A Video-Production, be it an explainer video, a sales video, or a corporate video production, has fast become a requirement of 21st-century marketing for your business. So, we know you, as a business owner, dread the expense, time and the problems involved. You came and talked to us, and perhaps other video companies too, about your promotional video-production. Subsequently, you took our advice and worked out an amazing script. And now you face a decision. Now, what?
Video Production: The Pro and Amateur Crossroads
You are now crossing into many major decisions involving video production. This is also a terrifying area of temptation. You know how to use your iPhone to make videos. Your family and friends love your videos.
Thus, you are tempted, so very tempted to just take your smartphone, put it on video setting and do this video-production project yourself. Therefore, and as you can see by our title, this blog is full of warnings against taking the “Do-It-Yourself-Approach” to your Video Production.
If you are pulling in that DIY direction, well, think again. And, in this blog, we will acquaint you will some of the things that can go wrong if you do not hire a professional to create that video-production.
You will also discover the most critical reasons you need to hire a professional video team.
Video-Production Stress: Death of 1,000 Cuts
Doing your own video probably wouldn’t completely kill you. But instead of the Death of 1,000 cuts, you will be spending days with at least 1,000 worried problems completely outside your own business. The very nature of film-making and video-production is to replicate a thousand tiny problems and challenges.
Murphy’s Law Haunts Amateur Video-Productions
For example, do you really want to add these worries to your basic business week?
- The food truck or food delivery for your cast and crew is late.
- The location is too small.
- You get to the location and they suddenly decide they don’t want your video production made on their property.
- Your main actor, who also works as a VP in your company, gets the flu. That little twist could trash your production calendar.
- Your cameraman can’t properly handle the expensive equipment you rented. Meanwhile, you are neglecting the daily duties of your business, and you completely miss a couple of new clients. No, it’s not the . It’s the death of a 1,000 tiny worries, beyond the daily cares of your business.
2. A Professional Video Team: Pressure Valve
Beyond the script, beyond telling your story, you don’t want to be assaulted by video production problems. When you hire a video-production company with education and experience, they “will take so much pressure off of you that you will thank your lucky stars that you hired them. They will take care of so many small problems that come up…and they will come up. Every Day!”
A professional video-production company understands the stress of day-to-day video-production, no matter the size of your project. From casting to filming, to special effects, to voice-overs, to title credits, to editing and special effects, they know how to cope with film-making worries totally unknown to you. Therefore, companies like Bullhorn Media are worthy of your investment.
3. Learning from Hard Knocks
Did you know you can’t just walk into a public area and start filming? There are permissions and permits, and sometimes fees. You can’t just show up with a cameraman and start making a production-video. Security will quickly escort you out and you will lose all that shooting time. Your pros will make sure your set is safe.
That is another reason you need pros like the production crewmembers at Bullhorn. We don’t “go guerilla” and lose your valuable time. We double-check each detail, each day of shooting, follow a schedule, and get “yes” to permits
4. Top Technical Awareness
Of course, you need to have the best equipment you can afford to do your production. But having the equipment is not always enough. Your team must not only have good equipment, but they must know how to use it. They must have an understanding that goes beyond that. They need to have experience and practice with it. Otherwise, you will pay the price in lost time and massive stress.
Your production team is focused on each area of technology that must result in a good production. Lights, actors, set-ups—oops is that a solo cup in the middle of the executive desk? Props and sound, because one little thing wrong can lose valuable time and continuity. Good pros like those at Bullhorn Media will notice if something is about to go wrong before it happens, long before you have 2 hours of filming that goes to waste because of high tech or low tech problem. (Please, remove that red solo cup from the bank president’s desktop.)
5. Business: Not All About Location Any More
Yes, we know the old saying; business is all about location, location, location. But in the 21st-century business has changed forever. Now we see it as all about Contacts, Contacts, Contacts. At Bullhorn Media We not only know our video-production industry, we know people who can help you out on your production-video. We are proud to say we have wonderful community and industry contacts. Thus, a good production company can “pave the way for you to make your video or film in the easiest, and best way you can make it.”
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Shop Around for a Video Production Company that Fits You
We understand the trepidation some business owners feel when they consider a video-production company. Below are a few tips for finding the right company for you.
Watch more of the company’s work than the demo. Yes, many companies post a cross-section of their work on their homepage. We do, as you saw when you entered this site. However, during a consultation, be sure you ask to see a complete project.
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Go Ahead and Get Several Quotes: We Know You Have a Budget
It’s common sense to visit with more than one video company. Pricing is a very objective thing. Getting several estimates is the only way to make sure your project is priced
right. Just balance the value you see with the budget you have. And one other point; make sure you feel like the video-production company you choose is a good personal and psychological fit for you. Believe it or not, your video-production project can be fun, even stress-free, with the help of the right company.
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Whatever Your Budget, You Can Find A Way
We have seen good, low budget productions by industry newbies. Bullhorn Media also admits having seen good suggestions for tiny budgets: college students and new companies who can give you some level of quality for a very economical price. They are building portfolios. We only want you to understand their production quality won’t match that of an educated, experienced video-production team with good business connections in the community.
A Place for Your DIY Video-Production
Even after giving you all of these caveats, we do not want to quash your enthusiasm for video production or stymie your creativity. Truth be told and as time goes on, self-made little video-productions of quality will have a little place in your arsenal of marketing tools. (And remember, low-quality videos do go viral.) However, we doubt your corporate video should ever be made this way; it’s a major video-production.
Terrific Take-Away From Our Bullhorn full of Warnings
However, remember the last thing you want to do is to brand yourself and your product or service with an amateur identity. Thus, we at Bullhorn Media hope you focus on quality production values for the best images possible in your major video-productions. You do your business—let a professional production company create your video.
Check out our services page before you slip into all the treacherous and worrisome DIY pitfalls that merit this bullhorn full of warnings against the DIY approach to video-production. In closing, we’ll re-phrase an old advertising adage: “Quality Video Isn’t Expensive…It’s Priceless.”