Initial Contact

The first point of contact will probably be your initial enquiry.  Asking about a cost and a brief overview of what you’re looking for.  Chances are that you’ve approached two or three other companies, sent them the same brief and are waiting for a response.  Depending on what you’ve sent, we may come back with a few questions so we can provide a more accurate cost.  Generally, if you can provide the following information then we’ll be able to reply with an estimate:

• What is the nature of the job – an event, a case study video, an advert, a promotional video, social media video?
• Where will it be filmed – all in one location, across multiple locations, which part of the UK?
• How many days filming – is it a one day event or a series of filming days over a period of time?
• Will there be interviews taking place – how many people will we interview, where will these be?
• Do you need any animation or motion graphics included?
• What’s your deadline for delivery?
• Are there any supplementary elements that you’re looking for – drone filming, voice over, storyboarding?
• Where do you plan to use it – on your website, on social media or other digital platforms?

You may not be able to answer all of these but it’s a good starting point and we may have further questions but these will go a long way in helping us understand what you’re trying to achieve.

Our Proposal

Once we have a a good idea of what you’re looking for, we’ll put a proposal together detailing how we’ll approach your video production project, what it will involve, some creative ideas and a cost to deliver it.  We’ll show you some examples of previous work so you can see that we actually can do what say and talk about some of our previous clients too, if it’s relevant.  This isn’t necessarily set in stone as you may have other ideas or things to add but it will give you the direction of the cost to deliver your video.  You may want a follow up meeting to discuss any aspects of the proposal and perhaps clarify some of costs.  This is normally a really good way of understanding how we would approach the video production and you can get a feel for who we are and how we’d work with you.  Warning: Once we get started you may not be able to shut us up.  We tend to get very excited about new projects!

Getting Started

Once you have assessed the proposals and chosen us (hopefully!) then we’ll start the conversation about how to do this.  You might want us to help plan out the content before we even start looking at production and create a storyboard.  Or you may already know exactly what you want – either is fine by us. 

We’ll then look at the logistics of making your video.  Organising dates of production, dates that interviewees are available, putting together a brief for shots that we need to capture.  The additional scenery or supplementary footage is called B Roll so we’ll talk about that or we might refer to them as cutaways. We’ll need to know where you plan to use the videos as this may dictate what the dimensions of the final video are.  If it’s going on social media then you may want it in portrait or square format, depending on what platform you’re using.  Our filming briefing sheet is a really useful way of getting all of this information down on paper, it may feel a little bit like homework for you but it’ll get you thinking about what you need from the video and what you want us to capture.  It also helps to pick up on any details that you might have missed.  Plus it’s a really good way of ensuring that we know exactly what you’re looking for.

We’ll ask questions about permissions and rights to film people and places as well as access to a venue if we’re filming on location.  If it’s an event, we can talk directly to the venue about AV set ups, filming locations and any other useful information.  You won’t even need to get involved in these discussions.

Once the logistics are out of the way, we can start the production process.

Production

Depending on what your project is, we will be setting up how we’re going to film.  This could involve lighting, audio equipment, set dressing and selecting an area for filming.  We’ll look like we’re being really anal about light and background noise, that’s because we are.  It makes a huge difference and can really affect how the footage turns out.

It’s up to you if you want to be on set when we’re filming.  We generally encourage it because it means you can see, first hand, what we’re capturing.  You can have an input into the filming and make sure you’re happy.  For some clients it’s also important because it’s a quality control element.  For some it’s a fun day and a break from the norm seeing how a video is made and what goes on behind the scenes.  Whatever it is for you, you’re more than welcome to join us on set.

Post Production

The editing is the most time consuming part and we’ll go away and review the footage that we’ve taken.  With a combination of the original brief and any notes or comments that we’ve got from the filming days, we can set about creating a first edit.  We’ll send this version over for you to review and you can let us know about any amendments or comments you may have.  Be sure to check captions and graphics to make sure that we have names, titles and other facts correct whether it’s spelling, official titles or anything else that we may not know.

It’s useful to try and collate all of the amendments into one go if possible.  If there are multiple rounds of approval from your side then getting all those done before you come back to us with amendments can really speed up the editing process.  All being well, there may be a final ‘mopping up’ session and then we can deliver your final video.

After The Video Delivery

We often advise clients on how best to use their video and we can provide advertising services on social media or other campaign activity based around video marketing.  Depending on what you are trying achieve, we can help and provide guidance and what we think you need to do.  We’re happy to review the project if necessary and make plans for future activity and see how video can enhance or change how you’re doing your marketing activity.  There’s nothing worse than going through all the effort to make a video and then nobody actually sees it!  We can help make sure this doesn’t happen.