Why choose integrated video?

posted by Video

Video production has changed drastically since the early days of film and video. The cost of equipment has dropped exponentially and today, you can do more complex editing on an iPhone than you could with a linear editing system in the 1980s that cost thousands of dollars.

When it comes to video production, you have many choices. You can buy an inexpensive camera and easy-to-use editing software and do it yourself, you can hire a video production company or you can choose an integrated marketing agency.

The DIY solution may be the most economical because you can do it in-house, but if it comes at the sacrifice of production quality, it may not yield the desired results. Video professionals go through years of schooling and on-the-job experience to perfect their craft. Even though just about anyone can use iMovie, they may not know how to record high-quality audio, light a scene so it looks good on camera or know all the editing tricks that come from experience. Professionals also have access to more (and better-quality) tools that lead to high-end looking videos.

It probably wouldn't make sense for, say, a financial company to invest thousands of dollars in a good camera, Glidecam (Steadicam), green screen, studio lighting and pro-quality microphones. And even if they do have the money to invest in all of this, do they have someone who knows how to use it properly? (Bonus points if you can define "super-cardioid microphone," list some situations where it would be the best mic choice and identify it in the picture below.)

There are many great companies out there that specialize in video production, but you need to consider whether or not they will work with you on the business strategy behind the video and how it works with your other marketing pieces. The advantage of working with an integrated agency like thunder::tech is that you get people with diverse professional backgrounds all working together. A typical video project at thunder::tech involves the following:

• Account manager: Oversees all aspects of the project to make sure things move smoothly. Assists in coordinating shoots, ensures that goals of the project are being met and communicates with clients on day-to-day issues.
• Public relations (PR) professional: Works closely on the storytelling and strategy to make sure the message is coming across in a clear, concise way. Once complete, they can even help promote and distribute the video through social media and other channels.
• Videographers/editors: Work with PR to shoot and edit all the necessary footage to tell the story and get your message across. These are the people in charge of capturing the best quality video and audio possible and cutting it together in creative ways to keep the viewer engaged.
• Designers/animators: Create graphics and animations that help tell the story graphically. Our video team is part of our design team, so all of the basic composition and typographic design principles are applied to video. Along with the entire team, these are the people that really nit-pick every little detail such as letter spacing, image quality and composition.
• Developers: Once the video is complete, it is often posted to a website. Our Development team is here to make sure it all works in a way that will be easy to use for the viewer. They can also help make sure the video will play smoothly on various devices and connection speeds by providing and automatically choosing from multiple renditions.

Integrated agencies might not be able to produce a Hollywood-quality action scene with car chases and explosions (although if you really want to, we would be game to try), but places like thunder::tech can work with companies on many levels of a video project that a pure video firm could not—all under one roof. We work in an open environment, so if one of us has a question, we can just get up and go ask an expert down the way.

About the author of this post:
Matt Stevens is the manager of multimedia services and a graphic designer at thunder::tech. When he doesn't have a camera on his shoulder, he's probably swimming, biking or running (aka training for a triathlon). He also considers himself a proud "tree hugger."

Related Posts

Leap into February with thunder::tech's new wallpaper	Five tips for email template design	Blink of an eye: thunder::tech experiments with time-lapse video	What’s the big deal about Pinterest?

---