Dec '15 | Are They Ready For Their Close Up?

You’re a marketing executive in charge of your company’s corporate video shoot and you’re studying the budget, scanning line items in the pre-production, production, and post production sections, trying to find items that can be cut so that you can bring the budget down. When you stop on “Make Up Artist,” you pause and think to yourself:

Is hiring a make up artist on a corporate video really necessary? 

Does this sound familiar? As a producer for corporate video I get this question all the time and here’s my response. A good make up artist not only makes their subject look good in front of the camera, they also help people feel

• Confident
• At ease
• Taken care of
• Special
• Beautiful or handsome

… And those are all great feelings to have right before stepping in front of bright lights and several cameras because they tend to directly affect performance, hence swaying the success of your final product.

The make up artist is typically the interview subject’s first point of contact on your corporate video set. They kickstart the process, often providing light chitchat which helps ease the nerves. This is especially important when dealing with customer testimonials or interviews with executives that are not used to being in front of the camera. You want their experience on your corporate video set to be a positive one. You may need them to agree to do another interview sometime in the future. Having someone on set dedicated to making your subject feel good before you roll camera is always helpful, especially when you’re busy taking care of last minute details.

But that’s only part of the benefit of having a make up artist on your corporate video set. Once your subject is in front of the camera, the make up artist purely focuses on appearance. While you’re listening to content, dialogue, and making sure the right buzz words get said, the make up artist is making sure there aren’t any visual distractions for the audience. No stray hairs or shiny spots that are catching the light, no unflattering wrinkles in the shirt. They help assure that you won’t hear the following while in post production: “Why didn’t you tell me that was there the entire time?” Or, “Why didn’t you tell me I looked like that?”

In summary: they act as your second set of eyes.

So, for a modest additional cost, a make up artist can provide an amazing amount of peace of mind when you need it the most.