In the last decade, we have seen the boom of video production in school settings. Students are being creative and putting what they learned in videos. Teachers are using videos as a way to communicate better with their students.

School administrators are creating videos to engage students and to interact with their subordinates. No matter where you look at it, video production has captured the academic world in a way we’ve never imagined before.

But like many things, producing a video can be time-consuming and budget-constraining. Before a school can create a video production lab, it has to release a budget and its set of expectations.

Cameras

The very first thing you need to buy is cameras. The school can use anything from a student’s smartphone or entry-level video cameras to DSLRs or what is often referred to as prosumer cameras. A prosumer camera sits between a consumer-level video camera and a professional-level camera.

The cost of these cameras varies—from $1,000 to around $5,000. When it comes to deciding which level of camera you need, you are also going to have to define what sort of end result you are trying to achieve. If you want a high-quality, professional-looking video, you would need to invest in a more expensive camera.

Audio

All cameras—from smartphones to professional-level cameras—have some sort of built-in microphones. However, the quality of their audio would not be on par with what you are expecting from a quality video.

If you don’t have the budget for it, you can make do with the built-in microphones. But if you have the extra money, you can invest in some basic audio equipment for your video lab. A reasonable-quality microphone can make a world of difference to the end result.

Lighting

Even when you are shooting outdoors in full daylight, lighting plays an important part in controlling the look and the feel of the video. The lighting will remove the unwanted shadows in the video.

But before investing in lights, you need to have some idea of where you are going to shoot. Is it going to be indoors or outdoors? The kind of lighting you need will depend on the location you are going to have your shoot.

Editing software

When all is said and done, almost everything can be manipulated using the right editing software. The most popular editing software being used in professional editing is Adobe’s Premiere.

The ability of the software is almost unlimited that every element of the video can be adjusted to suit what you want.