There are many skills needed to make good videos. But perhaps the most important is perseverance.
Right creative approach
How do we get the creative ideas for films? Sometimes we brainstorm, sometimes it’s a question of focusing on the client’s brief over a number of days. It’s certainly not about accepting the first idea as being the best. It’s about challenging ourselves and being brave to ditch good ideas for better ideas.
Enough shots
On a shoot we’re always maximising the coverage of the scene. Every shot needs to add to the story. So when others might be packing up and heading home, we’ll still be filming; looking for new angles, and new ways of showing the story until we’re completely satisfied.
Best quotes
When the task is to get soundbites from people in the street or at events it’s too simple to get a few and say that’s that. If we know we need five quotes from people, we’ll always interview, say, 10 people. That way we’ll definitely get the quotes our clients’ need and be able to construct a really compelling thread of thoughts and themes.
Stunning shots
We’ll do anything it takes to get stunning establishing shots for your film. They may only end up on screen for a few seconds but they add something important to the final film.
Compelling edit
When we sit down and start to log all the footage we’ll often have a shooting ratio of at least 40:1. So it really is a time-consuming process to craft from the very best film possible.
Great audio
It’s perhaps sound that most gives away a badly made film so we’re always super keen to get sound just right. This means attention to the smallest element of the sound mix and the perseverance to check and change almost on a frame by frame basis. Even when you have seen a film sequence through hundreds of times there is always something new to think about with sound.
