Tips for non professional videographers

Videographer is a person who works in the field of videography and or video productionrecording moving images and sound on video tape or any other electro mechanical device. For beginners out there, here’s a compiled list of some valuable tips and tricks that might give them the required push in the right direction to succeed in their path or at least impart them enough information as to let them take a stand and get ahead in their career.

1. Volunteering or internship – to get the feel of videography, you will have it all figured out in future if you start volunteering or do an internship. This helps you get the right attitude towards videography. It helps you get the required skills from experienced professionals. You get a hands on experience and see the nuances of the trade in person. This really helps you get the right push to enter in the videography industry. You can make money along with learning. This money can help you invest in some good quality gear and nurture your interest in videography. You get the experience, the editing software and many things that can help you level up your skills.
2. Say ‘yes’ to everything – this includes unpaid internship as well. Working for free early in your career can really allow you to master your art. When you are starting, it is essential to get as much experience as you can, it doesn’t matter if it is unpaid or paid. Even low paying projects can help you build up your portfolio. Because ultimately what counts is your skills. All of your experiences help you round up your skills. There’s an awesome quote by Dale Carnegie, that goes, "learning is an active process. We learn by doing…only knowledge that is used, sticks in your mind."
3. Build your portfolio – in addition to, potentially doing some free work, internships etc. It is highly recommended that you build up your portfolio online. Ask yourself about the place where you are compiling your videos. It can be a YouTube channel or a behance account or something similar. There are numerous online options for really building up your body of work.
4. Study the greats in your niche – identify the best of the best in your industry or specific topic. You can follow them, learn from them, try and get in touch with them for some field work or some other kind of help. Watch tutorial videos, go to their workshops. Even if you are working somewhere, keep on learning. Make a commitment to lifelong learning and study the greats carefully and then examine what you need to do to be better at what you do.
5. Marketing – after following the above steps or tips, you need to put yourself out there. Once you get going with the above steps, you are in the process of mastering your craft. You don’t want to start marketing your craft until you have acquired a certain degree of confidence in your craft. Reaching a level of mastery is critical in order to market yourself and start charging for your work. Great marketing with a bad product is never a great combination.

The Jigsaw is a video production company headquartered in Mumbai and operating across the globe. Headed by media professionals, associated with leading broadcasters in the country. The Jigsaw is into video production, animation.