How Positive Culture Drives Better Results For Video Production
A healthy, collaborative video production set contributes to better finished products that actually convert for clients.
In the video production world, summer is the busy season. The trees are in bloom, the sun is out, energy is up, and companies are ready to capture their environments in full beauty.
It’s an exciting time for production companies who have spent months planning on how best to maximize efforts during the most hectic time of year.
With busy schedules often comes the added stress of managing multiple projects in various phases of production. That has had me been thinking a lot about the saying, "happy people do great work”, and all of the ways in which a positive environment makes tangible differences in the final videos we export.
Building a Collaborative Production Environment
It's always been a goal at 20/20 Visual Media to build an environment that people want to be a part of. We talk about it a lot. It's a responsibility that belongs to everyone on our staff and extended team.
It’s not good enough to be a great producer, cinematographer, or editor. The other expectation that comes with working here is to contribute positively to the type of environment you would want to be a part of.
Because of that effort, we have a tight-knit team here in Philadelphia. We make sure that culture extends not just to our full-time staff, but also our longtime freelance crew that join us on our larger commercial or corporate video production projects.
It makes me happiest as an owner when I hear from our long-time freelancers who tell me that we set the standard for treatment—one they don't often see in our industry.
The On-Set Experience: What You Can Expect
The production world is really stressful. Egos can be large. Timelines and budgets can be tight. Pressure can be high. Kindness is not always put at the forefront of the production thought process. And that can often lead to uncomfortable experiences for the clients who are paying to have these projects executed well.
That’s exactly why our people-focused culture is at the center of everything we do.
It really comes down to simple things: Trust. Inclusion. And doing what we say we're going to do.
Why does hiring a production company who puts culture first matter to you? Because happy people do great work.
We talk about this idea of being "people-focused" all the time. That focus doesn't pertain to just the visual storytelling we create for our clients. It also extends to the people that do the creating.
When you’re on set with us, here’s what you’re going to experience that maybe you haven’t experienced before.
Kindness Comes First. You’re going to hear please and thank you. going to see smiles and hear laughter. It's going to feel more comfortable and collaborative than you might expect an otherwise stressful environment to be.
A “Best Idea Wins” Attitude. “Let’s see that again. Let’s try it this way. What if we tried another approach?” Those are the phrases you’ll hear on our sets constantly. We’re always looking for the best solution to each micro-problem we run into and rely on close collaboration with you to solve those problems.
Flexibility Is Key. Just because we had a plan on paper doesn’t mean it always works out that way. Somebody’s schedule changed last minute? A location isn’t working on camera? Those are the moments when an experienced producer and close knit team collaborate to figure out a pivot that keeps the production moving.
Radical Hospitality. Nobody on our team is above doing the smallest of tasks. If furniture needs to be moved to make a shot look better, we’re on it. If the trash needs to be taken out, we’re doing it. If someone has a dietary restriction or food allergy, that’s taken into account before lunch is ordered for the shoot. It’s little things that make the biggest differences.
You Will Be Heard. We take a lot of pride in our ability to bring creative solutions to your video productions, but ultimately these are your projects. We want you to make sure what you’re seeing in the production monitor matches your vision. We want you to ask questions and contribute to the final pieces. The last thing we want to have happen is you walk away with a video that you felt like didn’t meet your objectives because you weren’t listened to.
Quality and ROI Starts with People
The reality is, a 10 or 12-hour day on set can be tiring, but you’re going to see how much effort we put into making sure a positive culture is at the center of our end-to-end production workflow.
We remember that we’re people first. And when instill a culture of care to our team, the team can take care of our clients.