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
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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