Here are 10 Commandments that will make yor video production look better, sound better, be on budget and leave your audience wanting more.

Thou Shall Have A Plan

I don't shoot a video without a script or a storyboard. I made this decision about 10 years ago and it has helped me in my own projects and when working with others. Just recently I was asked to film a commercial. After agreeing, I asked for storyboards and/or a script from the creatives. No storyboard or script ever came. I asked to be taken off the project. Last I heard, they shot the project without a storyboard, still do not have a script and the efx team is not real sure what to do. Nightmare. At the very least - an expensive shoot due to a lazy creative team.

When shooting your marketing videos, have a plan. Write it down and map it out to stay ahead of the problems and recognize the opportunities.

Thou Shall Have A Budget

A budget of $10 is still a budget. I'm talking about cost of doing business. Money is money, time is money, equipment is money and people are money. You need to calculate the cost of the project in real dollars, even if you are doing it with no "money". Why do this? Because you need to know yout ROI. Here's what I mean:

Say I want to do a video for my business and I want to do it myself. I have all the equipment and I shoot it one day with my assistant helping out. Then I spend about 20 hours editing it and I use my sound and video library to augment the production. Finally I post it on my website and watch the sales come on in.

What did the above production REALLY cost?
- A Day of my time shooting - $1500 - Two Days of editing/posting - $3000 - A Day of my assistant's time - $150 - Camera cost - Lighting cost - Microphones - Music Library - Graphics Library - Etc - Etc

So the above DIY production cost me SOMETHING - maybe not out-of-pocket money but time, effort and resources. Obviously, the more I use my resources the less it costs per production. But if I buy that fancy light kit and only use it once a year - THAT's expensive.

So - I say all this to say write down your budget. How much time, money and effort will it take to accomplish. After the production wraps, evaluate your actual to budget. You will soon get very good at estimating the time and cost after you do this 2 or 3 times.

If nothing else, you can tell your boss, partner, or significant other what you are up to and how long it will take... and be accurate!

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