Tracking every step
For outsiders the course of a film production often has something fascinating about it. But many people do not even know what exactly happens during the production of a film. Sure – at the end is a finished film. But what exactly does it need? And what steps are necessary to ensure that the film that has been playing out in your head flickers across the screen?
A film should do one thing above all: knock the audience off their feet. The challenge for film productions, however, lies above all in meeting the demands and expectations of a customer who, in case of doubt, has not yet been able to gain experience in the moving image sector. Often this can lead to questions such as: „Why does a film of two minutes duration require a shooting time of one, often even several days?
We therefore want to take a look at what exactly is behind the production of a film. That much we can already reveal here: Every shoot and every client is unique – and therefore requires a different approach. Nevertheless, the procedure of a video production is similar in some points:
The phases of a typical film production:
The consultation
Good advice is essential for a good end product. If you miss to form a clear concept already during the consultation, you can’t count on getting a film that lives up to expectations at the end of the production. Accordingly, a good consultation between film production and client is very important. In this preparatory phase of film production, the focus is on what the client wants to achieve with the video, what goals the finished film should fulfil, and finally how best to address a target group. All the necessary information about the company, brand, product or service to be advertised is shared with the production company so that an individual concept can be created on the basis of this information.
The result is a strategic plan that culminates in a commercial, image film or recruiting film that delivers the right impulses to the right target group. If there is finally a „go“ for the project, a binding deadline is set, on which the film project is presented to the client or handed over to the client.
The individual components of the consultation include:
- Acquisition of know-how about the respective company: Research, industry specifications, corporate culture, etc.
- Pre-Production Meetings / Calls
- Definition of the style, theme and message (draft framework story)
- Definition of objectives (KPI’s) and target group identification
- Definition of the budget
- The pre-production
- Pre-production is about putting into practice the points discussed in theory during the consultation and giving the film a face. It is often also referred to as pre-production or pre-production.
The heart of the video shoot: the storyboard
In the conception phase, the customer’s specifications become a clever story. The heart of the conception is the so-called storyboard, which gives the film production as well as the customer a first idea of the finished advertising film by means of pictures and texts. Here the basic conditions for the film, such as the length, the number of protagonists, etc., become clear. The framework for the video, which was put down on paper during the initial consultation, is also outlined. Speaker’s texts and the later presented pictures are grouped together and the film visualises a first time by means of drawings, graphics, or mood boards or a moodcut.