A Creative Guide to Professional Video Production – Efe Dickson

Video content is essential for every business or brand. It not only allows the artist to create entertaining work but also aids in the propagation of a message by capturing the audience’s attention. 

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Because we live in a time where everyone is constantly so busy, video is the ideal approach to provide information to the audience while not taking up too much of their valuable time. It also allows your audience to see who is behind the video and develop a relationship with you.

The easiest method to do all of this is to know exactly which aspects you need to put into your movies for them to produce the finest results. There are several methods you may use to get the most out of it. Here are a few suggestions to help you succeed.

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This riveting article is brought to you by Film District Dubai, a leading Video Production Company Dubai specializing in Film Equipment Rental Dubai, Audio Visual Rental Dubai, Photo Booth Dubai, Corporate Video Production Dubai and Camera Rental Dubai.

Producing a high-quality professional video 

How do you go about doing it, and what factors should you examine to ensure that it is of the highest possible quality?

1. Understand the goal of your video.

You’ll need to know the specific aim of your film to be prepared to develop a successful video. You’ll need to select if your video will be for amusement, education, or sharing a scary or personal experience, depending on your target audience. 

These are only a few examples of the types of material you may make, but they can all help you pick a topic and begin researching how to deliver it. Certain topics might be tough to broach, and they may make you or your audience feel uneasy or put you in an awkward situation. As a result, understanding the goal of your project is essential.

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2. Prepare a studio set for film/video production

While it may seem obvious to some, having a filmmaking studio, even if it’s a tiny one, may significantly improve the quality of your work. While some video artists like to film outside, there are times when you’ll need to record in a controlled area. 

This is also dependent on whether you make videos for your purposes or for a firm that requires them. In any scenario, you’ll need to make sure you have some professional equipment on hand to complete this correctly. Aside from your cameras, lenses, and microphone, you need also invest in some professional lighting and a sound system.

3. Make changes to the texts you include.

Incorporating textual information into your videos can help you hold your audience’s attention and make the video more fascinating for them. Several items may be used as captions or other forms of textual material in your films. 

The most common purpose for using written text is to include subtitles for the hearing impaired. Captions may help your video reach a wider audience and gain the admiration of many people. If you want to ensure that the written material in your films is of the highest quality possible, you may choose one of the top writing services.

4. Select the appropriate music.

Music has the power to quickly make anything more marketable, and there are a plethora of musical possibilities available online. You’ll need different types of music depending on where you want to market your video. 

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If you want to make it more global, you should avoid popular music because it is prone to copyright disputes, which may get you into difficulty.

5. Include a voiceover narration

Finally, adding a voiceover is a smart way to make a decent quality video that will be marketable and entertaining to your viewers, especially if the film does not feature any other kind of speaking. 

You may always add some voiceover on top of the original lines in an educational video, a lesson, or a short film or monologue to assist your viewers to maintain track of the video’s development. 

Voiceovers are simple to create and include in your movies using a basic editing tool, and they may help give depth to your narrative. Just don’t forget to include subtitles so that everyone in your audience can see what you’re saying.

You may discover tunes online in a variety of methods that are free of copyright issues as long as you give the author credit. These will work on every site, from YouTube to Instagram, with no issues. This allows you to utilise music that is unique and appropriate for your event.

The three production phases

Everyone can still learn new skills when it comes to filmmaking. The industry is always changing, and most of the time this involves innovations that may make video production faster, easier, and less expensive.

Understanding the video production process does not imply that you will film the next Avatar. However, understanding the components of each production step will assist you in planning, shooting, and polishing better video content.

For the sake of this discussion, we can divide video production into three stages:

  1. Pre-production
  2. Production
  3. Post-production

None of these major stages should come as a surprise if you’re familiar with video production in any way. At the same time, each of those stages serves as a springboard for a variety of additional activities.

Video production, even at its most basic level, maybe as sophisticated as an expensive watch, with dozens or hundreds of little moving parts that must all operate together to stay on schedule (and on a budget).

So let’s spend some time going through each of those steps in greater depth.

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First, we’ll go through the common misconceptions that filmmakers and creators have about each one. Then we’ll go through some of the more obscure or neglected stages that you might use the next time you’re planning a video production.

The objective is straightforward: to make you a better filmmaker. Even if you have a few years of video expertise, you should be able to take away a few new approaches to explore.

1. Pre-production processes that are commonly used

This stage of the creative process contains almost everything that is required to lay the groundwork for the entire project. Location scouting, finding talent, developing a script, organising a shoot, and even funding the project are all part of the process.

As a consequence, pre-production for each video project will differ significantly. That box office hit may take years to prepare, but a car brand could put out a video in a week (or less).

The same can be said for any video content you create. A video you make for a client will have different needs (as well as challenges) than the one you make for your own Instagram or TikTok channel. And making a commercial to promote a new video project or working in nonprofit or religious video production is different.

Regardless of the changes, many aspects of the pre-production stage will be something you should think about for each project you work on.

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We’ll have to generalise a little, but these are the most usual pre-production stages.

1. Writing a treatment

A video treatment might resemble a mix of a pitch, a summary, and a mood board. They’re quite frequent for film proposals and client work (for example, trying to produce a brand video), but even if you never need one, they’re an important component of the pre-production process.

2. Budget scoping

Estimating your budget can help you choose the sites and equipment you can afford. It may also be used to estimate the number of people who will be working on a project and how long they will be able to work on it before the funds run out.

3. Screenwriting

It’s arguable when you’d start working on a script, but it’s reasonable to presume you’ll start as soon as feasible. Laying out the project’s components and establishing what kind of skill is required to finish it helps influence what happens next.

During this stage of production, most screenplays aren’t set in stone, but laying the groundwork for the film will assist shape other aspects of pre-production.

4. Storyboarding

With a functional script and photos of various locations and sets, you have a fairly good idea of what you’re up against. Storyboarding is the act of letting your imagination run wild to fill in the blanks and see the outcome.

From precise shots and angles to camera movements and choosing the correct focal length, storyboards cover a lot of ground. Because storyboards can be printed, you can share this representation with your colleagues or clients to ensure that everyone is on the same page (and what you want for the project is what you end up shooting on the day).

5. Scouting for a suitable location

After you’ve completed your script, you’ll need to locate the locations for all of the scenes you’ve written. This may include travelling alone or in a group, so it should be factored into that neat budget you just came up with.

You can even start preparing for set construction or prop purchases when scouting areas. Setting up set production thus early in the project allows you plenty of time to have everything in place before principal filming begins.

6. Recruiting talent

You obviously can’t film a video without a topic. It may be an interviewee for a business video, an actor for a short film, or even a second shooter for an event. But you’ll want to have those aspects worked out before you start filming.

The larger the team, the more time it will take to get everything in order. And in this scenario, finding individuals to collaborate with you is generally one of those “ducks.” However, for those with hectic schedules and potential scheduling problems, pre-production allows you to ensure that your team is ready to go.

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7. Planning for equipment

You have a completed script and a list of potential places. After you’ve completed the storyboards, you’ll be able to decide what camera equipment, lighting equipment, and audio equipment you’ll require for the production.

Your production’s requirements may vary depending on your budget and scope, as well as the sort of video you’re creating.

Simply be practical about what you require and how you spend your finances. Because one advantage of planning ahead of time is that you may buy or rent specialist equipment that you might not otherwise have access to.

Production steps that are commonly used

With pre-production completed, we enter the large and demanding stage of production. This is the point at which all of the separate teams/people and parts you’ve set outcome together to form a complete image.

An interesting truth is that the real production phase begins with one final stage of pre-production. You must transport the equipment and team to the video shoot location.

Last-minute preparations

Transporting everything and everyone to the shoot may be such a laborious operation that there are professionals dedicated to handling last-minute issues and modifications (on film crews and in ad agencies).

  1. Shoot lighting
  2. Camera placing
  3. Audio testing
  4. Principal shooting
  5. B-roll gathering
  6. Backup planning

Post-production processes that are commonly used

You may finally sleep when the film has been shot and production has been completed! I’m joking. It’s time for Post-Production. You’ll be engaged in at least a couple of steps of this process whether you’re a director, producer, or editor. And there are several stages. Let’s get started.

Editors, sound engineers, foley artists, colourists, and other experts are involved in the post-production process. Several universal techniques may be found in television, movies, and other visual arts.

However, the Post-Production process will vary based on the size of the production, its budget, and which sector you’re working in (television, cinema, or even video games).

That being stated, below are the most common post-production steps:

1. Rough cutting

Even if they aren’t attractive, rough cuts are an important element of the video editing process. However, you’ll need to comb over all of the video (primary and b-roll) and audio you took to assess what you’ve got and how the final edit will look.

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2. Sound mixing

During post-production, many directors wear a half-dozen different hats, and one of the hats that doesn’t fit well is an audio engineer. Because combining audio levels requires a different attitude than colour correction or VFX work, no matter how many videos you’ve edited.

Foley noises, background audio, sound effects, and music are all included in this process. Sound quality has a big influence on how viewers interact with your video, so the music you chose and the final sound mix need a lot of thought in the post.

3. Planning for the effects

For two reasons, we’ll keep this one wide. First, not every production requires green screens or VFX; second, VFX-heavy videos are typically larger projects involving numerous editors or animators. If you do need VFX, keep in mind that it’s a lengthy process, so budget appropriately.

4. Colour balancing

Even if all of your on-set lightings were flawless and the colour temperatures were the same, cameras and lenses are not the same. It’s also important to note that the human eye makes errors, so what you see on set might not match what you see while editing.

5. Colour grading

Colour grading, on the other hand, is more of an aesthetic procedure than colour correction. This is where you may add personality to the project by generating a sense of style. Set a consistent tone for your video material, or make each production aesthetically distinct.

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6. Last-minute preparations

You’re mostly concerned with finishing touches at this time. Lower thirds and a credit scroll aren’t time-consuming in post-production, but they’re vital procedures to complete before exporting the final file and beginning the “client approvals” phase of the video production process (if necessary).

If you don’t have any deliverables to hand over to a customer, your final staging may consist of just exporting the video for you to publish or share on a video hosting platform. Depending on whatever platform or hosting provider you want to utilise, resolution, frame rate, and file format all play an impact.

We hope you find this content useful. Stay up to date on intriguing articles like this, follow Film District Dubai, a leading Corporate Video Production Company Dubai that specialize in Film Equipment Rental Dubai, Audio Visual Rental Dubai, Photo Booth Dubai, Corporate Video Production Dubai and Camera Rental Dubai.

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