FREE Video Production Template
Master video production project plan timelines with our intuitive video production template project plan Gantt chart template.
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Why use our Video Production Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Video Production Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.
No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.
Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.
Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.
Headache-free collaboration and sharing.
Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.
How to use Tom’s Planner’s video production template to build and share your multimedia project.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Video Production Template.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Video Production Template based on your project description.
What is a video production template?
Video production is never simple. No matter what the project might be or who the final video is for, production involves juggling a broad range of responsibilities, balancing tasks, ensuring accountability, and meeting deadlines.
The process involves multiple stages, from scriptwriting to actual filming on location or set. Then there’s editing, sound, animation, and more depending on the scope of the project.
A video production template can help. You might be more familiar with the terms video production schedule template or video shoot checklist, but they all come down to the same thing.
Not sure what a video production timeline template might do for your production team’s time or sanity? Think of it as a guide that outlines the entire production process from beginning to end. It includes a wide range of things to help you plan your project successfully, including:
- Location/venue
- Equipment
- Stakeholders
- Objectives
Go beyond the basics with a video production Gantt chart
A video production checklist PDF can certainly help you stay organized and on track. The same is true for a video production schedule template in Excel. However, truly nailing the filming and production process requires in-depth planning. That’s where a video production Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner comes in. A Gantt chart offers incredible flexibility and customization to help you plan different video shoots, deal with post-production, and more.
When to use a video production template?
Video production templates are versatile and flexible. They should also be used throughout the entire project, including the following phases:
Ideation:
Your team can use a video pre-production checklist during the project initiation phase to assign tasks, identify stakeholders, create an approval process, and more.
Concept Development:
The ideation phase leads directly into concept development. Here, your digital video production template supports accountability within tasks, while also providing clear guidance on the sequencing of steps within the process.
Scriptwriting:
From dialog to scene setting, scriptwriting gives you the bones of the production. Your video production project management template supports these processes while ensuring that everyone involved understands where the project stands and what comes next.
Who should use a video production template?
Depending on the scope and goals of the production, many different people may need to use a pre production film checklist. Some of those include the following:
Project Manager:
Project managers can use a video production worksheet to communicate with stakeholders and team members, assign tasks and roles, and ensure accountability at all stages of the project.
Director:
The director can utilize the video production Gantt chart to ensure team members are tasked with important tasks like assembling equipment, scouting locations, and more.
Producer/Client:
Producers (or the client if the production is for outside your organization) should be kept in the loop at all times. A video shoot schedule template allows them to track progress and check in at key points.
Tom’s Planner offers the flexibility and granular control over all aspects of the project that you need to help ensure success.
Start with templateThe top three pitfalls to avoid in video production
You want to create a production that ticks all the boxes: evocative, compelling, and original, and moves the needle for the client. Skip these mistakes to help make that happen:
- Failure to Develop Your Concept
A great concept can make the difference between a lackluster production and one that really resonates with your audience. However, a poor concept can leave your audience wanting, and that’s never a good thing.
Solution:Develop your concept and make sure that it interests your audience. Note that this can require a great deal of research, so add that to your schedule, too.
- Failure to Understand Client Goals
Creating a video for a client but don’t understand what they want the video to accomplish? It’s sure to miss the mark. Even if the final product is beautifully polished and produced, the client will still be unhappy.
Solution:Make sure your client’s goals underpin every aspect of the production, from concept to casting to final production.
- Failure to Allocate Sufficient Editing Time
Editing is an art in itself. A misstep here could mean the difference between a compelling production and something forgettable. And it’s not just video footage that must be edited. Dialog and sound effects also need your attention.
Solution:Allocate enough time for editing during post-production, but also review footage each day of shooting.
What does a video production template include?
While video shoots and production processes vary based on a range of factors, your video production Gantt chart should include the following:
- Concept Development:
Concept development is a critical element in your planning. This process should include things like brainstorming sessions, market studies, creative briefs, storyline drafting, and concept finalization. Use your video production worksheet to flesh out these plans.
- Scripting and Storyboarding:
The heart of any video is the script, and a storyboard helps plot the flow of each scene. This phase should include narrative development, dialog writing, storyboard sketching, scene sequencing, and script finalization.
- Pre-Production Planning:
A lot goes into production, which makes pre-production planning so important. This phase will include tasks like casting, location scouting, budget reviews, costume and set design, rehearsals, logistics finalizing, and planning safety measures. Record it all in your video pre-production checklist.
- Production Shooting:
Video production requires filming, so you’ll need to plan to set up equipment, arrange lights, test sound equipment, prepare scenes, and then review footage regularly. Plan this out in your post production workflow template.
- Post-Production Editing:
The work doesn’t end when production stops. Now you need to handle things like first cut editing, adding narration, mixing sound, checking quality, adding graphic elements, and exporting video to different formats.
Accurate planning is the foundation of a great film production. A video production Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner makes planning simpler and helps support your success.
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
1. Nail the Concept Early
Nebulous concepts can pose major problems for video productions, including serious delays. Nailing your concept early will help ensure that everything else flows smoothly. This should begin early in your ideation phase but should also constitute a phase of its own. Skipping this stage will mean spending time reworking the production down the road.
2. Set an Accurate Budget
Your budget will affect every aspect of the project. Make sure yours is accurate and that you have the funds needed for everything from videography equipment and set creation to costumes and paying talent to be in the production. With an accurate budget, you’ll have fewer money-related holdups, and your production will stay on track.
3. Ensure Your Equipment Is Available
Nothing will put a crimp in your production schedule quite as fast as not being able to access the equipment that you need. This includes cameras, lights, mics, and the like for production, but also editing facilities. Small video production companies often rent equipment on a per-project basis, but this can mean scrambling to find necessary equipment when the time comes.
4. Scout Locations as Soon as Possible
Location, location, location: the mantra applies to video production just as much as it does to real estate. The right location is critical, but that will hinge on a broad range of other things, like the story you’re telling, the atmosphere you want to create, the technical requirements of the project, and more. Pay attention to traffic, noise and light pollution, acoustics, and space for equipment.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies |  |
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| Filtering |  |
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| Zoom in/out | |
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| Automatic Legend | |
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| AI-assist | |
Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
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