Houston Non Profit Video Production

Scheduling a Discovery Call

Understanding a Discovery Call with Vast Whisper Productions

The discovery call is the beginning of our partnership with you. It allows us to gauge whether or not we are the right production company for you and whether or not you are the right type of client for us. The most important reason we want to schedule a discovery call with every client is because many companies who approach us have no idea what they actually need. This is a time where we can walk through the types of videos that can best achieve the goals you are looking for with your video project.

Video Production

Video production is broken into 3 phases, Pre-Prouduction (planning), Production (filming) and Post Production (editing). Each of these phases has many tasks involved to make a video project a success. We cannot guess when it comes to planning each one of these phases which is why the discovery call is so important.

Video Production can be very expensive and in order for us to be able to give you an accurate quote that can fit within a specific budget we need lots of information. Many times you are unable to give the information during the discovery call but you will walk away from the meeting know everything that is needed for us to give you an accurate estimate.

Video Marketing

We need to understand your goals for the video we are producing. A video that is 5 minutes long wont work on social media when it should be 15-30 seconds long. The same goes for a landing page video that should be 2-5 minutes long instead 15 seconds. The same is true for a video campaign versus a stand along brand film. The end goal for your video project determines the style, runtime, and type of video we produce.

A well lead discovery call can save you money and time

Our goal is for you to walk away from the call feeling well informed and prepared to either move forward with your project or go back to the drawing board. Videos take time and can be very expensive. Our goal is that your project would be stewarded well which means we are fine telling you that the project should be postponed until it will be a success for you.

If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, we would be happy to partner with you in creating a Brandscript using the Storybrand framework. This will help you clarify your messaging and give you a plan for how to market yourself to your target audience.

Here is a list of some of the questions we ask during a discovery call.

  • What is your budget range?

  • Who is your primary target market or audience for this video? Please describe their demographics, interests, and any other relevant details.

  • Have you worked on any video projects in the past? If so, could you provide some examples or references to help us better understand your preferences and style?

  • Are there any competitors or similar companies in your industry whose videos you admire or would like to differentiate from? Please provide their names or examples if possible.

  • Are there any other stakeholders or team members involved in this project that we should be aware of? If yes, please provide their names and roles.

  • How many employees do you have? (We need to know this for licensing purposes)

  • Do you have a timeline for this project?

  • Do you have a marketing team that we will be working with to produce this content?

  • Will you be writing the scripts or will we?

  • Could you please provide a brief description of the project and each individual video deliverable? (video topic, estimated run time, all animation, animation mixed with camera footage or all camera footage, voice over or filming one of your team members talking) It is alright if you don't have answers for all of these yet but this will help us better understand the nature and scope of the videos.

  • What is the primary goal for these videos?

  • How many interviews do you expect there to be?

  • How many locations will we film at?

  • How many days of production do you anticipate?

  • Will the video production be in Houston or out of town?

Hopefully you feel a little more prepared to start talking your video production project! If you don’t know where to start or need help with a marketing video for your business in Houston or anywhere else in the country, click this link!

Vast Whisper Productions is a Houston based video production company creating videos for non-profits and corporate business. Scott and Jess are the owners and have been producing videos in the Houston area for over 10 years. Their combined experience and passion for storytelling allows them to see your project goals through to the end!

The Production Day

All of us on the VWP team would like to thank you again for agreeing to be a part of this video production. Our hope is that through your story someone's life will be impacted for the better. Here is an example of one of our videos. Later in this blog we will show what a setup for a production like this would look like.

This One Goal Video was a three day production at four different locations.

What to Expect on the Production Day

The crew only consist of one to three people and filming can take anywhere from 5 to 10 hours with lots of breaks for you between filming. If a location scout has not been done prior to us arriving the first thing we do is scout a location to film the interview which takes roughly 10-15 minutes.

We then set up for the interview which takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the location. The interview usually runs for about an hour and then we take down the interview set up. Taking down the interview set up takes around 30 minutes.

Example Schedule for a 10 hour production day.

7:30 AM - 9:30 AM: Arrive and set up equipment. (capture sunrise drone shot and exterior b-roll)

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM: Film 1st interview.

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Film 2nd interview.

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM: Film 3rd interview.

11:00 AM - 11:30 PM: Film 4th interview.

11:30 PM - 12:00 PM: Consolidate gear and prepare to film B-roll.

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Lunch Break off site.

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Film b-roll for 1st & 2nd interviewees.

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: Film b-roll for 3rd and 4th interviewees.

3:00 PM- 4:00 PM: Film general b-roll of staff and building.

4:00 PM- 5:00 PM: Tear down gear and load out.

5:30: Wrap

Sound is key

We ask that the business or house be as quiet as possible during the filming of the interview. This would mean that loud machinery, talking, pets or children would need to be not present or quiet during the filming. Other things to consider would be loud construction near by or lawn services mowing your lawn on the day of production. After the interview we will not be capturing anymore sound so noise will not be an issue.

B-Roll

After the interview we then film b-roll for the rest of the day which is the non interview footage that is overlaid throughout the film. Most of the b-roll is typically filmed at the interview location but sometimes it requires driving to a different location. In the slideshow above you can see examples of b-roll.

What to Wear

DO NOT WEAR clothing with small patterns like checkered or striped shirts (See the photo below). As a general rule, solid and rich colors look best on video and film. Try to avoid wearing bright white clothing which can dominate the screen. Try and choose colors that compliment your skin tone and wear colors that make you feel comfortable and confident. Unless you are trying to promote another brand, avoid wearing clothing that has a logo written all over it. Your brand matters so consider wearing something that brings out your personality.

Moire Effect with digital cameras

Preparing for Your Interview

  1. Review your talking points thoroughly so there are no surprises on the production day. However, you should not try to memorize lines. We want the interviews to come across as conversational and as natural as possible. You are the expert and know your content which is why we are interviewing you, so don’t stress about it!

  2. Relax and be yourself! Everything you say will be edited and refined so there is no pressure to be perfect. You can mess up as much as you need to, pause during a line, go back and repeat the lines. We have two cameras and b-roll that allow us to cover up any mistakes.

  3. Remember that we will not see or hear the interviewer in the final video. Please repeat any questions we ask in your answer to give context for the audience. So if we ask "What is your name?" you would respond with "My name is..."

Quasar Science LED Tube Lights

Quasar Science LED Tube Lights

Lighting for fast pace non profit videos.