Raccoon on the Run recently released the free Layperson’s Guide to Hiring Video Services. It’s packed with information that everyone should know when hiring a videographer – top tips, what to do before you even start looking, technical basics, and more. Here are three top tips from the guide to whet your appetite!
1. Know what you want
The key thing before you start your search is to know what you want. Do you have a fully formed idea that you love, and you just need help turning it into a video? Do you just need someone with a camera, or do you need editing services as well? Need someone to take creative control? All of these questions and more should ideally be answered before you move to engage a video company’s services, but there are two that are more important than either: who do you want to watch it, and what do you want them to get from it? If you know these two things then you’ve taken the first steps towards making an amazing video!
2. Talk on the phone (at least!)
Before hiring anyone, be sure to have a good chat with them on the phone, if not in person or over video call. This lets you evaluate not just the services and cost, but the person themselves – making any sort of video is a creative process involving creative decisions. Therefore, by hiring a videographer, you are in essence engaging with someone in a creative process, and you only want to do that with someone you get on with. Everything else aside if you don’t ‘gel’ with whoever you’re considering hiring, the whole project is likely to be far from stress-free, and far less likely to produce an amazing video.
3. Check their policy on revisions
So you’ve hired a videographer, they’ve made a video, you’ve just received it and… it’s not what you expected at all. Sure, it pretty much follows the brief but it’s really not what you envisioned and definitely needs a few tweaks to get closer to that brief. You’d be pretty annoyed to find that you’re going to have to pay more, just to get what you thought you’d be getting in the first place, right? That’s why you should always check that potential contractors offer at least one free revision. Here at Raccoon on the Run, we always offer two by default!
If you’re thinking of hiring a videographer, or engaging the services of a video agency, why not take a look at our free Layman’s Guide to Hiring Video Services first? Secondly, we’d suggest just getting in touch for a chat about what you need today!
