If you have a major event in January and new videos are on your to-do list, it may seem like early October is too early to get started on planning.
The ten weeks between November 11 (Veterans Day) and January 15 (MLK Day) are filled with US holidays. Instead of having three months to prepare for an early January event, the holiday impact cuts it down to just two months of actual work time.
Does that make you think “uh oh… we might be in trouble” ?
Nah. You’ve got this, and we’ve got a simple timeline that shows you how it can be done.
___This timeline assumes that you’ll be working with your video agency – that will give you the greatest flexibility in terms of style and technique___
Take this simple schedule and modify it for your circumstances and real event date. We’ve chosen to illustrate a typical timeline for a video that includes a shoot with actors on location. It provides breathing room for good creative development, a realistic production schedule, executive and legal approvals, and ample editing time – even amidst the hectic holiday season.
| Oct 16 | Project brief & preliminary budget completed – ready to start |
| Oct 18 – 24 | Concept development begins |
| Oct 25 – 26 | Finalize concept |
| Oct 26 – Nov 2 | Approvals on concept. Project & budget fully approved. |
| Nov 3 – 10 | Scriptwriting & initial pre-production |
| Nov 13 – 17 | Script review/revision. Pre-production continues (talent casting and auditions, location scouting, shoot logistics planning) |
| Nov 20 | Script approved |
| Nov 20 – Dec 1 | Pre-Production (final prep) Finalize shoot logistics, select & book talent, travel logistics, shoot-day schedules, book crew, order catering(spans the Thanksgiving holiday) |
| Dec 4 – 8 | Video Shoot |
| Dec 11 – 22 | Post-Production
Editing, voiceover, stock footage |
| Dec 25 – Jan 3, 2024 | Video reviews (spans the Christmas/Kwanzaa/New Year holiday) |
| Jan 4 – 5, 2024 | Video revisions |
| Jan 8 | Video approved |
| Jan 8 – 9 | Final format videos provided |
Executive stakeholders are often forgotten until the final approvals are needed, and if that happens to hit during the last half of December, you may find that the people you need won’t be available until January 2. If it’s not possible to get the approvals earlier in the process, at least get time on the right calendars so you’ll know now if your CEO is taking the last two weeks of December off.
Does this mean that you can’t make a January event date if you start planning in November? No! Your internal team or your video agency can always make things happen more quickly – potentially nothing is impossible.
Just remember the old rule of thumb:
Price. Quality. Speed.
Pick any two!
Blue Marble is a Video Agency headquartered in Atlanta, with a 30-year track record of creating strategic, brand-moving videos that hit it out of the park for clients like SAP, the State of Georgia, Fiserv, Manhattan Associates, Sage, Pitney-Bowes, LEVELOR, Verizon, Georgia-Pacific and many more. From brand manifestos to new product rollouts to customer support videos and more, we use the unique power of the medium to create an emotional connection with your viewer. Clients come to us for our award-winning creative — and then come back for our easy-to-work-with attitude and bullet-proof video production process.
