Never Forgetting Your Audience

One of the most difficult jobs of producing a video is keeping your audience in mind. The production can involve filming, editing, sound, lighting, and sometimes staging. A large number of tasks can involve many people making it a very fast paced and stressful process. When performing any of these jobs it's easy to find ourselves devoted to the process while forgetting the purpose or audience. When this happens we may as well hang it up.

The audience is the reason we spend the effort. When we forget they even exist as part of the project, then we sacrifice the largest element effecting the result. We can have the greatest sound, lighting, cameras, editors, and expertise, but if we fail to put ourselves in the seat of the viewer then it is a wasted effort.

Film doesn't shoot the same for different age demographics or content. We would not have the same lighting or effects elements between a HGTV project and a MTV project. Understanding that a teenager's attention span is much shorter than that of someone in their 50's would change cut sequences in editing or live switching. There are many different audience factors that can effect your video. Therefore, start with the audience and never forget them in the entire process.