Bruce Brooks, Owner: EnVizions Film & Video

DEGREES AREN’T EXPERIENCE

In this case the ‘producer’ was just out of school and now had a certificate or a degree in TV production and some good work samples to show. The client knew their mom from the gym or church and they seemed like nice people.

After running into problems and digging a little deeper, what this client didn’t know is that he was only the company’s 3rd client. The producer’s 1st Client got a great product with the help of a very experienced producer friend who really didn’t work for the company. The 2nd Client was currently asking for their money back because the job wasn’t what the client wanted or needed and it was taking a long time to fix the mistakes. I had the producer re-shoot some more footage for the 3rd client to accurately address my friend’s audience, pulled together the footage and re-edited the project.

BEING NEAR A JOB ISN’T EXPERIENCE

A client knew a ‘producer’ that had just left a large and well-known production company after several years and had started her own company. What the client didn’t know is that the new company owner never got past the title of production assistant or production coordinator at the company he previously worked for and never actually produced a single project.

There was nothing I could do with any of the stuff this guy had shot. The footage was actually beautiful, but it didn’t even come close to addressing the needs of the client. It was a wash. The client was out of luck on this one.

THE LOWEST BUDGET / YOU OFTEN GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

I hate bidding on projects, and rarely do it. This is because so many people insist on taking the lowest bid. I can’t tell you how many times I have had people bring me footage that is dark or discolored, or with bad audio or a list of problems that need emergency help because the client went with the lowest bid.  I used to simply make them pay extra and lecture them the entire time I was fixing their project. These days I don’t fix anybody’s disasters.

Also, an experienced producer can turn a 4 day shoot into a 2 day shoot, so even though they look the same, you could’ve been doing something else business related in those 2 days. So you think you saved money, but it cost you in personal time, business and often possibly more.

THE BASIC VIDEO COMPANY STRUCTURE

Whether large or small, Video Production Companies should run like advertising agencies. They should be balanced. Even though we don’t label them like advertising agencies, it should be structured like this:

  1. On one side should be ‘CLIENT SERVICING’.
  2. On the other side should be ‘CREATIVE & PRODUCTION’.

CLIENT SERVICING should gather as much of the needs of the client as possible.

  •  Who is your audience and what are they like, etc?
  • What is your message?
  • What do you want your audience to do after viewing the message?
  • What are the challenges you foresee in reaching your audience?
  • What problems have you had in your previous efforts with this audience?

CREATIVE & PRODUCTION begins only after exhausting this process.

Unfortunately, too many Video Production Professionals are fixated on ‘the PRODUCTION’ process.  And to be honest, I have to admit; often my peers can’t help it. That’s what we creative people / ‘right-brained’ can do. For some people, it is hard to have all the latest in visual technological advances at your fingertips and not be anxious to use them. I’ll confess that I’ve been shamefully guilty.

Around 1994, I had just started my company. I had many years of actual production, but we had just scored the newest new edit system and the latest and best graphic software that money could buy. I couldn’t wait to use it all to impress my new clients, and my peers in the industry.

My new project was supposed to show how the HIV/AIDS epidemic had begun to affect the heterosexual community in the mid 90’s.  The end product looked like ‘Star Trek meets the HIV Epidemic’. It looked great, glossy, visually fantastic, hip and eye-catching, but didn’t really tell the seriousness of the HIV epidemic. My clients were speechless and not in a good way. I spent a day of ‘free editing’ to take off all my special effects and graphics get it back to where the message informed people about safe personal habits and responsibility, like it was supposed to.

My CREATIVE & PRODUCTION SIDE had kicked by my CLIENT SERVICING SKILLS to the curb and run amok! I quickly and humbly learned that no matter how good the video was put together visually, if the message wasn’t making my audience understand the message and do what my client intended for them to do, it was worthless. I had to go back to my CLIENT SERVICING to re-edit a good video for my client.  To learn more….read Part III of this series.

EnVizions Film & Video, Bruce Brooks – Owner/Producer, Email: brooksbruce@bellsouth.net, Phone: 770 378 0385