What is videography?

An essential part of modern marketing, producing high quality visual content can help consolidate your position in a competitive marketplace. But knowing how to approach the topic or find the right professional for you can be extremely difficult. 

So, what exactly is videography and what advantages does it bring to your overall marketing activity?

What is videography?

Key to modern outreach and advertising, videography helps businesses plan, capture, and refine any visual content before releasing it through your chosen delivery channels.

The ‘video element involves the capture of visual information on electronic formats such as tape, digital storage, cloud data, or online streaming. This makes the job different from that carried out by a cinematographer who captures content on film and requires a completely different skillset more geared towards the art and science of filmmaking.

Videographers are primarily involved in expertly recording an event or producing visual content to help showcase a product or service. From professionals deploying head and hand cams to large scale, multi-camera shoots, videographers deploy a range of flexible options to capture content and edit so that it achieves maximum impact.

Why is it so important?

Choosing to employ a videographer to carry out your work allows you to not only correctly capture the right material for your business, but to plan, execute, and release your materials while adhering to the highest possible standards. 

Selecting a videographer allows you to take advantage of a wealth of insight in a range of digital formats. This allows them to oversee the entire production, make changes when required and ensure that all possible variables are considered when it comes to making the most of your creative vision. 

What advantages can videography bring?

Choosing the right professional can help add value throughout your production pipeline. Some key benefits of working with a professional include-

Experience: Any professional provider should have comprehensive experience working in the sector, letting you know what works…and what doesn’t. Taking the time to fully vet any professional you reach out to allows you to get an additional steer for the project, allowing your work to enjoy a consistent style, clear message, and highlight areas that could cause problems for the project. 

Resource Savings: While it may be cheaper to produce your own work in-house, the additional cost of hiring a qualified videographer comes with a number of benefits. Shoots can be conducted at greater speed with accuracy, outcomes can be fully project managed, and many providers will be able to act as an external resource that would simply be impossible to maintain in-house. With most providers offering distinct packages, these can often be tailored to meet your specific needs and allow you to carry out continuous, sustainable content production at an affordable price point. 

Equipment: Choosing the right videographer means that they will be able to provide or source the right piece of kit for your project. This can range from camera and sound rigs all the way through to post-production work. Outsourcing recording and processing or choosing a provider with a strong visual pedigree can help make your shoot and production work seamless, allowing you to respond to opportunities that organically emerge as part of the work.

What should I ask my videographer?

If you decide to work with a trained, professional videographer, it is important that you squeeze every bit of value out of their work. This allows you to use them as a resource and to optimise your approach, 

What approaches do we have? Any professional videographer or supporting team will have a range of options when it comes to capturing and producing your required content. This can involve taking inspiration from existing material, using their experience with familiar formats, or using their knowledge to produce something totally unique. This can also be helpful when it comes to factoring in your budget or available timeframe, with limitations often acting as a powerful prompt for innovative material or a springboard for novel content. 

What platform is best? Before you start producing any new content, it is important to understand how you intend to disseminate it and what platforms you choose to use. Remember that longform materials can be difficult to get a reaction from on social media and producing a series of snappy vignettes may not be useful if you plan to host and share your content on platforms like YouTube. Remember to listen to your internal marketing teams and ask your newfound provider for help – you just may come up with something truly special.

What way can this be improved? While coming to a team with a fully formed and realised idea can be great, it’s worth remembering that content production is a collaborative process. Taking the opportunity to pick the brains of your provider can make you aware of issues or limitations in your longform approach that you and your teams may have never considered. This can help ensure that you tackle issues head on and are able to tease out elements of your content that make your business or value proposition truly sing. 

No matter what approach you finally settle on, opening up a dialogue with your provider can help you get a trained professional’s insight into your work. And, if they’re a good fit, the first step on what can be a rewarding and profitable professional journey together. 

Find out more

If you want to learn more about the role videography can play with your engagement and marketing, our team at Eight Engines is here to help. With many years’ professional experience, our team works with you to realise your commercial vision and deliver world class visual content.