Real Employees vs. Actors for your Corporate Video

Difference between using Employees vs Actors:

You will know if you used a real employee and or actor in your video, but will the audience know the difference between the two? What are the main factors you should consider when deciding on using real employee vs a paid actor?

Here are 5 key points when making that decision:

1. 
   Money. Hiring an actor will cost a lot more than using some of your employees to go on camera.  First, you have to consider your budget. Actors can cost up to a few hundred dollars a day. If you have a small budget, it might not be worth it. Better to spend that money on the actually production part of your video.


2. 
   Emotion. Do you want an emotional reaction from your audience? When using real employees, they will bring a natural emotion to the screen that a paid actor won’t. Even if you use an amazing actor, the audience can tell if someone is just acting, compared to an employee talking about a real experience.


3. 
   Time. It’s all about the on camera comfort. Maybe you decide to go with using your employees and they think they will be comfortable and great in front of the camera. But when it comes time to filming, you realize they are not so great on camera. This could eventually result in more days of shooting, which ultimately costs more money. Not everyone is naturally comfortable in front of the camera. They can get nervous, forget their lines, not be able to read the teleprompter, or might just not have the right delivery – even if they are the most outgoing person in your office! Actors on the other hand thrive when in front of the camera, are professionals when it comes down to memorizing their lines, and are able to read the teleprompter thoroughly. Using actors would just take up less studio time, regardless if the employee is even a natural on camera.


4. 
   Knowledge. Do you want the person on camera to be VERY knowledgeable about your company/product or kind of knowledgeable? If you use your employees they will have both real hands on knowledge AND experience of your company that you can’t get from using an actor. You can give the actor his lines, and he can memorize it, but that won’t replace the many years of hands on knowledge that your employees have.


5. 
   Overall Look. With actors you can choose the type of look you want to represent your company. You can choose between using different types of ethnicities, genres, and ages. But with using your real employees, your choices are very limited. In the end, it depends on how important you want your look of the people on camera to be.

In all, it really depends on what style you want your corporate video to be. If you want a recruitment video, you should showcase your employees and let them share their real experiences and emotions on screen. Whereas, if you are doing a product video, you might want actors to bring some personality to your video.

Here at Keywest, we have been producing corporate videos for over 20 years now, and can help you decide on what is the right choice for yours.

Keywest Video Inc- Corporate Video Blog -Real Employees vs Actors for your corporate video

Real Employees vs actors for your corporate video