If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much more is video worth at 24 pictures a second? I've long chosen film as my primary medium as an artist because it communicates so much that still photos cannot, including motion, changes in lighting and color and of course audio. It's easy to stare at a video for two hours, but unless you're a real art buff, you might have difficulty staring at a photo for two hours. But there is more value to video than just the moving pictures.It's been said before that sound is half of a video, and I agree. Much of the immediately noticeable difference between professional video and amateur video is the quality of the sound. The reason why is that although high-quality cameras have become considerably more affordable for consumers (such as with the DSLR revolution in video—Google DSLR video if you're not familiar with it) professional sound equipment has not become commonplace among the consumer world. Why? That's a good question.
Sound requires experience and coordination no matter what type of equipment one uses. Sound traditionally requires one to have at least another person on crew to operate the recording and monitoring of a boom-microphone. In other words, it requires planning, coordination and a great deal of effort and skill to be done well. Although video is becoming more affordable and easier to be done, sound is not and probably will not any time soon.
Professionals focus on both the sound and the picture of the video, and one of the most apparent things that you may notice between a professional and an amateur is the quality of the sound; so, look (and listen) and notice the difference next time you compare an average YouTube video with a professional production posted on the same place.
Learn more about the videos that we make at Gashler Films on our Utah video production website.
Photo by flickr user Tanki
http://flickr.com/photos/michaelrhys/40428909/
Under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Generic License
