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It has been a known fact that events are never a one-time transaction. The efforts put into the event reap your results in many different ways. With the modern age, events are no longer a one-day transaction as well. No, I don’t mean a 2 or 3-day transaction either.
Advancement of high-tech documentation equipment like digital cameras has made sure that all events become virtually immortal in the online realm.
The photos and videos of your event are not just something your today’s audience will see. But they are something that will have a very staunch impact on your brand’s reputation for the coming years.
That is why, as an event prof, it becomes very essential to get these photos and videos captured in the best way for your event. So here are a few tips that will help you with the same.
1. Work with professionals
The first and the foremost requirement of having the right kind of documentation done is to work with the right professionals, professional photo/ videographers and professional equipment. This ensures that all the technicalities will go right.
Now when you are working with professionals, it doesn’t mean that you have no say in it. You are after all the one hosting the event.
Thus, you can always go back to them and ask them to work in a specific way, something that will be appropriate for your event.
2. Divide and get good
If you are thinking about imperialism, it is definitely not that. In every event, there are a lot of different things going on simultaneously. Some of them are a part of the formal event, while others are more informal. Either way, they are important for documentation and that is why deserve some good space on your camera roll.
Whether it is a dignitary receiving a certificate or some attendees socializing informally, both should be a part of your photos and videos. But in order to do that properly, there should always be people ready to capture these moments. That is why, division is a good plan here, Get at least 2 people for visual documentation of your event and divide these two tasks with them.
Ask one of them to be around the dignitaries and the delegates. Ask the other one to move about places where people who aren’t actively participating in the event at the moment are present. This way, you will be able to get both sides of the story and make it a part of your formal release.
3. Tell a story
With the technicalities done, we can now move to the more creative parts. All the photos and videos of the event that you will make public are going to tell a story. They are not just mere documentation tools. They serve as a tool that will tell something to a lot of people. Now what that something will be, is up to you to decide. But you can’t do it after the event.
I can’t decide that I want to write a story of 5 women after building 7 male characters in my book. I mean that is just stupid. So what I should be doing instead is decide upon the story first and then build my characters, or in this case, build my photos and videos.
Before your event starts, decide all of this so that you have a skeleton ready which is to be filled by your photos and videos. When creating this story, always remember to keep it consistent with your brand image.
4. Get a theme
No, not your event theme. Your photo and videography theme has to be something that will define your complete documentation action plan. For example, you could choose your photos and videos to be abstract.
Then you have to stick to the plan and ensure that everything in your camera roll has an abstract nature. When viewing individually, this theme might not impact your content in any way.
But when viewed together, a theme will give it all a consistency that will give it all an extra bit of edge. It generates a subliminal perception that says — You are organised, particular and meticulous about your work.
5. The fun is in details
When watching the photos or videos of the concert of your favourite singer, you are not only expecting to see the large crowds and cheering hands. You also wish to see someone crying with a smile who is just too excited to be a part of the show.
You also wish to see someone dancing as if they have lost all connection with the world. It is because you can never visualize yourself as a part of a crowd. You can see yourself in the individuals.
That is why, apart from capturing the larger picture, your photos and videos should also focus on such tiny little details that shape up your event somehow. Being able to connect with those details will transform the way a viewer looks at your event.
6. Interact. Interact. Interact
This point cannot be emphasized upon enough! Built on the idea of details, this tip suggests that the subjects of your event photos and videos cannot always be passive. If all the photos simply show a different bunch of people looking towards the event speaker, it isn’t going to interest anyone.
However, if there is this one picture where a listener is actually interacting with the recorder, the whole story changes. Directly or indirectly, humans crave attention. Even from a photograph. If it is all filled with random people looking randomly, there is nothing to look at.
But if there is just one interactive element, something or someone with a focused attention towards the audience (the camera in this case), it makes people stop and look at that picture.
7. Put ’em filters on.
Not talking about Instagram filters but rather a filtering mechanism. Now capturing a number of moments in an event is still an easy job. Even while doing it randomly, you will end up capturing a lot of good things.
But the real task of the day comes when you have to filter all the accumulated content. You can of course not release 2000 photos of your event the next day. You have to scrutinize and filter them out to find some relevant and impactful content.
When doing this, always remember the story you have been making. Use it as the only filtering criteria for your content and you will find some amazing photos and videos that are all consistent and correlated, making the results better.
If you have more tips on event photography and video tips, do comment! Check out our website or request a demo.
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Hiteshree Dudani is an event tech enthusiast who has successfully organised many eminent events. The list includes charity events, youth fests, seminars, workshops and a lot more. She is currently associated with the event technology company Hubilo. She works for the company's blog which has a wide range of useful content for event planners, event techies and event marketers.
