Crafting a Video: A How-to Guide

Pre-Production
Approval
The first step in getting a video project completed by BJC Media Services is to contact the communications and marketing representative for your hospital or service organization. They will evaluate the time your project will take against the time available to your organization. They need to approve us moving forward on your request.

Project Assessment
We will ask you questions like:

• How long do you expect your video to be?
• Will you need someone to help you with the scripting?
• Will you need a professional actor or actress?
• Who will be watching this video when it's finished?
• What is your deadline?

All these questions will need to be answered during the project assessment phase. We will meet with you to discuss your ideas then develop a proposal outlining your objectives, our recommendations and a cost estimate. We also will estimate how much time it will take to complete the project and recommend a project time line.

Scripting
It is important to ensure the script is correct before we move on to production of your video. To keep projects on schedule, we ask that you limit your script changes to two rounds of revisions. We will allow time in the production schedule for these two rounds of review. The risk of script errors is lessened when changes from several reviewers are grouped into one round of changes. It also helps ensure that all reviewers agree with the changes that are suggested, and we don't receive conflicting direction.

After two rounds of revisions, you will be asked to pay a fee for additional script changes. It is also possible that script changes or a delay in script approval will increase both the hard costs and the staff time estimated in the initial project assessment.

Production
Once the script has been finalized, we can start putting together the building blocks of your video by shooting video in the studio or on location. We will need your help scheduling production times that work for you and anyone else involved in the video -- doctors, executives, employees and actors. Your responsibilities and ours can vary greatly from project to project, so please review the project proposal for detailed instructions. At least one person involved in managing the video project needs to be present during shooting.

Post-Production
Your video project is far from being done once production is finished. Post-production (editing, adding effects) can often take longer than the other phases combined. This is when we add all the finishing touches to your video. Post-production will be included in the project time line. In the project proposal, we will schedule a date for you and others involved in the approval process to see the first version of your finished video in our studio.

Similar to scripting, we ask that you plan for no more than two rounds of revisions to the video. Again, having everyone available to provide feedback at the same time is very important for keeping project schedules on track. In addition, any changes at this stage should be limited to major factual errors in the b-roll (pictures on the screen). All scripting or a-roll (audio) changes should have been caught during script review.

Any changes made to the video after two rounds of revisions will result in higher hard costs than quoted in our original project assessment. You will be charged freelance rates for the hours required to make the changes.

Deadlines
During the project assessment phase, we develop time lines for each phase of the video project. It is critical that we work together closely to meet all of these deadlines. Because we have limited resources and multiple projects progressing simultaneously, if a client misses one of these deadlines, we may need to place the project on hold until another window of time opens on our schedule. Otherwise, we run the risk of delaying multiple projects.

Every effort will be made to accommodate all requested deadlines, but multiple requests with the same deadline may require clients to re-prioritize work or agree to pay for a freelancer. The media services manager or video coordinator will alert you if conflicts arise.

Rush Jobs
Depending on the scope of your project and your deadline for completion, your video could be considered a rush job. Rush jobs include any project with a deadline less than six weeks away from request date. This is subject to change based on project size, staff availability or holidays between the date of the request and the deadline.

Rush jobs will automatically be considered for freelance fees. We will do everything we can to meet your deadline without incurring additional cost, but sometimes it is necessary to fulfill your request.