Looking For Freelance Wedding Editors
 

I am looking for persons interested and experienced in freelance wedding video editing services.

I own a wedding video production company in Thunder Bay Ontario Canada and Calgary Alberta Canada and am in desperate need of some editing assistance. We have fallen way behind in out editing schedule and are looking for an editor or editors to assist with our work load throughout 2007.

We shoot both one and two camera weddings in 4:3 and 16:9 formats. Currently we are shooting HDV, DVCPRO and DV and editing standard def and outputting to SD DVD. Our editing systems are AVID XpressProHD and we currently have one full time and one part time editor and one part time DVD author.

I am looking for someone with style and quality. Our needs are fairly modest but I would probably suggest some that small adjustments for our market would probably be required but nothing to drastic to an individuals current style.

A standard wedding shoot for us includes coverage of the following:
-brides preparations
-groom preparations
-full ceremony
-after ceremony park photo session
-reception speeches, dancing and very few guest comments
-highlight recap

This schedule usually results in about 4-5 hours of footage for a single camera shoot and 6-7 hours for a two camera shoot. The second camera is usually just a different angle of the main camera content.

If anyone is interested in doing some projects for us I was hoping you could answer the following.

What system do you edit on?
How would I get the raw footage to you?
What kind on tape machines do you use?
How would I see an approval copy for revision comments?
Do you make the DVD menus as well?
Can we get the finished DVD files via FTP over the internet?
How would I get the money to you, do you take credit cards?

And of course – how much do you charge? (looking for project prices not hourly) and what currency is the price in (US$ or CAN$)?

Currently I have about 30 weddings that need immediate editing. We are a very small company and just can not keep up with the editing workload. I am hoping to find an economical solution to our problem and am hoping that outsourcing some of our editing will help.

Hope that’s not too many questions and I thank you in advance for your assistance with this inquiry.


Chris Ficek
mrmaverick@tbaytel.net

Do you have samples of your work online?

It would likely help anybody interested if they could see the quality of your shooting and editing as that would determine the type of work and amount of time investment they would be looking at per wedding.

I agree with Patrick, need to see some samples to know more or less what your expecting.

Hi Chris,
How long do you want the final edit to be? Are all the vocals with wireless mics or onboard mics. Will we need to color correct? Do you want a straight forward edit.

Jason

If there's no reply from Chris Ficek within 24 hours, I'm pulling this thread.

Thinking very hard about restricting first-time posters from Helping Hands.

...and "we are a small company with 30 unedited weddings"? How long did it take to build up to that?

I don't have any samples on line right now, my website is a bit of a disaster. I will encode some samples and get them up over the next few days.

Response time
 

Posted Friday at lunch and responded Monday. Seems kind of harsh to be heavy about a weekend absence as this is an industry totally based on weekend work. I've shot three productions for three different clients in the past three days-sorry no time to check the boards.

In any event I'm here now and would like to thank everyone for the many replies I recieved from this request. I will be responding to all the emails this evening.

Heck- I even got a reply from a local competitor, thanks Jason good to hear from you - I'll just call you to chat about this.

Volume
 

David,

Fortunatly we are very busy shooting at our two locations and this backlog has built over the past 6-7 months. We tell our clients that delivery times can reach the 6 month mark but it's getting a little out of hand. In our main market our competitions main marketing message is that they can deliver faster than us (not you Jason) but that still hasn't really impacted sales so I guess Northerners are really patient people.

We just want to be fair to our clients and deliver a quality video in a reasonable time with out driving anymore of our staff into the loony bin with 60 hour work weeks.

In 2007 we thought we would easy the pressure by eliminating our DJ/Video combo discount package (we offer DJ services as well with a major discount on the video if purchased as a package) and raising our prices but again no slowing in sales. Looks like it gonna be a good year so I want to easy the backlog before we get too far into the wedding season.

Sent you an email with my rates and some info.

Sent you an email as well.

I sent an email two weeks ago, nobody bothered to reply.

Same here.

Chris in response to your ad here is my details :::

What system do you edit on?
PC= Adobe Premiere 1.5
Mac Final Cut Pro 5.0

How would I get the raw footage to you?
Fedex or UPS (you pay for S/H)

What kind on tape machines do you use?
DVD Cam. Mini DV, SVHS, Betacam SP, XDCam Disc

How would I see an approval copy for revision comments?
Via Fedex or UPS (You pay for S/H)

Do you make the DVD menus as well?
YES

Can we get the finished DVD files via FTP over the internet?
no at this time

How would I get the money to you, do you take credit cards?
Paypal Credit cards Yes
----------------------------------------------------
Charges for services as follows::
brides preparations $110 US
groom preparations $110 US
full ceremony, after ceremony park photo session, reception speeches, dancing and very few guest comments $560 US
highlight recap slowmotion set to music $200 US
Project delivered on DVD (autoplay) no menus

DVD Authoring about 10 to 12 chapters $300 US

If you need to see my work sample PM, I'm glad to send you one!

TOS: 50% of total cost and 50% upon delivery

Hope this info works for you! anyway

William Osorio

He did email me back. Asked for my phone number, but then never called...

Oh, well.

Hi guys,
This company resides in my town, and is part of my competition here locally, What would be the average price per se as a whole. That might be why there is no response. He may be looking for a lowball price.

Positions Filled-Thanks to all who responded
 

Thanks to the many replies from my original post. This was the first time I had visited these boards and found them quite interesting. Good job by the creators.

I received many replies from these boards for my request for editing assistance, and many from forwards from board readers to non-board sources. As a result we have initiated a trial with a few respondents and will see how it goes. All looks well thus far.

As for the juvenile comments about “low balling” anyone with any business sense would realize that there is a balance between costs associated with delivering a product ( shooting/editing/outputting), overhead of the operation (rent, office staff, marketing, insurance, professional memberships, equipment, taxes), market conditions (what people will pay, competitive offerings) and the desired profit margins. Of course we were looking for someone that would do the work and still allow us to make money, if not why would we even be in business-just for the fun of it?

For those who think that we could afford to pay over 75% of our retail price just for the editing missed the mark of our request. Those who thought this was the easy way to make a bunch of money by just editing for us also missed the mark. This opportunity was best suited for someone who had the opposite problem we have-excess editing capacity. Time between their own projects to fit in some bonus work and keep a cash flow working for their business. In the end this is exactly what happened, some individuals choose to take our excess work to keep their editors working in the off season rather than have them go without work. Surely that gave us a fair deal and kept money flowing to them-sounds like a win-win to me.

For my critics, who probably work out of their basement, don’t pay wages to a fulltime staff and probably don’t charge and remit the appropriate taxes (you know who you are) don’t be so quick to call down the efforts of another to find the best value for their situation.

As for some non responses, once I had made a deal with some trial editors I have not revisited these boards until today when I received an email from more interested parties, sorry I missed some of you- maybe next time. And there maybe a next time if this exercise works out. We have just finished wedding show season here and the bookings have already exceeded last year, given that the fall is the busiest booking time this is shaping up to be our best year since 1998.

Chris,
My apologies, I didn't mean anything negative or juvenile about the comments I was simply referring to the fact that no response was given perhaps because the prices may have been too high compared to what your overall price might have been. Judging by one of the public posts it would cost more to edit the piece than could have been made in charging for the whole. I used the word "lowball" to suggest that someone who might just want to make some extra cash can give a reasonable price that would suit your needs. To attack people who operate out of their homes is insulting to say the least. We can eliminate almost all overhead costs by doing so and allow us more profitability. I am surprised that someone with your knowledge of the business and the fact that it is our work that is judged not the office space in which you rent. By basing our business on quality and not quantity also allows us to quickly become the video company of choice and not have legal problems that some others might have with past clients, not to mention the bad publicity that spreads quite quickly. You are right though this will be the best year thus far as we also have booked more than the years past. I wish you the best and hope to hear from you soon

Jason

A final word
 

Well the eternal lesson of never getting involved in an internet pissing match was almost forgotten by me, and for that I apologies to all.

And to note this will be my only and final comment on the matter.

Jason-your apology email was well received however not necessary-my comments were directed to another individual who was put out by the fact that I did not like their submitted work sample and especially their price. In an effort to not get sucked into a foolish situation I will just post a small quote from this individuals many emails to me and leave it at that…

“I don’t think your going to find anybody good for under a thousand bucks, I wouldn’t even waste my time editing for less than a thousand. I told you i would do it under the table and i have a great system and the work is worth 3 thousand in my town so you should raise your prices and pay what its worth……”

As I’m sure you know Jason I have no issue with home based business, it was more of a comment about unprofessional business practices like not charging or paying the appropriate taxes and such as this fellow was promoting.

As for quality vs. quantity there will always be room in every market for the 5star restaurants and the McDonalds, people have different needs and tastes but both are well run profitable ventures-it’s not the price you charge but the satisfaction of your clients that breeds success.

Being part of this board probably also mean that people visit WEVA and 4Ever or other similar wedding video websites, isn’t it interesting how a large number of posts and topics deal with the aspects of legal issues with clients, crazy clients and the like. I know well the legal issues you elude to but I always remember this concept when I hear about someone on a legal situation,

Me and my friends and family all love blondes and we are sure everybody else should love blondes as well. You and your friends and family all love brunettes and are sure everybody else should love brunettes as well. Does that make me wrong?

There are always two sides to a story, sometimes a judge has to decide where common sense has to enter the equation.

Wedding videos are an emotionally charged product that usually has little or no true pre-event storyboard content determined for the actual wedding day (pre-shoots aside). Every bride has a complete picture in her mind exactly how she wants her wedding video to look and feel. As professionals it is our job to properly interpret that and deliver on the brides expectations and instructions. Where this is not possible due to lack of communication, unforeseen events on wedding day or in the case of this legal issue, a dead battery, professionals seek a resolution that best serves the client first and their business needs second. When a pissed off bride refuses a full refund but demands $10,000 in emotional suffering and spends most of her time bad mouthing the videographer rather than enjoying her new marriage she looses on two fronts. Looking like a fool in court, not getting as much of a refund as the company offered and losing over 50% of the court ordered refund in legal costs, hmmmm who won that one.

Opps, there I go again, venting on the net, I really should know better.

In any event I think anyone out there should take note that Jason and I operate in a small town in Northern Ontario Canada, snow and cold six months of the year, population about 100,000 with most major industries in decline and we are both posting banner years and it’s only March! We must be doing something right.

Enough for now, back to my Big Mac.

Chris, I can't believe anyone at all would have any problems with your posts, based on what you have posted in this thread, time wise or content.
Allen W