Whether your a one person show or run a large studio, I strongly suggest your first morning read be the Wall Street Journal because that will give you an indication of where the images for money is going more than any other news vehicle.
When the market contracts don't expect medium to large brands to sink six or seven figures on image creation that only plays in one medium. It's just not going to happen, because agencies and their clients want to get all the bang for the buck that's possible and most campaigns don't have a single specific goal. Gone are the days of " it's a magazine campaign only, or this is for outdoor". Now it's "I dunno" just shoot everything horizontal, vertical, motion and still and we'll get back to you.
You have to realize that if you make images for money, (and yes even editorial is suppose to be images for money) all clients have two goals. To get viewers to look at the media and to control the message in a positive way. If you can shoot stills and motion in the same project that covers those two goals your golden.
I don't want to dig too deep into my business model but for a long time motion creation has been good to me and regardless of how much we've invested in new equipment the last couple of years, it's much, much more than paid for itself.
Each person hits that spot where they have to decide if they want to be a small part of the solution or a large part.
I ain't Favreau or Mann, but our team is getting better at this every day and we've done some nice projects that I'm proud of. The difference is we work a lot faster than Favreau and Mann and do it with smaller crews.
Now, did I get up and say, I'm going to be a director? No. Actually when people ask me what I do I now have to stop and think, then say I create images, because defining what I do for a living is no longer a one word explanation.
To some it may not be comfortable and "art" covers a lot of territory, though I can make a huge list of directors and dp's that are considered artists that know how to make it work in their financial and artistic life in ways still photographers could only dream of.
In my view i don't find motion less personal or intimate than stills. I've always worked with crews, large and small and always had to collaborate so the personal interaction is about the same, though I know in motion imagery the personal interaction with the subject is deeper than with stills because your requiring so much more from the talent and yourself.
As a photographer you may appreciate hanging your print on the wall and examining every inch, but ask your clients if they view it that way, or better yet ask your client's customers what and how they view any image.
You'll learn a lot.
Anyway, Jeff's right motion is tough and if you ever stood next to the Cohen brothers they have the same eye circles that go full face that I have at this moment, because motion (especially with dialog) is overwhelming and you work until you fall, then you get up and work some more and I'm doing 2,3,4, minute commercial films.
Try doing 90 minutes.
Now where all of this goes in equipment I don't know. I do know I might bite on a square format motion/still camera just for the ability to creatively frame. Web video, even cinema doesn't have to be 2 to 1 or 16x9 or any format. The world can be what you want it to be as long as someone will writet the check.
For motion I care less about the physical size of the chip than I do the look. Our RED's are 4k and detailed though not detailed like a 4k still camera, but with a little work much prettier than the traditional video camera. The dslrs are amazing for what they do in low light, though to go through life trying to use them as real film replacement A camera is not really the optimal way to work.
For motion, especially in fast production I care more about raw files than the file size, because with 4 people on set and running multiple cameras nobody has the time to exactly match the color, tone and look of each camera 100%, but in raw processing it's much easier and safer.
Safe is a good word for motion, because unlike stills a simple bump of the tripod or anything out of place is very expensive to fix in post.
But in the end, the only real advice I have for anyone is if your a still photographer and your work is improving, your client base is moving up, your billings are climbing and your happy, don't change a thing, but if any one of those is not going the way you want, I'd dial 1-555-help-me-red.
IMO
BC