When the Urge Strikes
Or, "To Tape or Not To Tape, That is the Question"
by Glenn Koenig
Every now and then, the phone rings here at Open Eyes Video. It might be someone
I know or perhaps a referral from someone I know. They want me to help them,
and it goes something like this:
- there's an important meeting or public event taking place
- it takes place just a few days from now
- they want me to tape it
- they don't have (much of) a budget for this, sometimes none at all
- they're hoping I'll say yes anyway because it's for such an important cause
Typically, after 45 minutes on the phone, we say good bye, and by then we've
agreed that I won't be 'taping' their event. In fact, they usually don't have
anyone 'tape' their event at all.
So, what's the problem, here? After all, I'm in the video business. I own the equipment necessary (or can easily rent it). And they tell me it's an important cause, which it usually is. So why don't I go for it?
The answer lies in how we think about (and don't think about) media. I won't go into an entire treatise in media theory here, but I will point out a few important points.
The most important questions to ask have to do with the audience. I'm not talking
about the audience who will attend the event, but the people who are supposed
to watch the video later on, the so called 'viewing audience.' Often, my caller
is so wrapped up in the importance of the event and so inspired by the cause
itself, that they start to think that scores of other people will jump at the
chance to watch the whole thing on a TV screen later on.
Sadly, this is seldom true. It's easy to forget how much our perception of time
and our very patience changes, depending upon the medium through which we experience
something. For numerous reasons, most people have vastly different tolerance
for attending at an actual meeting or event versus sitting down in front of
a TV screen to watch that same meeting, attended in person by other people.
For some idea of why, you can read The
Essential Difference page here.
Even if you decide (after reading the other articles on this topic) to record a meeting anyway, you can vastly improve your chances that someone will enjoy watching the result if you plan ahead. Check out a list of Some Good Questions, here. Or, you might decide to scrap the idea of recording the meeting itself, but you still want something to show people on video about the topic, in which case you might want to read the page on An Alternative Approach, instead.