23 questions to ask before choosing the best video production partner

If you have a blog or a website of your own, then you need to make sure that you are posting some amazing video content. It is not always possible to make or create beautiful videos on your own. You will need the help of a video production partner.

What is video production?

Video production is the process of producing video content. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with images recorded digitally instead of on film stock. There are three stages of video production: pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-production involves all of the planning aspects of the video production process before filming begins. This includes scriptwriting, scheduling, logistics, and other administrative duties. Production is the phase of video production which captures the video content (moving images / videography) and involves filming the subject(s) of the video. Post-production is the action of selectively combining those video clips through video editing into a finished product that tells a story or communicates a message in either a live event setting (live production) or after an event has occurred (post-production).

Hence, if you do not have the skills or expertise, you can definitely hire a video production partner for your need. In order to choose the best video production partner, you need to consider several important factors. To ensure that you are choosing the best partner who can craft a perfect video based on your niche knowing your needs and requirements, you have ask some questions before you finally choose the one.

So, here are some of the questions that you have to ask your video production partner while choosing the best one:

1. How long have they been in business?

This is one of the most important questions as you will get the idea about their experience. Experience is important in order to excel and gain more skills. Even experience increases professionalism and creativity towards the work.

2. How many videos have you produced to date?

This question firmly asks about their experience in producing the explainer video. Definitely, their work experience matters a lot and if they are new to this concept, then they are not the right people to work with.

3. What is the team structure and who all will do this?

More or less, every video production house works as a team. The entire team is divided into many segments and each of them is responsible for pre-production, production and post-production. So, you need to know who else is involved in the team and how they work.

What is the company culture?

Well, the company culture is an important topic to discuss. Every company has its own culture and if do not match with you, there can be a conflict of ideas. So, make sure you definitely ask this question.

5. How do you decide whether or not a video is a success?

When you are hiring a video production partner for your firm or company, you need to confirm whether or not that partner is capable to help you. Video is one of the key marketing tools and a lot of things depend on it.

6. Which video produced by them is their favourite and why?

This question is quite important as the answer will give you an elaborate idea about what type of videos or contents they like. Generally, the video production company will show you their best video and you will know whether or not it is the right choice for you.

7. What is the most important aspect of client relationship while the production process is going on?

This can give you a better idea about how they work and what are their priorities towards the clients. This can also help you to know if they take clients seriously or not.

8. What is your biggest mistake during a project and how do you deal with it?

The question is important because mistakes or blowups can happen at any time. The main part is whether or not they have the skills or patience to rectify it and produce with a perfect and seamless video to you.

9. When can you start working on the project?

Now, you need to ask about when they can start working on your project. Many production houses take up works and are on tight schedules. If you think that your work is more urgent and you need to start it as soon as possible, then you need to choose one who is ready to start whenever you want.

10. What is the time that they propose?

Let the video production house propose with the timeline first for your project. You will be able to get an idea of how long they will take to complete the project.

11. What are the potential hold-ups?

You need to ask in order to get a clear idea about what can possibly happen in this scenario. Of course, you need to have a clear idea about everything before you start.

12. How will you handle edit request and communication?

This is an important one and the answer can be an ideal way for you to understand how organized they are or the potential creativity they have in them. So, listen carefully when they answer this.

13. How well can you write?

When it comes to a video, one of the important aspects is the script. So, you need to know whether or not the video production company has a good and potential team to write a great script for your video. Also, try to ask for a sample or the talents of the writers they have.

14. Do they understand your business?

When it comes to writing, just a general ability to write is not enough. The write must have the ability to know and understand your business and the product or services that you offer. This will help you to explain what you want to convey to your potential customers.

15. Can I see some sample of a script?

Of course, you need to ask this question in order to know more about their script writing abilities. Most of the video production companies will willingly show you their scripts. This will help you to know their structure or creativity. Take a look at different scripts from different niche.

16. Can I take a look at the assets that you might have built for previous clients?

Well, this is important as designs are quite an integral part of the video production. The assets include design treatments and characters. You need to take a look at the different styles that they use for videos. Not all animators can be perfect with all types of style. Look for the one that you think is perfect for your business.

17. Will you use custom designs or stock characters for the project?

Well, this depends entirely on the timeline or budget. On the projects that have lower budgets and shorter timelines, animators will use stock characters or the ones that they already have. But if you want to have customized designs for your video contents, then you must let the animators know about it. This will help them to create it for you and set the budget according to that.

18. How many options are there for voiceover?

Voiceover is one of the main elements of the video contents. Hence, you need to ask about the options that you have. You need to confirm whether or not you need some specific mention to a target group of customers or locations in the video.

19. Do you have access to different or specific needs?

Well, specific needs can be of different types such as gender, accents and age. If you want your video to have some of these specific needs then you need to make sure that you mention this to your video production company.

20. Will the voiceover and music score be licensed?

You must have seen or heard about many incidents where a video is banned just because it is violating any copyright. Even the license issue is one of the major concerns. So, you need to make sure that you are investing in a company that can protect you against any kind of license issues. You must need the licensing to be for web or broadcast and even perpetual.

21. What is your schedule for payment?

This is another necessary question as you need to know whether or not you have to pay the whole amount before the video production is done. If so, you need to avoid such services. Generally, they will take 50% of the total payment before and the rest after the video is delivered to you.

22. Who will own the final video?

You should expect, in general, to hold the complete ownership of the produced video when the full payment is done. But there are some services that retain rights of the usage of video. You need to be clear about your needs and requirements. If you want full ownership, then you need to find someone who will give that to you.

23. What if I need to make some changes after the video is made?

Nobody gets everything right in the very first time. Some things happen that are completely out of our control. Hence, there must be an option to make some essential changes after the video is made. This question will help you to know or understand whether or not the video production company will entertain any changes or updates after the video is made.

Conclusion

So, these are some of the very important questions that you have to ask the video production company. Also, you will get a vivid idea about the produced videos before and how they are. Will it be helpful for you? All these questions will give you plenty of ideas about choosing the right video production company for your needs.