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- Video isn't just for TV and movies anymore.
It's become a key marketing strategy
for corporate brands and advertising agencies
who wanna use the power of storytelling to compel
and connect with their audiences.
Good video content requires careful planning and intention
at every stage of the production process.
There are simply too many moving parts to just wing it.
One misstep along the way can quickly throw your budget
and timeline off course.
That's why you should always start with a plan,
no matter how big or small your video production may be.
Our free video production schedule template
and video series planning template,
make it easy to build a timeline quickly
and share it with anyone involved in the project.
But we'll talk about the templates a little bit later.
A video production schedule is a high level plan that shows
how the entire production process should track over time.
This enables you to make sure that cast, crew, props,
and equipment are in the right place at the right time,
major deadlines don't get missed
and final creative meet stakeholder expectations.
While a video shooting schedule establishes
a detailed timeline for filming scenes,
a video production schedule focuses on the tasks
and resources needed to produce the video
at all stages of the process, from pre to post production.
It can be used to manage any type of video project,
from TV and film, to corporate marketing
and commercial advertising.
And it's a valuable tool for communicating
with stakeholders.
The video production process is made up
of three main phases:
pre-production, production, and post-production.
Here's a quick look at what you can expect at each stage
so you have a starting point
for scheduling your own video production tasks.
If you're a seasoned video, pro you can skip this part,
since you already know what happens throughout a production.
Feel free to skip ahead to the schedule templates,
if you want.
Pre-production is all about creative development
and logistical planning.
Think of the blood, sweat, and tears
you pour into pre-production as the necessary ingredients
for a successful video shoot
and smooth stakeholder approval.
It can be easy to overlook your pre production steps
in your schedule, but it's super important
to make sure it's all accounted for.
Any video you produce,
whether it's a video series documentary
or some other piece of content, should have a goal.
So before you put pen to paper or fingers to keys,
think about what you want to accomplish.
These questions are a great place to start.
Who do you want to reach?
What action do you want your audience to take?
What's the message you want to convey?
And how will you measure success?
With clear goals in mind,
you can form a solid creative concept
that's centered around your audience and objectives.
Work closely with stakeholders to get their input
and buy-in early in the process to avoid costly surprises
down the road.
A creative brief can be a helpful tool for documenting goals
for your video project,
as well as other key details,
like scope, requirements, and tone.
Next, carve out time in your video production schedule
to move into script writing.
Generally, your script should be conversational, concise,
and clearly formatted with characters scenes
and stage actions noted.
If you're filming a documentary,
prepare for interviews by drafting your questions
and sharing them with guests or featured experts
ahead of time.
This helps make sure conversations stay on track
so you don't miss important points of discussion.
It also gives your guests a chance
to think about some answers.
Your editor will thank you for having less ums
and dead air to remove.
You've got your concept and written your script.
Now bring your creative vision to life
by sketching out storyboards.
This will help you identify all the different shots
that go into each scene
and hopefully weed out shots that don't work.
Once your storyboards are solid,
outline a shot list with specific details
on who and what each shot needs to capture.
Finally, get down to business
and lock down all the logistical details
so things go smoothly the day of your shoot.
This is a great time to bring budget into the equation.
So you know how much money you can spend on talent,
equipment, and locations.
Think about these tasks as you plan
and prepare for your shoot.
Casting talent or conducting interview outreach
for documentary productions.
Scouting locations and obtaining any necessary permits.
Renting or purchasing equipment.
Meeting with all cast and crew members.
And developing the shot list and shooting schedule.
Now that you've got a detailed roadmap for your production,
it's go time.
The production phase is where the action happens.
It often includes a studio or location set up
with things like getting staging lighting and audio
just right.
Once talent has been brought in,
you can block scenes to determine the movement
of the actors.
Then rehearse, make any adjustments, and roll camera.
Just because you call a wrap on filming,
doesn't mean the hard work is done.
On most video projects,
post-production takes as long,
if not longer than pre-production and production combined.
Here are the key steps that take place in post-production.
Ingesting and organizing footage.
Creating assembly cuts.
Color correction and grading.
Music scoring and sound editing and mixing.
And adding titles, credits, graphics, and visual effects.
Be sure to get approval from your stakeholders
before exporting the final cut.
Look for opportunities to streamline feedback
in a centralized place.
So it's easier to wade through edits and avoid getting stuck
in an endless loop of revisions.
Once you get the green light to launch,
you're ready to post and promote your video
across your digital marketing channels.
But that's a plan for another day.
Click the link in the description
to check out our digital marketing campaign template
to help you map out a promotional strategy
for your awesome new video.
We've created two free templates to help you plan, update,
and communicate your production schedule quickly and easily.
Whether you're shooting a single video
or an episodic series.
You can use these templates to build a timeline
for pre-production, filming and editing,
so you can release videos on time every time.
This template is perfect for planning
and producing one-off video projects like documentaries,
advertisements, corporate videos, and more.
Now that you understand the video production process,
let's look at a few examples of how you can build
and use a video production schedule inside of TeamGantt.
The Gantt chart is a useful way to view the full scope
of your video production timeline.
Not only does a Gantt chart provide an overall view
of how your project is progressing,
it allows you to see how any changes to the plan
affect the timeline and important delivery dates.
Tasks in each phase of video production
typically have to be completed in a particular order.
For instance,
you most likely can't develop an accurate shot list
before you have a script to work with.
Make sure work gets done in the right order
with dependencies.
Call out key dates, deadlines, approvals,
or deliverables in a project by using milestones.
Hit your launch date or hold that important approval meeting
right on schedule.
And collaboration is essential to the momentum
and ultimate success of your video project.
Make sure there's no confusion about who's doing what
by assigning people and teams to tasks.
Keep everyone in the loop on the progress of the project
by updating the percent complete
as you work through tasks and milestones.
Use list view to review to-do's in each phase
of your video project.
Consider it a helpful guide for knocking out
that post-production task list.
Use calendar view to get a clearer picture of the timing
of activities and see how tasks are stacking up.
We've created a free video production schedule
as well as a video series project plan
for you in TeamGantt so you can jump right in.
Customizing the video production schedule
or video series project plan templates is quick and easy.
Thanks to TeamGantt's drag and drop simplicity.
And since everything's online,
your whole team can collaborate on activities in real time.
Click the link in the description
to access the free template.
I hope this video and our production templates
help you to keep your next video project on track.
If you did find this helpful,
I'd love it if you could return the favor
and like this video.
And don't forget to subscribe to our channel
and turn on notifications
so you don't miss any of our videos.
Thanks for watching.
I'll see you next time.
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