THE STAGES OF PRODUCTION

A successful project must be well planned, properly shot, and masterfully edited. Each of these steps comprises a
distinct stage of the full production process. There are three distinct stages that need to be accomplished before your
masterpiece is introduced to the audience as a finished program.

PRE-PRODUCTION
Pre-production refers to the tasks undertaken
before production or shooting begins. Tasks
that are included in this stage depends on the
project, video, or the medium you’ll be using.
Pre-production is when ideas are brought
together into a cohesive plan and the goals
and objectives of your video are established.
Think about your target audience, your budget
and the message your video needs to convey.

In a small video company, pre-production can

be everything that happens before shooting
begins like script writing, budgeting, meetings,
research, storyboarding, location scouting,
scheduling, shot list, etc.

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 extent) how to shoot what is in
PRODUCTION the script/shot list. While a time
The production stage is the stage contingency is always built in to
where you go out and have all the the shooting schedule to allow for
fun of shooting. If you had a good gathering extra footage and to
pre-production planning then the
cover unforeseen slow-downs, a
amount of work and expenses in
good plan (script, shot list, and
the production stage is reduced.
shooting schedule) will ensure an
efficient and cost-effective
shooting day.
The production phase is the
actual production (making) of the
The goal of principal photography
material needed for the video.
is obviously to record all required
This is the stage where footage is
shots, however it is fairly common
recorded. This is what most
to shoot "pick-up" shots in post-
people imagine when they think
production. Pick-up shots may be
of a film being made — actors on
required when a mistake is
sets, cameras rolling, etc. The
noticed, a script change is made
production phase is also known
(this is unusual), or even if a
as principal photography.
performance is deemed to be
unsatisfactory.
All in all, the production stage is
just following instructions as to
what to shoot and (to a certain

BEHIND THE SCENES

The top most photo is a behind
the scene photo of one of the
most profitable film of all time.
The photo below it is from the
movie James Bond Quantum of
Solace wherein they are shooting
the iconic title sequence pose.
The photo on the right is from the
first Godzilla movie shot in 1954.

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 A film splicer is a
device which can be
used to physically join
together lengths of
photographic film.

POST - PRODUCTION
The editing process (known as post-production) is where you gather all of the material you need to complete
your program and piece it together to form a smooth-running, cohesive, and complete product.

Post-production is the third and final major phase of the production process. This is where you bring
together all of the different elements and material created in the production phase to form your finished
product as you envisioned in the pre-production stage.

There are many things which can happen during post-production including the following:

• Editing video footage

• Editing the soundtrack, adding sound effects, music, etc.
• Adding titles and graphics
• Colour and exposure correction
• Adding special effects
• Re-shooting certain scenes if required ("pick-up" shots)

In most cases however, post-production is a time-consuming job taking longer than the actual production
phase. This is often considered the most important stage in the creation of a film or video project.