The Most Important Skill in Video Production

Ok so we’ve established that what we do is subjective, there’s no one right answer. So how do you navigate this?

Well you need to refine the most important skill a creative can have and that’s being able to effectively communicate vision. This happens way before you even think about picking up a camera.

This is basically you and the client explicitly defining the correct direction the project will take as well as laying out all expectations. Because there are so many avenues you can take, you can’t afford to go the wrong direction.

Effective communication looks something like this:

Discovery call- Don’t overcomplicate this. It’s just seeing if you and the client are compatible (I like to provide the potential client with an initial price range to see if we can work together).

Additional Meetings- These are mostly in person meetings on location or with additional team members. Here we further identify the goal and the different avenues to take.

Sending a Clear Proposal- This gets everything talked about at the meetings into writing. To recap, we’ve identified the problem, the goal, the price, expectations and deliverables.

Contract Time- Hard part is pretty much done, now all you need to do is wrap it up and put a bow on it… and get signatures so that all parties involved are protected.

Only then (when you and the client are on the same page) can you start doing the fun part… Creating