Mistakes on production services?
Do you want to know all the tricks and mistakes that come up during a production services? You’ve come to the right place.
We have written this article to help anyone looking for a production services company.
Keep reading to find out the most common mistakes that people commit and the best tips to make a successful audiovisual production.
In Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica
When we want to hire production services from an audiovisual production company sometimes the production does not turn out as we expected or it does not have enough “punch”.
It may happen for many reasons, for example tight schedules, budget or not doing enough research.
Here we are going to share the most common mistakes committed when hiring a production services company šplus a free bit of advice as a few tricks to make your productions worthy of Christopher Nolan.
Size matters when it comes to hiring a production service company.
We need to be realistic about the kind of production we want to carry out and then hire the production services we suspect we will be needing accordingly.
Opting to hire a large production company as well as hiring a small production company has pros and cons.
Hiring the services of a large studio may allow you access to more and better equipment, more qualified staff and other resources. But it will make the final price of the production considerably more expensive.
The advantage of a small production company, apart from the lower prices offered compared with a larger production company, is that they usually provide a more personalized treatment.
It is key to understand that not two video production companies are the same.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that one is better than the other, but it does mean that they will probably specialize in different aspects of video production.
And knowing this, it is very important to know our own needs so that we can make the right choice about who will be our producer.
If, for example, the commercial video we want to produce requires FX animation, then we should hire a video production company that specializes in animation.
On the other hand, if you need a jingle or an original piece of music, then you need to hire a video production company with a powerful creative audio department.
Any other examples? Let’s imagine that we are going to shoot a car commercial and we hesitate between two production companies. Both are equally good and equally expensive. But one of them is specialized in corporate videos and the other in advertising.
Since our intention is to shoot a car commercial, we would go for the second option. Simple, isn’t it?
Most of the time, hiring the production company that offered the lowest price becomes the recipe for disaster.
If a company is offering a significantly lower estimate than everyone else, it shows that they do not probably know what they are getting into, or they are too young or in the worst case scenario they will deliver poor quality work.
When this situation occurs, you should investigate where they are reducing costs. Then ask yourself, are these cuts worth it?
Or something that happens in all professional sectors:
“My friend makes wedding videos. He just bought some material, it is all brand new. Shall we ask him for prices?”
Well, as stated before, if your friend specializes in wedding videos, let him or her continue making wedding videos. Saving a few euros by hiring someone who is not going to do a good job is not saving.
Buy cheap, buy twice, and all that my friends.
Unless someone you trust recommends an audiovisual production company to contact directly, the most common place to search for one is the Internet. And that is not bad.
But there are many factors to consider before choosing the first result on Google: are they the most suitable company to produce the project that you have in mind? How big is their team? How many locations do they manage?
There are many aspects that can shape the final outcome of your project.
We, as a production company, recommend considering 3-4 similar production service companies.
You should compare prices and services offered, find out about the team, look at their different portfolios and only after everything is on the table, make the right choice.
And remember how important it is to choose a production company that specializes in your product or service.
We do not live in Hollywood, but I’m sure there are high-quality production service companies in your city.
We advise to go with locals, looking for the best candidates obviously, but always local.
I’m going to tell you a little secret.
Let’s imagine that we decide to hire an international production company from London that has an excellent portfolio and costs us an arm and a leg.
Well, it turns out that when we hire a foreign or international production company they will later subcontract local producers.
In other words, you will be hiring locals at a higher price!
Plus you will be probably spending more money in transport, hotels, rentals and some other stuff that does not add value to the production.
This is a bit complicated to explain, but it is worth it:
You have selected a DOP that has his own camera and does not charge much.
But it turns out that he is not a good collaborator, he is a toxic person and he terrorizes the rest of the team.
Or maybe your Director graduated from the best film school, but he does not treat people with respect. He even has a fight with the owner of the location he is shooting. Fatal mistake.
Make sure you choose your collaborators based on the same values and ethics you believe in.
You will be glad you surround yourself with good people when the going gets tough.
By checking the film equipment we do not mean that you personally have to check every piece of material before leaving the office (which then again you should).
We mean that you should make clear in advance which equipment you want to use.
Let’s imagine that we are torn between two production service companies. Both have in their portfolio the work done and the information of the equipment used.
But they do not always use the same equipment.
High-quality production services require high-tech equipment and it is usually expensive.
Our advice is to ask the production company what kind of cameras and equipment they intend to use for your production.
Don’t assume that you will shoot with the same equipment they used to produce their last project, always ask!
Time is one of the worst enemies you can find. Let me explain:
In this world everything works by deadlines. Deadlines for hiring personnel, deadlines for shooting, deadlines for this and deadlines for that.
We need a production service company that is in tune with us as far as time is concerned.
In the same way, when choosing your cast, take all the time in the world. Imagine that for a week you could have had George Clooney in your cast.
And then there’s the issue of deadlines. This has to be crystal clear. The production company has to meet the deadlines agreed at the beginning of the job.
This is one of the most important things that any production service company should do.
We need the company in charge of the production services to have a well elaborated shooting plan ša well-structured shooting plan that is honest with the deadlines and perfectly hierarchical so as not to leave anything to chance. Everything is well tied up.
What do you mean? You don’t know what a shooting plan looks like? It is true that every production is different; every production requires specific elements that can make it very simple or a nightmare.
In this article we tell you about our “general shooting plan” so that you can get an idea of what is essential to make a production correctly.
In the age of communication, lack of communication is simply unacceptable.
And we are not only talking about producer-client communication. We are talking about the fact that the production company in charge of carrying out our project needs impeccable internal communication.
The problems that may arise during a shooting can organically be solved only by having good communication. Let’s take an example:
Let’s imagine that we need to cut some roads for a car shooting.
And we only have a few hours to get the necessary shots in that location.
We will need a communications department prepared to connect blockers, drivers, cameras and a long etcetera of people involved in the shooting so that we can work efficiently and get all the images we need on time.
At the beginning of the article we told you what you do not have to do when hiring a production company.
Now we are going to give you a few tips to make your audiovisual productions impeccable.
These tricks will show you how should work the production company you choose for your project.
And above all, your audience will be delighted which will prove that you have transmitted the message clearly and you have reached your final objectives.
You need to spend time finding “that thing that makes it special”, the main point of the production, and study the objectives you want to achieve with its realization.
This is important, my friends. Many productions have gone down the drain because of the lack of focus.
You should invest time in this step. If not you will be drowned into a sea of doubts and your main message will not be expressed clearly.
You should elaborate the script of your video based on the approach you envisioned for your audiovisual production.
You should be as accurate as possible, drawing special attention to the technical aspect (shots, lighting, VFX, camera movements).
The information contained in your script will serve to build the daily call sheets that the team uses to know in which stage of the shooting they are.
Organisation is one of the keys to success in every audiovisual production. We advise you to have a meeting with your production company to build the shooting calendar.
Every person in the team should be clearly informed of the elements you want to appear in the video and which ones are a donāt. Then you will avoid any misunderstandings and confusion.
The post production process in the last step of your video production, but not the least important one.
In fact, at this final stage is when VFX and other elements will be added to your video. These will perfect the quality of your production, turning it into a success and embed it to the minds of your prospective clients.
Unfortunately many people forget this when it comes to the shooting.
But it is as easy as providing the basic needs of the production team, such as water, accessible toilets, available food, etc.
Remember that everyone on the team is another cog on the wheel, from the Director to the PAs, and they need to be sharp.
In the end, the whole team will be responsible for making the final product a piece of art or another garbage video.
When logistics are well organised, the team works more comfortably and it will show on your audiovisual productions.
The best resources you can afford, that is.
The higher the quality of the technical equipment you use to produce your video is, the higher the impact your audiovisual production will have in the audience.
This is why we recommend you hire a production company offering cutting edge technology and the best professionals.
Now you know all you should NOT do and some useful pieces of advice to create the best production of your career.
We hope this helped. Please, share this article with anyone you know that wants to create a new production. They will for sure be grateful.
