The whole category in one page.
SOUND BEFORE PICTURE, AND LIGHT BEFORE CAMERA
Viewers abandon poor audio and tolerate poor picture. A microphone close to the speaker, and a window with a curtain, will do more than any camera upgrade.
STATE THE MESSAGE IN ONE SENTENCE BEFORE PRODUCING ANYTHING
If it cannot be said briefly, the production will not communicate it. And list deliverables exactly, because that is what disputes are about.
BACK UP BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE LOCATION
Footage exists in one place until copied, and that is when it disappears. Two devices, not two folders, and verify the files open.
MOST EDITS SHOULD BE SHORTER, AND MOST NARRATION SAYS TOO MUCH
Cut anything the picture already shows, and anything kept only because it was difficult to capture.
CAPTION EVERYTHING AND CORRECT WHAT THE MACHINE WROTE
Much video is watched muted, and automatic captions mishandle names and local accents worst.
CHECK EVERY LICENCE AT ITS SOURCE, AND KEEP THE PAPERWORK FOREVER
Files circulate detached from their terms. Consent to be photographed is not consent to appear in advertising, and claims arrive years later.
KEEP ORIGINALS AND VECTORS UNTOUCHED, PERMANENTLY
They are the only things that cannot be remade.
BUILD A CHECKLIST FROM EVERY MISTAKE YOU MAKE
Almost every expensive failure in this work is something a checklist would have caught.
