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Film production is a journey, you start the journey with an idea. Along the way you gather tools, resources and allies to help you on your way. This may be in the form of scripts, locations, crew members, actors and the edit. Along the road there may also be threats and a time limit to which you must complete the journey. When you reach the end of the road, you have your finished film, your completed journey. So think of this blog as a map to guide you on your film production journey, every step of the way.
Every video needs to make a viewer feel and do something. That’s what separates the good from the great.
Tell us what you need! We’ll discuss
your goals and share creative ideas and recommendations in a no-obligation meeting.
We’ll consider everything you’ve told us and design a range of creative solutions, balancing production value with all estimated costs.
Ready? Once you’re completely happy with
the plan, we’ll accept your deposit and begin
work on your video. Let’s get started!
Before we do anything, we sit down with you to define what type of video you need. Is it for internal or training purposes? Who is the video aimed at? Where is it going to be shown? What is your unique selling point?
Whatever your vision is for the final product, we want to make sure your video works towards your goals. This is probably the most crucial stage in commercial video production. The final video could look and sound great, but if it doesn’t do what you wanted it to do, then it’s a failure. We get to know you, your brand, your goals and ideas. To ensure you get exactly what you want, we need to get to know you and the desired audience for your film.
The creative treatment is the most important element of commercial video production. It defines the concept, summarises the story and determines the creative approach of your video. A well-written creative treatment takes the light bulb glowing over your head and makes it visible to others. We are more than happy to work with your ideas or to develop an entirely new one that meets your commercial objectives. It is important that all stakeholders view and sign off on this treatment as further changes after this stage can incur additional costs.
This is where we’ll come up with ideas, shot lists and storyboards together to give you a flavour of how your video will look. We’ll book the required locations and talent, and provide you with a project management tool to inform you of deadlines and the progress of your video. We will ensure that you have full transparency on the production process.
With the creative treatment of your video fully fleshed out and signed off, we begin to plan & schedule the production of your video by working backwards from your deadline and creating a working schedule. We make sure all of the logistics for the shoot are in place. We source actors, crew, equipment and locations. In some cases, these may not all be necessary, but quality should never be compromised over convenience.
Depending on the type of video you have commissioned, we create a script with all the dialogue and visuals that will be on screen. This highlights the fine detail of the dialogue and the visuals. Again in commercial video production, this may not be necessary, but it can clearly lay out your video and dialogue.
A storyboard is a written and visual outline of your video. Again in commercial video production this is optional but the storyboarding process helps everyone make sure the visual style and progression of the video reflects your expectations. We tend to use our timeline structure to visualise the storyline and shots.
All of the work completed to this point is in aid of the production stage of your video and to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible. This could range from shooting on location or in a studio to creating visual elements which will then be animated. Having planned and designed the whole project, we start shooting your film. It’s important that we work closely with you during this stage. With a clear visual style in mind and years of experience we make sure every shot enhances your final film. We bulk shoot to save cost and maximise footage.
We always look to maximise the footage shot for you. This could be extra social snippets or capturing more on shooting days for later projects
We build awareness of environmental, political and social issues. Therefore, prosperity to us means so much more than profit. Yes, we as a business have a goal to grow our revenue year after year. But deciding how we use the profit is what makes us different.
Next to our internal definition of prosperity, we’re dedicated to follow the same philosophy in the work we do for our clients. With every project, we will ask if it’s purely profit focussed or if there’s a prosperity element as well. If you come to us for plain profit, we’ll gladly give you the contact details of our colleagues at other video marketing agencies. But if you care about prosperity the way we do. If you put people and planet over profit. We’ll give you everything we’ve got.
We promote science and facts by calling out fake news and challenge the status quo.
Post-Production is probably the most important stage of commercial video production as it is where your video is made and the narrative constructed. Once the production element of the project has been completed, we work on the draft edits of your video as described in the video brief.
Once the first draft of your video has been edited, I then send you an email with a link to a private online screening where you view your video and take notes. We work with you to implement your feedback and ensure you get a film that excites you.
Content needs to fit in with marketing plans and sometimes these change. We understand that and work collaboratively around changes.
Each project comes with 2 rounds of drafts. It is important that all stakeholders your end of the video view and sign off on these drafts as any extra drafts will incur additional costs. It is standard in commercial video production to not colour grade or sound mix the video until the narrative edit has been signed off and locked.
Again notes from the second draft of the video will be implemented into the edit and these changes will be shown to you in the final draft preview. Any further changes at this stage will incur additional costs. Once you have a video that reaches and exceeds your objectives, we work on the final version of the video.
Once the edit is complete, the audio is mixed so it sounds crisp and music is added to bring the video to life. Most videos not only have music, but we also have to consider spoken language and sound effects. Audio mixing creates a balance between all the different tracks.
We then tweak the colour of the footage and add effects which give your video a compelling and vibrant visual look. Just like photographers who develop their rolls of film with different coloured lights in a dark room, we develop the footage to make it look vibrant. We also add in any graphics to complete your film production.
We will send you a link to a private online viewing of your final graded and sound mixed video. This is for feedback on the sound and look of the video. Any further changes to the edit of the video at this stage will incur additional costs.
Upon final approval, the completed video is delivered to you in the file type ideal for your videos final destination. If required, we can also give guidance on how to distribute your finished video to your audience.
I hope you found that useful and have eased your first steps on the journey of film production. If you have any questions then please feel free to get in touch with us.
Every video needs to have a purpose. We make sure the right people see and engage with your content
We are Film Division, a film production company consisting of a team of specialist filmmakers. We love nothing more than telling stories with the best filmmaking tools. In short, if you need film pre-production, production and post production, we cover it all.