How To Reduce Stress On Your Video Productions

Is it going to work out? Is everything going to be ok? Is this project going to get finished? 

These are all valid questions, especially when you’re producing a video shoot for the first time. Or the second, third, and even tenth time. 

Video shoots are stressful! So much is riding on one day. If the wrong person calls in sick, it can throw a stick in the spokes of the whole thing. The main ways I reduce stress on (and before) my sets, is through preparation, the right mindset, and experience. 

Preparation is huge. Having a dashboard where every aspect of the production lives is super important, because you can see what’s missing at one glance. The right mindset is huger. Accepting that the unexpected will happen is crucial to staying in a problem-solving mindset. But experience? That’s the most effective way to reduce stress of them all. In a way, a big production failure is the a great way to reduce stress for the future. Because you realize that even when everything falls apart, things are still going to be ok. People bounce back. Companies adjust. Videos can be re-shot. 

There’s no replacement for experience. Stay in it long enough, and it all starts to fall into place. 

P.S. I just launched a Producing Guide called How To Produce A Video Shoot (without pulling out your hair). It’s a 15,000-word guide that teaches you every thing you need to know about producing digital content. It’s live now, and it would mean the world to me if you checked it out, or shared it with a friend.