The Three Stages of Video Production

Making a movie feels a bit like magic. There’s so much to consider during the process—the audio, the camera angle and its settings, how you edit scenes together, and how you go about adding musical accompaniment. While what comes out is a cohesive whole, the three stages—pre-production, production, and post-production—each involve a lot of work to make it that way. To learn more about the three stages of video production that apply to most video mediums (not just film), keep on reading.

Pre-Production

Simply named and easy to understand, pre-production encompasses the planning that takes place before the first day of filming. You want the best shots possible, and pre-production increases the likelihood that you’ll get them when you say, “Action.” The tasks that make up pre-production include but are not limited to:

Storyboarding & Research
Creating a Budget
Buying Equipment (Lighting, Cameras, Microphones, etc.)
Choosing a Filming Location
Writing the Script
Assigning or Hiring for Roles

The more details you address early, the simpler your job will be when it comes time to film.

Production

Speaking of, the production stage is when the filming magic happens. This stage is when staff assign mics and otherwise prepare to pick up clear audio, a vital yet tricky element to video production. It’s when production crews fine-tune many other facets as well—making adjustments for shadows they didn’t anticipate, adapting to equipment failures, and performing other small problem-management tasks.

Apart from the main event, they also capture B-roll footage to splice in, if necessary, as well as voice-over work. It takes an enormous amount of coordination to do everything efficiently during the day, so the day of filming is always fast-paced and hectic.

Post-Production

Once a crew captures everything, they’re ready for the last of the three stages of video production—post-production. This is an involved phase of recursive editing and review. Mixers align video with music and sound effects that magnify the experience. There are ways to play with scene placement and music that even change what you communicate, allowing teams creative leeway all the way to the end. Post-production usually requires more time than anticipated, but the pay-off of a polished product is worth the work.