How to produce a video...
Is this your plan? . . .
You have an award shattering idea for a video but you aren't sure how to get started. It couldn't cost too much! You know someone with a video camera you can just borrow. And you can download pictures and music from the web. You can see it all—mountain scenery, Janis Joplin singing, the picture bounces a little as if someone is jogging down a trail. You have an exciting story in mind, not on paper, but everyone can make up lines. And your brother and friends will help with the acting. Your father-in-law could use some of it to promote his sports equipment store. It could be a sports video AND a sales video! So it really wouldn't cost much at all. Get some interns and volunteer friends involved . . . *
* If you have lots of time, no money, can borrow a camera and
just want to have some fun, go for it!
Redgum Television Productions is often asked how to design and produce a video, and the plan above is a recipe for disaster for a business or professional organization. Substituting creativity and enthusiasm for solid planning and experienced guidance will produce a disappointment. Using a consumer camera and low-grade web pictures, much less copyrighted pictures and music, won't create National Geographic quality. The low-budget miracle movies that you hear about are produced by people who know what they are doing and how to cut corners, but they don't leave out entire steps in the process nor do they take chances on making ignorant mistakes, like pirating music or thinking amateur actors can make up and deliver lines smoothly.
General Rules
Here are some general rules:1. Know what you want to accomplish with the video before you start.
2. Plan the technical execution of the video with the highest quality you can afford.3. Create a realistic budget and don't be naive but try your best to include everything up front and not be shocked at the end.
4. Develop a plan for what to do with the video when it is finished—what media will it be on--tape? CD? DVD? web? how will you distribute it? will you be able to recoup any costs?
More detail or quotation - info@redgumtv.com.au