The Brief-Define your Audience, Messaging and Objectives

Who is your target audience? Students, parents or teachers? We will tailor your video content to reach and engage with this audience.
We encourage a collaborative approach, we can then help you define the key objectives and advise you on an appropriate creative direction. What you want to say to them will be reflected in the script and the storyboard.

Don’t worry if you don’t know exactly what you want, video shooting and editing is what we do best. We are an innovative video production company that love to create exciting concepts and proposals. Sometimes it feels like teachers are going back to school themselves when they think about the school video so we like to think of our service very much like “video production for beginners”. We’ll help you every step of the way.

Where will your video be shown? On social media or the home page of your web site? Thinking in advance about where it will be seen may effect what needs to be filmed.

Costings

Once you are happy with the concept we will respond with an estimate based on your requirements. We will work with you to maximise you budget. The cost of your production depends on the complexity of the brief and the length it will take to execute. Our estimates are based on what we think is the most cost effective way to produce your video. Although most clients initially envisage they can only afford one film, with careful planning and use of your budget we can usually create several edits. A great opportunity to illustrate other facets of your school and increase your ROI.

Our Proposal and treatment

Once we have your brief we will conceive an appropriate visual idea. This is called the ‘treatment’ (the style and look of the video) and will make your story visually exciting and engaging.

The Script, Shot List and Storyboard

Armed with all the necessary information, script development can begin. A script indicates what the audience will see and hear. It is the ‘blue print’ of your production. Often you may already have the ‘bones’ of your script within your existing marketing material. If not we offer a scriptwriting service.

We can then create a storyboard/shot list enabling you to visualise the finished film. This is a series of small sketches (or photos) illustrating each scene in chronological order. This helps you envisage how the film will look and it helps us plan each shot in detail as we can see what location, how many people, what props etc are required.

Voiceover and music

Once the script has been approved you can choose a suitable voiceover artist to narrate your story. The voiceover track is then recorded in readiness for editing. Alternatively a competent member of staff can be recorded. An appropriate piece of music is also chosen. As this is a subjective choice, we can direct you to a recommended music library web site and then organise the licence and purchase of the track (included in our rates)

Recce

Ideally we ‘recce’ the school to assess the shooting environment and meet any key personnel involved. This visit enables us to assess the filming conditions and identify problems that may arise and solve them prior to the shoot dates. With the shot list in mind, we ‘scout’ for suitable locations and check availability of staff, locations and resources.

If necessary we will arrange any licences or permits that need to be secured prior to filming such as CAA drone approval.

Time invested at this stage in thorough research, discussion and communication is key to a successful school video production.

Pre-production meeting

This can be done virtually or in person, whichever is convenient for you. You can book yours here. This involves discussing and planning the logistics, organisation and management of your project. Each shoot day is thoroughly planned so we get the most out of your time and budget. We compile a shoot schedule so everyone involved knows what is happening, when and where?

A pre-production meeting allows all the stakeholders the opportunity to meet our production team and ask questions. We can gather all the relevant facts, clarify all your objectives and obtain further knowledge and understanding of the project. We also discuss the organisation and logistics of the filming. The who? What? Where and When?

The Production Schedule

We compile a shooting schedule so everyone involved knows what is happening, when and where? It will detail all the shooting times, locations, personnel and what we are filming. We hope you have found this guide to school video production useful.

A Step by Step guide to school video production is available as a free download at the bottom of this page.

Filming

Lights, camera, action! We execute all the shots featured in the storyboard. A shoot usually involves at least two crew, shooting with several cameras and numerous lights, sound equipment and other kit. There might be more crew and equipment depending on the complexity and scale of the project.

Our production schedules are carefully planned so we can shoot every shot with care and precision. We aim to cause minimal disruption and execute the project quickly, efficiently and professionally. If necessary the crew will split up and shoot simultaneously allowing us to shoot twice as much footage in the same time period!

Throughout the day our production assistants carefully check the storyboard, shot list and schedules making sure we are on time and getting every shot.

We utilise the latest 4K technology and a variety of microphones ensuring our clients get the very best pin sharp footage and super clean sound.

The footage, file processing and storage

We then log, catalogue and assess all the footage.The ‘raw’ footage (digital files) are processed and securely backed up. It is then imported into the editing software together with the voiceover and music.

Editing the initial ‘rough cut’ video

We create a ‘rough cut’ edit as per the storyboard. The shots are placed in the appropriate order and then we start to build the film, creating each scene by combining various camera angles, live sound, the voiceover, titles and music, making any necessary adjustments as we progress.

This is uploaded to our secure on-line platform for all stakeholder to view. Depending on the complexity of the project and the number of edits required this will usually be within seven days of the shoot.

Client feedback

We request that all the required changes (with approximate timings) from all the stakeholders is submitted in one document.

Creating the final video

Once we have feedback from all stakeholders, we make any changes required. This process maybe repeated several times until you are happy.

Colour grading and sound mixing

We then colour grade the footage, ensuring all the video is uniform in appearance. The sound is mixed so the music and dialogue are crisp and audibly clear.

Delivery

We supply the approved edit in a file format suitable to your needs. This can be downloaded from our secure on-line platform or we can send you the file. Alternatively we can host your video and it can be embedded within your web site. This ensures your video is always displayed at the very best quality.

Contact us if you’d like to talk through your project or head over to our YouTube channel for inspiration. A Step by Step guide to school video production is available below. Just fill in your details to get access to our video production guide pdf. Email us and we can share a promotional video for school script with you.