Project Brief

From the beginning, our team assigns a dedicated producer who directs the project from the kick-off to the final delivery. Dustin Hill Productions collaborates with our clients to map out their creative vision and explores strategic techniques that would best tell your story. We pride ourselves on our ability to connect with everyone that we work with and best understand their message.

In our production pipeline, we work closely with our clients and educate them on what to expect during the production process. As our clients come from different industries, each project is unique and requires tailor-made solutions for our clients. During the production process, there are several stages what require client feedback, and we will inform our client at the beginning of the project.

Our producer would generally ask the following questions at the start of the project:

– What is the purpose of this video?
– What is the primary message you are trying to communicate?
– Who are your audience?
– Where will this video be displayed or how will it be used?
– Are there existing videos internal or external which you like? 
– How much do you have to spend on the video production?

With these information we would be able to help draft out an idea of how the video should be delivered. As these information helps guide our team in making the following decisions with our clients.

– The expected length of the video
– Copyrighting and Commercial rights
– Need for live action, 2D animation, Visual Effects or 3D development
– Style and tonality of the video
– Brand assets

Concept development is the phase whereby we generate ideas and concepts to best tell the story or message for our clients. This involves understanding our client’s ‘problem statements’ and their end-goal. This is the phase where we cut beneath the surface of the project requirements and pinpoint the deeper issues to develop a message or content to resolve those problems.  

Script-writing is a two-way street. The message is important, and the script has to be written in a way that a consumer would hear and understand. At Dustin Hill Productions, we aid our clients in crafting a script that is both engaging and professional.

Storyboarding

With the concept and script developed, we proceed to develop panel by panel scenes of the story. This helps visualize how the story would look like and what is involved in the production. In the storyboard, a technical description of what is happening, what the actors are doing or occurring visuals will be written or illustrated.

Generally with the storyboard done, we would be able to understand these information for the production:

– Number of shots and scenes required
– Number of talents required in each scene
– Live action footage, 2D Visual Effects or 3D development is required per scene
– Camera angles
– Lighting angles 
– Scene location, timing of day and props

The goal of this process is to gather all the visual building blocks in order to begin production. This is also a vital phase of production that we seek feedback with our clients to make sure both parties are aligned on the same page before moving forward. Storyboarding is also the final step in post-production, whereby tweaking of script, concept and story typically happens to rectify issues.

Design and illustrations

Here, graphical elements in the video are designed and prepped for animation. Assets such as art illustrations and images are generated in-house. All the elements mentioned are also done in reference to the Creative Breakdown presented in the storyboarding and conceptualization stage. Often there is a collaborative effort with animators to insure the illustrated or graphic elements will animate correctly.

Editing, Visual Effects and Animation

At this phase we begin assembling footage from the Live Action Video Capture, along with the assets and illustrations generated from the previous phase. Our editing team would sequence them according to the initial blueprints from the storyboard.

Visual effects such as rotoscoping, green screen editing, particle effects and many more are generated here. As some videos do require visual effects more than others, this phase could be one of the longest phases in the production pipeline. 

Graphics or illustrated characters are then animated and video footage is edited together. Titles and lower thirds are added, along with visual effects, sound effects, music, and other finishing polish.