9 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE HIRING A VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY

1. 9 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE HIRING A VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY www.thevisualhouse.in

2. 9. QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE HIRING A VIDEO PRODUCTION COMPANY 1. What are your goals for the video project? 6. Create a timeline 2. Where do you want your video to live? 7. Production companies 3. Have you and your team settled on a creative vision? 8. Create a budget 9. Create an unbiased process for interviewing production companies 4. How will you market your video? 5. Find references of videos you both like and do not like.

3. 01 What are your goals for the video project? Each video project should have at least one goal. What do you want to accomplish? Is it commercial or creative? Are you aiming to educate, inform, entertain, or to inspire? The answers to these questions all play a major role in shaping the creative vision of your project. Know what you want and be prepared to discuss your vision in detail. Your production team will have a much clearer picture of your desires if you can communicate your goals efficiently.

4. 02 Where do you want your video to live? The platform you host your video on is vital to the achieving the goals you listed above. For example, Instagram limits videos to 1 minute. Is that enough time to communicate your message? If your video is intended to generate leads, Wistia is the ideal platform, but it’s also a paid service. YouTube, the most popular platform, is great if you already have a large following, but with 1.3 billion users it’s tough to stand out. Where your video lives determine who will see it, so choose wisely.

5. 03 Have you and your team settled on a creative vision? Think about the creative input your team would like to make, or if you want to make them at all! The more you have to add to the creative process the closer the final version will be to your vision. If you have already settled on a story or concept, that’s great! Now how will that story look, where will it take place? Remember, video production professionals aren’t psychics! We can’t read your mind. Each of us has creative tendencies and ideas of aesthetic appeal. The more you give us to work with the better our work will be

6. 04 How will you market your video? First and foremost you want to resonate with your target demographic. Who you’re targeting will affect nearly every creative decision within the project. Each demographic has different preferences of platform, creative direction, and tone. People resonate stronger with similarities. If you’re targeting the 18-25 year old demographic, you’ll want a video with 18-25 year olds in it.

7. 05 Find references of videos you both like and do not like. Take a look at what kinds of videos your competitors are making. What are they doing that you like? What don’t you like? Having a general idea of what you want to include or discard will speed up the pre-production process. It’s important to be able to communicate what you want from your video. Having a visual example is the best way to do that.

8. 06 Create a timeline Your production team needs to know how long you expect the finished product to take. Keep in mind how much goes into video-making: Pre-production: includes storyboarding, planning, casting if necessary, etc. Production: where the lights, camera and action happen. Post-production: video editing, coloring, audio enhancements. The production company will tell you whether your timeline is realistic, but it is important to set expectations from the beginning

9. 07 Production Companies There are a lot of production companies out there and no two will give the same finished product; it’s important to do your research. Find more than one production company and view their work. You may have to dig deep since they’ll only tout the best work on their website. It’s also important to remember that they need approval from clients to share work on their site. This is especially the case if you’re looking for an internal communications video, as it is going to be more difficult to find top-notch examples – unlike, for example, a product promotion video. Additionally, you can find a lot of useful information on a company’s website beyond just video examples, such as customer reviews or what specific services they offer, so be sure to do your research.

10. 08 Create a budget The production process is not cheap. Plain and simple. A good video made entirely from scratch requires specialists that you may have never thought about – scriptwriters, production assistants, directors, gaffers, microphone operators, sound mixers, special effects editors, make-up artists, actors, and many more. By following the other steps of the process, you will have an idea of how much work is required to bring your video project to life. 99% of the time more work = higher costs.

11. 09 Create an unbiased process for interviewing production companies Write down a list of questions to ask each production company. This will make it much easier for you to compare them. It is okay to have subjective categories based on unique things each company offers. Still, make sure you ask each production company the same questions.

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