Hey there, you might want to read to the end if you are interested in Video Production or to own a Video Production Company.
So let’s get the formalities out of the way. The Name is David Musa & I am the creative director for Now On Media, a young but thriving Video Production Company operating out of Lagos, Nigeria.
I have been in the broadcast industry for a little over a decade and have been involved with a lot of projects. I was involved in the Peak Talent Show Season 2&3, Maggi ‘Delicious Naija’ (If you don’t follow television in Nigeria you might not know of these Television shows, but I’ll try and find some links on YouTube to include for the curious ones), to name but a few. Since starting a video production business I have created and directed Documentaries for corporate clients, Commercials for FMCGS, executed campaigns on behalf of the Lagos State Government but maybe more notably created and directed the Big Brother Double Wahala Reunion Show.
Now that we know a bit about me lets go straight to today’s blog post.
1. Get Professional Experience: When Starting a Video Production Company, it is best to get as much firsthand information and knowledge about video production as possible. This is almost true for any business you are starting, understand the entire production workflow and Value Chain so as not to be clueless when making decisions. If you know a video production company already in existence approach them and offer your time FREE OF CHARGE. Production companies always need hands during projects and will be happy to get as many free hands as they can to work. However, what this gives you is a chance to be actively involved with productions, you can observe good working practices, ask questions and basically get a crash course in video production whilst working in Video production.
2. Master a production skill or two: Video Production can be broken into 3 major phases; Pre- Production (Lets call this the creation and planning stages), Production (Call this the filming stage) and Post-Production (Editing and Mixing stage) and all these stages require different skill sets. In the early part of a production company’s life, chances are you are not going to have enough funds to hire all the hands you need. So if you can shoot yourself, edit, write or produce by yourself, it will serve you quite well. Thanks to technology and the internet there are many tutorials that are available online where you can easily learn the basics of all the skill sets you require be it in Pre-Production, Production or Post-Production. Best to find your interests in film making and learn the skills required for that first before going on to more tedious ones.
3. Get a Camera: It doesn’t have to be a fancy camera, it doesn’t have to be expensive but yes get a camera and start shooting. One way you get better at anything is by constant practice and in video production you need to practice. Ideally you need a camera, a microphone and lights and there are cheap bundles that you can get off the web with this basic equipment. This will also aid you as equipment rental in Nigeria can easily erode your profit margins when you start to get paid. So do some research into the type of camera that you should get (We will treat this in coming posts also). As you progress and understand video production better you will need better equipment gear but hopefully at that time you have started getting a few paying gigs to help with new equipment purchase.
4. Recreate and Spread: One last tip I will give is try and recreate videos already in existence, be sure to give credit as to were your inspirations came from but yes recreate videos. Find videos you like online, research into how they were shot and try to replicate them using what you have. It might not be as good but you will be surprised as to what you can achieve when you push yourself. Don’t forget to showcase your work to your friends, family and online community, Chances are that’s where your first jobs will come from. Keep at it and before you know it you are getting jobs and creating videos for people. Remember though, don’t get to comfortable. Always keep expanding on your skills.
Now there is always the Film School route for those who can afford it and would rather learn film making within the 4 walls of a classroom and this is also a valid way to learn Video Production. However, there is no one way to getting into video production and you can do with or without film school. Anyways these are just a few tips and over time we will be writing more on everything production. Be sure to keep up with us, you can subscribe to be notified when we have more tips to successfully starting and running a video production business by clicking here.
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