The term videographer typically refers to an individual who records videos on a professional basis, whether for film, TV or Internet broadcasting. A videographer may be self-employed or employed as part of a studio or production team. On large projects, such as major motion pictures, the videographer will usually works closely with the director as part of a broader production crew. Videographers are more accurately referred to as cinematographers on such large scale projects, and their responsibilities encompass the direction of the production’s overall visual design. For smaller productions, such as independent documentaries, weddings, commercials, and corporate events, videographers are likely to work alone or with a sound and light technician.
In today’s job market, a videographer is expected to possess a wide range of technical skills. A videographer’s operational responsibilities may include the maintenance and repair of video walls and satellite, shooting and editing video tape, lighting, and sound. Videographers use such mediums as disk, tape, live broadcast, and celluloid film, although the latter is usually reserved for large productions. The term filming or videotaping is often used to refer more broadly to the kind of videography where no actual tape or film is used by the videographer, such as when the video is recorded directly to DVD.
The services of a videographer are required by a wide range of clients for varying projects, whether the videographer is self-employed or part of a larger production team. For example, companies that wish to capitalize on Internet video as a means of promotion and communication might call upon the services of a videographer to film a company profile. These company profile videos can then be transferred to the client’s website, or to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Metacafe. Video sharing sites are also a popular destination for digital shorts, which are short sketches filmed by a videographer expressly for the Internet. Prior to the Internet, the demand for the services of a videographer were much more limited, including projects which were then restricted to television only, such as music videos and commercials.