How to Make a Commercial Video for Business….
Stepping into the video and film production world can be a bit intimidating and confusing if it is your first time. We work with clients all of the time who are looking to create their first commercial, corporate video, or piece of professional video content and have no idea where to start. Let’s walk through the steps from start to finish and give you some insight into the creative and logistical process of creating a video for your business.
A standard two camera interview for a corporate client, with live streaming included.
What’s your Goal?
It all starts with a goal. What is the reason you want/need to create video content for your business? This will be the motivating goal through the entire process and can be various reasons:
Inform customers of a new product
Introduce a new team member
Celebrate a milestone
Media for a conference or tradeshow
Strengthen your branding
Among many other…
What’s the Goal?
Have a plan as to what you’ll do with the final content.
The goal will inform everyone as to why we’re creating a video and essentially the thesis for the project. This goal should be established before talks about video production begin. We’re here to take that goal and put it into moving images. Knowing exactly what you’re trying to accomplish will also give Colectivo the information as to what is important and how we can help you reach that goal.
Making the goal clear and achievable also informs the format or idea we may come up with. Some video formats may not be conducive to effectively reaching the goals you have in mind. For instance, creating a tutorial video wouldn’t make sense if you’re trying to reach a new customer base or testimonials wouldn’t be efficient if you’re goal is to introduce a new CEO. You may already have a video concept in mind to go along with your goal, but we can also assist in the conception phase of the project as well.
Concept/Format
Now that you have a clear goal in mind, you’re ready to give us a call! The next step is realizing how we can effectively achieve your goal in video format. This is the beginning of the pre-production process. Coming up with the video concept is one of the most fun parts of the creative process. Here’s where everyone involved gets a chance to raise their hand and say, “What if we do this?” We get the opportunity to take these ideas and ask, “How can we make this awesome?” In this spit-balling process, there are no bad ideas (just not as good ideas), but we find that the best ideas come from the collaborative brainstorming process. The concept can be as simple or creative as you’d like and we’ll be there to find that happy medium.
Budget & Quote
The concept and format are typically flushed out in a meeting or two. The idea will inform us (generally) what will be needed to produce the video. It is always a good idea to have a general budget range in mind before you get started, and if you’re comfortable sharing that info, it could be beneficial to the overall production. Having a rough budget range can help us figure out the scale and details. We’re able to accomplish videos across a wide budget scale, but knowing there’s a higher budget ceiling will allow us to pull more stops in making your video awesome. If we know that we have to operate on a limited budget, then we’ll be able to scale things down where possible.
The budget will set the constraints of the overall budget, have an idea ahead of time.
Before we start getting the production ball rolling, we’ll send over a detailed quote for your approval. This will breakdown will include production, potential crew roles in the production, props, costumes, location fees, talent fees, post-production, and everything in between. Of course, this could fluctuate a little depending on a few factors but will be close to the final cost of the production. We’re always willing to explain where the budget is being allocated and if there are ways to cut back to save. Conversely, if there’s more budget available, we can discuss ways to punch up the video to get a better final product.
Producing
Once we’ve nailed down the concept, we hit the ground running getting everything in place to make it happen. This will include (but not be limited to) script writing, storyboarding, location scouting, auditioning, timeline creation, and much more. This process is mostly handled by us here at Colectivo with regular input and collaboration from the client. For instance, once we’ve written a first draft of the script, we’ll send it over to you for notes, corrections, and updates. This could go back and forth a few times until we get the final approval and it’s good to move to the next step. There is a lot to get in order before the cameras roll, and every project is different. This step typically takes a couple of weeks to a couple of months depending on what is needed. A sit-down interview at a corporate office can be produced pretty quickly, but a commercial with actors, props, and multiple locations would take more time to get in order.
Production Day(s)
“Could you repeat the question in your answer?”
Interviews are one of the simplest type of production and make quick production days.
When we’ve got all our ducks in a row, it is finally time to get everything in front of a lens. Every day spent on the set shooting is called a “Production Day”. A whole production day can be roughly 10 hours, so we often start bright and early and run until the afternoon rush hour. Production days include all of the fun stuff like actors acting, calling “cut!”, and capturing what will end up in the final product. What’s also included is all of the setup, changing locations, changing camera angles, swapping batteries, re-rehearsing lines, and tearing down (AKA the not-so-fun stuff). Production days can be long, challenging, and full of creative problem-solving (the stuff we find fun). We’re here to take the stress off of you, so you can focus on what we’re capturing. Our goal is to give you the confidence that we’ve filmed exactly what you’re needing from the day. For your viewing pleasure, you’ll also have your own monitor to see exactly what is being captured by the camera.
If you’re looking to trim the budget, limiting the number of production days a project requires is the easiest way to get that cost down. Production days are the most cost-intensive part of the process, due to the crew, talent, gear, and miscellaneous things necessary on the day of. That’s not to say we can cram 3 days’ worth of shooting into 1 day, but there may be some trimming that can be done to make the whole process lean. That being said, most projects can usually be filmed within a single day, unless the concept is too large.
Post Production
Not Just Editing
Post Production is more than just editing, and takes a majority of the production time.
Now that we’ve filmed the project, it’s time to take all of the raw materials into post-production and put it all together. There are a lot of steps within the post-production workflow like ingestion, pulling selects, color correction, interview cutting, color grading, sound effects, graphics, animation, special effects, sound design, and finalizing. Each one of these steps takes the raw material that is the footage and molds it into what the final video will be. Not to mention, a 30-second commercial that took an entire day to film now has to be compressed into half a minute, that’s a lot of trimming to do.
The post-production process typically takes a few weeks to receive the first cut of the project. The first cut will be roughly 95% completed and meant for the client to give us feedback and comments on. Do you like our song choice? Are you happy with the end result? What changes would you like to see? Obviously, we can’t change the entire concept in post-production but there are still a ton of creative choices to be made. Constructive criticism and honest feedback are what we’re looking for. We’ll typically do 2 rounds of feedback/changes before final delivery.
Final Delivery
Once the post-production is approved, we move on to the final export and delivery. This is where we deliver the final video file and anything else requested with it (alternative cuts, social versions, various lengths). The final video file will depend on what the client is looking to use the video for and where they plan on sharing it. Is it going on Facebook or Instagram? You won’t need a super high-resolution version for playing on a phone. Is it going on TV or playing on a large screen? Let’s get you that full 4k resolution version! Need a version for both? We can do that too!
This file will be delivered via a file hosting service and remain active indefinitely. If you lose the link? Don’t worry! We hold onto the video forever and all of the original media just in case. Just shoot us a message and we’ll get it over to you ASAP.
The Take Away
The creative video process is long and challenging. That’s why we’re here to help you along the way. Here at Colectivo Creative Media, we love the challenge of creating videos that make our clients’ goals a realization. From concept to production, all the way to final delivery, we’ll handle it all so you can focus on what you’ll do with the final video.
We help companies, businesses, and corporations across Dallas/Fort Worth and all over Texas create video content they’ll be happy to share. Have a goal that you need to reach with the help of video production? Give us a shout and let’s get the production started today!