How long does video production take? A realistic timeline

Anyone asking how long it takes to make a video usually wants one number. The honest answer is that a short documentary or programme film for an organisation takes several weeks from brief to final file, and the filming days are the smallest part of that. One university communications team, for example, gives a rough estimate of four to eight weeks from the start of a project, and asks for requests two to three months before the due date.¹

What stretches or shrinks a video production timeline is rarely the camera work. It is how clear the brief is, how many locations and people are involved, which permissions are needed and how quickly feedback comes back. This guide walks through each stage of the video production process so you can see where the time goes and plan backwards from your launch date.

UCLA's College Communications team breaks its estimate down by stage. It is a useful reference point, even though every project is different:¹

Some stages overlap, and a simple film in one location will move faster than a story told across several districts. But the proportions are typical: planning and editing take far longer than filming. In our own practice, projects that slip are almost never delayed on the shoot day. They are delayed before it, waiting for decisions, or after it, waiting for feedback.

• Strategy and preparation: up to one week
• Creative development: up to one week
• Pre-production: one to two weeks
• Filming and recording: one to two weeks
• Post-production: two to three weeks
• Delivery and distribution: one to two weeks

Azusa Pacific University's video production guidelines put it plainly: the pre-production phase is where the most time will have to be spent.² This is when the objective, audience, story, locations and contributors are agreed. UCLA's guidelines add that a project begins only once the brief and timeline are signed off and all assets are received, and that any change to the scope will affect delivery dates.¹

Consent also takes time, and it should. Bond's ethical guidelines state that responsible content gathering requires time, and that short visits can be unsettling and potentially harmful to contributors who are particularly vulnerable, such as children.³ They recommend deciding at the planning stage who will lead the informed consent process, and planning for country teams or partners to hold consent conversations in advance, separately from the filming itself.³

Those conversations must be clear and in a language contributors understand, which may mean arranging an interpreter and translating forms.³ Build that into the plan rather than squeezing it into the morning of the shoot.

If you are filming in Rwanda, add official permissions to the schedule. The photography and video shooting permit is applied for through IremboGov and issued by the Ministry of Youth, with a stated processing time of four days.⁴ The permit does not exempt a crew from other formalities that local authorities request on site, including authorisations for drones and special equipment, so allow time for those too.⁴

Weather matters for anything filmed outdoors. Meteo Rwanda describes two rainy seasons, one centred on March to May and the other around October to December, with the maximum rainfall over March, April and May and from September to December.⁵ Rain rarely cancels a shoot, but it is sensible to keep a spare day for exteriors and for travel to rural sites in those months.

Once preparation is done, the shoot itself is often a matter of days. How many depends on the number of locations, interviews and activities you need to capture, and on the travel between them.

Good scheduling saves days. The Azusa Pacific guidelines advise organising the production schedule by location rather than story order, avoiding backtracking even within the same building, scouting locations before filming and filming testimonials or interviews first.² Interviews shape the story, so recording them early lets the crew pick up the right supporting shots on the same trip instead of returning later.

Post-production time is usually the longest single stage. UCLA's guidelines allow two to three weeks and describe three passes: a rough cut that puts scenes in order, a fine cut that is close to the final format, and a final cut that adds audio, effects, graphics, music and colour.¹ They offer two to three rounds of edits, ask for all comments to be collected and submitted together in writing with time-codes, and warn that requests to change the structure at the final stage will delay delivery.¹

Accessibility needs its place in the schedule too. The W3C advises addressing accessibility as a video is planned and produced, developing any described version at the same time as the main video and including accessibility requirements in contracts.⁶ Automatically generated captions can be a starting point, but they do not meet user needs unless they are fully accurate and usually need significant editing.⁷ Allow time for a person to check names, figures and translations before release.

Most delays are avoidable. Name one person who gathers feedback and signs off each stage, agree review dates before filming starts and send consolidated, time-coded comments rather than piecemeal notes.¹ Lock the story outline before the shoot, because each step builds on the last and any delay in approvals or changes can push back the completion date.¹

Then work backwards. If your launch is fixed, such as a conference or an international day, start from that date and subtract delivery, review rounds, editing, filming and pre-production. If the start date has already passed, reduce the scope rather than the quality. One strong film delivered on time is worth more than three rushed ones.

• Launch date fixed and timeline planned backwards from it
• Brief, story outline and scope signed off before booking the shoot
• Consent conversations held in advance, in contributors' own language
• Filming permit and any drone authorisations requested early
• Rainy seasons and spare weather days built into the schedule
• One named approver and agreed dates for each review round
• Feedback consolidated, written and time-coded
• Time set aside to check captions and translations