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Chapter 10 Shooting Professional Videos 117

Disadvantages of Professional Videos

Of course, the primary disadvantage of going the professional route is that YouTube
users might reject your message as being too commercial. It’s a double-edged sword;
you have a commercial message to impart, but the YouTube community is resolutely
anti-commercial in nature. Unless your video is extremely entertaining or equally
informative, you could end up receiving more negative comments than positive ones.

In addition, a pro-quality video might be overkill for YouTube, especially when it
comes to video quality and production values. Your video, no matter how much
money you spend on it, is still seen in the same web browsers as basement-quality
webcam videos. The typical YouTube viewer, watching in his web browser, might
not even see the better lighting, quality makeup, and appealing backdrops. A lot of
money can get lost in the resolution.

Note

A few years ago I hosted a series of videos for a major website (not
YouTube). The website spent some big bucks to rent a studio, hire a crew,
and execute the shoot—money that definitely wasn’t seen onscreen. At one
point, the wardrobe person asked what kind of shoes I’d be wearing—even
though the shot was from the waist up! And even if it were a full-length
shot, no one could see what was on my feet in a small onscreen video win-
dow. It was a lot of money wasted on a small video.

And that money is the real killer for a lot of businesses. Expect to pay in the range of
$1,000 to $3,000 per minute of finished video. In most instances, you’re looking at a
minimum of $5,000 for a two- or three-minute video, with big shoots (requiring lots
of studio time and personnel) costing three or four times that much. It’s not cheap.

Bottom line, a professional video costs a lot more money than one you create your-
self. Ask yourself whether you’ll see the results of that expense. In addition, ask
yourself whether your target audience in the YouTube community responds well to
this type of video.

Caution

A lot of video production companies are smelling the money to be had from
producing YouTube videos, and aggressively going after new business.
Beware of any firm that promises you they can create a viral video (no one
knows when a video will go viral), or guarantees a certain number of views,
or otherwise tries to sell you a bill of goods. The only thing a video produc-
tion firm can do is produce a video, to one quality standard or another. No
firm can guarantee results from their work.