Is Video Production Becoming More Technical Than Creative?

Since starting out in early 2020, it would be an understatement to say that our equipment cupboard has significantly expanded over the years. From initially shooting with nothing more than a single camera, tripod and microphone, we now have multiple cameras, an array of lenses, lighting and much more sophisticated sound equipment.

And although it is amazing to be in a position to finally have industry-standard equipment across the board, it did get me thinking that some of our shoots have become more technically challenging as opposed to being fully flexible and creative. For example, a simple talking head interview now requires a significant amount of thought in terms of sound, lighting and camera angles in order to achieve the highest quality.

Now, I’m not saying we should be skimping on quality, otherwise purchasing all of that equipment would be redundant, however it does highlight that not all shoots are going to be creative and in some cases that technical aspect of what we do will come to the fore.

It can be easy to forget when the creative juices get flowing just how technical some aspects of video production can be - whether it be ensuring the sound is crisp, making sure the footage is exposed correctly or even something relatively minor such as checking the shot is in focus. Some of these tasks can be much more important that others, but ultimately if you get one wrong you’re setting yourself up for a more challenging edit and potentially a video that you’re not entirely happy with.

In my personal case, I think this side of video production has been a learning curve that’s taken place over several years. I know what it takes to produce a good story, but making it look as high-end as possible is something that I feel has only been mastered in the past year and likely will continue to be an evolving journey. It is very easy to simply brush away some more challenging aspects of filmmaking as it may not seem overly essential at the time and in all honesty may not be necessary for the client project at hand, but making incremental changes such as shooting in LOG, adding in another camera and pushing your boundaries in the edit are all things that will make you a much more sophisticated video producer.