Sure, you could create your own “video department” within your organization, so you can make your own quality videos. Also, you could build your own mechanic’s shop; and that makes sense, right?
As corporate video production becomes more and more of a viable marketing and advertising tool, it’s easy to begin to think of producing these videos yourself. After all, any Tom, Dick or Harry (or founder’s nephew for that matter) can run down to the local photography shop and purchase their own, easy to use, DSLR and start shooting right away, right? I mean, really don’t you just need access to a little equipment to make promos, documentaries and films like the great directors of Hollywood do?
While you can purchase a plethora of consumer grade equipment to “get started” creating your own video masterpieces, the truth is you might find yourself in a situation with some of the right tools and none of the proper knowledge. Additionally, you could easily find yourself either wasting yours, your team’s, and anyone else’s time or finishing your “professionally produced” video only to find it lackluster and disconnected at best.
Below we’ll talk about the benefits of outsourcing your next corporate video and why it just might be in your best interest to stick to what you know really well: your business.
Video Production Requires Capital
While it might seem that Best Buy has everything you need to get started in the video production game, the truth is real production teams have the equipment you really want, and it’s pretty expensive. If you were to get into the game the way they’re involved, you’d find yourself shelling out large sums of cash for cameras, microphones, editing software, lights, and a whole plethora of production gear you’ve never heard of and frankly don’t want to have to try to understand. Outsourcing allows you to avoid these costs and still have the gear you need available to you the day of your shoot.
You’re Not ALWAYS Producing Videos
So, let’s say you did get into the corporate video production game. What do you do with your gear and staff when they’re NOT making videos. Truth is, you’re not in the video making business, so when you’re done with this project, what’s that editor on staff that you just brought onto the team going to be doing? Most likely perusing Youtube looking for screen captures of the latest RPG game everyone’s talking about. Keeping production where it belongs, in a production house, means you’re not paying for employees’ downtime and only writing checks for what you’re actually using: the crew to make this v ideo.
Outsourcing Gives You a Larger Team
Employees are expensive, so chances are, if you do create your own in-house “video” department, it’s only going to be comprised of one individual. Truth is, one person can’t offer what an entire video production team can.
Let’s take a moment to think through the amount of people required on set for a real s hoot. You’ll have a director, producer, director of photography, audio engineer and a production assistant. That’s if you only have one camera on set. Add any more and you’re adding camera ops and most likely a DIT to log footage. Now, we’re well beyond the one man crew you thought could do it all.
Outsource your video and right out of the gate you have access to a much larger, more capable team.
Outsourcing = Efficiency
When you outsource your project to the pros, you’ll find one thing is missing right out of the gate: a learning curve. Bring on a rookie or new hire to create your own video department and you’ll find a lot of wasted time as your one man crew is learning his or her ways around the video production world.
With a crew you’ll find that the team, from the director down, knows the ropes and understands exactly what needs to happen well before anyone yells, “Lights. Camera. Action.” Also, no one’s going to yell that, because this isn’t the 1920’s and everyone on set knows what they’re doing.
Outsourcing Brings the Knowledge for Free
In the day and age where there’s an app for everything, it can seem like video would easily fall into a paint by numbers category as long as you have the right smartphone tools, right? When hiring a quality video production team, you’re bringing with it the years of knowledge and experience backed by the “why” behind everything.
Because this isn’t the crew’s first rodeo, not only will they know why they’re doing (and do it well), but they’ll avoid the pitfalls that come with being a newbie. They’ve been on set when the power was blown and they not only know why it happened, but how to avoid it. They’ve been on set when the talent couldn’t get through their interview, and they know how to handle it. They understand what situations to avoid before they come up, because they made that same mistake years ago and never will again.
Remember, outsourcing your video production isn’t just about “getting someone else to do it,” but it’s about getting the right people, with the right knowledge and experience to deliver the right videos you’ve wanted all along.
Wrap Up
Remember, you’re in the business or industry you’re in for a reason, you’re great at working within that market; and just like you wouldn’t expect someone else to come in and run YOUR show just because they think they could, don’t expect you’d be able to do the same in the video production space.
Find the best team you can, one that you know can deliver on your passions, inspiration and vision, then let them do what they do best: video production. In the end, when you’re watching your video content, you’ll be glad you did.
