5 Most Common Video Production Mistakes

After producing more than 1500 video projects across countless industries, we’ve seen almost everything that can go right - and everything that can go sideways. Great ideas sometimes stall out before they reach the edit suite. Finished videos occasionally get shelved indefinitely. And once in a while, a beautifully crafted video simply doesn’t move the needle the way everyone hoped.

To help you steer clear of these issues, we’ve put together five of the most common pitfalls that derail video projects, and practical ways to prevent them on your next production.

1. Starting Without a Clear Purpose

Many organizations jump into video because they feel they should . “We need something for YouTube,” or “our website needs a hero video.” But without a defined purpose, audience, and message, even the most polished video can fall flat.

A stronger approach:

• Clarify the problem you’re trying to solve or the opportunity you want to capture.

• Identify your primary audience (and any secondary audiences). Consider demographics, psychographics, and buyer personas.

• Establish one key message per audience—answering “why should this matter to me?”

• Align creative decisions with your strategy and your budget. Your personal music tastes don’t matter nearly as much as what resonates with the people watching.

• Starting with strategy sets the tone for everything that follows.

2. Letting Too Many People Drive the Creative

“Too many cooks in the kitchen” becomes painfully true in video production. When multiple stakeholders provide conflicting opinions on tone, style, pacing, or messaging, the result often becomes a diluted, overly long video that tries to please everyone and ends up resonating with no one.

Collaboration is essential, but so is leadership.

• Identify who actually needs to provide input.

• Limit feedback on subjective creative choices to the people closest to the project.

• Empower your producer or creative lead to make decisions based on audience-impact, not internal politics. And for the record, Bob from Accounting does not need to choose the soundtrack.

3. Bringing Key Decision-Makers in Too Late

In larger organizations, approvals can climb several levels up the ladder. Problems arise when senior decision-makers only see the project near the end—and start undoing choices made weeks or months prior.

This can lead to:

• Additional rounds of revisions

• Script rewrites

• Re-shoots

• Budget overruns

• Or worst of all… a stalled or cancelled project

The fix? Make sure anyone with veto power is involved early; especially during the strategic and scripting stages. Some clients prefer presenting leadership with something polished, and that’s totally fine. The key is letting your production team know the plan so expectations can be managed and contingency timelines built in.

4. Forgetting to Plan for Distribution

A fantastic video means very little if no one sees it, or if it isn’t optimized for the platforms where your audience lives.

Today’s landscape demands intentional planning:

• Short-form platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts) require tight storytelling.

• Traditional YouTube content often performs better at 7 - 15 minutes.

• Different platforms call for different aspect ratios (square, vertical, horizontal).

• Thumbnails and captions matter—and should be prepared during production.

Your call-to-action may also need to change based on where the video appears. Someone watching a pre-roll ad may need a different CTA than someone already browsing your website.

Distribution isn’t an afterthought—it’s part of the strategy.

5. Expecting One Video to Do Everything

No single video can educate, inspire, convert, retain, and entertain all at the same time. When teams try to squeeze too many objectives into one piece, it usually ends up long, unfocused, and ineffective.

Think of your video content like a team:
Different pieces serve different roles.

A landing page video might only need to generate interest and encourage a click. A deeper product video can live later in the sales journey. A recruitment video should speak to values and culture, not product features.

Define what this video needs to accomplish—and let other videos play their positions.

Final Thoughts

If you start with a solid strategy, involve the right people at the right time, and plan for where your video will live long before you hit record, you’ll avoid most of the headaches that plague video projects. More importantly, you’ll create content that not only gets finished—but performs.

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