3 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Videographer

Every business comes to a point when they need to start producing video content to launch their business, or to advertise a product, or reach new customers, and so on. But after you type "Austin videographer" into Google, you're faced with a smorgasbord of choices - and you're not a video expert! So here's three mistakes to avoid when assessing which central Texas videography service you'd like to go with.

Mistake #1: Choosing the Videographer with the Most Expensive Equipment

Don't get me wrong - expensive & fancy equipment is great and is usually capable of producing a technically superior result when used to its best. Let me repeat that: when used to its best. I don't want to name any names, but I've encountered all too many wannabe filmmaker and videographers who dropped $10,000 on the latest equipment... without knowing how to properly use it.

Believe it or not, a videographer with a $2000 camera, who's spent years learning its capabilities in and out, will beat out a less experienced with a $20,000 camera - every single time. Furthermore, a lot of the capabilities and features of higher-end cameras simply aren't necessary for most businesses' video needs. 6K? 8K? Even 4K tends to be overkill. Remember that, in most cases, your audience won't be watching your videos on the big screen (if they are, that's another story!), but rather they'll be seeing your video content embedded on social media, often on mobile devices that aren't even capable of displaying more than 1080p.

Mistake #2: Correlating Video Length with Budget

I can't tell you how many times I've had a client give me a target video length and expect me to be able to give them an accurate quote on that basis. But the truth is, video length has almost nothing to do with how expensive the result will be when it comes to business video production. Let me show you an example.

Video A: -60 minutes long

-Sit-down interview/presentation

-Company employee is on-camera -Single lighting set-up

Video B:

-30 seconds long

-Commercial/promo video

-Multiple locations (office, exterior, home)

-2-3 Actors

Can you guess which video will require a greater budget? Of course, it's Video B - despite its short length, factors such as time on set, number of locations (logistics), extra actors needed, all mean that the budget will be much higher than Video A. Irregular Film video production can help you take your video needs and break them down, helping you to understand which variables will raise costs, and which can help lower costs.

Mistake #3: Not Understanding Your Objectives

The single most important thing you NEED to know before reaching out to a videographer is: your objectives for the video content you're producing. Having a video concept or idea is helpful and encouraged, but to empower your videographer to help you get the results you need, you must clearly and understand your goal for the videos, what you need them to accomplish. It could be that the videographer might have crucial insight into how to best realize those goals in the visual media. Is your goal to sell a product? Is it to introduce your brand's philosophy? Is it to communicate to potential investors, or customers? Is it to educate? Understanding this before you even get on the phone with a videographer will help immensely in ensuring you get a video that helps you business.

Videography is a complex craft, but at Irregular Film we've been servicing local businesses around Austin, San Antonio and the greater central Texas region for years. Educated in filmmaking at the University of Texas at Austin, we are ran & operated by locals who know what it means to be Texan, and what it means to keep Austin weird.

Contact us today for a free consultation about your video project and to find out how we can work together to make you a great video that we're both proud of.