Pre-production on client videos

[Spiral]

Hey Dvx'ers,

I hope your careers are booming!

I wanted to pop in here and ask a question of others like myself. It's something of a developmental question.

What is your preferred pre-production method of dealing with client/corporate videos?

For those of you who take on clients, do you shoot first and ask questions later, or do you always insist on script and or storyboard ahead of time? Do you work by outline?

I know wedding videos might not be included in this question, as it seems a more organic process.

How do you operate when it comes to pre-production when dealing with a non-narrative, paid gig?

 

[kimballc]

Spiral:

Speaking (or writing, in this case) for myself, I am a big believer in preparation and clarity. Often we have been the creators of the script which is being shot and I always insist on client approval at that stage so we don't have issues during a shoot. On projects for which others have been the writer, we spend a great deal of time reviewing the script so that everyone is aligned, and in the case of narrative work, especially features, we rehearse thoroughly.

For many productions, even commercials, we previs in the computer and show the client as well as cast and crew, that previs. The client can see where the ideas (and money) are going, and the cast/crew know what we are trying to achieve.

I avoid just showing up and shooting at all costs.

Hope that helps!

 

[LeDirector]

A script or storyboard is very important when doing client videos for corporate work. Shooting and asking questions later isn't really productive because what if the client wants something different? Then, you will have wasted all those hours of shooting with no payments to show for it. One option is to still charge the client for what was already shot but that's very tricky and can cause a clients to not want to order future work.

I would plan corporate videos starting with a meeting and then drafting a treatment from the meeting and then moving onto some type of storyboard that is hand drawn by an artist or computer generated to show the clients. Once the clients approve all elements including dialogue, action and graphics (if any), then move forward to shooting.