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advice and guidelines

The following information is provided so you will have a clear understanding of what to expect when undertaking a media production project.

 

Be prepared to commit a decent amount of time to the project

Committing to undertake a production project will likely end up being more time-consuming than you may think. We will look after the technical and creative needs of the process, but we will also need your input and time through the whole production process, including:

  1. Discussing your concepts and ideas with us to work out how and where you want your finished product to be shown, and to make sure the timescale for your project is achievable.
  2. Scheduling the required resources (e.g. academic colleagues and location availability/suitability) and being present during filming is very helpful so you get exactly what you need.
  3. Working with us during the editing and post production process, reviewing and approving edits in a timely manner. 

 

It’s all about planning and visualisation

The more you time you spend planning your video and thinking about what you want it to achieve before any filming takes place, the slicker the production process will be which will result in a better end product. Asking yourself these questions and making some notes can be really useful ahead of discussing projects with us.

Q. What do you want to achieve with the video?

Having an idea of preferred style and structure is really useful in allowing us to know what’s needed in terms of filming and allows us to give input on what we feel will and won’t work from experience. You could even go as far as producing a rough script or story-board to work from!  Providing examples of similar work (in terms of look and fell) will help to understand this.

 Q. Who is your audience?

Thinking about your audience and what level of education viewers are expected to have will determine how the video should it be pitched. Considering how the finished video will be delivered (e.g. DVD/web page) can affect its range and reach.

 Q. How long does the video need to be? 

Statistics suggest that the first 15 seconds are crucial to grab the views attention and generally anything longer than 5 minutes will show a drop in interest level.

Q. What are your timescales?

Your timescales will determine what we are able to provide in terms of complexity. The less time we have to create the video, the more simplistic the end product will be.  Think about any critical dates where you need things to be filmed and what your ultimate deadline for completion.

 Q. What key resources need to be considered?

Some projects lend themselves to being filmed in our studio, others benefit from ‘location’ recording. Consider location availability/permissions/risk assessments and access to other contributors/presenters.

Q. What about third party resources?  

You may need access to images, graphics, music etc. to enhance your programme which could take time and money to source. Music that is subject to copyright generally costs a lot of money to use and is very time consuming to get the ‘rights’ to use; it will also incur royalty payments therefore we wouldn’t usually recommend this route. 

Q. Will you be the main point of contact throughout the project?

If not, who will be and are they aware of the levels of commitment required? Who will ultimately ‘sign off’ the video?

 

What’s next?

Once your request has been considered and commissioned we move into the production process