3 Things To Know before you start shooting
Have you ever had a super quick deadline for a video project and jumped right into production and filming?
Or maybe you were really excited about the ideas, so you didn’t spend a ton of time on prep work?
All too often deadlines, pressure, or even excitement make us race into filming a video before we spend intentional time in the pre-production. But the prep work is what will ensure we have a successful video in the end, and we all want to achieve those overall goals!
There are several steps we take in the pre-production stage, but the first is asking lots of questions to hone in on that overall purpose.
Here are 3 main things to know before you start filming so you can produce an effective film:
who is your target audience?
Think about who will watch the video when it’s done, and who you want to watch it. What do they look like? What age are they? Are they married? Do they have a family? What’s their financial status? What are some things they care about? What motivates them?
When the description of your target audience is clear, you know how to speak to them effectively and get your message across. You know the words to use (or to avoid), you know the pacing they like, you know the colors and tone they prefer, and you’ll find yourself being very intentional in your production decisions based on that very specific audience.
2. What is the Project for?
Is the video to promote an event? Is it to use as a social media ad to get someone to purchase a product? Is it a fundraising tool?
This directly relates to the call-to-action that you’ll want to put at the end of your video and/or in the surrounding content. Whatever that end goal is for the video.
3. Why is it being done?
What instigated the idea to create a video in the first place? Is a video the right tool? How will success be measured once it’s complete?
A trick to dig deep to find the core reason of a video production is to ask “why?”. Try it out! Keep asking “why?” and you’ll soon find out the real purpose and motivation behind it all.
And once you have clear answers for each of those questions, you’re going to be setting yourself up for success in meeting those overall goals!
Questions? Send me a message, I’m happy to help!