Beginner’s Guide to Videography in 2022

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beginners-guide-to-videography

All right, it’s the new year and you might be thinking of doing something a little different this 2022.

Could be a new side hustle, could be a passion project you’ve been keeping on the back burner. But if that something has anything to do with videography, you’re in the right place.

We’ve already talked extensively about the topic and we know stats show videography is continuing to grow; from learning the basics and becoming a videographer, pricing your work, to starting a video production company from the ground up.

So if you’re looking to dabble into videography as a hobby or as a side hustle — even a full-time career — stick around. Today, we’re putting together a beginner’s quick-start guide to videography in 2022.

What does a Videographer do?

Why, they shoot videos! Kidding aside, the traditional definition for a videographer’s function used to be solely reserved for documenting live events and not much else. But that has changed in the last couple of decades. We now have videographers pumping out gorgeous, cinematic wedding films, travel videos, music videos to more involved narrative projects.

And if you’re wondering, we just posted yesterday on the difference between videographers, filmmakers and cinematographers.

Here are some of the most popular videography services you can offer:

I like to think of being a videographer, the job title at least, the same way as a photographer. Because more often than not, you’ll find a videographer in almost every niche there is for photographers. Videography of course extends to more niched segments such as legal videography, to more large-scale projects like travel films and music videos as previously mentioned.

Now there’s a bit of contention on the terms we use to call ourselves especially within the upper echelons of the video production industry. Specifically, there had been some debate on where we’d collectively draw the line between being a videographer, a cinematographer, or a filmmaker.

However, these terms had become looser than ever, thanks to the rapidly declining barrier to entry to video production. Just about any creative can be all three or jump from one another depending on what role a project demands.

Videography for Beginners

Being a videographer requires that you wear many hats. That of a producer, a cinematographer, director and a video editor most of the time. Hiring a couple or more people for more elaborate projects is always a good idea, but it’s going to be just you as a one-man production team at the start.

To make production happen, you’re going to have to build your people and organizational skills. You’ll have to learn how to communicate with clients, lead a team, collaborate with talents, all the while anticipating and solving a thousand different things that could go wrong on the set.

Likewise, hard skills like learning composition, blocking, lighting and camera movement — all components of cinematography, by the way — is a lifelong journey. Same goes for all the technical bits you need to set up before you hit record, like your shutter angle, frame rate, exposure triangle and so on. You’d also be discovering new tricks and philosophies when it comes to editing your work, five years down the line.

Our Videography 101 is a great place to start if you’re an absolute beginner. It’ll cover the basics of operating the camera, pre-production work and most of the fundamentals you’ll want to learn before anything else. Beyond that, I’d say immersing yourself in the filmmaking community as much as you can is one of the best ways to learn, aside from actually shooting your projects of course.

Start creating your inspiration board off of the media you watch and pick out any scene that makes a lasting impact on you. Was it the striking lighting? The color work? Or just the general mood you got from the scene? Take everything that clicks with you so that you can use them as reference later as you develop your style.

You should also start following YouTubers like Film Riot, D4Darious, Indy Mogul and other content creators that consistently pump out videography and filmmaking wisdom. You’ll never know which production hack or editing technique can save your project from turning into a dumpster fire.

Beyond that, you’ll learn most of what you’ll need on the job. So let’s cover what a typical video production process looks like.

Pre-production Stage – Every bit of video production project you take on will require some level of pre-production work. Corporate videos, branding videos, commercials, interviews, even weddings, will require you to have a sit down with your team and all the stakeholders. It’s at this stage where all the planning, scriptwriting, casting and scouting you need to do takes place. Here are a few things you should always, always discuss during pre-production:

  • Establish a Creative brief – Everything starts with the brief. You’ll want to be crystal clear with what the client wants for the final cut. Ask the stakeholders about the tone they want, the overall mood, the project’s ultimate goal etc.
  • Lock the Budget – Setting a concrete budget for the production lets you manage your client’s expectations. After you’ve agreed on a budget, you can now safely guide the stakeholders on everything that’s realistically possible to achieve for the production. For example, you can’t commit and take a loss when a brand specifically requests for a multicam interview set up when they’ve only agreed to a single-camera budget.
  • Set a Production Schedule – This one’s pretty self-explanatory. A reasonable production timeline lets you plot everything on a calendar. It makes sure you don’t fall behind the deadline and keep track of all the things you need to take care of before production starts. Think gear rentals, talent casting, location scouting etc.
  • Finalize the Call Sheet – For your sanity’s sake, please, please do not leave the pre-production stage without finalizing the call sheet. It should include everything you need to get the production running, such as who’s in charge of what (talent, makeup, equipment etc.), crew lists, location addresses, special instructions and shooting schedules. Here’s a free call sheet template you can use.

Production Stage – Well, not much to say here except this is where you’ll do much of your shooting. Try to follow your shot lists to a tee to avoid costly re-shoots. Here’s a couple of things you should remember to accomplish before the shooting day ends:

  • Collect Talent Releases – Whether you’re working on a personal project to polish your portfolio, or you’re doing a big branding video, always, always cover your behind and collect talent release forms at the end of the shooting day. This lets you protect yourself and your work from whatever legal challenges that may befall your production team in the future (knock on wood).
  • Shoot more than you need to – One of the most expensive mistakes you can do is undershoot by a lot. This could only means re-shoots, re-hiring talents, securing more permits and a myriad of different flavored headaches. So maybe go above settling for your safety shots and squeeze in a bit more footage in your media drives if and when the time allows.

Post-Production Stage – Depending on your budget and the scale of the project, you might hack the final product together yourself or opt to pass the editing workload to a video editing specialist. This is something you’ll decide as early as the pre-production phase anyway, where you’ll ideally iron out all of your VFX needs (if any) or other specialized post-production needs.

What Gear do I Need to Get Started as a Videographer?

Ah, everybody’s favorite topic — gear. Don’t get me wrong, getting new gear is always exciting. But for absolute beginners, it can be a daunting task on account of the million different camera gear options out there.

Worry not, because we have some solid recommendations that won’t break the bank.

Camera – It’s pretty hard to end up with a bad camera these days. But as a general rule, you may want to get a 4K-ready camera for future-proofing. You may also want to look into cameras with good low light performance, and something that can shoot in Log. High frame rate recording and in-body stabilization are nice to haves, but they aren’t deal-breakers. Here are some of the gear that checks a lot of those boxes.

  • Sony a7IV or a7III – this entry level Sony full frame camera is among the top camera choices for the most popular YouTubers for its perfect balance of ease of use, impressive image quality and feature set.
  • Panasonic GH5 II or GH5 – the original Panasonic GH5 was, and still is, one of the go-to cameras for the filmmaking community. If you can stretch your budget, I’d say go for the GH5 II for the added streaming capabilities, which would be a boon for any videography business dealing with the pandemic.

For more camera recommendations, check out our post on all the gear you need to start real estate videography as everything on there could work for most types of videography jobs.

Lenses – Lens choice for any type of project has always been deeply personal, and will vary depending on the creative’s style. But if you’re working with micro four thirds or mirrorless cameras in general, you’ll be able to get some top-quality glass for not much cash if you can work with legacy lenses.

Guides to Using Legacy Lenses for Mirrorless Cameras

Guides to the best Lenses for Every System

Gimbals – Now to get those sweet, silky smooth camera movements, you’ll need a good gimbal. Fortunately, you have two great beginner-friendly options. The DJI Ronin-S is one of the most stable gimbals you can get. It can also carry an 8-pound payload, so definitely get this one if you have a heavier camera-lens set up. My personal favorite is the Zhiyun Crane 2 with comparable performance, but note that it can only support up to 7 pounds of weight. So even with mirrorless cameras, you’re likely restricted on camera/lens combinations.

Tripods – Dynamic movement in your shots are always cool. But you’ll always need something solid to mount your camera on for the more basic static shots. I’d say invest in a decent tripod and fluid head early on and you’d thank yourself in the long run. This Manfrotto Befree Travel kit for under $250 will do well as a first sticks and fluid head combo. Check out Videomaker’s roundup on the best video tripods for any budget if you’re looking to spend a little more.

Lighting – Now as important lighting for every production is, it’s one of the trickiest pieces of gear to recommend. That’s because the lighting kit you end up with heavily depends on your budget and your skill level. So since you’re just starting out, renting all your lighting equipment (or more) on peer to peer gear rental sites like ShareGrid and KitSplit is a good idea. But if you want to get yourself a starter kit, I highly recommend checking out FilmDaft’s roundup of lighting equipment for any budget.

Audio – Audio gear has got to be the most overlooked piece of videography equipment ever. The funny thing is that it’s equally as, if not more important, than the image quality on your videos. Because people can sit through any video, no matter how terrible it looks, as long as it’s got decent audio but not vice versa. Read through our roundup of the best microphones at any budget where we dive deep into polar patterns and all the types of mics you’d need for your production.

Starting a Video Production Company in 2022

Now if you’re thinking of transitioning full time into videography this year, you couldn’t have picked a better time. Recent data suggests that businesses are spending more on video marketing, with most brands committing to more video output for 2022.

So that’s the demand for your service covered. Question is, how do you get started making money with videography? We’ve covered starting a video production company from zero before, so definitely give that a read for an in-depth guide.

Today, let’s talk about the three core things you can start working on right now:

Pick a Niche – This could be easily summed up by asking yourself, “what kind of video work am I most interested in?” Your niche could be anything from doing wedding films, travel videos, corporate video marketing to sports videography work. That’s not to say you’d pigeonhole yourself in that niche forever, especially at the start of your career. I’d say take every gig you can get while you build your portfolio for the specific niche you’re into.

Create a Portfolio – This is the stage where the rubber meets the world, so to speak. If you want to start charging people for creating cinematic wedding films, then you better demonstrate to potential clients that you can do cinematic wedding films. So what you do is you start stacking spec piece upon spec piece that’ll net you real-world experience. Building a portfolio usually means working for free, sometimes even funding your productions out of pocket, but creating a body of work that can make your ideal clients stop scrolling is your ticket to success.

Market your Videography Services – There are a ton of ways you can market your services. Here are some of the tried and true methods of finding your first paying clients:

  • Be smart with creating your spec work – More often than not, the spec work you put all your money and effort into leads to future paid work. The free work you’ve done for your friend’s new vegan soda start-up can lead to a glowing referral for another later on. Or the quick interview/corporate video you did for a local brand can sometimes turn into a retainer. So aside from focusing on getting the best portfolio piece you can get at start, remember to also build relationships with the people you work with.
  • Cold Calling and Cold Emailing – This has got to be one of the most effective ways that can help you land your first paying clients. It might take a while and it may require you to move out of your comfort zone. But if you’ve got a clear offer and you’ve built a good portfolio, getting clients through cold calling and emailing is a matter of when, not if.
  • Working for a Pro – Shadowing a pro or applying for a local video production company is another solid way to gain the experience you need to get your foot in the door. Working for somebody else also guarantees consistent income especially when you can’t afford to take the risk of going solo in your first year.
  • Starting a Website and YouTube Channel – Admittedly, starting your very own YouTube channel or a website aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when newbies think about when they try to find their first clients. But these two channels are hands down some of the best investments you can do early on for your business. Having your own website and YouTube channel not only gives you more visibility online, you also get an extra boost of social credibility. And in this business, you’re going to need all the social proof you can get if you want to stay profitable.

When you do start seeing projects roll in, pricing your videography services might be the next big stone in your shoe. Don’t worry, it’s a very good problem to have! We actually have an in-depth guide to video production pricing that should set you on the right course.

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