So you think you’ve got a great video idea. You’ve fleshed out a content strategy. Now it’s time to start figuring out the nuts and bolts of how you’ll actually get the video made. Here are a few things to consider as you get started.

Use Scripts, Storyboards & Shot Lists

Filmmakers employ a variety of tools to organize their productions. These typically take the form of a script (a written description of the content, including dialogue), storyboard (comic-strip version of the script, particularly useful for planning complex visuals and animation) and/or a shot list (a breakdown of individual shots that need to be captured.) Depending on the type of video you are creating you may want to employ one or more of these tools.

Crewing Up

Will you be doing everything yourself or do you need help? For anything beyond a selfie video posted directly to social media (these can be effective!), we recommend enlisting skilled professionals. As a rule of thumb, the more artists, technicians, and craftspeople who are involved, the higher the “production value” (ie quality) of the video. This is why Hollywood movies look and sound amazing but also have ten minutes of credits rolling by at the end. As an example, a “talking head”-style interview should involve at a minimum: a producer (person who coordinates and runs the interview), a camera person (to capture quality video and audio), and an editor (to cut the video together with interesting visuals).

Hiring Talent

For any kind of scripted content that will be acted out, we recommend using professional actors. They are trained to make their dialogue and emotions convincing on screen, whereas untrained amateurs can come across as cheesy. For voice-overs, we recommend hiring professional voice actors who can capture crystal-clear audio and set just the right tone for your video.

Prepping Your Experts

Videos on STEM topics (science, tech, environment, medicine) typically feature subject matter experts (SMEs) and it’s a good idea to prep them ahead of time with questions. We recommend writing out at least four to five questions ahead of the interview and giving them to your expert so that they can have answers top of mind.