Using high-quality video as part of your marketing content is certainly nothing new. In fact, it’s a topic we have covered many times before in our blog. However, despite the fact nearly 90% of businesses use video marketing, many of them do not fully understand the process behind creating world-class footage for their brand.
There are many different commercial video production companies in the UK, and whilst all of them will approach providing commercial video production services differently – there are some similarities to the overall process of world beating video content.
So how do the best commercial production companies work? What steps do they follow to guarantee Hollywood level quality to their clients? And what can the businesses they work with prepare in advance to help make their video project as astounding as possible?
Well, in this article we’re going to answer all of the above questions. Taking a deep dive into how a commercial video production company like ourselves operates and what steps they put in place to make each job a success.
What Are The Different Processes In Commercial Video Production?
To those people who have looked into commercial video production in the past, but might not be 100% aware of just how much planning and strategy has to go into each and every commercial video project. The same attention to detail, message, and aesthetic are put into every single project that a good commercial video production company undertakes, whether it is for television, the internet, or another reason.
At Astor Film Productions we split our commercial video production services into six different steps which give us the working basis of how we can make every project outstanding. From the initial development of a concept and project brief, all the way through to the aftercare of tracking your videos performance – our five step process for success is broken down in some more detail below:
Step One: Developing A Concept For The Commercial Video Production Project
The first place to start is with the concept of what the end product is going to look like. Initially it’s going to involve meetings between the commercial video production company and their client. This is where the aims of the project will be established, what kind of look the client is going for and how the video is to be used once ready (i.e. is it for online advertising, TV advertising, internal training, or something else).
At this stage, the commercial videographers will have a keen understanding of what is being aimed at, and then they will begin to develop a storyboard which will also include key information such as the types of shots which will be taken in each scene.
Step Two: Finding A Location & The Stars Of Your Commercial Video
Once there is a plan for what needs to be done, the next step is all of the preliminary planning of the shoot itself. This will begin with setting a date that works for both the commercial video production company and their client.
What happens next can vary from project to project, sometimes the video production agency will source the perfect location and use either casting agencies or their connections to find suitable actors or extras to be a part of the video itself. Other times, there will be a heavy involvement from the client in these areas. This could be them organising employees that will be taking part and allocating space at their own locations where the shoot or shoots will be taking place.
Step Three: Filming The Commercial Video
This is where the panning can stop and the action (no pun intended) can begin. With the location, actors and your commercial film crew in place the cameras can start to roll on the video itself.
The commercial film crew will most likely be on set horse before the filming is set to begin preparing the lighting and their cameras ready for everything to get underway. At this stage, all of the ideas for the video should have been agreed in the concept, however, some of the best commercial video production companies will try and cater for some minor adjustments on the day.
Step Four: Post-Production & Editing The Commercial Video
This stage is one of the more hidden aspects to those who are not actively working as commercial videographers. There are often hours and hours of editing that goes into finishing off the perfect commercial video. The editors will use the footage supplied from the shoot and match it against the storyboard that was originally developed in the concept brief.
There can be some issues discovered at this stage which can cause some headaches for both the commercial video production company and their client – for example, some footage may be missing or in poor quality which will lead to either a reshoot or a slight manoeuvre away from the original concept.
However, the best commercial video production companies will minimise the risk of this happening through their due diligence on the shoot and will have an experienced editor who can think on their feet to resolve these issues should they happen to arise.
Step Five: Sharing The Video & Monitoring Its Performance
This step isn’t something that you will typically see from every commercial video production company, and may not always be needed depending on what exactly the commercial video is going to be used for.
However in the case of things such as TV advertising or online advertising, it’s important that a business can see the impact their well produced commercial video has had on their brand. Some of the best commercial video agencies will offer an aftercare service and help with the marketing of their clients’ video content – allowing them to generate a much wider reach as well as calculate what kind of ROI they have from it.
What Can Businesses Do To Make Sure They Have Everything That They Need For A Commercial Video Production Project?
A lot of this will depend on how the business wants to work with their commercial video production company. Many commercial videographers are experts in their field and have been involved in so many projects that they are more than able to lead the entire project if it is the case that a business simply wants expert video with guidance from the pros.
When it comes to the client being much more actively involved, then it can be helpful for the commercial videographers to easily reach the project manager – as with all of the planning there is needed, a good line of communication will be essential to make the work painless and stress free.
Other than that, there is not too much that a commercial video production company will; not be able to handle when it comes to producing high-quality video content for businesses. As with any complex project there may need to be a lot of back and forth over elements of how to get from start to finish, but despite its complexities, commercial video production can be made straightforward in most cases.