I've been working with lots of clients lately to create photography and videography for them that reach their end marketing goals. The tough part is figuring out what those goals are. Where do you begin to figure out what your end goals with photos and videos are if you don't have a brand style and know where these assets will be ultimately used? What are you trying to achieve with these assets and how will they eventually be used to help your brand? Will they be used on a website, social media, advertising, YouTube, television or some other outlet? Each one of these end uses has a different format and will need to be created to fit that specific format.
Photography on the Scrub Daddy website that I created for horizontal applications.
Below is a photo I created vs the video that another company created. You can see the difference in style.
For instance, say you are a global company working to rebrand and have photography and videography updated for your website. You have the photography done, but the photographer never asked where they would be used. You get the photos back and they are 75% vertical because the photographer you used was the cheapest due to the fact that they don't regularly shoot commercial work, but the problem is that you needed mostly horizontal photos for headers on your website. Now you have to do a reshoot which will cost extra time and money to get enough assets to cover where you need the imagery. You might also be shooting for an ad in a magazine where the format is vertical, but maybe you only told the photographer the photos would be used on the web or headers which were horizontal.
Having a discussion with your photographer up front and making sure they know where the photos will be used is key. If you are planning to use the photos in multiple applications which are different formats prior to the photoshoot will allow the photographer to be prepared to capture both horizontal and vertical photos during the shoot.
Below is a website of photography I did for the brand Invisible Glass. As you can quickly tell, they did not use me for other product brands of theirs.
Another brand I photographed for was Motsenbockers Lift Off. Again you can see the difference in my photography on their website vs the videography on their commercial.
Another thing to consider is if you are planning to have video created as well as photographer for the marketing project you are working to create. If you are even considering having both video and photo done for your project, find a company that can do both. It will save you time if they can be done at the same time, everything will be more consistent because it the same company creating things as well as things will be done at the same time with the same lighting, products, models, etc. The company may even give you a discount to do both as well.
If you are considering both photo and video production, remember that consistency in marketing is key. Also, if you do one and not the other, then come back later with a different production company, you are more than likely going to get different results and have visuals that are not consistent. Keep this in mind when you are looking to schedule your visual productions.
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