Speaker 1: Not every video team is the most productive, efficient and focus driven when they first set out. Not every video team is built the same in different companies or different industries. But there are many, many overlapping processes and workflows across any video team really. So as the lead of a video team or a member of a video team striving to get more efficiency, more structure within the team, this is your guide to a better video production pipeline. Let's jump in to see what you need and how to use it right now. Hey, welcome to DigiPro Tips. I'm Andy Edmondson and here we work smarter, not harder, which allows you more time to be creative. And I've been working in video production, digital video production now for over eight years and in other forms of production, feature films and TV news for another five of those. So I've got plenty of experience when it comes to video production pipelines and workflows. Over that time, I've seen many different setups for video teams. And there are always, always teething issues when it comes to getting them working cohesively and efficiently between members of that team, but also with other departments and even sometimes with clients as well. I've developed a workflow and pipeline for digital video production that looks to solve the issues with resourcing and efficiency. We're going to look at exactly what that involves in this video. At the end of it, you will have takeaways to improve your video team's productivity, communication and quality of results. The aim of any video team is to fulfill a brief to the best of their ability that gets results time and time and time again to produce video to new creative heights, utilizing the best that technology can give them to ensure the smooth running of a department that meets deadlines and has the ability to schedule ahead of time and work on those resources issues and forecast where production timelines might be tight. So what might be put in that stake? Why isn't this happening the way it should do for you and your team? There could be a hundred reasons, but from my experience, it boils down to just a few really. These range from other individuals or departments starting to have an input and maybe demands on the team's resources, also expanding faster than you know how to optimize for budget constriction on either personnel, equipment, hardware or all of the above. And the best one of all, the best, save the best one till last because you know which one it is. It's when a job gets awarded without you knowing about it and you don't have all of the information or the budget or the people to produce it the way that the client would like. I've been there pro tippers. Believe me, I have been there. The consequences for all of this are fairly evident and you're probably living through some of it right now. In fact, that's probably why you're here in the first place. I feel your pain. I've experienced it myself. Never agreed to deadlines from other individuals, departments, clients, sales, whatever it might be, with constricted budgets, equipment and you better believe some frustration thrown in there too. Whether that's yours, a colleague's or a client's frustration is another matter. Essentially, it comes down to time management and organization set from the pre-production phase. Getting the necessary information at the start will inform the production, the post-production and the publishing of the deliverables. It's paramount. The second part to this is that communication at every stage is essential if you are to get results time and time again that satisfy all parties. So how do we avoid the pitfalls and reap all of the rewards? Well, let's start at getting all of that information that you so badly need. We need to gather as much as we can to make the best and most informed decisions that we can. To do that, I like to have a list of questions ready to hand to ask the people with the relevant information. You could even make this an online form, a Google form, whatever form you like, an Airtable, to slightly automate the process. Things such as the start date of the project, the shoot date or dates of the project, the number of people that are involved, of the project, the number of people that need to be on camera, the resolution, the frame rate, a storyboard or script or both that might be needed in pre-production. Is this a static shoot? Are people going to be moving? Is it a walk and talk? Is it indoor? Is it outdoor? Do we need audio or is it silent? If it's on location, can we record the location if it's necessary? What's the travel time to get there? What's the time allowed to get to set, to rig up and to de-rig at the end of the shoot? What's the duration of the edit? Is there graphics involved? Do you need sound design? You always need sound design, but do you need a high quality sound design? Do you need a color grade? And of course, the most important question of all, because that impacts every other aspect that I just mentioned. What budget have you got to do all of this? I'm going to put an example form for you to have a look at with these questions already ready. It's going to be on my site, so I'll put a link up here when it's ready. Just click that link and you'll be able to have a look at that form. Once you have all of the necessary information for your team, you need to slot this into your pipeline and assess whether you have all of the crew, kit, time, resources that is necessary to pull this off. If not, you need to address why and what can be done about it. People want solutions, not problems. The next stage is the actual pipeline itself, getting from A all the way through to Z. And this is where communication comes into play. You now need to work through every stage in the video production process, but you also need to make sure that you are keeping in constant communication at every stage with the relevant parties that are necessary for that stage. A coherent and successful pipeline goes from a brief all the way through to delivery of the asset. All of that, that's your pipeline. At the briefing stage, it's great to have as many people as you possibly can to make sure that this content that is going to be at the result of this is going to serve the people that it needs to, but also ultimately satisfy the client. As you move from briefing stage through down into pre-production and getting to production, these stages are going to slim down with the amount of people that is necessary to be involved in them and the communication that is needed between all of them. So for production, for example, it might just be you. It could just be you on your own, but it could just be you and your team. So that's gone from a whole team of people down to just one person. But then you'll probably find as it moves in post-production, it starts to blow out a little bit again. And you've got the editors, motion graphics, the color gradients, the sound design, and it's communication that makes that happen. Whether it's a brainstorm, whether it's regular meetings, whether it's sharing email threads, whatever form of communication you like to have with all those different members, you need to make sure it happens. So you can see it kind of like it's fat here, slims down in the middle and then goes fat again. This is paramount to making sure that you get the best results and that everybody's satisfied along the way. Once you've run the pipeline through a few times, you'll start to find what works for you and what doesn't, who needs to be involved and who doesn't. And you can start to build an efficiency within the pipeline itself. But the very act of putting a pipeline together, a workflow that you can follow every single time, getting that information ahead of time, that's what's going to save you the time at the end. Working smarter, not harder. That's how you guide a team, how you can make sure you have adequate resources, forecasting, scheduling, making sure that you are communicating with the rest of the company, with the other departments, what restrictions you have in terms of kit and crew. You can't take that project on right now unless you have more budget to get in freelancers or to get a new kit, whatever it might be. As long as you have that information, you can make those conversations happen. By setting up a workflow that you and others in the company can follow, you're setting yourself up for success every single time. You'll be able to schedule, utilize the equipment you have in the right way, identify gaps where other resources or equipment may be necessary, but you don't have it right there and then. And ultimately, you'll get better results from your team's work. And that means satisfied clients, business opportunities, repeat business opportunities. Now that your pipeline is in place and your video team is starting to work more efficiently, working through those teething issues, it's a good opportunity to look at the results that your video team are getting. And a best place to start is lenses. So why not have a look at the best three lenses for any setup right here?