EV Tips 003: Less Is More
When I look back at an old video that my company has produced, or when a customer shows us a copy of a competitor's video, the thing that makes the video look old and unpolished isn't the lack of resolution or the square image ratio. Far and away, it's the "special effects", the music, and the graphics.
Often times an editor copies their effects from modern styles that they see on TV shows (i.e. crazy MTV transitions from 1987). Well, you might as well stick a cabbage patch kids commercial right in the middle of your video too, because other than simple cuts and fades, special effects and transitions are a dead give-away to the time period of the production. On top of that, they are embedded in the final video forever. Thanks for nothing HD-Upconverting DVD player.
In the last couple of years, EVC has adopted the less is more theory, and we're living by it. The idea is this: customers don't buy your event video for the cheesy effects, royalty-free music, and fancy new modern fonts that you've emblazoned all over the production. They buy your video for three specific reasons. First, their child's event only happens once, and the parent would much rather see it with their own eyes than from behind the shaking lens of a Flip HD camera that can't zoom if it tried. Next, more often than not, the videographer has the best seat in the house. You get there hours before the event starts - probably before the doors open - and claim the angle that will make your production shine. Parents are busy with their kids, concession stands, and tickets, and before they can jockey for space they end up behind a pole with a less than optimal view of the action. Last, you probably have nicer equipment than the parents do, so chances are your raw footage will look better (If you don't, that's another issue). A bigger lens provides sharper images and better depth of field than a point-and-shoot camcorder will.
So once you've captured some great video, don't taint it with the effects of the day. Stick with timeless fonts and transitions, and preferably leave the video in it's purest form. Lots of rendering and encoding on your end may make their point-and-shoot a quality contender, and that isn't good for anyone. In event video, quality is more about capturing an event in the best possible resolution, from the best vantage point. Keep it simple, and 20 years from now your customers will appreciate it.