Planning a Video Production Project: The Video Creative Brief Template

planning a video production project

Online marketing is a dynamic discipline that introduces new trends and techniques on a regular basis. Customer behaviour is changing, and marketers are trying to keep one step ahead by inventing new ways to promote engaging content.

In the last few years, people have been talking a lot about the rise of video, and its effectiveness as an advertising tool. Here’s a fact: consumers are 27.4 times more likely to click on video ads than on regular text/image banners. So, is video effective? I’m going to let you decide by yourself. However, planning a video production project can be a pretty challenging task.

Even if you haven’t done it yet, I’m sure you’ve thought about producing a video. But, many video projects doesn’t deliver results as expected because of improper planning. So, how can you create successful videos? And what are the most important things you need to keep an eye on when planning a video production project? Let’s start by introducing video brief – as an important tool to guide you through the whole process.

How important is Video Brief?

If I had to put it in one word: very! Video brief is your blueprint, and a key tool that helps you keep the entire video production process structured and organized. Whether you decide to produce the video in-house or hire someone from the outside, you’re going to need a guideline for all the different stages. Remember: Behind every successful video stands a well-organized video brief.

The video brief will help you to define the purpose of the video and its message. But also, it will serve as a set of requirements that you can use to hire the right people for the job – if you’re planning to outsource this project to some other company.

So you finally have a great idea for a video? Great! Let’s create your video brief by following a template of questions and tips. We’re going to approach this in stages, and I’m going to guide you through each step of the way!

Planning a Video Production Project: The Video Creative Brief Template

planning a video production project

Image by: Steven Depolo (via Flickr)

Hopefully by now, you’re aware that video brief is a must when planning a video production project. And if you think about it, the video brief looks like a tiny version of a business plan. There are 3 different parts of this template:

  • Important aspects of creating a video brief
  • Questions you need to ask yourself
  • How to find the right team for the job

Let’s brake these parts piece by piece, and try to cover them as thoroughly as possible.

Important Aspects of Creating a Video Brief

First, we’re going to identify some important aspects of a video brief such as the company’s background, estimated video budget, the focus of the video, targeted audience and goals.

Background

Before you get into specific details about the video, it’s always good to provide a general information about your company, and its position on the market. Think about what makes your brand special, what are your key values, short-term vs long-term plans, etc. This will help your team to better understand your core values, and produce the video from the right angle.

Budget and Timeline

This is the part where you decide on how much you’re prepared to spend on this project, and how do you plan to go about the production process from start to finish. A simple timeline will do the job. But you need to be realistic when deciding on a budget. It needs to fit your expectations, crew expertise, graphics that you’re going to use and equipment quality.

As far as interviewing companies goes, you can either make it clear how much you can spend, or ask for a free quote. Both ways have their own advantages, but I don’t think that the prices will differ by much – given that you’re being realistic.

Focus of the video

You need to make it clear in the brief what would be the main focus of the video. Do you plan to focus it on your product/service or maybe your company in general? If you pick one, you need to figure out the best way to introduce your product or service in the video. Remember, you know what is best for you company and it’s going to be your job to write down what you want to promote, and how do you plan to do it. Your production crew will have to take these notes and create something valuable out of them.

Targeted Audience

Define which target group is your primary focus. In other words, what type of customers you’re trying to reach, and what are their key attributes. Think about their response to the video, and how will they receive the message that you’re trying to deliver.

To better understand your customers, you can create more than one video and test out which solutions performs the best. The cost of video production is significantly lower than it used to be few years back. This means that companies can afford to be creative, and try to reach their customers with different approaches.

Goals

Set clear goals about what you’re expecting the video to achieve. This can range from increasing brand awareness, getting more referrals and growing traffic on your website to reaching higher conversion rates. Goals are important because they will help you to compare the outcome of the video campaign with your predictions. Hence, it will tell you whether what you did was working or not.

Questions You Need To Ask Yourself

planning a video production project

Image by: fse8info (via Flickr)

Now, we’re going to define what type of video you want to create by answering a set of questions.

What type of video would you like to create?

Think about what type of video you want to create, and share your thoughts with your team. This will directly affect what type of company you will decide to hire. Here are some the most common video types:

  • Animated videos
  • Whiteboard videos
  • Interactive videos
  • Event videos
  • Corporate videos
  • Screen recorded videos

Decide which video type will fit your video content and targeted audience the best.

How long will it be?

This is a rather complicated question. It mainly depends on what you’re trying to do in the video, and what you’re promoting. But it is highly suggested that you keep the video as short as possible. Your video production project brief must specify the estimated video length. It’s for the best if you discuss this with your team. Consider the story you want to tell, the graphics elements and come up with a rough estimate about the duration.

Where will you film it?

The location of the video production can affect your costs. If you’re shooting somewhere outdoors, you need to consider additional costs for travel. Add some video locations you can see your video being produced. This will help companies to calculate the costs more precisely.

Where will you distribute the video?

When planning a video production project, it’s always a good practice to think further along the way. Do a research about the best places you can distribute the video, and decide whether you’re going to primarily focus on organic traffic, or you’ll go with paid advertising. Or maybe both. This is a great add-on to your video brief!

How to Find the Right Team for the Job

finding the right team (from planning a video production project)

Image (and featured image) by: Joe (via Flickr)

If you decide to hire someone, this part will help you pick the right team – capable to deliver your video project on time and as planned. The video brief alone, will help you to know precisely what you want to create, and which company can meet your needs. But there are also few other things you should take into account when deciding to hire a company. Here are few general tips to help you in the selection process:

  • Check out the company’s reputation
  • Look for testimonials and referrals from other clients
  • Communication is key, so work with a team who understands your needs
  • Always follow your gut feeling

Meet Valoso – The Ideal Place for Your Video Project

At Valoso, your ideas matter! You can pick a video editor, or a group of video editors who have what it takes to take your video brief, and produce a unique video that just works with your audience.