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Over the years I have heard people tell us, “It should only take a couple of hours to shoot.” This could be true, but there’s time to consider when preparing and setting up for a shoot. Now, some might not value the time to prep for a production shoot - things like: scheduling the location, hiring and making sure the talent gets there, getting the script prepared for the teleprompter, making sure everything is charged up... you get the point. All these things take time. One thing that I’ve realized is you always have to buffer more time setting up.
Typically, unless we’ve arranged (or budgeted) a scouting trip to the shoot’s location, it can take up to 20-30 minutes to look around with the contact person and decide where the shoot is going to take place on-site. Even if this is a smaller production like an interview in the CEO’s office, the video production team (typically the DP) needs to decide what the angle is going to be and what the background needs to look like. A lot of times its rearranging furniture, moving lamps, artwork, etc. Once the location and background is setup, then equipment needs to be brought in and setup. This can take a while. Getting the camera (sometimes 2 cameras), support equipment, lights and such setup will eat into your production time.
My suggestion is to be open and detailed with your video production or video marketing company so they can allocate enough time for the shoot. For example, if your boss is going to be the talent for the video, and is someone who likes to small talk a lot, then let your team know so they can prepare for that. Or maybe the location is one that has a lot of foot traffic and you have to work around the noise. This will definitely add time to the shoot and we know, time is money.
So, next time you are planning a video shoot remember, it’s never just “quick.” Keep in mind as a rule of thumb, it will typically take 1-2 hours to setup and tear down. When considering this well needed time, it will take stress and pressure off you and the production will run much more smoothly.