1. A Poor Brief
Without a doubt the most frequent and harmful mistake made in producing event videos is a poor brief. Whether it’s too general or overly ambitious, almost all problems that arise with event videos can be avoided with a well thought out brief that has been discussed in depth with the video agency.
In a brief, clear content objectives are required for the crew on the day, as well as clear marketing objectives for the video itself. See our article on how to write an event video brief for detailed breakdown on what an agency needs to know pre-shoot.
2. Poor Scheduling
Scheduling the shoot relies on clear communication between agency and client, and must be developed together. The agency knows how long things will take from a technical standpoint, but only you know your event schedule, so it’s essential to be realistic.
3. Under Resourcing
Your agency will make sure they have all the necessary resources to capture your content objectives on the day. However, a very common problem is a last minute change of plan where two interviews must take place simultaneously, leaving the camera team under resourced and unable to capture key content. If you know the content objectives will be unpredictable its important to book adequate resources to cover all scenarios. Your agency can advise you on this.
4. Creating for no audience/wrong audience/yourself
It’s important to remember which target audience you are creating the video for. A common mistake is to get so excited about what you think is great about your event that you forget what appeals to your target audience. This is particularly likely if you are trying to emulate a competitor and end up going way off brand.
5. Generic Footage
This mistake is harder to avoid and as much the responsibility of the agency as the client. It’s so easy to fall into cliché shots of champagne pouring and smiling attendees, and to forget what is unique about your event. This is a trap that even experienced event video producers can fall into. Avoid it by really drilling down on what makes your event different, and choose an agency whose portfolio work shows ingenuity.
6. Over Producing
Often we are so proud of the work we’ve put into an event that we forget viewers are not as infatuated as we are. A very common mistake for event videos is that they are too long and try to pack too much in. Length should be agreed before the shoot, however we often find that the client has underestimated how much information they actually wanted to include. At this stage you have to kill your darlings, so to speak, and remember that attention spans are not what the used to be.
