When you think of some of the earliest human experiences with video, it has always been extremely intriguing. Take the 1896 silent short film "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" for example. People flocked to local theatres to watch all 50 seconds of it on the 7 foot wide screen. The film captures a train moving towards the viewer. This allegedly (very allegedly) caused many people in the theatre to panic and leave. It was a captivating start, to an even more captivating future in film.
Just a few decades later, video production started to rapidly become more accessible. From cameras that can shoot in color, to high definition video, to now carrying a camera in your pocket capable of taking photos and videos at high definition instantly! But yet, I feel like a lot of small businesses haven't utilized this to it's full advantage. Big companies will come out with a huge high budget commercial a few times a year that are pretty funny or cool, but that's expected when you have millions of dollars. The opposite seems to be expected with smaller businesses. Because we have a lower budget or no budget, it is assumed we can't make high quality and captivating videos. This can be discouraging. Trust me I know. The thing is, you do not need a huge team and huge budget to create high quality and captivating videos anymore. Let me tell you how and why.
In 2012 I was given a camera by a family friend that he found in a storage unit. It was a huge over the shoulder rig made by canon with a lens the size of my head. It had all these buttons and dials and screens, at the time it was a high dollar professional camera. Today, my phone that is 5 years old shoots at a higher quality than that camera ever could. It fits in one hand, fewer buttons, a much lower price point, and less of a learning curve. Yet whenever friends, clients, or family members see that big canon camera, they assume it's the industry standard or something crazy. Are there cameras that will shoot higher quality that you can buy? Of course. And you could! But you can also get the same message and same ideas across to your viewers by utilizing what you have.
I am the kind of person where when I get into a new hobby or new medium, I want to use the best quality of tools that I can, as soon as I can. Thankfully with creating videos, that is possible. So if you are a small business or an Individual that knows how beneficial videos are to your brand or image, now is the time to get started. Are you going to make people get up out of their seats and run away because they're so shocked at what they're seeing? Well that's probably not your plan anyways (but I'm sure you could think of a few ways to do that...) You can create captivating videos like advertisements, explainer videos, product demos, and so much more at the tip of your fingers. All you need is an idea and a little bit of time.
Before you watch this train video below, leave with this. If the video has a message, no one is going to care what you recorded it on. An idea that sticks, sticks. I'm sure if you are reading this you have a smart phone with a camera that shoots in HD. If that is what you have to start with, then do it! Do not let the idea of cost, or lack of equipment scare you away from getting your idea out there.
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