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[ The Video Agenda ]
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A question of quality
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by Mark J. Pescatore
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Mistakes happen. I hope you deal with them better than the wedding video company I hired earlier this year.
My beautiful bride and I decided to spend the money for a professional wedding video. Our videographer was quite good; he really captured the day. Apart from a few edits that I would have done differently (yes, the video editor fire still burns inside), I thought the finished product was more than acceptable.
Except for the typos.
Mistakes happen. We had to get the company to provide us with a corrected version, which took several weeks. Then the trouble really started.
In version two, the typos were fixed, but so many other things had gone wrong. The editor had messed up the aspect ratio, audio was overmodulated in sections, and some of the imagery was blurry. Sloppy.
Needless to say, I was displeased -- clients tend to get that way when their "corrected" video actually has more mistakes than the original. The nice lady on the phone was very apologetic, but the damage was done. Any chance of a positive recommendation from me was gone -- all I wanted to
do was get my DVDs and get this company out of my life.
Weeks later, the corrected DVDs finally arrived. I had to watch my wedding video for a third time with a critical eye instead of for enjoyment. Talk about ruining the moment.
Mistakes happen. That's why quality control is so important for video departments. Do you have procedures in place to check outgoing projects? And if there are errors, how long does it take your department to fix them?
Hopefully, your workflows are designed to minimize mistakes. One way to avoid typos, for example, is to have your clients turn in credits as a Word file, which can be accessed directly by your CG operator. It can save your staff the trouble of all that typing and limit your potential typos.
Remember, even if your clients are internal, they are still clients. Your existence is justified based on the perceived need of a video department. Unhappy clients don't come back unless absolutely necessary -- and when they do come back, it can be hostile and uncomfortable. You want your clients supporting your efforts, not exploring other options.
In a world where budgets continue to be tightened, no video department wants to be perceived as sloppy. Sloppy is wasteful, and wasteful is expendable.
Mistakes happen. Keeping them to a minimum and correcting them efficiently will go a long way toward keep your clients happy and your position necessary.
Mark J. Pescatore is the editor. Contact him at mpescatore@nbmedia.com.
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