The global pandemic has changed the world in a lot of ways and has been a massive driver for innovation in every industry.
From our perspective, in video production we have seen a big increase in people self-shooting.
This article will discuss the pros and cons of self-shooting and why/when you’d still want to use a professional film crew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
No doubt you have seen a lot of self-shot video content these days, the news being the most prevalent source. It has taken off for a number of reasons including the fact that it can be more cost effective, it allows you to create video without having to be around people outside of your bubble and people often think less crew means less pressure.
However, self-shot video is not always suitable for every application; this is often due to its quality.
The quality of self-shot video can suffer for a number of different reasons, from technical issues such as camera quality, framing, exposure, focus, lighting and sound, to more experience and acting related issues such as eye line, clearness, confidence and flow, to name a few.
Sorry for this interruption, but…
Now, back to the article…
Because of this, self-shot video might not always show your brand in the best light.
While we can polish your video with professional editing, grading, the addition of music, slides, captions & graphics, animations, and fix certain issues such as cleaning and mastering your audio or cutting around a mistake, there are certain problems that professional editing just cannot resolve.
We do provide a service where we video-call in and direct our clients while they self-shoot their video and this works really well in eradicating these issues. If this is not possible then as a general rule of thumb self-shot videos are better for internal uses and professionally shot video is better for external, i.e. client and/or customer facing media.
We had a prime example of this recently when a client had sent through a self-shot video that looked a lot like this…
…and asked if there was anything we could do to save it as they needed it for an event on the afternoon of the next day.
Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done, the problems were baked into the footage – the focus was out, it was so over-exposed you couldn’t see the product they were advertising and to make matters worse the audio was so noisy you could barely make out the presenter’s voice.
So, as fixing the video was impossible we went back to the client with an offer. We could professionally film their presenter in front of a green screen, in our studio the next morning for a competitive price and still have the edit to them that afternoon.
They agreed and the resulting video looked a lot more like this…
…the audio and visuals were clear and crisp, the delivery was confident and strong and the overall video was great, the client was extremely happy with the end result.
We had even lit the presenter in such a way that, coupled with the ‘green-screened’ background image of a lounge room, the presenter looked as though they were in that room.
Another benefit of getting your video professionally shot is consistency, this is especially important if you are looking to produce a series of videos. We have over 30 years’ experience and have produced countless programmes so, you can confidentially hand us a video project and know that we will hit your brief every time. This leads us on to the last point…
…a professional film crew will allow you to stress less. We know our clients are busy and we pride ourselves on providing a stress free video-making experience, allowing you to get on with your actual job.
That’s it, thanks for reading!
You now have all of the information you need to make an informed decision whether you should self-shoot or hire a film crew.
We offer no-obligation, free quotes and are always happy to discuss concepts.
