Importance of Pre-Production

This past week, the Skillman Video Group interns (myself and Chloe) developed and executed two original video ideas from the ground up. I attend Boston University, majoring  in advertising and film, and Chloe attends the University of Florida, majoring in telecom production with minors in marketing and entrepreneurship. We worked together to create parodies of The Office TV show and the popular Dos Equis “most interesting man in the world” commercials for SVG application.

While there is still work to be done in post-production, the amount of planning that went on with pre-production was vital to getting all the necessary shots and coverage. For every successful Boston video production shoot, there are hours of intricate pre-production work that happened behind the scenes.

Script

As early as someone starts writing the original script, planning can start immediately. This is because scenes have to be separated by exterior and interior locations. The general rule of thumb is that exterior shoots can be more complicated and often more expensive, so a client on a tight budget may want to avoid these types of scenes, and it’s up to a Boston video company to be aware of budgetary restrictions as well. Another production aspect that can be settled during the script-writing process is the amount of characters/actors needed for a scene or the whole project. A lot of extras in a scene translates to more schedule planning and email exchanges.

Production Schedule

The thing about video production schedules is that they must be designed for maximum filming efficiency. Often times, this means that scenes must be shot out of order so that costs are minimized. If several scenes take place in an office, just shoot all of these scenes back to back so that minimal transition time is required.

Call Times

Actors should only arrive once the crew has already set up its equipment and is about ready to start filming. This is just as true for video marketing, and actors should only arrive when they are actually going to be in a scene. If an actor’s scene isn’t shooting until 3pm, then don’t have him arrive at noon because he’ll just be standing idle. Actors will be fed up if they feel their time is being wasted, so also plan for when actors can leave set for the day. For the SVG intern videos, we scheduled all of the scenes with the same actress back to back so that she could get in and out as quickly as possible.

Equipment Transportation

This may seem obvious, but at some point, a decision has to be made about who will be bringing the equipment to a shoot each day. As for the production schedule, there needs to be time set aside for transitions. Even if you have the best Boston video production company, your crew is subject to the mercy of equipment, so even they will time to strike down a set and create a fresh one in a new location.

Skillman Videography Group LLC specializes in video production Boston. Call us anytime at 1-800-784-0140.