Say you are producing a video for a fortune 500 company. The video is to be shown at an annual shareholders meeting. The purpose of the video is to inform the shareholders about the recent financial performance by the company, major shifts, policy updates This would be an instance where you need a studio to fulfill that request.
The focus of the video is to communicate information and data, not to put forth the best possible scenic arrangement. This is a situation where it is beneficial to have as many few voices as possible to keep the focus on the information and data. This would also be a similar reason why not to shoot at a remote location. The remote location might offer some visual enhancements but ends up not progressing the storyline and main plot. In this scenario, it would seem that going on location would add costs to the shoot without a concrete reason for doing so.
Filming something like that in anything but a controlled environment is going to be difficult if you are expecting optimal results. There are a few key reasons why you should be only shooting your corporate videos in a professional studio.
For filmmaking, lighting is just about everything when it comes to the visuals. Poor lighting can ruin a shot despite a great backdrop, perfect makeup, and great delivery/acting. However, great lighting can make everything look better, from the environment to the people. In a commercial studio, lighting grids are set up overhead in a way that very specific lighting needs can be quickly and easily achieved. This allows the production to focus on performance and directorial choices rather than environmental elements.
Even if you’re doing a shoot and have a boom microphone set up, few environments can mirror the acoustic quality of a commercial studio. That’s why so many Hollywood productions require ADR (automated dialogue replacement) — shot on location, background noise and improper acoustics can drown out the actor’s voice. In a commercial studio, the sound stage is usually designed for proper production acoustics, blocking out the outside world while minimizing reverb, echo, and other environmental sound issues.
If you’re trying to make a corporate video on minimal equipment, a smartphone on a tripod may seem like a starting point. But what happens when you want a wider lense? Or you can’t get the smartphone’s camera to focus properly? Or you need an isolated shot of a talking head or product? The best commercial studios can provide these things, from rentable camera equipment to a library of lenses to green screen options. This allows you to have full creative freedom over the production and not be limited to the resources on hand.
