When companies decide to hire a video production team, they may not always know exactly what they’re looking for or what the video creation process actually looks like. That’s perfectly OK, and while there are a few things you can do to prepare before starting your video production journey, the earliest stages of the process are focused on discovering what exactly it is that your brand is looking to achieve.
Here, we’ll give you a sense of how we do things at Studio Spero and the questions we’ll ask early in the process.
Key Takeaways
- Pre-production discovery sets the entire direction of your video before filming begins—goals, audience, budget, timeline, and brand guidelines all get established here
- Most Studio Spero videos cost between $3,000 and $15,000 and take three to four weeks, though tighter timelines are possible
- Where your video will be published affects how it’s made—a YouTube pre-roll and a TV spot require very different approaches
- Existing footage can be repurposed into new videos to reduce costs and create continuity across your content
- Revision rounds and approval sign-offs should be agreed on at the first meeting—not figured out at the end of production
- Your vision leads the process—Studio Spero brings the creative direction to bring it to life
Why Pre-Production Meetings Matter
The process of creating a video project begins long before the cameras ever start to roll. One of the most important stages of the process comes right at the start, during discovery, when our team will meet with your company to determine the goals of your video and the best way to achieve them.
These meetings are collaborative and friendly, but they’re important. We want to establish:
- The project’s vision and goals
- Who you’re trying to reach
- Your budget and timeline
- Where you’re looking to publish the video
- Your brand’s internal guidelines
What Do We Ask Before Starting a Video Project?
1. Your Goals & Objectives
Why do you want to make a video? It could be anything from a training video to growing your customer base to building brand credibility. Video production teams are working to create a final product that looks, feels and communicates exactly what your company envisioned and wanted, so in discovery, we’ll be looking to dig into exactly what you’re looking to achieve.
2. Your Target Audience
Who are you actually looking to connect with? Where are they likely to be found? A video that’s aiming to connect with people in their early-20s on TikTok will likely look very different from one that’s targeting seniors, so it’s important that the creative direction of your video takes into account who the target audience is, where they watch videos and what resonates best with them.
3. Budget & Timeline
How much you’re looking to spend on a corporate video and how quickly you’ll need the final product can inform what’s possible. Most videos that we produce cost between $3,000 and $15,000 and take about three to four weeks from start to finish, although we can work with tighter timelines, too.
4. Brand Guidelines
A corporate video should feel like a natural extension of your brand identity’s look, feel, and voice. That identity is hard to establish, so we will make sure we understand exactly what it is and how our video can stay consistent with the guidelines you’ve set for your company. This includes:
- Logos
- Colours
- Tone of voice
- Existing assets, like footage from previous shoots
5. Key Message
What’s the most important takeaway you want viewers to get from your video? This is obviously an important goal for your corporate video, and we want to really focus on the most important elements so that nothing distracts from it. Whether it’s the date of an event, a new product launch, or simply raising brand awareness, establishing the key message matters and informs many other elements of the production process.
6. Distribution & Platform
Where are you looking to publish your video? While it’s true that video footage can be effectively repackaged and used across many platforms, it’s important to know the primary place where you hope your video will be seen. This will affect the format and length of your video and can include:
- Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok
- Your corporate website
- Paid ads on TV or in movie theatres
- Paid ads on YouTube or elsewhere online
An example of why this is important is with YouTube ads. Many viewers skip ads after the first 10 seconds, so it’s important to start strong and get your message out as early as possible. That may not be true for a longer ad that will play during commercial breaks on television.
7. Examples & Inspiration
Are there videos you love or hate? Why? If there’s a particular style you think would work well for your company’s corporate video, we can identify elements from those videos and incorporate them into the final product.
8. Stakeholders & Approvals
Who needs to sign off on the final product? How many revision rounds should we expect? These are important questions that can be discussed and sorted out even in the earliest stages of discovery, and make life easier for everyone later in the process.
9. Existing Footage or Assets
Incorporating footage you’ve shot previously into new videos can be an effective way to keep costs down and provide connective tissue between your video products. If there’s anything that can be repurposed or incorporated, let us know.
What to Expect When Meeting with Our Team
Our video production process is collaborative. Our goal is to make sure we’re creating a video that aligns perfectly with the goals and vision of our clients, and the first pre-production meeting is an important step in us understanding exactly what your company wants.
The first pre-production meeting sets the stage for everything that comes afterwards, and while we can brainstorm and help you focus in on the best possible idea, your company should also feel comfortable being assertive about what you’re looking to achieve, your budget, goals and anything else.
We specialize in a collaborative creative process that elevates video production, so your company should approach the first pre-production meeting knowing that it’s your vision and that we’re there to help bring it to life.
Get Your Next Video Project Rolling with Studio Spero
Your goals are what inform the video production process. When we sit down to meet before starting a project with a client, our aim is to get to know your company and everything it’s looking to achieve. Once we have that information, we can get to work creating a final product that matches that vision.
Set up a meeting with us today.
FAQ
Definitely. Footage can be repurposed across different platforms, and it’s very common. You can also build a library of video clips that can be useful for producing later videos. When you meet with Studio Spero for the first time, be sure to mention any existing footage that could be helpful so it can be integrated into your next video.
Not every company will need the full creative direction that Studio Spero can bring to a project. Our foundations package is designed for more budget-focused projects that don’t require the same level of creative support and have quick turnarounds.
This question gets asked a lot, and the answer comes down to whether people are still watching your video and whether it’s still accurate and aligned with your current corporate branding and marketing goals.