Your guide to briefing a video production company
It’s never been easier to create video-based content for your business. Smartphone technology has turned many entrepreneurs into mini Spielbergs.
But at Bouche, we know there’s more to making high-quality videos than simply point and click.
Your corporate videos have a job to do, and the best way to ensure your videos carry your brand message, reach their audience and stay on budget is to draw up a detailed video production brief.
What is a video production brief?
This document lays out several key elements of your video content including goals, deadlines and how much you plan to spend.
The video brief allows us (as a London video production agency) to understand what we’re creating, why and how. This will ensure the finished product is exactly what you want.
Essentially, it makes sure everyone’s on the same page before the production process begins.
The importance of a creative brief
Everyone in business understands the importance of planning and preparing for the final result. It’s the same when working with a video production company.
A video production brief allows everyone to agree at the outset on what the project is about. Briefs can be used as a central reference point at each stage, and help prevent miscommunication or misunderstandings. And, what’s more, they can help foster collaboration and team spirit from the outset.
Our seven-step guide to briefing a video production company
Here’s our handy guide to help you create the ideal brief for a video production company so that we can all hit the ground running and achieve the best results.
The goals of your video project
“What do you want your video to do?” is arguably the first and most obvious question to be answered in the creative brief.
It can be really simple, from boosting web traffic and sales, supported by specific benchmarks, to changing employee behaviour.
Use our experience
The more ambiguous your targets, the more challenging it is to create business or corporate video content that will achieve them. It’s important at this stage to be as clear as possible about your content goals. Less is more – don’t try to achieve too many things at once!
If you’re not sure, talk to us! The pre-production stage is an ideal opportunity to call on our video production experience, and we’ll do all we can to guide you.
The target audience
The next big question is “who are you speaking to?” Knowing your target audience is a key pillar of any business marketing strategy and it should also underpin your creative brief.
Identifying precisely who your video content is going to be aimed at enables the video production company to pin down tone of voice, visuals and even music choices.
It’s a great idea to really drill down into your target audience and determine the following for your video production brief:
- who they are as people (e.g. demographic, geography, do they know the brand?)
- what they care about
- their familiarity with the subject
- their pain points
- their aims and aspirations
A video brief armed with this information will boost the creative process and enable us to help craft a compelling and engaging story for your brand.
The core message of your video project
You’ve decided what you want your video to do and who it’s speaking to. The next part of the brief for a video production agency will identify the content’s core message.
It’s easy when putting together a video production brief to get carried away and try to cram in several angles to the story. In our experience, it’s much better to have a single focus.
Get to the nitty gritty
Our team knows videos with a single message at their heart are more impactful and powerful. They resonate more with audiences because exploring a sole issue in more detail means because exploring a sole issue in more detail brings more clarity to the viewer. This also helps you work towards your business objectives.
When writing your brief, can you distil the core message of your video production in a single sentence before the production process begins?
What type/style of video content (animation/live action etc.)
The goal, audience and message of your video production will determine which style or type of video content we create, as recommended by the creative brief.
Light-hearted, bouncy animation won’t fit with a video marketing effort to raise awareness of a serious issue. Likewise, a talking head in a suit might not appeal to school kids watching a video about trainers.
Lots of choice
There are lots of different styles of video, from animated and whiteboard to live-action. When writing a video production brief, it’s important to consider which is right for your brand (and target audience) and the message you’re trying to get across.
We’re experts in both film-based and animation videos, so whichever your creative brief requests, we can deliver.
Where will it be seen?
Another of the key points to include when you write up your creative brief is where your video content will be broadcast and disseminated.
To reach the right audience, it needs to be seen on the right site or platform. Matching that to distribution is very important, because it will determine the shape of your content.
For example: a call to action may be needed for marketing content posted on YouTube that aims to increase sales. However, a training video aimed at new employees won’t be seen beyond your company website or Intranet.
What’s the budget?
Every company looking to create video content for a target audience must also have a good idea of how much they want to spend. We strongly recommend including that figure when you write the brief.
Be realistic when you write your video production brief, and set a budget that is realistic for your organisation.
Hitting the deadline
“Procrastination is the thief of time”, so they say, and when putting together a creative brief, it’s crucial to have a realistic timeline and a deadline for the production process.
That way, video production companies know exactly how much time to schedule for your marketing content, taking in both pre and post-production work.
For example, a corporate video for your website about a big anniversary is of little interest to your target audience if it’s posted after the date has passed.
Knowing the deadline for your next video production project helps keep everyone on the same page and the production on schedule.
The importance of a creative brief: an overview
Video content can help all kinds of businesses achieve success, whether you’re an up-and-coming company bursting with ideas about how to market your products or services, or an established giant with a big video budget looking to expand your audience.
A well-written creative brief enables that vision to come to life. For example: your written video production brief template should focus on:
- Why you’re creating the video
- The audience you want to sell/talk to
- The core message or idea behind the video
- The style of your video
- Where the video is going to be broadcast
- What budget the project has
- The timeline for video project delivery
Contact us
At Bouche Media, our video production process enables us to create bespoke, innovative content that makes a real difference for a wide range of clients, no matter their budget or timelines.
Whether you’re looking to film a live-action interview video, are keen on creating an animation to sell your latest product, or need an event video to be posted online, our experienced team can turn your video brief into impactful, engaging content.
Want to work together on your next corporate video and create something amazing? Call us on +44 (0) 203 6373597, email info@bouchemedia.com or use this contact form, and we’ll get back to you ASAP.