When the Means Become the End in Video Production

When the Means Become the End in Video Production

Production Value is a term used in the film and video industry.
Strictly speaking, it refers to the quality of production, but in most cases, it’s used to mean the sense that money was spent or the attention to detail in low-budget film productions.

Even if the term “production value” isn’t explicitly used in the video production industry, creators—whether consciously or unconsciously—tend to incorporate that concept into the final product.

Of course, even a film with a large budget can turn out to be a flop, but when a project looks cheap from the start, its evaluation tends to drop.
That’s why improving production value becomes such an important challenge.
(Casting currently popular actors, using new equipment for filming, adding effects in editing, etc.)

Producers and creators go to great lengths to boost production value, but the audience doesn’t necessarily focus on that itself.
Only people in the industry or video enthusiasts are likely to think, “Wow, they managed to make this with that budget?”

Thanks to advancements in technology that allow visually impressive results even with limited budgets, the range of production levels has become more diverse in today’s video industry.
Still, the one thing creators care most about is:

“How can we maximize quality, even on a limited budget?”

When that’s achieved in a commissioned video project, the client is extremely pleased. And the production team feels they’ve done a great job too.

So again ── repeating myself here ──

Producers and creators go to great lengths to boost production value, but the audience doesn’t necessarily focus on that itself.
Only people in the industry or video enthusiasts are likely to think, “Wow, they managed to make this with that budget?”

But why are videos necessary in the first place?
At its core, a video is simply a means or method to achieve a specific purpose.

If you lose sight of that, you end up with the means becoming the end.

[Postscript: March 27, 2017]
The above was written three years ago, and depending on how you read it, it might come off as somewhat critical. My intention from the start, however, was simply to present one possible perspective.
That said, as an additional note:
If there is something that transcends the concepts of means and ends ──
then perhaps that’s what we should be pursuing.