Even though every media presentation is different, they all follow basically the same process.

1. Do your front-end planning - The process begins when you establish your objectives, define the target audience, choose the appropriate media, commit a budget, develop a schedule and identify your approval chain, as described earlier.

2. Assign a liaison person - Assign someone in the organization to act as liaison with the production service. The liaison person will be responsible for gathering information, timely reviews and approvals and monitoring the project. Pick a person who will keep the project moving forward and who bridges the generation gap - someone who is in step with today's "media savvy" audience.

3. Select a production service - Investigate the production services available in light of your project needs and the personality of your firm.

4. Get a proposal and a treatment - Whether you're working with an in-house or outside producer, have them prepare a proposal, putting in writing what they agree to give you. Ask for a creative treatment also.

The proposal and treatment are important steps; you're about to create an image-building vehicle that will influence how others feel towards your organization. Sufficient time should be given to the creative writer to research the project and come up with a practical approach. This might take a couple of weeks or more, depending on the complexity of the project.

5. Write the script - You wouldn't put up a building without a blueprint and you shouldn't produce a media presentation without a script; the script is your blueprint to success! Here again it's important to allow enough time to let the creative writer do a good job. Two to four weeks is a practical time frame in which to write the average script for a film or videotape. A CD-ROM project may take considerably longer, depending on complexity and levels of information since the design of interactive programs is more involved.

Tell reviewers that they should not review the script in the same way they would a report or manual. Scripts for film and video are "written for the ear," and use contractions and informal English to make them sound conversational. The script may use visuals to tell the story in place of words.

Reviewers should concentrate on making sure the script addresses the objectives and audience needs you've identified and that it captures the flavor promised in the treatment. Changes at this point are inexpensive, so fine-tune the script before the cameras roll.

6. Consider a Storyboard - A storyboard is an illustrated "comic book" version of the script to help people see and understand how the visual and aural elements will work together. Storyboards can be costly and may require several weeks to prepare. For these reasons, they're generally not used for corporate films and videotapes. A storyboard can be a valuable tool when designing a CD-ROM, as it visualizes the navigational routes through the material. A storyboard also visualizes the design of the graphic user interface (GUI), such as opening screens, menu pages, etc.

7. Select the best actors you can afford - The selection of talent will have a significant bearing on the quality perception of the final product. Amateur actors invariably produce amateur results (and cause production costs to soar). Professionals can be counted on to "suspend disbelief" and bring credibility to the production. This is true of both on-camera talent and voice-over narrators. The production service can help you select the right talent to match the characters depicted in the script.

8. Decide where to shoot - The decision to shoot on location or in a studio will depend on many factors: the complexity of the set, whether exterior activity will be shown, safety hazards, etc. For example, it may be less expensive and more practical to create a simple office set in a studio than shooting at some office building. Shooting a supermarket aisle, however, would be less expensive on location, most likely during off hours.

Many corporate communications are shot in a day or two, often in one location. However, the nature of the project often dictates the actual shooting schedule. You may also have to factor in travel time if there are a lot of locations to cover, and "weather days" if there's any exterior shooting.

Changes or corrections requiring re-shooting (or reprogramming, in the case of CD-ROM) can be very costly and the director may request that a client technical advisor be present during the shooting to avoid mistakes.

9. Assemble the material - Once the primary photography is completed, the editing phase begins. Here's where all the elements of the project come together. If the project is video, all of the special effects (animation, transitions, graphics, layered effects, etc.), will be produced during this phase. If the project is film, the editor will mark the workprint with a grease pencil to indicate where the optical effects will appear. Optical effects won't be seen until the "answer print" comes back from the lab. The editing and assembly phase of a project tends to be an intense, solo activity that may take a couple of weeks. Rather than sit alongside the editor during the assembly process, you'll most likely be invited back to view a rough edit.

10. Review the project before release - The edited version of the videotape, or an answer print of a film, should be carefully reviewed by your approval chain. Review should begin only after the reviewers have been reminded of the objectives and audience needs the presentation was designed to address. Failure to set the framework for review may result in misguided criticism of the project. Testing a CD-ROM before release is essential for two reasons: to ensure the project meets learning objectives and to ensure that navigation through the various levels of information is clear to the user and free of inadvertent traps and dead ends. Such testing is referred to as "beta testing".

11. Prepare support materials - Coordinate the preparation of brochures, training manuals, etc., if they're required. Also, prepare a presenter's guide if you feel one is needed.

12. Don't overlook packaging - Labeling and packaging the release materials so they look professional is part of image building. In multi-media presentations, such as a CD-ROM, labeling should carry instructions on loading and using the product. The look of the screens and graphical elements of a CD-ROM can be considered packaging and should be given careful consideration, as they're important to overall image building.

13. Evaluate the results - Follow up is frequently ignored, but how are you going to know if your presentation met its goals? Questionnaires can be useful and training programs can be evaluated by checking job performance against learning objectives.

Keep in mind what you've learned from this project; it can help make your next one an even bigger success!

Penfield Productions, Ltd. represents over 50 years experience in film, video, audio, and CD-ROM. We have made award-winning television commercials and corporate presentations for local and national clients. Our facility includes the largest shooting stage and the most versatile digital video effects capabilities in western New England.

Our motivation for publishing this site is to help make clients more knowledgeable in the field of film, video and other contemporary media and thus help them achieve the fullest impact from their presentation.