Pre-production is tough. I’ll be the first to admit it, grabbing your camera and jumping straight into filming not only feels natural, but is also an extremely easy thing to do. Unfortunately the end result normally speaks for itself, when you’re left with a video that is at best sub-par. Some of the most successful things we do in life are normally strategically planned and intentionally executed. Your videos should be no different. Though you may “wing it” and produce decent results from time to time, chances are that you will be disappointed and have to spend more time re-shooting / re-editing, or even worse, re-doing the whole project.

2007 was a big year for me. Not only was I starting college, but I had decided to make a big investment and purchase my own professional video camera. Nearly $4,000 later I was the proud owner of a Canon XH A1 camcorder. At that time it was a great camcorder, especially for those who were serious about video production. That camera truly served me well and helped me book some of my first freelance jobs, including one in Africa to film an event with the President of Rwanda. Fast-forward to 2010, I remember browsing Vimeo and stumbling across a video by Vincent Laforet, called “The Cabbie.” That three and a half minute video would completely change my view on camcorders, and eventually lead me to post my beloved XH A1 on Craigslist for sale.

"The eyes are forgiving, but the ears are not." I'm unsure where, or from whom, I first heard this quote, but it has stuck with me throughout the years. In my experience, viewers are more likely to sit through and watch a poorly shot video, rather than one they can hardly hear. Many times people get caught up with wanting to have the newest and best camera, but when it comes to audio, I see many people settling for cheap solutions. This is the reason why I decided to start off this series by focusing on audio.

Ten years ago, three former Paypal employees set out to create a website where users could upload and share their own videos. This site, as you probably already guessed, was YouTube. A year later, YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion, and since then has grown into the second largest search-engine on the web. As of last year, YouTube even dethroned Facebook, becoming the largest social media site, bringing in more visitors than Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram combined! These statistics are not only an impressive show of YouTube's history, but also gives companies invaluable insight on how to best reach their audience.