1. Can You Make A Video Like This?
Getting on the same page when it comes to creative vision is hard. Establishing a visual point of reference is essential. One client’s idea of ‘edgy’ may be another’s idea of ‘safe.’ Find clips similar to what you want for your own video, so you and your creative team have a common visual vocabulary to work with. If you hear a lot of buzzwords in the pitch meeting, but still don’t know what you’re going to see, ask for stills, sketches, and approval steps along the way. The only thing worse than not getting what you want is having to pay to make changes after it is completed.
2. How Do You Keep My Footage Safe?
Today’s digital video cameras don’t require tapes, film, or other physical media. This is great for getting content into production quickly. but your footage generally goes from the camera to a hard drive and then who knows where. Getting that footage safely onto 2 hard drives after capture is essential. Insurance against data loss may be cold comfort if your live event coverage goes missing, but can save your keister if you need to re-stage an expensive shoot. How a media company prepares for contingencies says a lot about their experience.
3. Can I Watch?
A good production company will have the means to show you playback of what you’re shooting. A better company will be able to show you what they are seeing in real-time. A great one makes it easy for you to see what the camera sees with a big monitor and audio for all the stakeholders on your shoot, time code displayed as you shoot for logging, creates director’s notes for clips on the fly, and helps you share content immediately
4. What is This Going to Cost?
Companies with flat-rate pricing usually have pretty strict limits on what you get for your dollar, but there are seldom any surprises. Ask for examples of other videos at or around your price point and show your reference clips (remember #1?) to get an idea of how close you can get to your ideal. Many companies will charge you an hourly rate, which means that if you aren’t happy with their work, you often have to pay more to have it revised if you aren’t super-clear from the beginning. Be sure there are clear expectations on both sides as to what you are paying for and what you are getting.
5. How Will I Know If This Video is Working?
You’re spending a lot of your hard-earned money to make a video. Or if not a lot, you are at least allocating resources that could otherwise be spent on alternative marketing efforts. A good corporate video production company will be able to track the views of your video. A great one will tell you who has watched your video, and where, and for how long. The numbers should match your goal, and if there are no numbers, be concerned. If there are no goals, you probably shouldn’t be making a video.
