A Step-by-Step Guide to the Corporate Video Production Process

If you’ve ever wondered what goes into producing slick corporate videos you see from big companies, let me pull back the curtain. It’s a fascinating journey that blends creativity, technical wizardry, and hard work.

From the initial spark of an idea to the final packaged product, there’s an entire production pipeline that has to be navigated. In this article we will peek behind the scenes at each distinct phase – pre-production, production, and post-production. We’ll also look at all the key milestones along the way.

By the end, you’ll have a true insiders’ view into how those polished corporate videos you admire actually come together.

The 3 main Steps in the production of a corporate videos are

• Pre-Production
• Production
• Post-Production

Pre-Production: Where It All Begins

Contrary to what you might expect, the filming itself is just one piece of a much larger puzzle when it comes to corporate video production. The real meat and potatoes happens during the vital pre-production phase.

It all starts with the concept development. Whether it’s a brand overview video, a slick product promo, or something more outside the box, the conceptual aims and objectives need to be clearly defined up front. Meetings with the client are essential to drill down into their vision and set the strategic direction.

Once the high-level concept is locked down, it’s time to start putting the script together. An experienced scriptwriter will take the core concept and flesh it out into a fully realised narrative structure and storyline. The script serves as the foundations that everything else is built upon.

With a solid script in hand, it’s time to start mapping out a visual roadmap through storyboarding. If you’ve ever picked up a comic book, you’ll recognise the format – panels depicting key scenes with notes about camera angles, movements, and transitions. This lets everyone on the team get on the same page stylistically before a single camera starts rolling.

Some corporate videos also require cast members to bring the story to life through fictional characters or on-camera presenters and interviewees. If that’s the case, sourcing and casting the right talent is another crucial pre-production step handled by professional casting directors. Good actors can make or break a video, so this decision is vital.

Production: Lights, Camera, Action

Production is where the real magic happens. This phase covers anything that requires cameras to be rolled and actual video footage to be captured.The production steps are-

Filming

• Setting up on-location
• Dialling in perfect camera angles and shot framing
• Capturing pristine visuals that form the video’s backbone
• Maybe done all at once or over multiple filming sessions depending on complexity

Lighting and Sound Setup

• Dedicated crew handling these essential roles
• Ensuring audio and visuals are broadcast quality

Animation (if required)

• Animators, motion designers and VFX artists create animated sequences
• Handling any stylized graphics or visual effects

Wrap

• Once all live footage and animations are captured it’s a “wrap” on production
• Team can breathe a sigh of relief…but only briefly
• Equally crucial post-production phase is still to come

The first step is simply the filming itself. We’re talking setting up on-location, dialling in the perfect angles and shot framings, and capturing visuals that will form the backbone of the video. Depending on the complexity of the project, this could be done all in one session or require several separate filming sessions.

Of course, capturing quality footage requires more than just a camera and someone to press record. On a corporate video shoot, you’ll have a dedicated crew handling key roles like lighting and sound setup to ensure the audio and visuals are broadcast quality.

While traditional live-action filming is popular, certain genres or types of corporate video incorporate animation elements too. If that’s the case, the production phase is where animation studios, motion designers, and VFX specialists spring into action to create those slick visual sequences.

Once all the live footage and animations are recorded, it’s a wrap on the production phase.

Post-Production: The Finishing Touches

You know that saying “movies are made in the edit”? Well, it applies just as much to corporate video production as any Hollywood blockbuster. Post-production is where all the footage gets woven together into one cohesive final product.

Anchoring the entire process is the video editor, a seasoned pro who serves as the conductor overseeing all the key elements coming together in harmony. They’ll be poring over every frame of footage, meticulously fitting the puzzle pieces in place.

Next, it’s the motion graphics designers turn to work their magic. They’ll be layering in eye-catching visual effects, kinetic graphics, logos, lower thirds and more that add so much production value to the video.

The colour grading artist also plays a vital role, adjusting the colours across all the footage to craft a consistent, polished look that accentuates the mood and tone. While it might seem like a subtle process, colour is one of those oft-overlooked elements that can make or break how professional the end product appears.

Last but certainly not least, sound editing and mixing brings the aural side of the experience up to the same professional standards as the visuals. We’re talking seamlessly editing together music, voice-overs, ambient sound effects, fade-ins, fade-outs – everything it takes to create an immersive, broadcast-quality audio experience.

With all these essential post-production processes complete, the finished video is compressed, exported, and readied for upload and distribution. Finally, it all coalesce into one impressive final video that’s ready for the world to see.

Marketing and Distributing the Final Video

Once all that painstaking production work is done, you’re left with a new corporate video asset that’s ready to be viewed by your target audience. But simply having the video created is only half the battle – you’ve also got to market and distribute it effectively to maximise its impact. Far too many brands invest heavily in video production but then drop the ball on actually getting those videos seen and converting.

This is where having a solid marketing and distribution strategy comes into play. Strategic promotion is essential for getting the video out to wider audiences..

For starters, your company’s own website and social media channels should be the first place for hosting and promoting the video. Whether it’s embedding it on your homepage, creating a dedicated video landing page, or cutting up teasers for social media posts, leveraging your own marketing channels is crucial.

From there, you’ll want to look at repurposing and distributing the video through other relevant third-party sites and platforms tailored to your target audiences. For B2B videos, that could mean industry publications, trade show media players, or platforms like YouTube with precise ad targeting. B2C videos may find more traction on consumer video sites or by partnering with influencers.

Paid promotional boosts can also be a good investment on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram to exponentially increase your video’s visibility and engagement within specific demographics.

Be sure to foster an interactive community around your video too. Encourage feedback, comments, and shares by posting open-ended discussion questions. Create conversation by replying to comments and addressing questions. The more engagement you can drum up, the longer your video’s “shelf life” will be.

Video metrics and analytics should also be closely monitored to gauge performance and optimise your distribution strategy. Pay attention to things like overall views, engagement rates, viewer drop-off, traffic sources, and conversion rates if applicable. Use these insights to identify top performing channels

From writers, to directors, cameras ops, lighting crews, sound engineers, animators, editors, motion designers, colourists – it’s a truly collaborative process from concept to completion.So next time you’re tasked with creating a corporate video for your business, remember that the finished product you see is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the sheer amount of work involved backstage.

Read more about the evolution of corporate videos