The eyes are important, but it’s what behind them that’s critical. If you don’t have a vision of what you want in your mind’s eye, you’re screwed.
On the technology side of things, an NLE that you are comfortable and proficient with is the most important – I like Sony Vegas Pro – You can take bad footage and make it better, take bad audio and improve it, all with a very old computer (Pentium 4 @ 2.6GHz, 3GB RAM, XP Pro SP 3, sub 1080 monitor, etc…) which shows that as long as the software runs, you can get by with good enough.
My chair is currently a very good one, but I have used CostCo $20 folding varieties with equal success. More importantly, IMHO, is a good working environment – quiet, well lit, convenient bathroom & kitchen facilities, ability to meet with current and prospective clients.
The two things on the technology side I will bow to are a) a really great library of royalty free assets – stock photos & video, music, sound effects, animated wipes & backgrounds, lower thirds, etc… Probably the best bang for the buck you can add to make your work better/easier; and b) a good selection of software tools (audio cleanup, titling, authoring, format conversion & compression, etc…) which can in general make your life a whole lot easier.
Just MHO on all this – I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV – Your mileage may vary.
