What style of video would appeal to your target audience?
- What is your budget?
- What resources do you have readily available?
The answer to these questions will determine most everything else.
Next, think about what you should actually go and get on video tape. Do you need to interview experts? Do you need footage of specific things that represent your subject? Where and how will you video tape these things? Plan it all out. Make phones calls. Schedule crews, etc.
Write out a first draft of your script. Nothing needs to be carved in stone at this point, but a working script will help you collect all your thoughts.
A good script should be conversational. Pretend you are explaining the subject matter to a friend. What would you say to them? Write that down and then modify it by using more colorful words and better descriptions.
Video scripts are best if they use simple, short sentences. Avoid long, complex words that will be tongue twisters. Read it aloud to test it. Have someone else listen to you and get their reaction.
The production phase includes gathering all of your raw materials. All your raw video and audio. This phase probably takes the most work and know-how, especially if you are shooting everything from scratch.
Post-production is the phase where you take all your raw materials and assemble them into a finished video. Mostly, post-production means video editing. You add titles, music and other special effects during post-production.
There are many wonderful computer video editing programs that do a great job. Personally, I use Final Cut by Apple Computers. This is an advanced video editing program that allows you total control over every single aspect of your video. Most beginners would never want to fool with it. A beginner would be much better off with a simple program like Windows Movie maker or iMovie, which are both free. Those programs rely on pre-produced templates that make it much easier and less complex.
Sony Vegas Movie Studio is a popular program that is inexpensive and allows more control than the freebie programs but isn't nearly as complicated as Final Cut.
Video editing is also a step-by-step process and I have many free tutorials here on video production tips.com that will help you.
So there you have it, a brief description of the process of video production.
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