Beware the Unscrupulous Demo Makers!!!

If you’re an aspiring actor/actress or some other in-front-of-the-camera type hoping for your big break, chances are no matter how talented you are, your film or video production experience doesn’t necessarily match your on-camera skills.

This can make you vulnerable to those within the film/video industry seeking to prey upon those with these dreams to make themselves some big money. Watch out! If somebody says they will do your “demo” DVD for an outrageous amount of money, don’t do it!

I have had many actor/talent friends who’ve practically bankrupted themselves because some unscrupulous production person or company impressed them with the bells and whistles of “network quality” video.

Here’s the scoop! If someone is looking for an on-air personality or actor, they are presumably the professionals who have the ability to make you look “marvelous, darling” to quote Billy Crystal’s old Fernando character from Saturday Night Live. If they’re searching for talent, they AREN’T looking for “knock your socks off” production values from YOU!

What they are looking for is a professional demeanor, good, crisp audio that isn’t hard to listen to, decent lighting and your talent! That’s it! You shouldn’t be spending more than $150 tops on something like that and in many cases, such as having your own equipment you can probably even do it yourself! Don't don’t forget to put your contact info at the beginning of the DVD or tape and good luck!

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Hire a video professional

As a teacher, I often tell my students that film or video is basically the same, whether you’re a professional or an amateur. “The professionals, especially in Hollywood, just have bigger toys.”

As a video professional however, I’m at the same time disturbed at just how easily video can be shot, edited and uploaded by amateurs to a video sharing site. Is this because I am part of a business and hate to see potential clients go “out the window?” I can honestly say the answer to that question is “no”. What bothers me about this situation is the client becomes a victim!

What do I mean by this? Well, those who dabble in video, both shooting and editing have access to equipment that years ago would have been impossible to even imagine. They can produce special effects in both sound and video. That’s fine, but in most cases without experience or a real education about video or film, what they are producing is an unwatchable mess!

In my experience the victim or client many times has even LESS of a concept of what makes a good video piece than the amateur enthusiast! So what you end up with is an inexperienced person making a video for someone who doesn’t even know what to look for or what they want!

By putting themselves in the hands of a rank amateur who only “dabbles” because they happen to have access to this equipment, a business person for example, is jeopardizing the message that they are sending. Worse, they are jeopardizing the professional image that they want to project. Here’s an example. What if the Marriott Hotel chain decided to save money on their next commercial and have an amateur or 12 year old produce it? It wouldn’t impress many people would it? In fact, wouldn’t you think twice about spending the night in that hotel chain?

Not hiring a professional video producer is very much like someone who wants a website but doesn’t have the money to pay for it. We’ve all seen those websites with too many colors, a horribly amateurish layout with grammar and spelling errors galore!

What I’m saying is, when you want something done in brick, you wouldn’t attempt that yourself, you’d get a mason. When you want someone to fly a plane, you don’t just rent one, you hire a professional pilot. When you want a wedding catered, you don’t get your aunt or grandmother to do it, you get a professional caterer (unless your aunt or grandmother are professional caterers themselves)!

Get the idea? Video is no different than these other professions, in that for an impressive, professional job, you need someone who knows what they’re doing. For the best video results, hire a video professional!

By Leonard A. Caplan

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