Anyone offer this as a package? just the 3-5 min highlight? I just started offering that with the inclusion of all the speeches as an extra on the dvd as a basic edit.

I have one couple book it so far but I just started offering it. I actually offer this to my friends who are getting married as a wedding gift "highlight only" but Im curious if you folks have noticed brides wanting only the highlight

I do offer it and this summer with the economy not being in the best shape and budgets being low its pretty much all brides wanted.. which was great for me, its quick and easy in post production.

Same thing as Louis said. I offer a highlight/music video only package and with the economy being what it is it's my most popular package.

I wish I only offered it... but yep I have a package similar to this. I also give out all of the raw footage on a HD as well.

I wish I only offered it... but yep I have a package similar to this. I also give out all of the raw footage on a HD as well.

Louis, NIck and Steve. (SNJ, PA and NYC). You guys pretty much surround me as I am on the Jersey Shore. Do you charge the same amount for just a highlight as you would for a full edit? For me, I want to make as much money as I can on the wedding day. So I'm not going out for less just to film a highlight. Louis, the economy hasn't hurt my business at all..so I don't really follow what you are saying, especially you being in NYC where eveything is still expensive.

Louis, NIck and Steve. (SNJ, PA and NYC). You guys pretty much surround me as I am on the Jersey Shore. Do you charge the same amount for just a highlight as you would for a full edit? For me, I want to make as much money as I can on the wedding day. So I'm not going out for less just to film a highlight. Louis, the economy hasn't hurt my business at all..so I don't really follow what you are saying, especially you being in NYC where eveything is still expensive.

I'm just looking for a smaller work load time to time. I love doing highlight/trailers... It's my favorite part of filming a wedding. The actual edit takes a lot out of me, and it's nice to be able to draft something quick and creative, and still get compensated for it.
All that being said, I understand your point on not wanting to short change yourself...

Steve

I am intrigued by this highlight only idea. Do you still shoot like you are on a regular 10-12 hour day? But you shoot only about 10-15 shots of the bridal preps etc.? Brides actually go for this when they know they will not receive every word of the ceremony? Do you add a DVD chapter for the toasts or leave them out all together?
I would be interested to try something like this next summer as I was so slammed in editing this year, I haven't even taken the time to update my website with new weddings. (shame on me)
I can see where a fast turn around would be an appealing option for this package.

It's interesting to hear all this because, for me at least, the Highlight is what takes so long! The documentary part (the running ceremony etc.) basically gets edited fairly quickly/automatically as I comb through and search out the Highlights Material. I generally spend 2-3 hours doing the comb through and edit of the running footage, and then a good 12-15 hours on the Highlights. So I couldn't see saving money by offering just the highlights as that's 80% of the work (which includes creating a trailer, too). For me it would be the opposite: they'd save money by just having cleaned up running footage with NO highlight. But I don't think I'd ever offer that because it would be a fairly ho-hum product to have my name on.

I just finished shooting a wedding in NYC and the couple only want a highlight video about 5-10min in length. They specifically stated they didn't want an hour of stuff no one wants to watch. I found that very interesting.

They understood that since we were traveling from NC to NYC to shoot it would not be an inexpensive shoot but that didn't matter to them. Only that they get a good highlight video. What they want is something more like a music video and don't even want use NAT sound. This is a first for me but OK, if thats what they want I'm happy to provide the service.

Louis, the economy hasn't hurt my business at all..so I don't really follow what you are saying, especially you being in NYC where eveything is still expensive.

Yep everything is still expensive, but slow... but thats not to say that my highlights only thing is cheap... I still charge a lot for it, but its not my highest end package but its good for me because its the least amount of time in post and for me thats the part I hate the most.

I've been offering 4-6 min. highlights only for about 6 months or so. It's totally changed my turnaround times and my business as a whole - not to mention the additional creative boost.

I do provide an option to add on/upgrade this to a 10-15 minute 'main feature', still cut in a similar style but my days of producing anything creative longer than 20 minutes max. are happily over.

BTW...very basic start>finish doco edits of ceremony/speeches are included via an extra menu on the dvds.

wow lots of you guys doing the short videos! Thats great! makes me look forward to offering it to more clients. I love the turnaround time the best. I really enjoy editing the highlights but really dont enjoy the long edits.

Thinking about doing this next year. In California, from what I am told, if you offer digital download only, you don't have to pay tax.

You mean collect tax ;)

I find that when I post the 4 minute highlight film online, many responses are "I can't wait to see the rest of the video"!.

From the bride's point of view, a short highlight is good for showing friends and family, but they want to keep the long version so they can show their future children what their great grandparents looked and sounded like, aunt Jane and uncle Tom in the audience, etc....something the short highlight doesn't have. As time goes on, every second of the people that attended will be precious, and they will care less about shallow dof shots of the dress, shoes, flowers, and cake. Highlights are eye candy and look good now, but the true flavor is in the long version.

I got this information based on recent interviews I did with wedding couples I've shot 20 years ago, who have grown children today.

In order to edit the highlight, I still have to watch all of the other footage that I shot, so in reality I find that it takes just as much if not more work to do just the highlight. In terms of a package, I would have to charge the bride the same amount of money, as it doesn't take me any less time to put the highlight together than it does to just edit everything as I'm going through and watching it anyways.

Highlights are eye candy and look good now, but the true flavor is in the long version.

Well said Warren. I completely agree.

Warren, I agree with you. However, some couples can't afford the full shebang, yet want the highlight video for now. They end up (in the package I offer) getting all the speeches shot and edited nicely. my highlight videos for that package will always include the vows, and key moments of the ceremony. So they really end up with all the important parts of the day still.

However, in the long run they also have the footage from family and friends that were at the wedding which still has the same content value, just not as nice as if I were to do it, which you're saying doesnt matter as much as time goes on anyway. So as long as theres other people taking their homevideo footage then more or less the future is lookin creamy in terms of "true flavour".

The brides that book this type of package probably wouldnt be able to afford video otherwise, or would hire their aspiring family member to do it and if that family member was actually aspiring enough they'd probably show up with their camera anyway whether Im there or not.

Warren, I agree with you. However, some couples can't afford the full shebang, yet want the highlight video for now. They end up (in the package I offer) getting all the speeches shot and edited nicely. my highlight videos for that package will always include the vows, and key moments of the ceremony. So they really end up with all the important parts of the day still.

However, in the long run they also have the footage from family and friends that were at the wedding which still has the same content value, just not as nice as if I were to do it, which you're saying doesnt matter as much as time goes on anyway. So as long as theres other people taking their homevideo footage then more or less the future is lookin creamy in terms of "true flavour".

The brides that book this type of package probably wouldnt be able to afford video otherwise, or would hire their aspiring family member to do it and if that family member was actually aspiring enough they'd probably show up with their camera anyway whether Im there or not.

I rarely see friends/family videotaping during the wedding.

I rarely see friends/family videotaping during the wedding.I can well believe that. At two weddings I was a guest at I saw no one other guest "taping". One wedding had a videographer, the other didn't. I doubt the bridal couple from the former will be asking for my "footage" but they might end up seeing it from relatives who will.

hmm thats interesting, I see people with cameras all the time. Especially at my family weddings, everyones taking footage. I guess everyone is different.

I see people with cameras all the time. Especially at my family weddings, everyones taking footage.Your use of the word "camera" made me realize that it is possible that some guests were taking "footage" (how antiquated that sounds now!) with their still cameras, since most of those nowadays can do video (and a few do it reasonably well). However, I don't recall anyone holding their cameras up for extended periods of time. BTW, no one except the official photgraphers had SLRs and they definitely weren't taking video with them.

Speaking of still cameras, although the question is OT for this thread have any of you pros using camcorders had to switch to a still camera unexpectedly, because you've run out of memory/tape/battery or for whatever reason? At one of those weddings I mentioned my camcorder's battery finally ran out during the reception (it gets about 2.5 hours on a charge but I had been using it most of the day and did not have an opportunity to recharge it before that evening), so I had to switch to my pocket still camera. Unfortunately, mine is an older model that only does widescreen SD (848 x 480, mJPEG) so I took a big quality hit.

oh man Alan that would suck so much! That must've been awful for you (although I'd imagine the client didnt take it as hard as you did?)

I've never had that happen and hopefully will never have to rely on my iphone for footage!

No client in this case since I was only a guest and I'm just an amateur videographer in any case. If I had been doing it professionally you can bet I would have brought a few extra batteries! In this case, the couple's family members who will probably see my footage will see it on DVD, so I'm hoping that the quality difference won't be quite as obvious as it would be on BD. (I still expect to see it, since downconversion from the HD camcorder is going to look better than the SD from that particular point-and-shoot camera.)

I am sorry to revive an older post, but I have a very on-topic question:

I too am looking for a budget friendly package, and a highlight-only option seems like it might be a good fit. I enjoy doing the highlight edits, and not having to edit together a long-form DVD with full length ceremony, speeches, etc. - is indeed a time saver for me.

My wife came up with the following idea, and I was wondering if anyone has heard of such a thing?

Produce only a highlight edit as a low-budget option - but give the B&G the option to purchase a long-form edit in the future. (Maybe suggest it as a 1 year anniversary present to themselves.) This way, you can book the budget conscious client, perform the short edit, and leave the option open for a full-length edit if they decide they want to see the whole ceremony, speeches, etc., in the future.

Does anyone think this is a good idea?

Angelo

Hi angelo,

We offer a highlights only option, its priced on the assumption that we film to edit. so only film what we need for the highlights. This means less storage, less to scrub through and the obvious short edit. Its selling really well and is priced about twice as high as most other videographers full packages yet still sells like hot cakes.

We dont offer the option to upgrade as it means filming for a normal full edit. More work, more storage, more scrubbing etc. We could in theory but would have to increase its price to accommodate this so make sure you bear this in mind.

Its more of a gateway package. The price is on the web site and means people get in touch with the intention to buy that package. When they come in we show them a full feature, just so they get an idea to our style, they often come out having spoken about it and decide they now want the full film and manage their budget accordingly. Some settle on the highlights only.

The market were in we find people want the shorter edit, theyve seen the longer ones and its just not for them. Some want the really short highlights only so it fits nicely.

I have a similar package on top of the full edited movie package. It'll be a 6-7 highlights video. Then a 30 minutes extended version. There will be the interview chapter and the bloopers chapter. Only 4 things. I just have to explain clearly what they are getting to maintain the expectation.

We will be offering this package next year...just like Danny said we have to explain to clients that we will be shooting for highlights only. However we plan to provide them with a raw edit of the ceremony and the speeches during the reception.

Kren

Hey guys, so I've actually been offering the highlight with the speeches from the reception and I've sold quite a few, I had 3 this fall, and I have 4 more booked next year. Its mostly friday weddings too, which leaves my saturdays open for a full priced package.

My sister came down to Florida and ask me the day before to come and just shoot a little wedding video. No way I said because i know that just a little video is a three day project. So she gave me her snap shots and I put it to music and slapped a couple of titles on it and was done in about an hour. She now thinks that I am the greatest video guy around!! It has been seen by about 90 people on You Tube and the family is happy.
Smith Spallone Wedding Oct 30 2011 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfSWWcJW5A8)

Thats how it starts Kenneth. Just a little favour to a friend or family and then 'BAM!'. 2 years later your telling your boss to shove it somewhere dark, walking out and into a whole new life :)