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What happens during video production?

During video production, the plan from pre-production is executed on set: the crew builds lighting and camera setups, the director works through the shot list, sound is recorded cleanly, and every scene is captured and backed up. It is typically the shortest phase of a project, one or two days for most corporate videos, but the one where preparation pays off most visibly.

A typical shoot day, hour by hour

A professional shoot day follows a call sheet that maps the whole day in advance. The crew arrives early to build the first setup, lighting, camera, sound, while participants are briefed and prepared. Shooting then proceeds setup by setup, not in story order but in whatever sequence minimises relighting and moves. Interviews are usually captured first while speakers are fresh, followed by b-roll, the supporting footage of people working, spaces and details that later carries the edit. The day ends with data backup to multiple drives before anyone leaves.

Who is on set and what they do

Crew size scales with ambition, but the roles are constant.

  • Director: owns the story, directs participants and decides when a take is good.
  • Director of photography: designs the light and frames the shots.
  • Sound engineer: mics speakers and monitors every take; bad audio is the one flaw post-production cannot fully fix.
  • Producer: keeps the schedule, the client and the logistics aligned.

A compact corporate shoot might combine roles in a three-person crew; a campaign shoot for a brand the size of Siemens or UBS runs considerably larger.

What the client does on set

The client's job during production is decision-making, not directing. A good production partner will show you framed shots on a monitor, flag any deviation from the agreed concept, and ask for sign-off scene by scene, because a change that costs one minute on set costs days in post-production. The most valuable person a client can send is someone empowered to say yes.

Why this phase rarely goes wrong, and what happens if it does

Ironically, production is the most controlled phase; risks were either eliminated in pre-production or they surface here. Weather, an unavailable speaker or a loud location are handled through the backup options a serious producer has already planned. After wrap, footage moves into post-production, and at Viven a first cut typically lands with the client about two weeks later.

See it in action

Viven — Showreel

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