Talk to the camera Shoot

Silas Barker · May 25th, 2010, 01:14 PM

I have a question and I am really just seeing what others charge for the following situation curious what the reasons and differences are:

You have a client who wants to create several short "talk to the camera" clips each from 30-60 seconds long.
The entire shooting takes about 1 hour.

You use the Sony Ex1 Camera or similar, tripod, 2 soft boxes, and a simple background.

What would you charge? (1 hour of time for filming, 1 hour for set up tear down, travel)

No Editing, just transfer files to clients harddrive

Please include your pricing breakdown as well - hourly rate, lighting, etc

Chris Davis · May 25th, 2010, 02:05 PM

That's a big "depends"!

For example, yesterday I did a similar shoot. The client wanted a simple "talk to the camera" presentation recorded and edited (light editing, simply making sure everything looked good with a slide at the beginning and end.)

My total time into it was 4 hours. He'll pay about $300 ($75 per hour.) Now he's a real good client and has me do stuff like this all the time. Since the first of the year, I've earned about $7k from him on this kind of project. It was in the same office complex (just a block away) and he worked around my timing and availability.

Now if some new client called out of the blue with the exact same project, they'd probably pay more. They'd probably pay my half-day rate plus editing time. In that case, the same project would end up costing more like $700. Why? Because I know how the first guy works, I know what to expect. I don't need to have a couple meetings to determine what it is he wants. I don't need to set aside extra time in case stuff wasn't communicated and the shoot goes long. Stuff like that.

Silas Barker · May 25th, 2010, 02:12 PM

I see...
I was asking for no editing involved....

And lets assume that it would actually only be 1 hour of filming too,
(if it went over then yes it would cost more, but lets assume for the sake of pricing that it is 1 hour total + set up, travel and tear down + copy files)

Garrett Low · May 25th, 2010, 02:54 PM

Hi Silas,

How do you normally bill for your projects? I bill my hourly rate for shooting, plus equipment rental (in this case single camera, light equipment and sound). In your time estimate make sure you include time to transfer files. I'd estimate 3 hours total so at my rates this project would come out to $525 ($300 equipment + 3x$75per hour).

Garrett

Silas Barker · May 25th, 2010, 02:58 PM

I have a $75 hour rate (includes camera in hourly rate) plus $100 for lighting and $25 for my audio set up.

In the example I first described I charged the client $250.

However, that seems low to what you would charge, but on the other hand shooting an entire wedding and editing can easily cost between $1000 - $2000. So its seems odd to me that it would cost so much for 1 hour of time plus copying the digital files to an external hard drive (15 minutes maybe for that from Ex1)

Am I too cheap? lol

May 25th, 2010, 01:14 PM	#1
Silas Barker Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 577	Talk to the camera Shoot - pricing I have a question and I am really just seeing what others charge for the following situation curious what the reasons and differences are: You have a client who wants to create several short "talk to the camera" clips each from 30-60 seconds long. The entire shooting takes about 1 hour. You use the Sony Ex1 Camera or similar, tripod, 2 soft boxes, and a simple background. What would you charge? (1 hour of time for filming, 1 hour for set up tear down, travel) No Editing, just transfer files to clients harddrive Please include your pricing breakdown as well - hourly rate, lighting, etc Last edited by Silas Barker; May 25th, 2010 at 02:11 PM.

May 25th, 2010, 02:05 PM	#2
Chris Davis Trustee Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Willmar, MN Posts: 1,400	That's a big "depends"! For example, yesterday I did a similar shoot. The client wanted a simple "talk to the camera" presentation recorded and edited (light editing, simply making sure everything looked good with a slide at the beginning and end.) My total time into it was 4 hours. He'll pay about $300 ($75 per hour.) Now he's a real good client and has me do stuff like this all the time. Since the first of the year, I've earned about $7k from him on this kind of project. It was in the same office complex (just a block away) and he worked around my timing and availability. Now if some new client called out of the blue with the exact same project, they'd probably pay more. They'd probably pay my half-day rate plus editing time. In that case, the same project would end up costing more like $700. Why? Because I know how the first guy works, I know what to expect. I don't need to have a couple meetings to determine what it is he wants. I don't need to set aside extra time in case stuff wasn't communicated and the shoot goes long. Stuff like that.

May 25th, 2010, 02:12 PM	#3
Silas Barker Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 577	I see... I was asking for no editing involved.... And lets assume that it would actually only be 1 hour of filming too, (if it went over then yes it would cost more, but lets assume for the sake of pricing that it is 1 hour total + set up, travel and tear down + copy files)

May 25th, 2010, 02:54 PM	#4
Garrett Low Trustee Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Novato, CA Posts: 1,774	Hi Silas, How do you normally bill for your projects? I bill my hourly rate for shooting, plus equipment rental (in this case single camera, light equipment and sound). In your time estimate make sure you include time to transfer files. I'd estimate 3 hours total so at my rates this project would come out to $525 ($300 equipment + 3x$75per hour). Garrett

May 25th, 2010, 02:58 PM	#5
Silas Barker Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 577	I have a $75 hour rate (includes camera in hourly rate) plus $100 for lighting and $25 for my audio set up. In the example I first described I charged the client $250. However, that seems low to what you would charge, but on the other hand shooting an entire wedding and editing can easily cost between $1000 - $2000. So its seems odd to me that it would cost so much for 1 hour of time plus copying the digital files to an external hard drive (15 minutes maybe for that from Ex1) Am I too cheap? lol