There are five stages to producing a DVD
Pre-production
This is where you brief the project - taking into account every aspect of the production including each of the additional ways in which the entire presentation (or clips from it) might be used on the web, mobile phone, e-mail shots etc. The script is written at this stage and a storyboard prepared to determine the look and feel of the finished production. From this a shooting script is prepared. This lists the shots and the order in which they are to be acquired. Location recces are made and crew and participants booked and briefed.
Production
The production stage is where all elements of the finished presentation are brought together. This involves shooting the video footage, recording the voice-over and/or in-vision presenter, gathering any other assets such as stills graphics and preparing any music or sound effects which are to be used.
Post-production
Basically - the edit. The proceeds from the production stage are logged, viewed, sorted and edited to a first approval stage. You get the opportunity to amend, add, change your mind, etc. on everything you see. These comments are then incorporated into a second approval version where only small ‘tweaks’ are required. Final polishing of sound and grading of images now takes place and the final video is sent for authoring.
Authoring
Authoring a DVD can be simply a matter of placing a start menu at the front of the video with a ‘click to play’ button or it could involve dozens of menus with hundreds of buttons. It can be a ‘black art’ and is dependent not only on the on the target audience requirements, but the very particular limits of the DVD Video standard.
Copying
The master copy is prepared either on tape or a master DVD. If you only want a few copies (say less than 50) it makes commercial sense to ‘print and burn’. Copies made this way are compatible with most players and can be faced printed locally for a professional looking finish. It is not possible to ‘protect’ these copies from unauthorised copying. If you require many copies the DVD must be ‘replicated’- that is stamped from a glass master and litho printed by a specialist replication house. Copies made this way are 100% guaranteed to play on any DVD player and can be copy protected.
