Will these guys put videographers out of business?

YOU FILM IT Jennifer and Steffen (HD) on Vimeo

You Film It: You Film It | unique wedding videos

They supply the camera, tripod, lights, and instructions in how to film. The couple's friends and families create the footage. Then You Film It edits it.

Definitely possible to find videographers who will shoot and edit for less than what You Film It are charging for rental+edit, but the packages do represent a considerable savings compared to most Sydney videos, "cinematic" or otherwise.

I've seen similar things advertised on The Knot in America (sometimes accompanied by camera workshops), but I think it's pretty new for Australia.

The degree to which people are relaxed and the amount of nice candid moments -- I think these are hard for a stranger to capture. Focus, shake, exposure, sound -- how much do these really matter when weighed against content?

Edit: Just noticed video can't be embedded. Anyway, website again is: http://youfilmit.com.au/ . A shout out to the You Film It people if you ever read this. I might see you guys at the One Fine Day expo.

[James Manford]

Good thread and business idea. I've seen one or two in the UK who do this as well.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it to be honest.

If any thing, one of the main reasons couples don't delegate such a task to family is because they want them to sit back, relax and enjoy the day.

And i'm sure they would be a bit skeptical having a family member film it. And if they had confidence in 'uncle bobs' capabilities, then i'm sure they would just tell him to use his existing camera anyway.

I dunno, I would love to see how much money these companies are making to see if they actually get a lot of customers or not.

[Noa Put]

when crap goes in crap will come out, no matter how experienced the editor is that has to glue the pieces together.
It's a nice idea though and if the price is right (meaning much lower then having a professional film it) then I"m sure they"ll do fine but it's no substitute for the real thing.

[Peter Riding]

Shoot It Yourself has been doing this for a while in the UK:

Home | Shoot It Yourself, Wedding Video

but I am not aware of their presence at all, nor any similar companies for that matter.

If they want that style they are probably not your / our type of clients anyway and were never going to book.

Pete

[Roger Gunkel]

As Peter says, they have been in the UK for a while and I haven't encountered them or had clients talking about them either. What's the point of giving a beginner decent equipment that they aren't familiar with and wouldn't know what to shoot anyway. They get an instruction video and are then expected to shoot on the day. You might as well hire a guest a guitar and instruction video and expect them to supply the music!

Then you will have to delegate which family member/s are going to spend their entire day trying to video a wedding they are supposed to be a guest at. There are plenty of guests at weddings these days with good quality stills cameras, but would the couple expect them to be responsible for all their wedding photos? I don't think so!

All these types of services really do, is devalue the wedding video in the eyes of some potential clients in my opinion.

Roger

[Rob Cantwell]

they have it here in Ireland too, I think the stuff is shipped from the UK - not sure, but it must be more expensive. Basically it's a rental/editing arrangement.

I read on a 'do it yourself' wedding website about it, at first glance it might appeal to a couple, but theres so many pitfalls to it, it might suit some couples, certainly here in Ireland people tend to want to have a good time and i think for most people this would interfere with that or they'd lose interest half way through

the first paragraph goes;
'Pick a few friends who you trust to be responsible for the filming on the day and they will be sent a link to an online video tutorial to learn to use the camera.' - I barely trust myself with a camera!!

They get the camera (Sony HVR-A1E) the day before the wedding!!! - is one day with a new/strange/different camera really long enough to learn?

what if one of your trusted friends breaks off the lcd or something or worse gets blotto and cant remember where the camera is? I'm sure theres a deposit to be paid on the equipment.

If they stay sober. will the trusted friends stick it out for the duration of the event? (we all know it's a long day)

If no footage is usable or missing (e.g. the record button wasn't pressed). theres absolutely no comeback for the client, no wedding video :(

i dont consider it any sort of serious competition.

[Adrian Tan]

Hey guys, out of curiosity, what do you think of the results? Have you seen the videos that these companies produce?

[Roger Gunkel]

Just checked the UK site and the basic one camera edited package is £849, for one copy with one chapter of 'The Best Bits' about 15-20 mins, presumably edited, and two further chapters with the ceremony and the speeches, naturally depending on how much of them has been filmed and presumably unedited. Any name credits and stills are an additional £65 and additional dvd copies £25 each. So on that basis, highlights, ceremony and speeches with credits and 3 dvds, will cost £964.

You can have totally unedited footage from one camera on dvd for £499, although for that price I think you would be better off buying a camera for half the price from a high street store and at least you would still have the camera afterwards.

The example on their website is very short handheld clips from several different weddings and looks like a collection of Uncle Bob's bits edited to music. I can see it as an add on to a professional wedding video if the couple have loads of money to spend, in the same way as a fun photo or video booth, but no threat to professional wedding video.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

It's been out for a while in Adrian's turf rather than mine so maybe they are gunning for Sydney. Look at it this way, Adrian, they have to buy the cameras and rent them out. They have to also do a little basic training session with the elected operators for the day. That all costs money. They then have a dog's breakfast of footage to try to edit ..that also costs them money.

Now, they obviously want to make a decent profit from all this so the overall cost is not going to be much less than normal videography. In fact if the "editors" went out and shot the footage for the client they would edit it in half the time and actually make a nicer profit BUT they are not trying to compete with professionals but are simply exploiting a different angle to the market ..more of a personal touch and the end result is completely different to what we would shoot and cover so you should have no qualms about them being in operation. The bride that hires them would never be the bride that hires you or even a weekend warrior so you are in no danger of losing clients!!

I was watching a neat You Tube video on yet another concept where the groom mounted a GoPro inside the bride's bouquet and just let it run. It was a unique way of recording a wedding and fun to watch but again no real threat to traditional wedding coverage.

You should be more worried about film school students who go out at the weekends with $600 DSLR's and shoot weddings for a few hundred bucks rather than the Film it Youself people.

The Aussie site quotes nearly $2000 for a "full edit" and that's just one camera on hire ..add on a few more extras and you are looking at $2500 at least!! That's a lot more than I charge for a wedding anyway ...if it was maybe a few hundred dollars I might see brides having it as an extra but not at that price ... over here if you quoted $2.5K for a one camera shoot you wouldn't get any business anyway. Being part of a global company they obviously have franchise fees to cost in as well!!


Chris

[Peter Riding]

Really its not a lot different in content to a bunch of mobile phone clips that guests might shoot. Sharing sites already exist for guests photos so I guess video clips is bound to follow.

If the bride has not seen the "real thing" it would no doubt have more appeal, at least in the immediate. But its going to look very sick compared to a proper 3/4/5 multi-cam with every shot properly exposed and rock steady throughout - and I mean sick as in sick not as in sick (down with the kids here!). And there is no significant cost advantage.

So the trick has to be to get in front of the bride in the first place. Then you have a slam dunk.

I looked at the UK version in depth after it featured on Dragons Den. One thing I couldn't understand was how they could blatantly use commercial copyright music in their online samples. The licensing would kill the business plan surely. Yet an accomplished high profile business woman is part funding it.

Pete

[Frank Glencairn]

LOL - looks like outsourcing services to the customer and make him pay for doing your work is a new business model.

[Ralph Gereg]

Do garden hoses put a carwash out of business?
Does Betty Crocker put Bakeries out of business?
Does Home Depot put landscapers our of business?
Does the DIY garage mechanic put Jiffylube out of business?

Think about it this way.... how many places sell Oil Filters, Oil and everything you need to change the oil in your own car for really cheap? There are a million things that the DIYer can do for themselves and video is just another item in that long list now.

As i write this I'm reminded about a show on tv where they show people trying to renovate their own homes.... most of the time its painful to watch because its like watching a train wreck. I think there are 3 distinct classes of "clients" out there:

1) this is the perfect client for diy.... they are cheap/broke and really want a video, they may never pay what a full service videgrapher would charge.
2) this one cpould go either way. they have the money. If they are cheap and dont care about quality they will go diy. many are LAZY and dont care that much about quality and will look for the cheapest rate they can get.
3) the perfect customer. they have money and they want a great product that they know will require a pro to do right.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Ralph

What amuses me is that these guy's "garden hoses" are actually more expensive than the car wash anyway AND they are making you do the work for them too. Sorta much the same as them hiring you a garden hose for more than it would cost you to go to the car wash and then tell you to wash your own car.

It's obviously just the novelty factor of someone either in or with the bridal party tagging along with them and capturing purely the candid moments.

As mentioned before IF the service was a couple of hundred dollars I could see the value in it but at $2000 +++ it sounds awfully pricey for some home video footage.

Chris

[Al Gardner]

The footage is pretty crappy by today's standards.
But at the end of the day, a memory is a memory. There is no technical or creative standard for a memory in ones mind. If somebody says something truly touching on a crappy mic it doesn't really matter ,it's the content that was touching. Watching Grandma and Grandpa dance would be exciting on a flip phone.

But I would suspect this service would have huge appeal to those who were not gonna hire a videographer anyway. Certainly don't see it as a threat, unless it falls in your price category. And if this is your pricing in 2013 you have serious work to do anyway.

[Paul R Johnson]

The business idea was conjured up in the UK TVs Dragon's Den, where the idea was punted to a bunch of millionaire investors, where one picked up the idea. That's got to be a couple of years ago at least and I've read nothing about them since!