Corporate videos can serve all kinds of internal and external corporate functions, but they can’t do their job effectively if the quality isn’t good. Unengaging videos — whether they’re meant to market a product or train the sales team — don’t pull in the audience, and subpar videos don’t get the message across. They also reflect poorly on the brand.
Anyone can make their own video. They can grab their phone, hand it to a friend, and start talking. But the result might be just another video with garbled sound, dimly lit faces, messy editing, and a story that doesn’t quite come together right.
Hiring a professional video production company means the final outcome looks and sounds great — more importantly, turning to the pros ensures that the video engages the audience and gets the message across as effectively as possible.
What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Professional Video Production Crew?
Smartphones are fine for shooting videos of the family dog or capturing the kids’ recital to show to grandma. A professional team of production specialists has the knowledge and expertise to bring the following benefits to the process:
Understanding of the Medium
A professional video production team knows how to use those tools to communicate effectively. A chef, for example, has in-depth knowledge about cooking, and they can turn ingredients into gourmet meals with flavors that jump off the plate and create an extraordinary experience. A professional video production crew brings that same level of expertise to the video medium, producing results that make the skill behind them obvious to anyone.
Creating an Effective Approach
Professional video producers consider the needs of the video’s audience. Their experience with the creative approach enables them to tell stories deftly, provide instruction persuasively, and explain concepts expertly through video, and they ensure the message is clear.
Engaging Storytelling
Just writing down words is not the same as scripting. Telling someone something in basic terms doesn’t engage their imagination and deliver a memorable message. Professional video production teams can construct a story and put together interviews in a way that engages the audience, whether the video is teaching them something new or selling them on a different product or concept.
Professional video companies and crews work in this medium every day. They guide their clients from conception to shooting the video and crafting the final product in post production. They have the ideas, strategies, and tools to pull off the process more artfully and effectively than an inexperienced person can conceive of doing with amateur equipment.
5 Reasons Hiring a Professional Video Production Crew Is Better Than the DIY Approach
There are two core reasons that hiring a professional video production crew is better than taking the DIY approach — quality and engagement. Videos cannot fulfill their purpose if the audience is bored and thinking about other things. Quality affects these aspects of the video as well:
1. Compelling Imagery
Pointing a camera and shooting is not the same as composing a shot. Professional film makers have imagination, technical precision, and experience in their craft, and they know how to set up shots that add compelling imagery to the video.
2. Professional Lighting Techniques
Illumination is different from lighting. Homemade videos can tend to look flat and muddy. Professional lighting techniques bring the images to life, add artistry and depth, and ensure that people look realistic.
3. Clear Audio
Many people hyperfocus on the visual aspects of the video, and they forget that sound is at least half of the experience. Professional video production crews record clear audio. They also add music and sound effects in post-production. That helps tell the story.
4. Skilled Editing
Jamming images together is not the same as editing. Editing refers to deftly constructing visual stories from various shots and other source materials, including photos, graphics, animation, and text. Professional video editors and production teams bring these skills to the table.
5. Professional-Grade Equipment
Applying professional technology like prime lenses, mobile camera platforms, large-format digital cinema cameras, and multiple cameras elevates the mundane to something compelling. Amateurs might not have the equipment to make videos that look or sound even close to what the right team can create with professional-grade equipment.
Corporate videos reflect the company’s brand. A poorly made video can send the message that the company doesn’t care or doesn’t have high standards. High-quality videos, in contrast, build the idea that the company is successful, committed to excellence, and willing to work hard for its employees, customers, and other key stakeholders.
What Are the Common Pitfalls of Opting for Amateur Video Over a Professional Production?
The advantages of hiring a professional video production crew are clear, but some people may still be tempted to make their own corporate videos. The DIY approach comes with a lot of risks. Business owners and managers should consider the following before shooting their own corporate videos:
- Color correction: Raw footage can create unrealistic skin tones and dull colors. Color correction ensures that images pop off the screen and won’t leave viewers wondering why faces look weird in the video.
- Closed captioning makes the video accessible to a broader range of audiences and allows people who are deaf or hard of hearing to understand the video.
- Motion graphics and animation have to be used with finesse. This task often requires investing in expensive editing software.
Video production professionals know how to ensure technical accuracy. They simplify visual elements, eliminate distracting colors, enhance images with sound, and artfully bring everything together to create a polished, persuasive finished product.
Learning all these skills to create a DIY video might not be an effective or sustainable use of time for most business owners or managers. They should focus on the other aspects of running a business and outsource this task to the pros.
Your Go-To Professional Video Production Crew
Rock Creek Production creates high-quality professional videos for corporate clients and a wide range of other purposes. We bring unparalleled creative vision, a cinematic storytelling approach, and functional expertise to every project.
Our team of production specialists has completed countless projects in the Washington, D.C., area, but we’re also willing to travel to your location. Contact our offices today to talk about your upcoming corporate video project.
