The has been a lot of banter back-and-forth over the last few weeks that I think all streamed from something that Guy Kalasaki’s posted in one the blogs that he posts – that you can’ wait around for perfection; but you can’t send crap either.  I’m confounded by the idea that Good is the enemy of Great, to then hear that you can’t wait for perfection.  I understand that the emphasis is on execution – in other words don’t keep working on it to avoid shipping.  (At least that’s what I get out of it.)

I’m the king of doing this – I’ve sat on my hands waiting until I can afford HD production, Real Time post, the list really has been endless – and at the end of the day, I was no closer to “shipping” than any other time.  But how much value can you afford to loose?  I feel in the are of marketers that are using video as a means of marketing or brand reinforcement — you really cannot afford to loose much.

I’ve grown so weary of seeing videos that I know have come from Move Maker (vomit!)  You know that I’m a PC guy (or you do now) and at least the Mac iMovie product gives you a few more options over White Arial Font on a Boring Blue Background…  Yet, I digress…

Branding goes beyond your logo that you use.  Your logo is a really important part as it’s the iconic image that people will associate with your brand, but your brand should dictate what type face you use, the master color pallet you operate with in, so on.  And when it comes time to produce a video – it’s a really simple task of having a motion designer (like myself) to prepare Book-Ends for you to wrap around your video (at the top & tail), and a graphic package that will match the look of your brand.

I know that I keep going back to this, but we live in a Broadcasting Era – where people have been trained as to what video is supposed to look like.  Regardless if it’s on the Internet you should strive to maintain the excellence and standards of Prime Time TV.  What does this mean for the beginner – don’t worry too much if you’re not quite there yet – but grow to get there quick.

What is Production Value?

Production Value: method, material, or stagecraft skill used in the production of a motion picture or artistic performance; the technical quality of such a method, material, or skill.  The greatest thing about production value is that the more you put into your production the more perceived value your final product will have.

In my book, “Production Value = Trust” the more you put into your final product the more the viewer will respect it because they will read the value that it holds.  So how are you adding trust via building in production value?

Photos:

DIGITAL by Hamed Saber