Over 15 years helping folks produce short films has taught me volumes on how to maximize a production to get the maximum return on investment. Folks think videos make money for an organization… as they obviously cost money… how do you make money? The answer is…campaigns make money for organizations and video is a great tool to spring your campaign forward. So the important thing is to start with the end in mind. Who’s going to be watching the video and what do you want to tell them, and how long do you have to tell them. So for example you might discover a 2 minute tell all film sent over the internet will tell all about your group and your honorees send links to their friends with a sign up button. On the other hand, once you’ve gone through the trouble of getting everybody to your event and they’ve eaten dinner and they’re hearing speeches a 7 minute touching film will remind them why they came out in the first place. We seen recently a lot of our clients taking advantage of the fact that the people are moved by the films and raising substantial additional money at the event.
DSLR video has changed the industry. Over the past year, our photographic sensibilities have propelled the moving image-opening the door to a new realm of storytelling possibilities. For photographers, the form factor is comfortable and familiar. The lens selection? A dream come true. Custom color pallets, high ISO capture, all with a professional esthetic rivaling the production values of major Hollywood productions-how could this not be industry changing? Life changing, even?
Reviewing the rushes from my first outing with the Canon 5D Mark II, I almost lost my mind. The depth of field separations, lowlight performance, and 1080p quality were outstanding. The footage was easy to shoot. It was easy to drag and drop onto my computer. It was easy to play back in QuickTime Player. Then I loaded my footage into Final Cut Pro, assuming that post-production would be easy, as well.
We’ve gotten burned too often, and BiG is now offering projection services along with our films. It’s only happened a couple of times in 15 years in business, but once is more than enough! Do you know what it’s like to spend over 100 hours on a film only to see some projection company do a poor job?
To solve the problem, from now on BiG is not only including disclaimers for outside projection companies and professional staging, but we’re encouraging our clients to pay a little more to get the best, and we’re here to help coordinate projection and staging services.
In our experience, when you save some money, “those” folks get it right most of the time. Key word is most. A word to the wise: don’t buy on price alone. Reputation is key! We say, aim high and don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Saving money on projection could be fatal.
An early mantra in our company was, “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” It’s true today more than ever, with the plethora of inexpensive alternatives to quality professional video production and staging.
Good luck to all, and continue to THINK BiG.