How Live Video Production Is Different

Live video production is, as you might imagine, a different beast than dealing with the job in a less fast-paced format. It's hard to fully understand, though, how live video production services can be different. Keep reading to understand what you and the professionals you're planning to hire will be dealing with.

The Use of Studios 

It's not that live video production can't be performed at less staged locations. The reality, however, is that transporting enough equipment to a site to do such a job is a major undertaking that many customers aren't going to want to pay for. If you look at how your local news teams, for example, deal with live shooting from remote locations, you'll get some idea of what's required to shoot a single person in a very consistent frame. That gets worse as more people and more shots are added to the production.

Consequently, studios are typically used to provide as predictable of conditions as possible. The lights are rigged for typical productions at that location, and the studio affords a great deal of soundproofing, too.

Pre-Production Matters More

While live video production can include some elements of post-production, there's no way with a live shoot to "fix it in post." Everything that goes into the pre-production process is amplified because the only good trick is to have the equipment, people, and resources available at the moment you need them.

The lines between pre- and post-work are blurred a bit by this equation. What are functionally elements of post-production, such as graphics overlays, have to be put together in pre-production. That means extra diligence has to go into proofreading all text content.

Equipment

Demands on equipment are much heavier, especially if you want significant production value. High-end graphics systems are costly, and even low-end systems have to be set up with redundancies. If you're working with more than one camera, feeds have to be delivered to a station with enough monitors and resources to handle them.

The Director

Providing direction becomes painfully critical in live video production services. One person has to get the moving parts going, and other assistants, especially the floor manager, have to execute quickly while working with camera operators, talent, and equipment. Attentiveness becomes an immense asset, and folks have to be able to move quickly to the next step of the direction regardless of how well the last step went.