
Ask HN: How do so many projects on Kickstarter have such professional videos? - sixQuarks
It seems like almost every Kickstarter project has some incredibly professional-shot video clip.   How is this possible?  Sometimes they're asking for only a couple of thousand dollars, and it looks like the video cost more than that to produce.
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ISeemToBeAVerb
In short, because it takes far less resources and skill to create a
professional quality video these days. Advances in technology have made the
tools required for doing so accessible to (almost) everyone.

I came into web development from the film industry. We used to work with a lot
of large ad agencies, mostly on national and international broadcast
commercial packages.

When I first started in the industry, shooting a commercial meant hiring a
large production crew. Shooting 35mm film was still the norm, but over time
producers became more open to trying HD video. Despite being cheaper than
35mm, shooting HD was still a large affair with many moving cogs. It wasn't
uncommon to have to seek out and find specialized service providers just to
have access to the equipment needed, even though we were one of the biggest
and well-equipped post houses in Chicago.

The thing is, over a period of just a few years, things within the industry
radically shifted. The prosumer market began to catch up. Suddenly we had
access to high-def cameras that cost nearly as much to purchase as the former
technologies cost to rent just a few years prior.

We started to get requests from agencies to actually shoot ads ourselves to
save costs. Our coloring facilities, which used to take up two rooms of our
office, shrank to the size of a desktop console. Our offline editors began to
be able to add complex graphic work without the aid of our highly skilled
online editing team.

It simply amazes me when I walk into a post-production facility these days.
What used to be rooms full of bulky equipment and stacks of film is now, quite
often, nothing more than a few little desktop computers.

So to return to your question... technology is no longer the barrier to
creating high quality videos. The only real barrier is creativity- what you
can do with all that potential at your fingertips.

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wmf
There may be a selection effect at work here; people who are good at making
videos get noticed on Kickstarter so it looks like everyone on Kickstarter has
good videos.

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vannevar
Yes, I think the question might better be phrased, "Why is Kickstarter showing
me all the projects with good videos?", in which case the answer is self-
evident.

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ISeemToBeAVerb
Assuming the question is "Why is Kickstarter showing me all the projects with
good videos?"

The answer is simple. People respond to them. There's a good reason why
companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year creating
advertisements.

My question is, given the importance of a good pitch video, why aren't more
people making them?

As I've stated in my comments, there really isn't any good excuse not to.

If you own an iPhone you have access to better video than we were shooting
just a handful of years ago on projects with budgets upwards of $100,000.

I think the issue is that many people don't recognize the importance of
putting some effort into their pitch video. They see their video as an
afterthought, when in fact, it's quite possibly their most important asset to
a successful fundraising campaign.

A bulk of our business in editing was doing pitch videos for ad agencies. When
landing a job means you're bringing in millions of dollars to your agency,
spending $80,000 on a pitch video seems like chump change.

Granted, many Kickstarters aren't working on that level, but the principles
are the same. If spending a few hundred bucks and some time could land you the
funding for your dream project, would that be worth it to you?

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kayhi
Anyone have any insights into the common set up for the videos (camera,
editing software)?

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ISeemToBeAVerb
For cameras, there are just too many options to say there would be a "common"
choice. Could be anything from a top of the line RED camera down to a DSLR
with HD video capabilities.

For editing, you have Avid, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere heading up the
pack. Avid is still the top gun, especially now that Apple redesigned FCP. I
haven't used Premiere much, but I've heard good things about it recently.

As for production quality, a good lighting setup will go a LONG way to getting
nice footage. Studying basic 3-point lighting will do just fine.

One tool that many amateur filmmakers overlook is the coloring process. It
takes some skill to get right, but a good coloring session after you've locked
your edit can really add a lot to the quality and tone of your finished video.
Many software editing packages come with coloring tools mixed in these days.
There are also good stand-alone packages that offer more precise control.

Audio is another prime indicator of production quality. A perfectly shot video
with poor audio is just as bad, if not worse, than a poorly shot video. A good
shotgun mic or lav mic will help greatly in this respect. Always try to lower
or eliminate as much environmental noise as possible and remember to record
ambient noise (room silence) to mix in with the finished audio when needed.

I could go on and on, but there are plenty of resources for this stuff freely
available. Arguably, the biggest factor to success in a video project is
proper planning. You can't fix everything in post.

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Travis
Could you point me to a reference on why you want to record ambient audio to
mix in?

~~~
mrtunes
you can research the concept of "room tone" which is prevalent in film sound
design. when it's not done properly, you will hear the dialogue cut in and
out. you don't always need it though, it depends on the project.

