What are must-have items for getting big into videography and video editing?

SGT Spratley: Depending on your budget and what your target audience is, will determine a lot of items. The main items, broken down by the two options you asked about are (IMHO):

Videography:
A) Good Pro-sumer or Pro camera. (Based in "big in Videography..") with XLR inputs.
B) Fluid head tri-pod. Good sturdy Pro model. Not lightweight flimsy
C) Various lights (for indoor shoots) with/without hoods, barn doors, ...
D) Reflectors (for outdoor and special lighting requirements) [these are fairly inexpensive]
E) High quality microphones.
1) Standard Mikes (handheld)
2) Lavalier microphones (for hidden mike walk around).
3) Shotgun Microphone for indoor (microphone out of frame) recording (with boom)
F) Good quality noise cancelling headset (so you can hear the audio from recorder without excess
noise)
G) Production monitor (this is so that you can see what is being recorded on a larger screen than
the one on the camera.
That is for the going BIG in Video. There are a LOT more but this is the basics.

Video Editing:

A) Video editing software that you are comfortable with. Adobe is the leader and the most
expensive (yearly fee and monthly fee) if you want all the bells and whistles. There are others
but if you are planning BIG ...
B) High quality (fast with lots of RAM) computer. This will be your choice as to what you want to
work with/on. You may find you want both for different customers but I would start with the
one you plan on using most.
C) Very high quality video monitor. There is no skimping on this. You can "make due" with a
good monitor until your "BIG" customer ask why the color is off because he uses a High
Quality one.
D) FAST, Redundant, disk storage. You do not want to wait forever for the disk to store/upload
your video so you can continue editing.

That is just the beginning. Depending on your target customer, you can upgrade or downgrade (film/documentaries versus Quinceaneras/Weddings).

Good luck and keep in touch.

I started out with a cheap camcorder and free editing software, thinking it’d be enough, but once I began taking on bigger projects it became clear I needed better gear fast. Switched to a Canon cam with XLR inputs, invested in a Rode shotgun mic and a reliable fluid head tripod. The thing I underestimated at first was lighting, even basic videos look 10x better with a couple softboxes. Also, yeah, audio is everything. A bad mic can make even a 4K video feel low-budget.

I still freelance on the side, but for bigger contracts I’ve worked with a local crew that handles full-service Edmonton video production. Their setup's light-years ahead of mine, and I picked up a few tricks just being on set with them. You can check their website on http://www.thirdbornentertainment.com/

Adobe after effects for effects and priemer pro for editing. On the physical side; tripod, small dolly(easy DIY), and a good computer especially if you plan on working in 1080 or 4K, and finally a really good investment is an external mic.