Website homepage video: Should I hire or do it myself?

I’m looking to create an intro video to place on my site’s homepage similar to this, but I’m not really sure where to start:
http://evernote.com/video/#TKP1ToD1yA8|1|1

Is this something simple enough to do on my own or am I better off just hiring someone to do it?

If it’s simple enough to learn, can anyone recommend some quality software to use and/or possibly point me to a good beginners tutorial?

If I’m better off hiring a professional, I would need someone local to come in and shoot the video, so I would probably hire via Craiglist (unless someone can recommend a better route). What’s the professional title of someone who does these (Videographer, Video Graphic Guy, etc)?

Thanks in advance.

I don’t know if anyone can answer those questions for you, because some people are better and learning things on the fly than others. We don’t know what you already know, and so on.

As far as hiring a professional goes, in general I think you’d get better quality from someone competent who does it as a job. That person (or team or persons) should know about lighting, and recording the audio correctly, and editing it well, and so on. So like a lot of other things, you could fight up and do it yourself for little money but lower quality, or you could pay someone for higher quality.

I think “videographer” would be a good search term. Or “video services”. Keep in mind the market is saturated with videographers these days, and many of these guys have low experience and might not offer much better quality than you could muster doing it yourself! So be choosey. Look at portfolios, and don’t go for the cheapest you could get, because I guarantee you it would show.

I agree with the above; there’s probably too much to take on board that you could get wrong that would end up degrading the finished video. A couple things you can contribute to the operation that will help anybody you hire - consider the space you will be using (if using your own) to film - it needs to be BRIGHTLY lit ideally (although a good videographer may well take in extra lights) and acoustically quiet and non-reflective (difficult to overcome if doing a live presentation instead of an overdubbed voice over). A storyboard (series of rough sketches) and a script that has been read out to it and checked for timing may be helpful.

Yes, these videos are not as easy to make well as it might appear. If it’s for a company that needs to look good, I would hire someone who’s good at this.

For the video, you probably want a professional videographer. In terms of adding the video to the homepage, you can easily use and learn your own code to implement it.

i agree with the comments above, but I would break the answer down into its parts. The filming itself will almost never come anywhere close to looking professional unless you hire a professional to do it. Their equipment is typically better and they know how to deal with issues like lighting that only come with experience.

Once you get the raw content, I have seen a lot of outstanding editing jobs which were put together by amateurs. Like the videography, it takes skill and experience, but I have found that some people can do it themselves. It’s not easy, though, and not everyone has the talent to tell good editing from mediocre editing.

Finally, there is the sound editing. Picking the right background music, and mixing it with the right sound levels at the right time, can mean the difference between a memorable and effective video and one that completely misses the mark.

In a professional shoot, these three jobs are usually done by different people. In addition, someone like Evernote probably had several additional people including a writer and probably even a stylist to make sure that the CEO’s hair was neat and there was no reflection on an oily cheek. You don’t notice those things because the professionals make sure the distractions are gone.

One thing that the Evernote video did not need was a voice-over artist, but often that is an important piece to the puzzle. The Evernote CEO did a remarkably effective job of narrating the video but many business owners are not capable of achieving the pacing and inflection necessary to make the story interesting.

The technical quality of the sound is often more important than the quality of the images. If the sound quality is rubbish, no one will give your video the time of day.

And that makes it more difficult for an amateur to achieve a good result, because very few consumer camcorders have a MIC IN socket. You are likely to need a more sophisticated cam and a more advanced microphone.

Then there’s the competence and ‘listenability’ of the person doing the speaking - and that’s a another mountain to climb…:wink:

Paul

I agree with the previous comments. Making videos is not as easy as it might seem, especially if you want a professional-like result.

Hi,

I know this was from a while back but I am curious to know what solution you did because I am wanting a video like that one for my home page too. I thought I would try to make one myself. Was it easy, or did you hire someone to make one? Thank you.

Roger

Homepage of the website is heart of whole website. If you want to impress your visitor or customer, then you must add explainer video, that describe your all business in few minutes. You must hire creative explainer video services.