Couples OKing the final edit

[Miraj A. Berry]

We've been sending a copy to be viewed and OKd by the couple. Our contract stipulates that all editing will be done to industry standards and that all creative shooting/editing decisions are ours, and that any changes will only be made for technical issues with the DVD...

But...

We want our couples to be happy. There may be some style things that they hate. In which case, I think we'd be inclined to swap a shot. but we also don't want to be micromanaged by a couple who might be impossible to please.

We know some guys who give them their DVD and send them on their way. What is the bet way to handle this from your experiences?

Thanks!

~Miraj

[Steve Shovlar]

Never give the client the opportunity to get involved. You are asking for weeks of madness and frustration. Stick in your contract that all editing decisions are yours only.

Obviously if there is a problem with the editing or dvd, that is a different matter. But you should check every dvd from start to finish before it is sent out anyway.

Just my opinion.

[Matt Bishop]

I do the exact same thing that you do. I'll send a draft for them to look over. I do make it clear that the creative aspects and other items are in my control. Most of the time those aren't the things that they request to change anyway. I've had some nit picky ones that make me want to stop doing this, but I also mess up spellings and other things sometimes so it's well worth it (some of those not even being my fault...program errors and such). In the end I just want the couple to have a DVD that they want to watch for years to come and when you look at it that way, those little things aren't such a big deal....like you said, I want them to be happy.

I'm curious to see what others do and think about this also. I know there will be those that say no changes, it is what it is and send them on their way, but customer service is my #1 priority and in the few years I've been doing this, I've yet to have a customer be anything but blown away and extremely happy with the product. That's the success and accomplishment that I strive for.

Matt

[Noel Lising]

Miraj, don't give them the option. It will be a NIGHTMARE, one way to dissuade this is to charge extra for creative changes. I learned the Lesson the HARD WAY. I shot an 18th Birthday years ago, the celebrant wanted so many changes it made me nuts. Change the font, she broke up with her escort so less focus on her escort, she even told me how to switch the video from Cam 1 to Cam 2 during her cotillion ball. In short I spent 4 hours with her re-editing her video

[Miraj A. Berry]

Holy cow! So far, we haven't had any problems with allowing the final OK to come from the couple. We do the same for the photo slideshow...

There was one bride who didn't like a particular effect, but I actually didn't really like it either and I was kind of glad to have it changed.

But we do dread the couple who just cannot be pleased no matter what we do.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Steve Shovlar

Never give the client the opportunity to get involved.

As nasty as this sounds, I agree. My wife is a photographer and she can back me up on this. Whenever you give the client the opportunity to "OK" something it seems they feel obligated to find something to change. I would highly recommend not asking for "approval".

If it helps, I've never had an "approval process" for my wedding clients, and I've never had a problem. However, this all hinges on your work and your quality control. If you a delivering a sub-par product and the client is expecting more, you're going to have problems. My goal is to always deliver something more than what they expected. Never had a problem with this approach.

[Miraj A. Berry]

I see what you are all saying. Our contract says that we will deliver a film at least equal to the quality of the demo.

If they like our demo, then they should be satisfied with their video.

You're right about nudging them into trying to find something to change. I guess it's a case by case basis. If they are really unhappy about something and can make a case, we're going to be fair, no matter what. If it's something ridiculous, though, I think we would struggle with not pleasing a client by not caving in a make some absurd change to their film vs. making the bsurd change, pleasing the client, but being walked all over in the process.

[Danny O'Neill]

Send them all copies, in cases and thats it. Errors corrected FOC but if they want to change something then our contract says there 'may' be a charge. Which there will be.

[Richard Wakefield]

listen to everyone here....i took all this great advice a while ago and will never look back!

so for almost 2 years, i would religiously sent a draft copy, and in worst case i got back a 2 side A4 piece of paper of changes to make (even WITH extra charge, i found it frustrating and depressing!), and in most cases, 'oh can you change this and that'....again, annoying coz it means whole new renders and DVD duplication and DVD printing etc.

so now i give all my customers their 3 final DVDs, and haven't yet heard a peep, and everyone seems happy enough.

it actually seems to make you look more professional doing it this way...but if you give a draft copy and say 'do you like what i've done??' then it makes you look like you're not confident in your end product!

[Tim Harjo]

I'll jump in on this... I've only done the draft thing once... Although it was fine and nothing became of it, it got me thinking and I never did it again. I did have a client a couple of months ago that wanted to SIT WITH ME IN THE EDITING ROOM while I edit. hahahahaha.... no. Basically, I said that I could make arrangements to do this for $25/ hour. But then I strongly encouraged them not to. I informed them that we strive to give them the 'wow' factor when they get the finished product and that seeing it put together would deny them that 'wow' factor. I went over issues they had (it's always the same stuff... make sure u get the bouquet toss and the ring exchange etc..), and did my edits and delivered my product as normal. They wrote back saying that they loved it.

How often have you gone and seen a movie where you said I liked that movie, but I wish they would have made the main character do 'this' or 'that' instead, or the intro was too long, or it dragged in the middle. So yes, in short, I agree with not 'advertising' the fact that they can make changes.

[Peter Szilveszter]

When we first started we thought about offering this but decided this would create endless problems. So far I've never been asked to do creative changes. From talking to clients before the wedding, I find that once they have given me all the info as far as what they would like to have in the video they let me go do my job. As long as the contract states if they do want to change it then it will be charged and make sure its highly priced so only people that are really serious about making the change will go ahead with it.

I think the first time viewing creates much more impact to them rather them looking through it all with an analytical eye to request any adjustments they like and then to watch it again.

The idea is that they pay you to do your job as a professional so they don't have to anything other then wait for the DVD to arrive in their mail box and sit in front of the TV screen and watch their wedding day.

[John Knight]

Originally Posted by Tim Harjo

that wanted to SIT WITH ME IN THE EDITING ROOM while I edit. hahahahaha.... no.

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Ha ha. Yes, I have had that request to. I just laughed.

I'm with all the others, send the final product. Charge for any extra "subjective" editing time + cost of replacement discs.

99% of the time, my clients are are 100% satisfied. It's the inevitable 1% "client from hell" that will spoil try and spoil my season - at 40-50 weddings per year that's about 1 bitchzilla every 2 years which isn't bad.