How videographers make their work stand out
Making your videos stand out is of course incredibly important in helping you land new video production work. The videography field has grown hugely in the past ten years. We saw it happen with photographers first and now with videographers. With the era of cheaper DSLR cameras that can record incredible video, the amount of videographers in the market grown hugely. That being said, the demand for video productions has also grown massively. So in this over populated field, how do videographers make their work stand out?
Quality of your visuals
One way to at least separate yourself from the videographers in London who have recently entered the videography world, is quality. Having that slightly higher end camera kit will help. People often say it’s not the kit but it’s what you do with it. This is true to a certain extent but give the same person one extra level camera setup vs a professional camera setup and they’ll create different visuals. Even someone who doesn’t work in the video production field will be able to pick which one lokos better. They might not be able too ay why but they will know one video looks better than the other.
Here are a few examples and comparisons of how kit can make a difference. Higher end cameras will make a difference through aspects such as increased dynamic range, more frame rate options to create special looking footage and built in ND filters to allow you to film at the corrects gutter speed. Lenses will also make a huge difference. Compare a regular zoom lens that is only F4 to a fast prime lens that films at F1.2 and you’ll see the difference in the bokeh in a big way.
Quality of lighting
Recently we were subcontracted to film something for another video production company. We used our usually filming kit and experience to make the best looking visuals we could. This particular shoot was an interview. The end client was very happy with the end visuals we produced. However, next time that client came back, the video production company did the shoot in house. However the client wasn’t happy this time. They could see the lighting wasn’t the same that we had created on the previous shoot. They had to actually can the shoot and hire us back to re-do it for them. So what was the difference in the visuals? The lighting was everything. We used a super soft light, not just only using double diffusion on the outbox but also putting the light through some additional 216 diffusion filter. This created a fantastic large soft lighting source that was incredibly radiant.
A lot of videographers won’t take the time with lighting or simply don’t understand how to create soft beautiful light. For us this is an essential part of our workflow and another element to make our work stand out.
Switching up in the end
Our final tip is icing the edit up. Editing stories in a chronological order, especially for corporate work soon gets dull. However we realised that when we edit in a more unpredictable way and less chronological, it made the films more dynamic. For instance, we might film 6 or 7 different scenes to accompany an interview. If we then edit those scenes in a more random nature the edit feels way more engaging.