Producing Video in Manchester: What You Need to Know

Manchester is one of the UK’s most dynamic cities and a great place to produce video, with a variety of interesting locations and numerous professional video production businesses to help you achieve your goals.

Whether you’re shooting commercial video or producing a film, it’s important to be aware of the most common issues associated with video production before you start planning your production project and reaching out to people to become involved.

Below, we’ve listed four things you should know about video production in Manchester to help you enjoy a smoother, smarter and less stressful shooting, editing and production process.

Want to shoot on location? Ask for permission first

While shooting video on private property is quick and simple, you’ll need to ask for permission from the Manchester City Council before you attempt to shoot video in a public space, such as one of the city’s parks or other public areas.

Public filming requests for Manchester are handled by Screen Manchester, which liaises with the council to provide location filming permission for filmmakers and businesses interested in producing video using Manchester’s public spaces.

For news-related video filming, you can also directly contact the Manchester City Council Press Office.

Never done this before? Hire a film production company

Filming, editing and producing video is a stressful, challenging process, especially for someone new to video production. If you’re producing a video for your company or organisation, you’ll get better results by hiring a company to manage the process than by completing it in-house.

From sound levels to colour correction and other aspects of post-production, producing quality video is far harder than it looks. Hiring an experienced company like Video Production Manchester to manage the process than by completing it in-house.

Budget for your production ahead of time

It’s important to have a clear, specific and itemised budget ready for your video production in advance of shooting. Video projects are notorious for costing more than expected — an effect that’s often caused by not preparing a clear, firm budget in advance.

A good budget will specify the amount you can afford to spend on skilled professionals such as camera operators and editing staff, as well as an overall cost for the production. If you’re filming in-house, it should also specify your budget for equipment and studio space rental.

Prepare everything before you start filming

Finally, it’s even more important to have a complete plan for your production ready before you begin. From locations to storyboards, you’ll want to have every aspect of your production fully planned out and sorted before you start filming so that you never need to improvise.

Before you even shoot a second of footage, you need to have a finished script. You also need a detailed storyboard for your production, as well as a complete shot list. You need a plan for all of your b-roll footage (believe us — you’ll need plenty of it when it’s time to edit).

Need help preparing for your production? Single Grain has a great guide to pre-production for corporate and promotional videos.

The better your preparation, the better your final production. Forget to plan for your corporate or creative video and you’ll have to scramble to solve problems when it’s time to shoot. Plan it out ahead of time and you’ll enjoy a stress-free shoot and better final results.