Working with a Video Production Company is an exciting time. There’s a lot of creativity flying around as the team plans the best video ever, but also a lot of pressure. It’s a great way to Bring Your Brand Story to Life, as we showed in a recent blog! You need to ensure you’re maximising your budget and getting a good return on your investment. This week we’re guiding you through how to work effectively with a video production company. Every video project is unique, but understanding some standard business practices will help everyone feel comfortable. Let’s begin!

Video production companies typically take a deposit up front when booking a job. This enables them to arrange and book all of the particulars of the shoot (filming venues, locations, transport, extra crew, etc.). To do that, they will need your registered company name, address and number, your VAT number (if applicable) and all contact details. In the beginning stages, it’s useful to share the ideas of what you are trying to achieve with the video, who your target audience is and what would be the best outcome from this video content.

During this stage, all of the particulars of the shoot (filming venues, accommodation, transport, etc.) will be arranged and booked by the production company. The team will create any scripts and storyboards at this stage too. This means there can sometimes be a few meetings during which time the deliverables and expectations of the shoot are clarified.

Depending on the nature of your film shoot, you might have a clear storyboard as well as a script to work from on the day. This will help everyone have a really clear idea of what is expected of them on the day, and ensure everything is captured.

We’ve created a helpful checklist covering all of the factors that need to be considered before those cameras get rolling. It’s free to download on our blog page.

Your video production team will arrive with lots of equipment including cameras and usually large lighting setups. Depending on the scale of the shoot, they may also be arriving with a large crew too. This could include make up artists, hairdressers, stylists, runners, producers, sound technicians, lighting technicians (gaffers) as well as the usual camera operators and representatives from your company that you would expect to be in attendance. In addition to all of the kit they’ll be bringing, your production crew will arrive with quite a lot of stuff and an entourage!

As such, there are a few things you can do to help things run smoothly on the filming day.

If your film crew is working at a location that you have arranged, you can ensure that all accessibility passes are granted in advance. Ensure all parking permission is granted too and that any potential obstacles for people getting in and out of the building with kit on the day are also removed. However, if your production team has arranged the location themselves, this will all be taken care of by them in advance.

When filming, your production company might request certain environmental conditions. For example, the crew will be creating their own cinematic lighting from scratch. The best way for them to do that is for the lighting in the room to be turned off, so that they can create the most flattering lighting with their own lighting equipment. This might mean speaking with the building manager to find out the best way to turn off the lights. If this is not possible, then don’t worry as the film crew can put up blackout sheets to block some of the light. This is an important process to achieve the most cinematic look.

For the best sound quality, extraneous noise needs to be kept to a minimum. Things like air conditioning systems need to be turned off in that room if possible. If there’s any maintenance work nearby it needs to be paused for the day, if possible. When filming in busy towns and cities, it’s best windows are kept closed so that urban noises are kept to a minimum. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a great scene with a ‘one take wonder’ on camera to have a siren start wailing!

If the sound quality is really important to the shoot, then to get the best audio, a mixture of mics and boom might be used and there might well be a sound technician controlling it all.

During the editing stage, you can help your video production company by providing a clear brief of important shots to include in the edit. During the filming, the crew will typically film everything on the storyboard plus a few extra bonus shots, just incase they are useful. Editing is where the video comes to life and includes shot selection, music, sound effects, colour grading, special effects and animation.

In certain circumstances, it can also be arranged for you to come into the production office and work with the editor directly to ensure all of your favourite shots are used. This is a great way to enhance your experience as a client. Otherwise, just sit back, relax and let us handle the rest!

Animation is a worthwhile and very beneficial addition to your video. There are a lot of different types of graphics and effects that can be added. From text and motion graphics to retouching flaws and adding magical visual effects, like sparkles, they all help by adding that final finishing touch.

Animation can be particularly helpful for viewers if they have a lot of information to take in. If you do decide that your video requires animation, then the first step is the production company supplying style frames. Giving clear instructions to your animator or animation team will rapidly speed up the process.

As the project reaches its conclusion, you can help get the deliverables over the finish line by giving clear feedback. Two rounds of amends are industry standard, so be sure to have considered all angles and spoken to all of the relevant parties before feeding back to your video production company.

Finally, our top tips for getting the best from you video production company is to be flexible, know your outcomes, have good communication and to choose a great video production company to work with!

Get in touch to arrange Nomadic UK capturing your next event on film.

Email us at hello@nomadic.uk or call us on 01242 373942 to speak to us now.

And don’t forget to check out our latest LinkedIn post to see where we are and what we are working on this week!