What to expect from this package.
Initial meeting - agreeing on a production schedule and
the video content with scriptwriter and creative director present.
• A detailed schedule for the production, including deadlines for approval of the script and storyboard, pre-production meetings, shoot dates, dates for viewing the rough cut and fine cut, completion and final delivery rollout.
The script - The script is the engine that drives your video. It tells the story and ties the pictures together.
• Usually the script is mostly words - such as voiceover narration, a Presenter, and dialogue for any actors - with only a sketchy idea of the visual content.
Remember that what the scriptwriter has written is spoken plain English.
• This is not the same as you would write in a business document. It has a different rhythm, it uses different structures, different words. So resist the temptation to correct grammar and usage - turning “it’s” into “it is”, for example. If you insist on this, you will wonder why the final narration sounds so wooden.
Script approval - You may be happy to approve the script remotely by email, but an internal team meeting is probably more effective at getting agreement and commitment.
• A good tactic at the meeting is to get someone, to read the script out loud, line by line, paragraph by paragraph. Amendments can be agreed on the spot.
• You can also use this meeting to discuss visual content in more detail - what machines you are going to film, what would be the best example of scaffolding, how best to demonstrate a product.
Storyboard - The storyboard is the script, plus a full description of the visual content, plus a list of everything that will be required. It's a complete map of the video, a master document that you and the production team can refer to.
Shoot schedule and shoot list - Now that you have agreed what the scenes are going to be and where they will be shot, you need to plan a shoot schedule and shoot list. The shoot list, lets everyone - managers, video director, camera crew, performers - know whatâ??s happening and when. This is determined by convenience and practicality, not by the order that the scenes will appear in the finished video. Be prepared, where possible, to walk round all the locations yourself, and check that everything is as the storyboard says it is. You need to remember that it takes up to an hour to move a video crew from one location to another, even within the same building, because of the time needed to dismantle, shift, set up and relight at the new location.
• In other words try to schedule all the scenes in one area in one session.
The shoot - The shoot is the most demanding part of the video production process. Shooting can seem to take a long time and many attempts to get a particular shot in the can. The director and cameraman will be working to get the most interesting and convincing result that the video editor can use.
Motion graphics - computer animation and graphics are now used extensively in corporate video, essentially to
show something which it is not possible to capture with the video camera. They can show:
• The inner workings of a machine or process
• Physical events which are invisible, such as microwaves, germs or particles
• A building which has yet to be built
• A product which has yet to be made
• Something which is too small, too distant or too dangerous to film Motion graphics can also add live and dimension to a video.
Editing to rough cut - The video editor's first job is to grade the rushes, which means look at all the footage shot and decide which is useful, and which is not. This takes longer than people might think, as grading is the process by which the editor becomes familiar with the footage and becomes absorbed into the project. JEMgraphics may give you a VHS tape or web stream with Time Code, which show tape numbers and timings on screen; so that you can identify which shots you want, without the necessity of coming to the studio.
The soundtrack - The soundtrack for your video may require additional voiceover and music to complement the sound recorded during the shoot.
• Voiceover - recorded by a professional voiceover artist in our recording studio.
• Music - music can be used in intros for increased impact and as background throughout the video.
• Existing images and footage - Although we do have libraries of images and footage; if you require any still image, video or film footage outside our libraries, a fee will be charged.
The rough cut and final cut - Once video editing is complete, the video will be shown to you as a Rough Cut. Today, most Rough Cuts are very close to the final finished job as the storyboard will have been widely approved, the footage shot to plan, and everything else agreed to in advance. At the Rough Cut viewing, you will suggest amendments, though again if all has gone to plan, none of these amends will be major. Once you have agreed any changes, a Final Cut will take place, incorporating your suggestions.
The Final Cut is the final product.
