What is video pre-production planning?

• The brief: audience, single core message, success metric and where the video will run, formats follow from this.
• Concept and script: the creative idea and every word or interview theme, approved in writing before the shoot.
• Storyboard or shot list: what the camera captures, frame by frame or scene by scene.
• Logistics: locations, permits, casting, wardrobe, crew, equipment and a timed shooting schedule.
• Approvals: stakeholders sign off on script and storyboard, changing words now is free; changing them after the shoot means reshooting.

The production company runs the machinery, but the client controls the two inputs that most often sink projects: decision speed and stakeholder alignment. Name one decision-maker, get every stakeholder to comment on the script rather than the finished film, and be brutally honest about internal politics, if legal needs to review, say so in week one. Projects at Viven that hit their timeline, first cut in about two weeks after the shoot, are almost always the ones with disciplined pre-production sign-offs.

You should receive, in writing: a treatment or concept document, a script, a storyboard or shot list, a production schedule with your approval gates marked, and a call sheet before the shoot day. If a provider wants to start filming after one phone call, that is not agility, it is a transfer of risk from their process to your budget. On projects from CHF 4,000 to CHF 80,000 the principle is identical; only the paperwork scales.

• Week 1: kickoff, brief agreed, audience and message locked, budget frame confirmed.
• Week 2: concept and script drafted, locations scouted, casting options presented, first client review.
• Week 3: storyboard or shot list finalised, script signed off, schedule and call sheet issued, permits confirmed.

Compressed timelines are possible when decision-makers respond within a day, the calendar is usually gated by client approvals, not by production work.