Solo vs. Team Content Creation - Which Is Right For My Business?
This past July, I got a last minute call to come help photograph a conference for GitHub at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego. It was 2 days before the conference was set to start and the scope of work was beginning to get out of hand for the original photographer that was hired to capture the conference. With start times of 5:30am and end times of 9:30pm, plus a requirement of edits turned around in 24 hours, it was quickly turning into 20+ hours of work a day for 1 person.
Since I was available and up for those early morning call times, I got a chance to see how a full team can operate at a high level to accomplish incredible things in 3 days.
The Team & Deliverables
I was 1 of 2 photographers working alongside a video team of 5. We also had a project manager acting as our liaison between the client and the team. She also maintained the schedule.
The other photographer and I essentially split hours. I would take the morning shift, clocking out around lunch time, go drop my photos off with him, and he would do the afternoon shift and deliver the daily edits within 24 hours.
The video team was made up of 1 main videographer, 1 sound guy and 2nd videographer, 1 PA, 1 producer and director, and 1 on site editor. They were tasked with creating 2 videos - 1 recap of the first 2 days to be played at the afternoon session on the 3rd and final day. And then 1 recap of the entire event to be delivered after the event concluded. Although I was doing photos, I had a million questions for this crew. It was fascinating to see how they delivered a recap video of the event during the event! They had a system down after having done it for the first time the year before. They knew the schedule of events, they knew what the big key moments were that they needed in the film, they had their interviews lined up and soundbites accounted for, and then they worked with a video editor on site to manage all the footage and deliver a product within 72 hours. Seeing this team of 6 (including the project manager) do what I have been asked to do as a solo creator was incredible. It made so much sense why I had fallen short of this exact same expectation in the past when I was expected to do it alone. When you niche down in your productions, everyone has their task, no one is spread too thin, you are able to deliver a much better end product in a much shorter time frame than 1 human can possibly do alone. As the saying goes - you get what you pay for.
I was absolutely inspired watching this team work, seeing how they pieced together the film as they were filming it, and I even got to watch the film as they were testing it out during lunch on the final day. It got my brain percolating with ideas on how I would be able to deliver a similar product to clients in the near future.
The Conference
Besides having the time of my life observing the video team work their magic, the conference itself was exceptional. From the health and wellness activities in the morning, to the stage design and storytelling delivered on the main stage during main session, to the team work activities of the breakout sessions, and the sneak peak of the dinners and parties that would be thrown at night, this was an incredible event put on by a company with a sizeable budget. (No doubt they had a good sized budget because they rented out Petco Park for their opening night party!)
Since I was the morning shift photographer, I was able to observe and capture the morning health and wellness activities - a daily 5k run, yoga, and meditation.
As well as the morning general sessions.
The first thing that stood out to me about the general session was the stage design. They had an epic stage piece with a cutout of their company mascot - the Octocat. The stage piece lit up and changed colors when speakers were introduced and each speaker would walk out through the Octocat cutout. It made for some seriously epic photos and it was so much fun incorporating the stage piece into my photos.
Another interesting takeaway from general session was their use of storytelling in their presentations. They really told the story of the products they launched - what the issue was to start, who was involved, and what they did to overcome the issue and any limitations they had in their way. It was quite inspiring and also really put the team members on display as heroes in the tale of launching these products for their platform. I thought that was quite a unique way of doing things, especially considering their audience was the internal team members of GitHub. They were championing the team in front of the team. I feel like that’s a great motivator for everyone in the room.
I also found it interesting how the entire day wasn’t spent in general session. They’d have like 2-3 hours of general session followed by 2+ hours of breakout sessions and lunch. It seemed like there was plenty of time for team members to get together and bond with their team as well as get to know people in other departments. They weren’t sitting in a ballroom paying attention to a stage for 8+ hours a day, they were talking with each other, getting to know each other, working together on activities, games, and more.
And as for my participation on the contractor side of things, I had a fantastic experience as well. I was in direct contact with the project manager who acted as the master of the schedule and the liaison between the content team and the client - filling us in on any new requests or changes to the schedule. There was an entire room dedicated to food for just the production staff, stocked at all times with snacks and coffee and then meals were delivered at the appropriate times. There was always time allotted in the schedule for me to eat, which if you know me well, is very important to my well being 😂 I felt incredibly well taken care of which in turn made me want to go above and beyond in delivering photos. Changes to the schedule became minor inconveniences, even when I was asked to stay late or come in early. When a client goes above and beyond for you, it feels effortless to return that energy back to them.
I’m quite happy with the photos that I got of the conference. And even though I did not stay for the afternoon session on the last day, I got a sneak peak of the recap video and got to see some of my photos that were going to be shown in the closing session. It’s always rewarding to see your work on display.
When and Why It’s Worth Investing In A Team
If budget is your ultimate concern, a single shooter is likely going to make the most sense for you and your goals. Luckily there are plenty of shooters out there that can do both photo and video coverage of events at the same time, giving you an extra bang for your buck.
But there are always trade offs when you are looking to cut spending as much as possible. One person can only be in one place at a time, so if you have multiple events happening simultaneously, you may not be able to capture all events to the fullest extent.
Video is also a more resource intensive process - so if you want a better video product, at a certain point it will require more people. For example, doing interviews often requires more than 1 person to make sure you have a good image, lighting, audio, and questions.
And while delivering same day photo edits is a common practice for a single photographer, delivering same day video edits often takes more time and more people. Many folks don’t know that a single second of video consists of 24 singular photos minimum, just to put it in perspective about why video can often be so complicated and resource intensive. More variables in capturing video, bigger file sizes, longer editing times, etc.
Everyone has a pretty great photo and video camera in their pocket nowadays and if budget is your top concern, you can get away with doing your own photo and video capture no problem. But when you reach the limitations of that, you will want to call in the experts and oftentimes, the experts work best in teams.
If top quality content and a quick turnaround is more of your concern, then you will want to opt for a professional team. Better quality will always foster more trust with your customer, you will be able to capture the entirety of your event while giving your contractors and content team an enjoyable experience as well, which also boosts your brand image. For example, my experience with Touch Worldwide and GitHub left me with nothing but positive things to say about both companies, and left me in awe of how they run their events. How you do one thing is how you do everything.
Whether or not you’re looking for a single shooter, or a team, KO Film can help! We have an extensive network of contacts available to deliver an incredible product in whatever turnaround you may need.
Long hours and quick turnarounds can be a lot of weight for a single shooter to bear. Often teams can deliver higher quality products quicker, while still maintaining a pleasurable and safe work environment for all. Oftentimes it’s a win win for the client and the service provider to put more people on the job, make sure all bases are covered, and fail safes are in place to never lose footage or miss an important moment.
How does your company go about strategizing content capture for events? Have you been involved on the corporate side of events, the contractor side, or both? I’d love to hear your thoughts and input below!