Q: My Company wants me to
control production costs by eliminating unnecessary expenses including
video production. Still, I am not comfortable with the end
product we get by producing videos internally or on somebody’s home computer. What do I do?
A: There are three things you should consider: 1) The real cost of internal production, 2) The impact an inferior product may have and 3) Less expensive professional options.
1) Consider the Real
Cost:
In today’s business world, it seams that everybody wants to be more
“lean." That means eliminating expenses and trimming the budget
on most projects. It’s hard to argue with the concept, especially
if you are the “trimmer” and not the “trimmee." But have you considered
the real costs of internal video production? It begins with the
hourly cost of everybody involved in the project. You might also
consider how efficient your team will be at highly skilled tasks that
they don’t do every day.
What about your regular job duties? Do they suffer as a
result? Will you get it right the first time, or are there likely
to be re-shoots and re-edits resulting in even more time invested in
the project? Will you spend time and money at a production house
trying to fix poorly recorded audio, or transferring video compressed
on a computer to a format more suitable for a large meeting
presentation? At first glance, producing video internally may
seem to fit the “lean” definition, but in the end, it might not save
your company any money.
When you add up all the real costs of internal video
production, your company may actually be paying as much or more than it
would cost for a professional to do the same job. Remember, just
because an invoice for your labor never arrives at accounts payable, it
doesn’t mean your company hasn’t incurred the expense.
2) The Impact:
It’s tempting to look at a potential video project and consider
eliminating the cost of professional production. But have you
considered the value of the impact that video will have on your
audience? Let’s say, for example, that you need to do a video
that will introduce a new product or process. The potential
impact of a successful rollout could be hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Does it really make sense to save a few thousand dollars
on production when the success of the project is at stake? We
encourage you not to think about video production as an expense, but as
an investment that could pay big dividends, helping companies become
more lean.
3) Less Expensive Professional Options:
Having said all that, there are many lower cost video production
options that we offer. In addition to Mainstream’s full scale
video crews, we can provide you with one and two person configurations
that specialize in multitasking. They can assure that your
project will have creative lighting, good quality sound and skilled
camerawork at reduced prices. We also offer a variety of
equipment packages, including less expensive camera gear that works
well for many projects. When it comes to post production, our
five edit suites are configured to provide different capabilities, at a
wide variety of price points. There are many ways to trim video
production budgets and still maintain high quality. And we are
always happy to share our ideas on how to do just that.
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The bottom line? We
encourage you to consider the costs and benefits of professional video
production, and the next time you have a need, just Ask
Mainstream.
If you have any questions, please email
us
at info@mainstreamcom.net
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Subject portion of the email. Learn more about Mainstream
by going to http://www.mainstreamcom.net
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