How to Avoid Bad Videographers

Most people don't have their own camera crews to follow them around at important lifetime events. That's why sooner or later, you will probably need to hire professional videographers. You can avoid hiring bad ones if you know how to look for some obvious signs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Choose someone who shoots the type of material you need to shoot. Shooting news is not the same as a wedding. Dance recital videographers are not the same as those who shoot depositions or even other sports events for that matter.
2. Be sure the camera crew and the editors have experience on similar videos. For example, if you are having your childbirth filmed, ideally you want to hire people who have captured childbirths before. They must be comfortable in a hospital room and be able to stay out of the way of medical personnel while still turning the details into a memorable video.
3. Ask to see work that is similar to what you need captured. Think in terms of similar lighting, a similar event and venue, and a similar audio situation.
4. Avoid videographers with bad sound and choose those with their own mics. Legal videographers, for example, know how important clear audio is in court cases. A good videographer will not solely rely on the built-in microphones in the camera, as those microphones will pick up all the noise around, such as background conversations and airplanes flying over the venue.
5. Look at example videos to see if the auto iris was left on. You can tell if the videographers are lazy when the camera auto-adjusts for lighting so often that it never keeps the exposure consistent. This is the sign of a bad videographer.
6. Avoid videographers who zoom, tilt and pan too much. These are signs of amateurism. Amateurs use the zoom entirely too much and instead of cutting or pausing the video, they make too many pans (horizontal moves) and tilts (vertical moves) with the camera. Also look for too much head room or subjects that are exactly centered (good composition allows for slightly off-center shots).

Tips & Warnings

• When interviewing, have a list of important shots you want covered during your event. If you don't see similarities between your list and what the videographers did with previous videos, don't hire them.
• Equipment is only one part of the equation. Today's cameras are far more advanced than those of a decade ago and cost less. However, even a high-end camera won't help if the shooter doesn't know what he is doing.