From Concept to Cut: A Get-Started Guide to Producing Video

Ready to start creating high-quality videos for your business? Whether they’re for marketing or training, customer service or social media, videos are one of the most effective ways to get your message across. And it’s easy to get a polished video produced from start to finish entirely with freelancers.

Here, we’ll give you the tools and tips you need to get started.

What Type of Video Should You Produce?

First, think about the message you’re trying to communicate and the best way to visually represent that message. A few formats you might consider are

• Live action uses footage you capture (e.g. a product video) or source online (e.g. stock clips edited along a storyline seen here)
• Animated uses motion graphics or digital animation, like a whiteboard video
• Hybrid video uses a combination

What Are the Steps to Getting a Video Produced?

What goes into getting your video made will depend on the above, but generally include:

1.Pre-production: First, draft a creative brief and scope, which will inform your timeline and the talent you’ll need. A video producer can be a great source for guidance and product management as you navigate the process.

2. Storyboarding: A storyboard tells your editor, animator, or videographer how you want your video to flow. A storyboard artist can create a series of sketches that represent each shot you have in mind, along with any dialogue or voice-over (VO). These can be as detailed or loose as you like, with directions for camera angles, lighting, and transitions.

3. Scriptwriting: Whether your video is all text or voice-over, you’ll need a script that outlines the dialogue in a succinct, engaging way. Find a scriptwriter to polish up the non-visual (but very important) parts of your video.

4. Voice-over: Hire a professional voice actor or narration specialist to deliver your script. Pay close attention to things like cadence and tone—you want the voice-over to reflect your brand and your message.

5. Videography and direction: For live action videos, having someone who understands angles, shots, lighting, and expertise with frame rates, lenses, stabilization gimbals, filters, and ultra-HD resolutions like 4K.

6. Animation: An animator will bring your storyboards to life and line up visuals with your voice-over. Animation can overlap with motion graphics, which also includes animated visual elements and typography.

7. Audio editing: Many videos only need a bit of music to be a finished product, but those that require voice-over, sound effects, or have live-action audio can require the help of a more skilled sound editor to ensure the right mics, mic covers, and recording equipment are set up so wind and background noise don’t ruin your audio.

8. Editing: Here’s where a video editor brings it all together: footage, audio, and motion graphics like title cards or subtitles. A video editor will ensure the right tempo, transitions, color grading, and sequence.

Estimating Your Video’s Cost

Here are a few cost factors to consider as you frame up your budget.

Factor #1: The TYPE OF VIDEO YOU’RE PRODUCING

A full-blown live action video with videography, storyboarding, and scripts will be more expensive than short stock clips edited together with transitions and music. Similarly, it can be easier to produce interviews and screen capture videos than it is to create original animation and motion graphics.

Factor #2: EXPERTISE AND TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW

Do you need an editor or a videographer-slash-editor? How involved are the concepting and story arc going to be? Do you need next-level 3D animation or live-action sound recorded in a tricky environment? When it comes to video, expect to get what you pay for. More polished, high-definition video with complex requirements like transitions and timed cuts require a bit more know-how.

Factor #3: LIVE ACTION VIDEOGRAPHY, DIRECTION AND PRODUCTION NEEDS

Live action videos will require from a production standpoint than videos that can be created from stock clips on a computer. Shooting high-definition footage may require professional videography equipment, and you’ll have to take into account talent, locations, studio requirements, props, costumes, and other technical details that go into filming live actors.

Ready to create a video? Check out this guide to writing a video job description and get started with one of the project templates.