If you don’t have your own dedicated in-house video production team, partnering with Los Angeles video production companies is the next best thing. But with so many production houses on the market right now, finding and choosing one that checks all your requirements can be difficult. Having to get quotes, compare prices, check reviews, and review demo reels for five or six different companies is absolutely draining.
Once you manage to find a company you like, it’s in your best interest to make sure they enjoy working with you—especially if your company needs several more videos over the span of a few months. Nurturing your professional relationship with your current production house is easier than going out and finding a new company every couple months every time you need a new video. It also saves you from having to go through the whole research-shop-compare process all over again.
Know What You Want
Some Los Angeles video production companies offer script writing/storyboarding services as part of their production package. However, the idea, concept, and desired goal still have to come from you, the client. You need to give their script writers a frame of reference or a starting to point to work with, otherwise they’re never going to accurately guess what you want.
Vidyard recommends having some do’s and don’ts in place, on the off-chance that your concept isn’t as solid as they’d like it to be. For instance, do you want to use animations in your video or not? Are you open to voice-overs or do you want live audio captured real-time? What are some video formats you are open to trying and what are the ones that you definitely don’t want to use (i.e., you’re okay with an animated explainer video, but you do not want it to be a whiteboard animation)?
Having these guidelines in place can help the scriptwriter take your concept and flesh it out into something workable. Knowing what you want and don’t want also means the chances of them picking a video format you’re okay with are significantly higher.
Respect Business Hours
Even if your point person for the project gave you their personal contact information or a phone number on which they could be reached outside of office hours, this doesn’t automatically mean you should use it. Chances are they meant for the information to be strictly emergencies only. This means calling them because it’s been a week and you haven’t gotten an update yet or because there’s an issue with the script that needs to be addressed and no one is picking up their main line.
In other words, don’t get into the habit of contacting them at 7 at night just to negotiate a part of the contract or to get their opinion about changing a scene. No matter which Los Angeles video production company you choose, you’ll still end up working with people who have lives outside the production floor. If you don’t want to think about work after 5PM, chances are they don’t want to either.
Communicate
On a related note, your project point person did give you their contact information for a reason. As with any relationship, constant (relevant) communication is key for best results. Give feedback when asked and clarify when needed. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if something about the production process doesn’t make sense. Don’t be afraid to give input when prompted. And don’t be afraid to admit if something isn’t going the way you imagined it would be.
It’s important to set realistic expectations and not demand too much of the team, but you are still paying for a service. If the project is taking a direction that is far different from what you requested, speak up and say so. Most Los Angeles video production companies thrive on constructive criticism. They also actually appreciate it more when a client speaks their mind rather than leaving them to their own best guesses.
