Are Production Values Really of Any Value?

If you are a long time fan of martial arts instructional videos, you may recall that there were some really...what's the proper word I want to use?...."sparse" instructional videos on the market. That is, the production values on these vhs tapes were really, really minimal. Yes, you had the studio produced tapes made by some of the bigger companies, but you also had a ton of camcorded instructionals that looked poor (they were the old VHS camcorders so what did you expect) and because of lack of ability to properly light an interior, many were shot outside in people's backyards. No, I am not kidding.

This does bring about a serious question: do production values really, really mean anything? The answer is poor production values really are not that big of a deal unless the poor quality of the production detracts from the ability to view the material. For example, if a fire engine goes by and drowns out the person speaking, thenwe have a problem. (No, I did not make that up. It actually occured on a wing chun tape I saw once. It reminded of the goofy Bert and Ernie skit of a previous genration)

If, however, the material being presented is clear, concise and provides solid information that helps you out with your game, then worrying about production values it not so much of a big deal. Well, it isn't for me anyway. You can make up your own mind on the subject.