How to Make a Video

Lots of people think that making a video is easy, you just point your camcorder at the scene you want filmed and press the record button, and hey presto! you have a video worthy of the BBC!! Well, it might be alright for Childrens TV, under the guise of being made by a 5 year old, but that is it.

If you want a more polished production you are going to have to put some effort into it, and it does not start with pointing your camera at something, it starts way before that. First, we have to break down the steps of a video into 5 basic elements.

(Click on the links to learn more about the subject)

Negotiation / Brief - A client will bring you a brief, you will find out what the video is about, its target audience, how it will be shown, its length, basic budget, research and the final treatment.
Pre-Production - Booking equipment, crew, actors, producing scripts, shooting schedules, locations and copyright clearances.
Production - The actual filming, trying to keep within budget and time constraints.
Post Production - Logging rushes, paper edit, off-line version for client approval and the final on-line version.
Evaluation - Shown to client and appraised as to how it met with the original brief.

Once you have completed these steps you should have a better understanding of how a video is put together. I suggest you try using these steps in a short video just so you can see how they actually work in real life as it were.