How We Work

Our Corporate Video Production Process

One of the biggest questions we get is: What will the corporate video production process be like, and how much involvement will you need from me? While the answers to these questions can vary from project to project, here’s an average look at our end-to-end corporate video production process.

We have core beliefs in how a production company works for a client.

Shoot

With our plan ready, we move to shoot days. Some elements of our average shoot:

1-2 days

Our most common shoot is 1-2 days, which are up to 10 hours each.

Crew

We usually have a crew of three - a director/producer, a director of photography and a shooter/editor. Some shoots may necessitate additional crew.

Interviews

99 percent of our interviews are unscripted Q/A discussions that are based on the plan’s core messages. Don’t worry about over-preparing or memorizing. We’ll put the interviewee in the best position to deliver an organic, passionate soundbite.

Supporting video

This is known as b-roll in the industry, and it’s any video in which you don’t see the interviewee talking. We’ll work with you to make a list of what we’ll need, which generally is getting shots of people doing their everyday jobs. We typically try to stay away from overly staged, stock-lookalike b-roll.

Lighting

While we shoot with high-end cameras, the key to great-looking video often comes down to lighting - both in gear and technique. On average, we spend about an hour to light interviews. We want your interviewees to look as great as possible.

Overall

Your time: 1-2 shoot days
When: ASAP after plan approval

Pre-production

After we agree to a project scope and budget, the project begins with our corporate video pre-production process. While we will gladly take any and all content direction from your team, we are also excited to take on as much storytelling responsibility as needed.

Project kickoff

During this meeting, we’ll walk through the business purpose for the video, core messages, interviewees, supporting video (also known as b-roll), motion graphics, audio needs and schedule.

Your time: 2 hours
When: ASAP

Production plan

Gillespie Productions takes all of this crucial information and creates a video production plan that you will approve. This document will be our guiding force throughout the rest of the project.

Your time: 30 minutes
When: Several days after project kickoff

Logistics

Gillespie Productions and your team will schedule the shoot day(s) to ensure an efficient shoot schedule and production quality.

Your time: 1 hour
When: Several days after production plan approval

Post-production

The shoot is done, but the work has just begun to bring your project to life. The final stage, post-production, is most often the most time-consuming portion of the project. This stage is where we take the production plan and raw footage, and we edit the final piece into a polished final product that achieves your business goal.

During post-production:

Rough cut

ScriptwritingWe look for the best soundbites and b-roll, and we write an editing script that nets the best story flow and audience engagement.
EditingOur shooter/editor takes the script, cuts down the raw interviews and b-roll, and adds music.
Motion graphicsWe inject the project with graphics that boost the look/feel and align the video with your brand. Examples of motion graphics include a logo animation, a name/title graphic and a fullscreen title card.
Color gradingWe typically shoot in a desaturated color profile, making the raw footage look washed out and gray. We do this on purpose, as we can add more pop to the color in post-production. This step makes a good video look great.
OverallYour time: 0 hours
When: Within one week of shoot days

Revisions

We send you a private link to the rough cut, and you make your revisions, suggestions and questions accordingly. We’ll update our drafts and send them back to you until you’ve approved about the visual elements.

Your time: 30-60 minutes
When: ASAP after receiving review link

Finalize

AUDIO MIX

After all of the visual elements are approved, the final step before delivering a final file is to perform the audio mix. This step ensures all of the clips are at the loudness level we want and the music and interviews are complimenting each other, not competing with each other.

FILE DELIVERY

We render the video into a file that meets your specifications, which 99 percent of the time is a high-quality, 1080p MP4 file. We’ll upload the file to a destination in which you can download the file.

OVERALL

Your time: 10 minutes to download the file
When: Several days after revisions