Why Is A Professional TV Production Company So Important?

If you have plans for a televised production, be it an advert, a short film or even a longer production, you may have done a lot of work in conceiving your idea, fine-tuning it, getting the actors in and even doing some filming. However, you may wonder whether what you have is as close to the finished article you want as you had hoped.

The truth is that while your own skills and resources may have taken you so far, the best productions, ones that will have the desired impact on the audience and avoid containing significant errors, will be far more likely to arise when you work with a skilled, professional TV production agency.

A combination of skill, experience, great props and the most modern and advanced facilities and tech will give you the very best chance of making the very best of your big idea. At the very least, it will smooth out the rough edges that would otherwise be there. Moreover, this partnership can remove major errors.

Why Is It Important To Spot Possible Legal Issues?

Of course, it is still possible for production companies to make errors. The one used by the BBC to make a Panorama documentary on Donald Trump has made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic, with the notoriously litigious president threatening to sue for $1 billion over misleading editing of a speech before the January 6^th 2021 riots in Washington.

However, this is an exceptional case, not just because of the broadcaster and politician involved, but also the rarity of such an error. In most cases, a good production company will not drop the ball on important editing, let alone deliberately seek to mislead (as is alleged in this case), because of the possible legal ramifications.  

On the other hand, a more amateur production may be more likely to run into legal trouble, as the media law expertise may not be available to spot any potential problems. The offended party may not be so high profile as President Trump, but it could still be someone with sufficient means and motive to take legal action.

In this regard, a film or TV production needs to be treated like a written newspaper report, with the editing taking into account the potential for defamation.

Do Continuity Errors Really Matter?

This is just one of how errors and shortcomings can undermine a production. Another is visual errors. This could include quality issues such as poor sound and light, which post-production tech can help to correct. However, in film, there is also the risk of continuity errors.

How significant continuity errors are is open to debate. There are some people who love to point out major errors in films, especially when there are lots of them. A good example would be the Bond film Skyfall, which is famous for a plethora of them.

Of course, it could be questioned whether it really matters that M picks up her bag in one scene, then exits a room without it, or Bond runs past the same blonde woman twice in successive shots. These are things only the eagle-eyed would spot.

Other errors, however, could be more fatal, because they would have a major impact on the credibility of the film. Stories abound that in the chariot race in Ben-Hur, a red sports car was visible in the background and Charlton Heston is seen wearing a wristwatch. Thankfully, both are debunked urban myths.

In some cases, however, this very sort of calamity could occur. Suppose, for example, you are shooting a short post-apocalyptic film, set in the aftermath of a nuclear war, doomsday asteroid strike or the world being overrun with zombies.

In such cases, something like a car driving down a road in the background, or overhead aircraft trailers, could damage its credibility. Smart editing in post-production could remove such errors.

How Can CGI Remove Problems With TV Scenes?

The use of more advanced technology could go further in this regard, perhaps using CGI to create a more appropriate background or cut certain things out.

Even some elements famously left in TV productions could, if made using today’s technology, be cleverly edited out.

For example, the 1980 TV series Shogun began with an overhead shot of a Dutch ship sailing the high seas, a spectacular panorama but blighted by the fact that the shadow of the helicopter used in filming could be seen on the water. Given CGI and drone technology, this was never going to be a problem in the 2024 remake.

Your own talent and inventiveness may have taken you a long way. But with the help of a skilled, experienced and technologically well-equipped production company, you can make the most of your idea and ensure the final result is every bit as good as it has the potential to be.