Video Production and Editing

Pre-production involves:  brainstorming ideas, scripting, creating a storyboard, and organizing all the details needed to effectively produce your video. You’ll decide what story you want to tell, how you want to tell it, and what resources are needed.

Begin by defining your project and narrowing the focus. This can involve developing learning objectives or outcomes for the video. What is the main message or purpose?

Know the end before you begin.  When planning your video, concentrate on one clear idea, topic, or focus point. For viewers, this focused approach translates into clearer instructions, understanding, and more achievable outcomes.

1. Who’s your target audience? Tailor your content to their needs, interests, and expectations when making a video plan.
2. What’s the video’s purpose? Why are you making this video? Is it to inform, entertain, inspire, or persuade? This serves as the backbone of your content and will guide every creative decision you make.
3. What are your objectives? Define what you want to achieve with this video. Are you aiming to increase brand awareness, educate on a specific topic, or showcase a product? Having clear objectives will help measure your video’s success.
4. What’s the story? Know how you'll narrate this story, the key points you’ll cover, and the overall flow.
5. What resources are available? It’s important to keep track of the resources you have access to — budget, equipment, talent, time, etc.

Audio is just as important as Video & imagery  in a video based project.  Organizing your audio assets in the same way you organize video assets is critical.  Use your scripts and storyboard as a guideline for crafting your audio whether its sound effects, interviews, field recordings etc.

Storyboarding in video involves creating a visual sequence of sketches or images to plan and organize scenes, camera angles, audio/ dialogue, video assets and transitions before filming or editing, ensuring a clear narrative flow.

Scripting in video production involves writing a detailed plan for the dialogue, actions, and scenes, providing a blueprint for the video’s structure, content and production process. It serves as a guide for any narration, actors, and editors throughout the filming process. Its important to have a a loose script of any spoken aspects of your video.  A script is a written document that outlines the dialogue and links to key visual elements of a film or video.

Video Size and resolution-Understanding resolution guidelines ensures the video is technically optimized for its destination, whether it’s a social media platform, a website, or any other digital medium. This can also assist with selecting an appropriate video recording device whether its your phone or a specialized camera. Many software applications provide preset export options for commonly used platforms such as YouTube. 

Accessibility in videos involves ensuring that content is usable by all viewers through features like captions, audio descriptions, and adjustable settings, making the video experience inclusive for a wider audience.

Having closed captions in your video will not only make your content more accessible but also increase engagement.  . Further details can be found at W3C. The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) is an international organization that creates technical standards for the World Wide Web and related platforms.