Here's my video creation workflow

OG

04 Jan 2025 • 6 min read

When you want to make a video there’s a bunch of things going through your head, and everyone says to just record.

If you’re anything like me that’s only going to make you mad.

"Record what!?"

What’s the reason I’m going out and filming myself?

People tend to give advice on the filming portion of the video, but I’ll argue that that’s the easiest.

I think most if not all the work is in the pre and post production stages.

I like to think of video creation in this three part process.

Pre-Production
Filming
Post-Production

But again, I want to focus on Pre-production because I think that’s where people drop the ball.

Pre-Production

Production is the part of the process BEFORE you start producing the video.

This is where you need to be clear on the purpose for the project because this will guide you through every other step.

As of now I have a pretty good track record and I think I’m the best person to talk to you about the problems beginners face.

To do so let’s break down Pre-Production into further categories.

Inventory (Needs a better name):

These are in no particular order, you just need to keep them in mind at all times.

Gear: Identify what gear you have and what it can and can’t do
Location: Consider filming somewhere having your gear in mind.

Planning:

Purpose of video (Reason you’re making the video)
- Who is this for?
- What are you going to talk about? (Will it be useful?)
- Why should they care?
Method of creating video (How will you deliver this message)
- When?
  - Night/Day
- Where?
  - Indoor/Outdoor

So using this framework, let’s go down the list.

I’m going to use my own video as a way to show you how this works.

This video was scripted with this exact newsletter.

Purpose of video
- Who is this for?
  - Anyone creating a video that has no prior experience.

What are you going to talk about? (Will it be useful?)
- Video creation, specifically the Pre-Production stage.
- Yes, it should save people hours of wasted effort paying attention to the wrong aspects of video creation.

Why should they care?
- This will be an efficient blueprint to get them from 0→1 in the quickest time.

Method of how you'll deliver this message?
- When?
  - Night/Day
- Where?

We have a Purpose which lets us know that the video isn’t going to be pointless.

We have a concept we believe in, especially since it’s a problem I encountered when making my first video.

Trust me, having the purpose in mind helped prevent me from quitting when I ran into issues.

Planning MORE

Purpose is set, now we need to really get specific with our project.

This is where you flesh out the portions of your Purpose.

Since you know the problem you’re solving, and who you’re making it for, this is where you build your Script.

WHAT are you going to say?

This is where I suggest the following:

Clear objective→ Problem you’re trying to solve.
- Make sure to annotate key points
Speak about the problem and how to solve it.

This is where the "sauce" of your video is.

Trust me I didn’t spend as much time as I should’ve on this on my first video and it showed.

Remember CLEAR, CONCISE, AND ARTICULATE points.

If it’s not clear yet, this step is where you write your script.

Remember to cover: Who, What, and Why.

EVEN MORE PLANNING

Now comes the last portion of the planning, and I think where you can have the most creative outbursts.

Here we worry about the aspects of the HOW

We know why the video exists, we understand what we are going to say, now we need HOW are we going to deliver this package to the customer?

How will you deliver this message?
- When?
  - Night/Day
- Where?
  - Indoor/Outdoor

Since I enjoyed making the VLOG style in my first one, I went ahead for a round 2.

I enjoy this format because I can have some creative liberties I normally wouldn’t have with just a talking head video. But it makes the filming more complicated.

Here is where you need to consider your equipment. You may not be able to shoot outside in a noisy environment or at night time due to camera limitations.

If that’s the case, your planning process just got easier.

Worry about doing what you can with what you have and avoid trying to push your limits right now.

Or you’ll end up like me.

(Go to my Youtube video and skip to 9:51 to see what happens when you don't consider your equipment).

I am recording on an iPhone 15 Pro Max w/ a DJI Mic Mini, and a “ok” tripod.

So I need to take those into consideration while I make my plan, which is:

"VLOG Style tutorial where I “bring you with me” teaching you how at the same time i’m showing you how the video is made."

Now that I know How I want to cover this video, I need to get more specific.

Now you need a Story board and Shot list.

Storyboard: A representation of how your video will unfold, shot by shot.

Storyboard I used for the embedded video

Shot-list: A breakdown of each shot you intend to record on filming day and the order in which you plan to shoot them

I’ll be loosely following a 1-1-2 technique for gathering my shots to make keep this simple. So whenever I’m on location I know I need:

1 x Wide shot to establish where I’m at
1x Medium shot to show character
2x Close up to get up close on either scene or character

This step is one of the most important to make sure your film day goes as smoothly as it can.

Your shot list and storyboard don’t have to be crazy elaborate, you've seen how ridiculous mine look.

This way I have some guidelines for myself when I go out there and shoot, since I’m trying to shoot everything in as few trips as possible.

Having these resources when I go film let’s me stay focused so that I can just worry about getting what’s important as quick as possible.

Conclusion

So just to recap over the process, it should go something like this:

Pre-production will be split in three phases.

Identify capabilities and location
- What gear do you have, and what can/can’t it do?
- Location scouting/considerations
Defining purpose of the video (Who, What, Why)
- Script creation
Defining Method of how you’ll create the video (Where, and When)
- Storyboard
- Shotlist

If you follow along and build out your video with a good purpose, and a solid plan on how to do it, I can almost guarantee you will follow through.

When things start going wrong you'll fall back on what you planned out for yourself.

If there's no plan you will quit.

Below is the link to the my template that I use to turn my Newsletters into videos to help keep me organized.

The companion video this newsletter contributed to:

Remember to show some love on the page

Hope this helps.

Thanks for Reading

-OG