Planning to Finished: Guide to the Video Production Process at Vulcan Media

From planning your content and organizing the schedule to working with the crew, this helpful information includes material we need from you:

Make a simple outline or list of your video content and send it to us.

List important topics to be included.
Make notes about the key points you want to make.
List people who will speak on camera, if any. For multiple speakers, decide who will cover specific topics.
Note visual elements to be included, such as areas/locations, people, tasks, products, equipment or processes.
Write general interview talking-points for people appearing on camera. We’ll shape your points into the material we need for easy Q-and-A interviews.

Consider these ideas for visuals, add them to your list if relevant.

Awards that your organization has received.
Signs, banners or posted information relevant to your video messages.
Any company logos at the building, on vehicles, on clothing or on equipment.
Consider any photos, historic memorabilia, PowerPoint slides or graphical material to be included, if any.
Think about places at your business that visually represent your company culture, such as unique architectural spots, communal areas, training facilities, use of technology, etc.

Send us items we’ll need for editing your video.

Your logo. We’ll need the largest, highest resolution logo you have. We prefer files like .eps, .ai, or .png. But a large .jpg is fine. (Do NOT send us a computer screen-grab, please)
Send us any disclaimers or other printed statements which need to be included.

Schedule planning is important to stay on time and on budget.

When possible, we suggest recording people to speak on camera first, before we gather other video. This helps our technical and story-telling workflow run efficiently and stay within the work time quoted.
When planning time for people to speak on camera — average about 30-minutes for each high-level executive and about 15-minutes for each employee or client (interviews may not take this long, but this will help you set a schedule for participants to be ready).
When planning time to record visuals/non-speaking video, time varies based on the space. For indoor office videos, plan about 1-hour per minute of video (ex: if you plan a 2-minute video, plan about two hours to record visuals besides interviews). For large space indoor facilities like factories, plan about 2-hours per minute of finished video, and remember to account for time to walk between needed locations. For large site outdoor videos, time is extremely variable based on conditions and goals — assume at least 3-5 hours per minute of finished video, in addition to interview time.
Remember to plan time for equipment move-in, set-up and on-site equipment moves between areas.
Please ask us any questions about setting a schedule — we’re glad to help customize a schedule based on your project.

Plan for safety, parking AND equipment space!

Advise us IN ADVANCE of any PPE or dress codes. With advance notice, we provide our own basic PPE including steel toes, yellow safety vests, safety glasses, ear plugs and hard hats. You must provide any unique PPE if applicable.
Send us a physical, land address for the vehicle entry-point of your facility.
Explain proper site entry and building entry for equipment — we’ll unload SUVs at the entry you specify.
Let us know our designated parking location.
For dress code, advise us of unique requests that may be different than traditional work attire.
Video equipment space for set-up is vital when we’re on-site. Please designate a small room or un-used office where we can stage equipment. We’ll need to plug in chargers, computers and our own wifi network.