Commissioning a video

A well made video can be an extremely effective way to communicate your message, to publicise your organisation, for training or sales purposes. To get the most impressive video for the money, here are some questions you need to ask yourself before you start.

Who is my audience?

Have a clear idea of the types of people you are trying to reach, and how you want them to feel after they've seen it. Your audience could be your customers, another department in your organisation or your boss' boss. What's the best way to get their interest first?

Where and how will the audience view the video?

- in a group, with a live introduction and the opportunity for discussion afterwards, or in isolation over the internet or company network? How captive is the audience? There is a big difference between a seminar, where only the mind can wander and an exhibition stand, where the viewer can physically move away. How important is the audio? In some sales situations sound may not be played at all!

What is my aim? What do I want the viewer to do having watched the video?

Keep it simple. Have a clear and simple message that you want your audience to leave with, plus a compelling call to action.

What format will I use to distribute the programme?

You need to think about this early on. Different criteria apply to producing a film for distribution on DVD and providing clips for a website. Would your film be of interest to a television company? What aspect ratio should be used, widescreen or 4:3? It may not matter much but if you are using the video in a PowerPoint presentation you will want it to match the rest of the material. Is the video mainly for Europe, where PAL is the system in use or the USA, where NTSC is universal? All these variables can be incorporated from the outset but leaving it to the last minute could be expensive.

How much will the video cost and why can’t we make it ourselves?

You can make it yourselves and we can show you how. It will certainly pay off to have video production skills in house, if you intend to be making videos regularly.

How do I choose a Production Company?

Commissioning a Production Company is a serious act of faith. You will be parting with a large sum of money without any guarantee of how it will end. That’s why most companies rely on recommendations and repeat work for the bulk of their business. Websites are the obvious place to start – search engines and directories will provide a good list of suitable companies in your area. Who are their existing clients? What kind of work do they do? How experienced are they? In the end you will pick the company that you feel comfortable with but here are a few suggestions of what to look for:

Track record. Who are their current clients? Can you see a show reel of their work? Don’t worry if they can’t show you an example of your particular subject matter. Every commission is different and requires a fresh approach. Off the peg solutions rarely work well.

Producer or salesman? Who will be the day-to-day contact? You need to establish a good working relationship with whoever is going to produce the video – will this person be on the shoot and at the edit or will they produce from behind a desk!

Big or small? Many Production Companies are ‘sole traders” working with a network of freelance technicians. The advantage is that you know who is working on your project, the disadvantage is what happens when that key person is struck ill. However, large production companies will be able to spread the work load, but will have the associated higher overheads.

Choose the best company or the best treatment? You can either ask a number of companies to pitch for a job with a treatment, then choose the best. Alternatively, choose a company first and then work with that company to produce a well-researched creative treatment. If you wish, you can just pay for the treatment initially and only commit to the full production when you are happy with it. There is one crucial advantage in working this way – both you and the producer have the same goal in mind, to arrive at a treatment that meets all your aims and objectives within the given budget.

We hope the above will help you think through some of the key issues. It may be that video is not for you – in which case you’ll know when you’ve found a good production company - because they’ll be the first to tell you so!