In this interview Bold Content’s MD Adam Neale shares his insights into creating an event video. Discover what you need to think about before having an event video created, how to prevent potential problems, the costs involved and more.
What are some of the key benefits of filming an event video?
Most events take an awful lot of organisation and planning. All of the preparation can be for event which lasts one day or maybe even just a few hours. So it can be a really good investment to capture all of that on film. Especially if it is something like a conference and you have thought leaders coming to impart knowledge and information.
It’s a shame to limit it to just a small audience when you could open it up to your staff, work force, or even the general public, if you want to do a content marketing strategy. So there is a highly compelling argument for creating a video from your event.
Is filming an event video expensive?
Event videos don’t have to be expensive. It is possible to film them with a single shooter who turns up with a DSLR camera and captures the highlights of the event.
Alternatively you can go all the way to a multi camera corporate conference video shoot where camera people are able to talk to each other and talk to a director and you can have a vision mixer. There is a wide range of ways to go about capturing your event, so it really depends on your budget and what you intend to do with the final product.
What should the client be thinking about before commissioning an event video?
The main thing for the client to consider what the intention for the video? Is it going to be an internal communication video to impart knowledge to their workforce or is it a promotional video for them to use for their sales team.
Then they need to communicate that to the video production company so they can decide on the best way to structure the video and the type of cameras to use.
How can the client help the video production company to achieve the best possible video?
There are many different ways to shoot an event video so the client really needs to think about how to create a solid, well thought out brief for the video production company. This should make the video production company aware of all of the intended outcomes from the video.
There have been times where we have received a video brief from a client and then on the day they’ve wanted something else, and that causes problems because there are different types of cameras used to shoot different types of videos.
What problems you watch out for when filming an event video?
If you plan on shooting a certain type of video you might not necessarily bring the right equipment for shooting other types of videos. This you are doing a conference. If you just want a highlights video and you want it to look really nice you would probably shoot it on a DSLR camera.
However, if you are doing a conference video and you want to capture all of the content including someone’s entire speech, you probably wouldn’t do that on a DSLR because they’ve got a 10 minute record limit so you would run into issues with syncing all the cameras together.
In this case you would probably use a small sensor camera with a longer focal length because then you don’t have the issue of having to constantly keep the person in a small vocal distance and you can record for as long as you want and you have no issues syncing the cameras together.
So, there are lots of considerations for the video production company to keep in mind. The client really needs to fully brief the video production company in order for them to make right decisions on what equipment to bring.
Is there anything the event organiser can do to assist the video company in getting the footage they need?
Depending on the event we might need different levels of access. This could include backstage access. An event organiser can really assist us by organising that access as early as possible making sure our names are on all relevant lists and we got all relevant passes to get to the different areas of the event that we need to. We have had problems in the past where we haven’t had the right access, and it’s disastrous.
It’s also really important we have a dedicated area that we can use as our own in order for us to be able to operate effectively. When we get to an event we usually have lots of bags and other pieces of expensive equipment that we bring along. This includes things we might not need, like spare equipment and things like that in case something goes wrong. You need some place to house that equipment.
So the event organiser can provide us with a lockable room and a key for us to be able to get in and out, so we are able to store our equipment. Quite often we take along a big camera stabiliser a big thing called a MoviM5, and it takes a lot of setting up and you need a lot of little bits and pieces and things that you have to leave somewhere ones you’ve set it up.
What else can the event organizer provide you with to help you do your job?
Another thing to think about is parking. We will usually need where can load and unload. Providing a schedule of the events as early as possible is really good so that we can see if there are any clashes and to see if we need two crews. For example do we need somebody in one room at one time and another person in another room at another time. so that is always a big consideration.
We may also need a list of shots they really want us to capture. Are there any people at the event who are essential for us to capture? If so we will usually need photo’s of them so that we can identify them.
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