Top 5 Video Production Problems and Solutions

Avoid these common video production problems and get the best results on your next video project.

If you’re considering working with a Video Production Company and have done some research online, you have probably encountered people commenting on problems having worked with a video agency.

As someone who has worked extensively in the video production industry (10 + years), I have a wealth of experience in the industry. I started out as a freelancer working for other marketing agencies and production companies before eventually starting my own video production company (Nomadic UK). I’ve encountered various challenges over the years and in this article I’ll discuss the five most frequent issues that can come up when working with a video production company, the potential causes and how you as a brand, agency or business owner might approach them.

The good news is that although these problems can come up, they are typically rare and can be mostly prevented by following this guide.

My experience in this field, along with numerous discussions with other video production company owners and videographers, has given me a broad overview of the video production industry. That includes the advantages of working with a video agency, the potential drawbacks, and occasional complications that can arise during the service period and afterwards.

I am sharing this information in theI hope that it’ll stop you from ending up on Reddit or Quora looking for help.

The most common video production problems and solutions:

1. Poor communication
2. Costs keep changing
3. Inconsistent quality
4. Missed Deadlines
5. Lack of post-production support

Working with a video production company has become the norm for many. Virtually all brands, agencies and business owners are creating video for their business as a key element of their marketing strategy. But occasionally sometimes projects suffer from vague briefs, or misunderstood creative visions. For example, you request a sleek, professional high quality video, and the end result feels like an amateur YouTube video. 

Nearly all video production companies work with a wide variety of clients (link to our work) unless you’re a Media Arts Lab (link to their website) who only work exclusively with Apple. This means that their teams will be jumping from various projects and industries.

Well, we can’t change the reality that sometimes video projects are going to be poorly managed for some reason or another. But to lower the risk of having these issues come up, you should look for two things, clear timescales and a competent production process using project management software.

Some video production processes are more efficient than others. There is a formula to working through a video project efficiently and this will typically vary between companies.

The trouble can come up when there is little or no structure to the planning of a shoot. This can mean that common questions are left unanswered and expectations not set from the outset and the client constantly chasing the agency for their work and getting frustrated by the lack of communication.

In contrast a structured production process based off previous successes will mean that each video project will go through a journey. Typically these projects are managed better, expectations are clearly set from the outset and you won’t have to spend as much time worrying about the project.

If this is an important issue to you, research the various video production companies to determine if they have a structured process in place. Check if they have a record of getting and keeping clients happy and a good base of organic reviews (Google for example) which states that they have helped their clients and achieved great results.

Some video production companies like Nomadic UK only use project management software in their video production.

I have some news about the costs of video production. When working with a video production company, typically it will be a sizable investment. Most video production companies have packages from £2,000 per project all the way to £150,000 + per project depending on the scope of work. If you want a breakdown of what affects the costs of video production see the blog here.

When you’re working with a video production company, it’s important to not just look at the first quote, as sometimes a production company may “lowball” a first quote just to win it. Then you find out they have done this and you’re faced with a higher bill once the project gets started. This can happen when some agencies purposefully miss out certain things to keep the first quote down. Then later down the line once the project is underway, you discover that a certain part of the project has not been allowed for cost wise. And it’s a case of paying up or losing that part of the production.

The best way to stay informed of what you are after is to have a good understanding of what services you require and what are excluded. Look into the scope in the proposal of the budget, If a video agency prices up on a “day rate” basis, the original quote may be cheaper on first look, but any deviation from this (an extra amend, or a change of plan last minute) will cause the cost to rise as everything is broken down and very quickly things can come out of scope and typically this way of quoting works out more expensive for the client. Look for a production company with a package that includes such things as the pre-production planning. The filming and the editing and any animation all locked into one price. Typically there will be a little buffer in the package price meaning that small changes can be absorbed, saving you a trip to the finance team requesting more budget.

The way to be sure that you don’t have any nasty surprises is to work with a video production company that uses contracts. This will have a price/budget next to it and list everything that’s included in that quote. It will also exclude anything that isn’t included with rough price guides on what to expect if the plan changes. It’s important for you to research the various video production companies to determine what company will make your life easier and provide you with the best service and not come up with any surprises down the line.

“Will they finish on time, or will delays hurt my campaign?” This is fundamental to your process, that you have a clear communication plan, you hire a video production company (or agency) and there are delays to getting the work back to view. This can be frustrating, especially when you have paid for ad spend, or an advertising slot and it’s approaching a deadline. 

When delays happen it can lead to late nights, squeezing in time for review and frustration.

Question, how do I ensure I get my video back when I need it back?

The easiest way to ensure there are no delays to the deadline is to agree on a project timescale upfront with the production company upfront. This way you can ensure that they can factor in the time and resource to get the video edit done on time for you.

The best way to keep a project running on track is to work with a production company to put a project timeline together. This timeline will outline the length of time for pre-production, the time it will take to film, and editing time. Generally there are three stages of video production. But outlining clear expectations from the production company, and then they will want you to respond with feedback within a certain time to keep everyone on track.

You have invested a lot of time, money and effort into creating a video brief and going out to see production companies. And the last thing you want is for the quality of work to be poor. This can happen and it’s disappointing when the end result is, not where it should be. It looks amateurish and doesn’t deliver the key messages or get the impact intended. Whilst we are in a world where UGC (User generated content, see blog coming in 2024) professional or “premium content” elevates a brand and messages.

Quality is a little word that is thrown around a lot. The best way to check the quality of a video production company is to check what the quality of work is on their website. Then ask them, what kit do they use? Here is a breakdown of the camera kit in use today and what quality you can expect from each. Typically the harder a camera is to use, the more specialised skills are required to operate it and the better the results will be.

1. Option 1 – iPhone/smartphone – Quality rating – 20-30% – Everyone, family content, social media, best for regular content due to speed. 
2. Option 2 – Quality rating – 40-60% Mirrorless/DSLR camera (300-£3k camera package) – Videographer/Hobbyist, best for students and enthusiasts, beginner 
3. Option 3 – Quality rating – 70-90% Medium Cinema Camera (£7-15k camera package) – Corporate video, TV advert. Best for quality video production companies.
4. Option 4 – Quality rating – 100% Large Cinema Camera – (£20-100k camera package) – Hollywood films, Netflix TV series.

To get the best value for money, choose a company with a medium cinema camera package. We use mostly option 3 for 90% of our shoots and go to Option 4 when our client has a bigger budget or a specific look they are trying to achieve.

Option 3 production quality provides the best “bang for buck” the quality is very close to best but the kit is more nimble and can be used by smaller teams. That’s what we use at Nomadic UK. This represents the quality of work will be high whilst not overinflating the costs of the shoot with equipment.  that will only get very miniscule benefits to the end result.

The way to be sure that you don’t have any nasty surprises is to work with a video production company that uses contracts. This will have a price/budget next to it and list everything that’s included in that quote. It will also exclude anything that isn’t included with rough price guides on what to expect if the plan changes. It’s important for you to research the various video production companies to determine what company will make your life easier and provide you with the best service and not come up with any surprises down the line.

This is the most common complaint in the video industry. That the brief has been set to target a certain demographic, or get across a certain message, and an agency/video production company has gone off on their own agenda creating something that doesn’t hit the mark. 

A director or videographer with grand plans of creating the next Tarantino film may focus on details and parts of the shoot that may not suit the story of the product, business or service.

For any creative idea, the best way round this is a clear storyboard and set expectations ahead of time. By creating a storyboard with text, structure and all will give all parties involved a clear idea of what they will expect from the video. It’s possible to go one step further and create a rough “mock up” of the video using a smartphone and people in the office to give a flavour of the shoot.

Look for a company with a track record of helping small, medium and large businesses. Storyboarding isn’t necessary for every shoot, but it really can help put creative vision down into paper meaning everyone can understand it.

Understanding the common video production problems should be commonplace with anyone hiring a video production company. Knowing how to choose the right one to work with and increase your chances navigating working with a video agency successfully. If you have any questions on this article, please contact me directly on LinkedIn and I’d love to answer your questions.

Thanks for reading this!

If you want to talk about this further, get in touch!