You’ve been asked to find someone to record the event, so you begin searching for videographers in your area, and after reviewing dozens of websites and sizzle reels, you’re left with more questions than answers.

The term Videographer has been adopted by a diverse group of video producers ranging anywhere from marketing, wedding, and even documentary specializations. They often all share two main attributes:

1. They record visually engaging footage, then spend days or weeks editing back at the office
2. They prioritize visually stunning and dramatic video footage. 
   

We at We Film Events refer to ourselves as Event Broadcasters. Our primary focus is in long-form recording of corporate, educational, and non-profit stage events. Leveraging equipment and workflows to enable capturing reliable long-form recordings guarantees us a consistent level of quality and ensures we don’t miss a single moment. 

Let’s break down some general differences and help understand who you actually need for your event!

1. Camera

Videographers typically invest in cameras with features that capture very dynamic footage, often leveraging slow-motion, shallow focus, and smooth movement as they seemingly float effortlessly around their subjects. 

Event broadcasters focus entirely on capturing the full event without failure. Deploying 4k capable cameras on tall tripods, equipped with smooth servo-equipped long-range zoom lenses, and capable of recording continuously for days without rest, we are get the best seats in the house even from the back of the room. 

2. Lights

Videographers often bring short-range LED lighting fixtures, perfectly illuminating your interviewed guests with soft and flattering light in their best look yet. These work brilliantly in raising the perceived status of your event, and can be worked into the edit to create enthusiasm for future attendees.

In a convention room our priority is to avoid placing gear in the way of your guests, so for this purpose we employ spotlights with massive focusing lenses, lighting the stage clearly for attendees and camera capture even from the far corners of the room.

3. Production Workflows 

Videographers focus entirely on video and audio capture of their interviews and cinematic event footage, then transfer, process, and edit the footage after the event. This process gives them the time and focus to craft beautiful and inspiring videos for all your marketing and social media needs. 

An event broadcaster is specialized in performing live-production and integration with your Audio/Visual team. Capturing all deployed cameras, audio sources, and slide presentations simultaneously into a hardware or software switcher, we are able to create a visually engaging and comprehensive presentation of your event, switching between cameras, employing graphics, overlays, and picture-in-picture composites.

4. Live-Switching/Broadcasting Equipment

Finding a videographer capable of live-broadcast to online platforms can be difficult, and any you do find will often be using consumer equipment with limited capabilities. If your needs are met with a camera, a pre-show and post-show slide, and some hold music however, this may still work just fine. 

Full capacity live-production requires specialized equipment either in the form of single-purpose hardware, or incredibly over-specced computers with proprietary hardware. In our fleet we have custom built hardware and software solutions to accommodate up to 12 video sources in addition to audio, and online presenters/guests internationally. We can route any source, or combined sources to an online audience, as a return feed to online guests, and to in-venue projectors simultaneously.

5. Verified Integrations

Videographers typically have the ability to send a video stream to most of the major video websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitch, and might be able to capture and display zoom calls as a full-screen source. Beyond that will depend on each videographer’s particular experience set. 

An event broadcaster comes with a suite of integration options to accommodate all elements and create a complete service ecosystem. In our organization specifically, we provide in-house and online speaker and guest capture, with 2-way communication and native integration into the broadcast as a solo source or composites with slides or side-by-side with any other presenters. Our ecosystem also includes live-captioning, dedicated ad-free video streaming servers, options for chat and moderation, and even detailed audience demographics data, all while remaining easily embedded in your webpage of choice.

6. Personnel Experience 

Many videographers in recent years have decided to offer streaming services, learning new concepts and best-practices as they encountered technology and workflow hurdles while leveraging their already owned cameras and lenses.  

Broadcast teams are comprised of camera, audio, and live-editing specialists, and ours is no different, boasting well over 30 years experience in all departments. No one person could ever have all the answers, and by leveraging each other’s experience and knowledge we have solved every problem encountered to date.

So which is right for you? Event-broadcasters will suit perfectly if you are hoping to capture and/or stream the event formally, and will be your best option for repurposing the content of your event later on (insert “why you should record your event” article). Videographers will be a clear winner should you need a solid sizzle reel to promote next year’s event.

We here at We Film Events are happy to assist on the broadcast side of things, and can even recommend local videographers we frequently work with and have carefully vetted out for quality, professionalism, and price. 

Looking for more information? Get in touch with us at the contact form below and we’d love to chat, and if this has helped you we’d love it if you shared this with someone who is going through the same process!