If you’re just starting in video production, you may be still trying to work out what pieces of equipment you need, and which are unnecessary. To help you out, we’ve put together this ultimate checklist to the 10 pieces of video production equipment you need to produce high quality professional videos.
- Camera
Obviously, the first piece of equipment on our list is a camera. In order to make the highest quality of video possible, you need a good one. Although a professional-grade video camera is really the best option, they are expensive. DSLRs, however, may not offer quite the same quality, but there are many people who use this type of camera for their videos. Most DSLRs are able to record at 1080p and some can handle 4K.
- Separate Microphone
While its true that smartphones and DSLRs do not have as good quality as on-board microphones as video cameras, the quality is still not to the standard it should be. The quality will be even less impressive, the cheaper the camera. That’s because cameras are designed to capture high quality moving and still pictures, not high-quality sound.
So, if you really want to improve the quality of your videos, you need to improve the quality of the audio. One of the most direct and instant ways to do this is by ensuring you have a reasonable quality external microphone in your video production equipment collection.
- Lavalier Microphone
If you are making any videos with people talking, you need a lavalier microphone. This is a small-sized compact mic that attaches to either a lapel or collar and is capable of picking up high quality sound, while eliminating interfering and irritating background noises.
- A More Portable Option of Camera
It may sound odd to feature another camera in our checklist, but alongside your video camera or DSLR, it’s a good idea to have something more handheld, even if its just from a smaller digital camera or even your smartphone. This means you can take those shots and film those sequences as they present themselves.
- Tripod
It doesn’t matter if your camera has amazing stabilisation, or you have the steadiest hands in the world, you still need a tripod. Even the smallest of shakes can look terrible on video. Particularly when you are using the zoom lens on your DSLR. A tripod can transform just about any camera into a higher quality piece of video production equipment.
- Gimbal
What is a gimbal you might be asking? It provides stabilisation for your camera. The good news is that there is a wide array of different sizes and types of gimbals available nowadays, with some big enough to work with video cameras and others suitable for smartphones.
With the use of weights and pivots, you can use a gimbal to stabilise your shots, which is particularly important if you and the camera are moving.
- Lighting
If you’re just new to video production, you may not realise how big a role lighting plays in producing higher quality video. The whole subject of lighting is too big and expansive to cover here though. As you need to consider various aspects such as the background and foreground lighting, the shadows and the actual equipment.
This obviously can all get expensive. You can reduce the cost by investing in a good quality reflector to make better use of ambient light. Soft boxes can also be a great addition to your collection of equipment.
- Video Production and Editing Software
This is a crucial component to your video production as its what can help you bring all the footage you film together in a more professional manner. The better the video editing software you have access to, the more you can do and the better your videos will look. However, it’s always a good idea to invest in the video software that’s right for you at the time and what you are trying to achieve, rather than wasting a lot of money on one with lots of unnecessary features and extras.
- Video Editing Hardware
While it’s true that nowadays you can edit videos on just about anything, from a smartphone to a tablet and obviously a computer. If you really want to improve your video production skills, it may be worth considering upgrading your hardware. The main thing to consider when looking at video editing hardware is that the computer or device has sufficient graphics power that will enable you to edit footage at full speed. On the lower end computers and graphics cards you will have a harder time making edits to larger files.
- Consider Investing in a Transcription Service
Providing text to go along with video can improve engagement with it. Regardless of where it’s posted. Transcription can be painstaking work, which is why it may be a good idea to invest in a service that will do it for you.