Going All In: The Importance of Not Cutting Corners When Producing a Video

In the modern age of technology, the entry barrier for the video production industry is pretty low. True quality content comes few and far between, as do their creators. While businesses are scurrying to create video marketing content, many fear over-spending on it. They end up hiring nonprofessionals with limited experience, thinking that they’ve achieved maximum cost-effectiveness. This isn’t always true— in fact, it rarely is! LNC is here to show you how important it is not to cut corners in video production.

Cutting corners in a production means taking away from your production to save elsewhere, sacrificing quality for money or time. By saving elsewhere, you risk taking away from your budget, your crew, or even your time, just to save some money. But as we’ve explored, these are all necessary elements of producing a video.

Budget

Your production budget determines what you can and cannot do, and to what extent. Your budget is all you have to work with unless you’ve been given free resources. Reducing your budget may mean casting amateur actors, using unrealistic props, and having to make do with less-than-ideal set locations. Sadly, all of these sacrifices can negatively affect the quality of your video and the feel it gives your viewers.

Crew

Your production crew is an essential part of the shoot day and should be chosen carefully. Each member is hired to execute a certain task— cutting members means overwhelming others with work. Short-staffing your crew can lead to confusion and disorganization, which is detrimental to the team’s productivity and efficiency. Other team members that are often overlooked are makeup and wardrobe; they have the power to dictate the look and feel of the video, and thus are essential to a production.

Time

Don’t underestimate how much time it takes to produce a video. First comes pre-production, where everything is planned out step-by-step. Without proper time for planning, your production won’t run smoothly. Then comes production: the actual days of shooting. If you don’t have enough camera time, you won’t have enough footage to work with, forcing you to cut your video short. Lastly, and arguably most importantly, is post-production. Post-production is where the magic happens: it’s where the video comes together and the special effects are added in. If the post-production team doesn’t have enough time, it could result in messily edited videos with inconsistent coloring and effects.

There’s a business side to all of this, too. Take a look at your competitors: are they cutting corners? How do their video advertisements compare in terms of quality, aesthetic, and special effects? If they aren’t cutting corners, you shouldn’t either. And if competitors happen to be producing low-quality content, aim higher! Good production quality not only gives you an advantage against your competitors, it also speaks directly to your brand. You want your brand identity to feel cohesive and high-end, not like a homemade video (unless that’s what you’re going for). Finally, consider the content that you’re creating. A video is an investment: it holds value and will be associated with your business forever, and can even be repurposed. To do this coherently, your content must all be the same quality.

These are only a few of the massively important factors to consider when you’re producing a video to represent your brand. Don’t risk it! There’s a sweet spot at the intersection of cost-effectiveness and video quality— let us help you find it.