How Long Does It Take To Make A Video?

The steps we take on the front-end are just as important as the shoot days themselves, so Pre-Production usually takes about 2-3 weeks. It includes all the concepting, scriptwriting, on-screen & voice talent auditions, and determining the design or “look and feel” of your video. Lots of important planning, scheduling, and logistics happen during this stage of production and can determine how smoothly everything else goes from that point on. For more details on our pre-production process, check out our ‘Pros on the Pre-Production’ blog.

The production week includes the last minute preparations prior to the shoot, and the actual film days of course! Our DP takes the time to develop a shot list which serves as a point of reference during the shoot to ensure nothing is missed. Those shoot days are long and we’re usually covering lots of ground, so taking the time to develop the shot list is well worth the effort. Our Producers are also taking care of narration recording with our VO pros during the production week; that way, the narration is laid down and ready by the time the footage arrives.

Post Production typically takes a few weeks and involves editing hours of footage down to mere minutes and developing the video’s motion graphics and/or 3d animation. Other steps may be included such as color correcting shots, transcribing footage, and incorporating Closed Captioning for the hearing impaired. We send our clients three versions of the video before providing Final Files: the Rough-Cut, Final-Cut, and Picture-Lock. For more information feel free to check out our process page.

In a perfect world, every video we produce would always take 6-8 weeks from start to finish, but turnaround time doesn’t just depend on how fast the SLM crew can work around the clock. Something to consider when starting a video production project is how quickly your team can provide consolidated feedback to the crew, as this will definitely impact how long our process takes. We have nine stages of approvals for our clients, so planning meetings with your team around our delivery dates is always a great idea to ensure we stay on schedule!