If a picture is worth a 1000 words, then a video is worth…

You could walk down the street up to a total stranger, and say to them “A picture is worth…” and they wouldn’t have to even be prompted to finish the saying “…a thousand words”.

But if you went up to that same person on the street and said to them “A video is worth…” you’d probably get a blank stare back (or maybe worse) in response.

Let’s think about the “picture” saying for a minute.  To define it means rather than I tell you a story about something, I’m going to draw a picture to describe it.  Or rather than I describe something to you, I show you a picture that lets you see what condition a product is in.  Or rather than I tell you about how someone feels, I show you a picture of them showing a clearly defined emotion on their face, or through their actions.

I’m sure you’ve even heard jokes rather than having to read something, someone will say why don’t you just “draw me a picture”.

Since a video production is literally a series of moving pictures, its too easy to say a video is “worth a thousand pictures”.  Or the often proposed “a video is worth a million words”.  Because its more than just words.

A well-produced video can not only just be visually informative, it can take you on a journey to reach a particular destination or conclusion, or make you feel or understand something that you wouldn’t have before you watched it.  Video seeks more than just to show or describe, although those are two very basic and important elements.  A good video can entertain, inform, prompt you into action– think about how you found a funny video online and emailed it or posted it on your Facebook wall.  That video prompted you into action- to share.  And we haven’t even touched on all of the audio elements- voiceover, sound effects, dialogue, music- that add to a production.

With the advent of online video and portable video, we have more options than ever to view video productions, be it from an online video-blog to a short comedy film, to the latest clips and previews from our favorite television shows.  And numerous articles continue to point out the fact that we’ve probably just scratched the surface of the avenues that we’ll be able to access video as we move forward into the future.  And for individuals, videos can hold different meanings and interpretations.

So let’s propose a new saying going forward: “A video is worth…what it means to you (and your customers!)”

– Mike Madigan, Operations Manager, M-1 Studios
http://www.m-1studios.com

http://www.facebook.com/m1studios