Video Production: What It Is, the 3 Stages, and How to Get a Video Made
Key takeaways
Video production is the whole process of making a video, in three stages: pre-production (planning), production (filming or creating the footage) and post-production (editing and finishing).
Pre-production decides most of the cost and schedule: the brief, script, shot plan, budget and where the video will run.
You can shoot it yourself, hire a production company or generate it with AI; the deciding question is whether the video has to show real people, places or products.
We turned a one-page creative brief into a finished homepage video with NoLang and show which stages AI covered and which still needed a person.
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Video production is the whole process of making a video, from the first idea to the finished file. It runs in three stages: pre-production (planning), production (filming or creating the footage) and post-production (editing and finishing). A 30-second ad, a homepage explainer and a training module all go through the same three stages; what changes is how much work each stage takes and who does it.
This guide explains each stage, the terms a production team will use with you, and the three ways to get a video made today: shoot it yourself, hire a production company, or generate it with AI. Near the end, we show a real example of a one-page creative brief turned into a finished website video, and which stages AI covered and which still needed a person.
What is video production?
In the broad sense, video production covers every step of making a video: developing the concept, writing the script, planning the shots, filming, editing, adding graphics and delivering the final file. Adobe, Wikipedia and most production companies use the word this way. Crews also use “production” in a narrower sense, for the filming stage alone, which is why a quote often lists pre-production, production and post-production as separate lines.
Digital video production is the same process with footage recorded and edited as computer files instead of on tape or film.
Video production vs. videography, filmmaking and editing
These words overlap, and people searching for one often mean another.
Videography: Shooting video: operating the camera, framing, lighting and recording sound. It is mainly the production stage. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics describes videographers as people who film events such as weddings or make corporate documentaries, and notes that most of them edit their own material.
Filmmaking: Making short or feature-length films with complex stories. Adobe’s guide separates it from video production by scale: filmmaking needs extensive pre-production, larger crews and longer schedules, while video production usually means marketing, corporate and online videos with shorter schedules and simpler setups. The three stages are the same.
Video editing: Selecting and arranging footage into the finished sequence. It is one task inside post-production, which also includes color, sound, graphics, captions and delivery.
Types of video production
Most business videos fall into a handful of types. The type decides where the video will run, and that decides its length, format and how much filming it needs.
Common types of video production and where they run
A full crew splits the work into these roles. On a small corporate or social video, one or two people often cover several of them; Adobe’s post-production guide notes that in advertising, budgets often make the editor wear more hats, including directing and filming.
Producer: Runs the project: budget, schedule, hiring and the relationship with the client.
Director: Owns the creative vision and directs what happens on camera.
Scriptwriter or copywriter: Writes the script, including voice-over and on-screen text.
Cinematographer and camera operator: The cinematographer (director of photography) decides how each shot looks; the camera operator runs the camera.
Gaffer: Leads the lighting on set.
Production sound mixer: Records dialogue and ambient sound during filming.
Editor: Builds the story from the footage in post-production.
Colorist: Corrects and grades the color.
Motion graphics designer: Animates titles, graphics and lower thirds.
Sound designer or re-recording mixer: Cleans, balances and mixes the final audio, music and effects.
The video production process: 3 stages
Video production runs in three stages. Some teams add a strategy step at the start or a distribution step at the end, but the core stays the same.
The three stages of video production
Stage
What happens
What you have at the end
Pre-production
Set the goal and audience, write the brief and script, plan the shots, budget, schedule, people and places
An approved script, storyboard or shot list, budget, schedule and call sheet
Production
Set up, light and record the planned shots and sound
Raw footage and audio
Post-production
Edit, add graphics and music, correct color, mix sound, add captions, review and export
The approved final video in every format you need
Wikipedia sums it up in one line: “pre-production decides what to make, production captures it, and post-production shapes it into the finished work.” The stages can overlap. An editor may start cutting while filming is still underway.
Stage 1: Pre-production
Pre-production is the planning stage. The decisions made here set what will be filmed, how, where and at what cost, and Wikipedia notes that thorough pre-production is generally considered essential to keeping a production on schedule and within budget.
1. Write the creative brief: A one- or two-page document that states the purpose, audience, key message, call to action, where the video will run, length and format, deadline and budget. Amazon Ads’ guide puts the brief first in its process and assigns it to the marketing or campaign lead. The example later in this article starts from exactly this kind of brief.
2. Develop the concept: The idea that carries the message: a customer story, a product demo, a narrated explainer. Agencies often present it as a treatment, a short written description of the idea and its look, before anyone writes a script.
3. Write the script: Voice-over or dialogue, on-screen text and what the viewer sees, fitted to the target length. Lemonlight’s rule of thumb is roughly two words per second, so about 60 words or fewer for a 30-second script.
4. Plan the shots: A storyboard sketches each shot in order; a shot list describes each shot in words (framing, angle, movement, equipment). Amazon Ads’ guide notes that a storyboard is not always necessary and a detailed shot list can replace it.
5. Set the budget and schedule: Break the script down into what each scene needs (locations, people, props, equipment), then price it and schedule it. Boords’ pre-production guide builds the budget from this script breakdown.
6. Book people, places and permits: Cast on-camera talent, scout and secure locations, gather props and wardrobe, and check whether you need a filming permit. StudioBinder warns that some cities take weeks to issue one.
7. Decide the finish before you start: Where the video will play decides its aspect ratio (16:9 for a website or a standard YouTube video, 9:16 for vertical short-form), whether it needs captions, and how many versions to deliver. TechSmith’s guide calls this “know the end before you begin.”
8. Send the call sheet: The call sheet tells cast and crew when and where to be and what the day’s schedule is. It is usually the last document of pre-production.
Stage 2: Production
Production is the shoot itself. Adobe’s guide says filming for a short promotional or explainer video might finish in a day or two, while a feature film films for one to three months.
Set up before the talent arrives: The crew sets the camera, lights and microphones following the call sheet. For corporate videos with non-actors, a videographer quoted in Adobe’s guide recommends getting lighting, sound and camera ready using stand-ins, then bringing the real speakers in when everything is set.
Record the A-roll: The main footage that carries the message, such as an interview or a presenter speaking to camera.
Capture B-roll and coverage: Supporting footage cut over the A-roll (product close-ups, the workplace, hands at work), plus each moment from more than one angle and an establishing shot that shows where the scene takes place.
Record clean sound: Use dedicated microphones, keep background noise out and listen on headphones while recording.
Light softly and keep it simple: Adobe’s tips are soft light to avoid harsh shadows (sunlight or a three-point setup) and an uncluttered background.
Log what you shot: Note which takes are good so the editor can find them.
When the visuals come from screen recordings, animation or AI generation instead of a camera, this stage becomes recording narration and creating those visuals. Pre-production and post-production stay.
Stage 3: Post-production
Post-production turns raw footage into the finished video. Guides order the finishing steps slightly differently, but the sequence usually runs like this.
1. Ingest and organize: Copy and back up the footage, label clips and review the dailies (the day’s footage) to catch technical problems.
2. Rough cut: The editor assembles the footage in story order to check that the structure works.
3. Fine cut: Timing is tightened and every scene is made to work precisely.
4. Picture lock: The order and length of every shot are fixed. Finishing work builds on this exact timeline, so changes after lock are costly.
5. Graphics and effects: Titles, lower thirds, motion graphics and any visual effects.
6. Color correction and grading: Correction makes shots consistent and natural; grading applies a deliberate look.
7. Sound edit and mix: Dialogue cleanup, music, sound effects and balanced levels.
8. Captions: Captions for viewers who watch with the sound off or cannot hear it.
9. Review rounds: Neverframe describes two to three rounds as common for brand and advertising work: one on the rough cut for structure, one on the fine cut for detail and one on the finished master for color, sound and graphics.
10. Export and delivery: One approved master becomes every file the plan needs, such as a 16:9 master, vertical and square versions, shorter cut-downs, caption files and separate audio stems.
How long video production takes
Timelines published by production companies give a sense of scale. Each is that company’s figure for its own process, not an industry average.
Published timelines (each company's own estimate)
What
Estimate
Source
A typical project, start to finish
8–12 weeks, shorter without a live shoot
Lemonlight
A commercial, start to finish
6–12 weeks
Demo Duck
A commercial, start to finish
4–8 weeks
20/20 Visual Media
Filming a short promo or explainer
A day or two
Adobe
Post-production of a 30–90 second brand video
1–3 weeks
Neverframe
The calendar usually depends less on the shoot than on approvals. Neverframe notes that on most brand projects the review rounds take longer than the editing sessions, so agree in advance who approves each cut and how fast.
These are the terms you are most likely to hear from a production team or see in a quote.
A-roll: The main footage that carries the story, such as an interview or a presenter on camera.
Animatic: A storyboard played as a rough video with timing and often temporary audio, used to approve a concept before filming or animating.
Aspect ratio: The shape of the frame, written as width to height: 16:9 (horizontal), 9:16 (vertical) or 1:1 (square).
B-roll: Supporting footage cut over the A-roll to show what is being described.
Call sheet: The schedule for a shoot day: who needs to be where, at what time, doing what.
Color grading: Giving footage a deliberate look or mood, after color correction has made the shots consistent.
Coverage: Filming the same moment from several angles and distances so the editor has choices.
Creative brief: The planning document that states the goal, audience, message, format and constraints of a video.
Cut-down: A shorter version of a finished video, such as a 15-second edit of a 30-second ad.
Dailies: The raw footage from a day’s shoot, reviewed to catch problems early.
Deliverables: The final files you receive, in each length, format and language agreed in the contract.
Establishing shot: A wide opening shot that shows where the scene takes place.
Fine cut: The edit after the rough cut, with timing tightened and every scene working.
Lower third: Text in the lower part of the screen, usually naming a speaker and their role.
Picture lock: The point where the order and length of every shot are final.
Rough cut: The first assembly of the footage in story order.
Shot list: A written list of every shot to film, with framing, angle and movement.
Stems: Separate audio tracks for dialogue, music and effects, delivered so the mix can be changed later.
Storyboard: A sequence of drawings or images showing each planned shot in order.
Treatment: A short written description of a video’s idea, tone and look, written before the script.
Voice-over (VO): Narration recorded separately from the picture.
Wrap: The end of a shoot day or of the whole shoot.
How to get a video made: do it yourself, hire a company, or use AI
There are three routes to a finished video. They differ in what you provide, who does the filming and editing, and which kind of video they fit.
Three ways to get a video made
Route
What you provide
Who films and edits
Fits best
Do it yourself
Time, a camera or phone, editing skills
You or your team
Frequent, informal videos
Hire a freelancer or production company
A brief, review time, budget
A videographer or a full crew
Filming real people, places and products; high-stakes ads and brand films
Use an AI video tool
A brief, script or source documents; review time
The tool generates visuals, narration and the edit; you review
Explainers, training and product videos made from existing material; many versions or languages
Who makes the video and how much filming it needs move the price more than its length does. We compare published price ranges for each route in our video production cost guide.
AI changes the production stage the most: instead of filming, visuals and narration are generated from your brief, script or documents. It does not replace filming when the video has to show your actual team, location or product in use. Lemonlight, a production company that also uses AI, recommends a “human-in-the-loop” approach: AI for volume work such as b-roll, drafts and localization, and people for specific human performances, precise brand interactions and emotional nuance.
How to choose a video production company
If your video needs a shoot, a production company or freelancer is the usual route. These are the points worth checking before you sign.
Work like yours: Ask for two or three past projects of the same type and length as yours, not just the showreel.
Who writes the idea and the script: Some companies develop the concept and script; others film what you give them.
A quote by line item: Shoot days, crew, editing, graphics, music, talent and travel listed separately, so you can compare quotes.
Revision rounds: How many rounds are included, at which stages, and what extra rounds cost.
Deliverables in writing before the shoot: Every length, aspect ratio, caption file and language version you need, plus whether you receive the raw footage and project files.
Usage rights: Where and how long you can use the video, the music and any on-camera talent.
Local or remote: D-MAK Productions’ guide points out that location matters for live-action work, where the crew has to travel, and matters much less for animation and post-production.
Video production for commercials and ads
Commercials go through the same three stages, with more weight on approvals, versions and rights.
Approve the concept first: Demo Duck describes agreeing on the concept as the hardest part of ad production, and uses a treatment, storyboard and animatic to get sign-off before filming.
Plan the cut-downs: D-MAK Productions lists the deliverables of a commercial campaign as the main spot, 15- and 30-second cut-downs, a 6-second bumper, vertical social edits, captions and still grabs. Decide them in pre-production so the right shots get filmed.
Match each platform’s format: On YouTube, skippable in-stream ads can be skipped after 5 seconds, and bumper ads are 6 seconds long, according to Google Ads Help. Meta’s ad specs list 9:16 for Stories and Reels placements.
Clear the rights: Music in a video needs a synchronization license from both the owner of the song and the owner of the recording, as the U.S. Copyright Office explains. Demo Duck counts music and talent rights among the costs of a commercial, so agree where and for how long the ad will run before the shoot.
Demo Duck puts a typical commercial it produces at $25,000 to $50,000, depending on style, length, placement and music or talent rights. D-MAK Productions’ 2026 roundup of production companies puts commercials between $3,500 and more than $250,000, with most projects at $15,000 to $75,000.
Video production for websites
A website video has one job tied to its page. A homepage video explains what you do and leads to one action, a product page video shows the product in use, and a careers page video shows the people and the workplace. The common types are homepage explainers, about-us or brand videos, product demos, customer testimonials and how-to videos for help pages.
Plan for silent autoplay: Chrome’s autoplay policy always allows muted autoplay, and autoplay with sound only under certain conditions. A video at the top of a page will usually play without sound, so the message has to work in on-screen text.
Add captions: WCAG 2.2, the web accessibility standard, requires captions for all prerecorded audio in synchronized media at Level A, its most basic level.
Give important videos their own page: Google Search Central recommends a dedicated watch page for each video if you want it to appear in video results, a valid thumbnail, and VideoObject structured data that matches the video.
Keep the brief tight: One message, one audience and one call to action per video. If a page needs to say three different things, make three short videos.
Example: from a one-page brief to a finished website video
To show the AI route end to end, we made a homepage video with NoLang for Spokewell Cycles, a neighborhood bike repair shop with a pickup-and-delivery tune-up service. The shop is fictional. The only material was a one-page creative brief in PDF, the same kind of document described in pre-production above: objective, audience, key message, three proof points, call to action, where the video will run, format, tone, must-includes and things to avoid. Nothing was filmed. The script, narration, images, video clips, music and on-screen text were all created in NoLang from that brief, and the result is a 48-second, 16:9 video with English narration.
Homepage video for a bike repair shop
Turn the attached creative brief into a homepage video for our bike repair shop.
Keep the key message, the three proof points and the call to action, and show them as on-screen text so the video works with the sound off.
Every scene traces back to a line in the brief. This is the check a producer would run on a first cut.
Brief fields and where they appear in the video
Brief field
In the video
Time
Audience
“Ride to work? Or just on weekends?”, then a bike left in the hallway and the rider struggling to fit it into a car: “Getting it to the shop? Such a hassle.”
0–9 s
Must include: shop name at the start
The shop name in the top-left corner from the first frame, then the logo and “Spokewell Cycles comes to you.”
0–13 s
Key message
“Book a pickup online”, the steps “We pick it up, We tune it, We bring it back”, then “You never have to leave home.”
13–22 s
Proof point 1
“Free pickup & drop-off within 5 miles of the shop” over a map with a 5-mile circle
24–28 s
Proof point 2
“Most tune-ups are back with you within 48 hours”
28–32 s
Proof point 3
“A photo report of every fix before you pay,” with photos of each repair appearing on a phone
32–39 s
Call to action and shop name at the end
The shop name, “Your neighborhood bike repair shop”, a “Book a pickup” button and a one-line summary of the three proof points
39–48 s
Where it will run (muted autoplay)
Each point appears as a short on-screen headline that reads without sound, rather than word-for-word subtitles
Whole video
Avoid
No prices, no racing imagery, no “best” or “guaranteed”
Whole video
What AI handled, and what still needed a person
Filming dropped out entirely. Planning and review did not.
Who did what in this example
Stage
Done by a person
Done in NoLang
Pre-production
Wrote the one-page brief: goal, audience, message, proof points, call to action, placement, format, tone and limits
Wrote the narration script and planned the scenes from the brief
Production
Nothing to film
Generated the still images and short video clips, keeping the same bike and the same people across scenes, and the English narration
Post-production
Checked the finished video against every line of the brief
Timed the scenes to the narration, laid out the on-screen headlines, added music and sound effects such as a bike bell and a camera shutter, and exported a 1920×1080 video
The brief did most of the work a producer would normally do in a kickoff meeting. A vague brief, such as “make a video about our tune-up service”, leaves the audience, the proof points and the call to action for the tool to guess.
Make your own from this template
Select “Create a Video with This Template” above. On a computer, NoLang opens with a preview of this video, and the video is attached to the input box as a “Reference Video.”
1. Attach your brief: Select ”+” (Additional Settings & Attachments), then “Upload a file”, and choose your brief as a PDF or PowerPoint (.pptx) file.
2. Describe the video: In the input box, write what the video is for and where it will run, and what to keep from the brief.
3. Check the format: Choose the orientation (“Desktop” for a horizontal website video) and the length.
4. Generate: Select “Generate a video”.
Before publishing, check the result against the brief the same way a production team checks a cut: the key message, every proof point, the call to action, names and spelling, and whether the on-screen text works with the sound off.
Video production tips for beginners
Start from one sentence: Write the key message in one sentence before anything else. If you cannot, the video is not ready to script.
Write the brief before the script: Goal, audience, message, call to action, where it runs, length. Everyone reviews against the same page.
Decide where it will play first: Aspect ratio, captions and whether it must work with the sound off all follow from the placement.
Write for the ear: Short sentences, about two words per second of narration, one idea per scene.
Plan B-roll before the shoot: List the supporting shots you need for every line of voice-over, so the edit is not left with a talking head and nothing to cut to.
Prioritize sound: Use a dedicated microphone and a quiet room.
Light softly and keep backgrounds simple: Daylight from a window or a three-point setup, with nothing distracting behind the speaker.
Agree on review rounds and one approver: Decide who signs off on each cut and how many rounds there are before you start.
How to learn video production
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics groups film and video editors and camera operators into one occupation. It lists a bachelor’s degree in a field related to film or broadcasting as the typical entry-level education, and says both roles need to understand digital cameras and editing software; editors can show their skill with certifications offered by software vendors. The median annual wage in May 2025 was $75,420 for film and video editors and $74,990 for camera operators, and employment is projected to grow 3 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations. About 35 percent of these workers are self-employed.
A degree is the typical route, not the only one. A practical way to start is to make short videos end to end: write a one-page brief, film with a phone, edit in free software, and repeat with a different type of video each time. A small portfolio of finished pieces shows more than a list of skills.
If your company needs a steady flow of explainers, product videos or training videos, NoLang can be used across a team. It turns briefs, documents and scripts into narrated videos, and the example in this article can be reused as a template for your own content. To talk about using it at your company, contact us, or download our materials below.
Most guides use three stages: pre-production, production and post-production. Guides that list five add a strategy stage before pre-production (goals, audience and message) and a distribution stage after post-production (publishing and promoting the video). The work is the same either way; five stages simply name the planning and publishing steps separately.
Q
How long does it take to produce a video?
⌃
Production companies publish a wide range. Lemonlight puts a typical project at 8 to 12 weeks, shorter without a live shoot; Demo Duck quotes 6 to 12 weeks for a commercial and 20/20 Visual Media 4 to 8 weeks. The shoot itself is short: Adobe says filming a short promotional or explainer video may take a day or two. Most of the calendar goes to planning, editing and review rounds, so the speed of your approvals matters as much as the crew's.
Q
How much does video production cost?
⌃
It depends mostly on who makes it and how much filming it needs. Lemonlight's guide puts a basic self-managed production at $500 to $5,000 and a complex commercial from an agency at $25,000 or more; Demo Duck prices a typical commercial at $25,000 to $50,000. Shoot days, crew size, talent and music rights and the number of versions move a quote the most. Our video production cost guide compares the routes in more detail.
Q
What equipment do you need for video production?
⌃
Adobe's guide lists the basics as a camera, lighting, audio equipment and editing software, plus people to direct, shoot and edit. For a simple web video that can be a recent smartphone on a tripod, an external microphone, soft light from a window or a light panel, and an editing app. If the visuals are generated with an AI video tool instead of filmed, the equipment list shrinks to your source material and a computer.
Q
Can AI replace a video production company?
⌃
For some videos, yes. Explainers, training videos and product or service introductions built from documents or a script can be generated with an AI video tool without a shoot. When the video has to show your real team, location or product in use, you still need filming. Either way, a person writes the brief and approves the result; Lemonlight, a production company that also uses AI, calls this a human-in-the-loop approach.
