re edit hourly rate???

[Luke Oliver]

I had a phone call last night form a couple who i filmed for about 3 months ago. They love their film which i gave them recently. The groom showed his sister ( who is already married and has a film) and she liked it so much that she wants me to re edit hers. She says hers is ' boring', basically. Im not sure who filmed it but a professional company in england ( across the water form me)

i said thats no problem but am unsure how much to charge , shall i charge an hourly rate and if so how much???

would love some feedback for this as i have no idea ???

many thanks
luke

[Vito DeFilippo]

I would suggest finding an hourly rate you are comfortable with, and multiplying by the number of hours you think it might take you.

Then you can watch them freak out because they think it's ridiculously expensive.

For example, if you want $30/hour to edit (which is cheap for most professional editors, but more than most wedding videographers usually would get, I would think), and you think it will take you 30 hours, then ask for $900.

[Travis Cossel]

Vito is dead on. If you're in business at all, you should already know what your "hourly rate" is. If not, figure that out ASAP. Then just build an estimate for the client based on the number of hours you expect it to take (and account for any hard costs too).

[William Smyth]

Luke,
Have you had a chance to see the video that you'll be re-cutting? You know she's somewhat disappointed in the original video and you may want to base your hourly rate on how much you think it will take to bring it up the standards she's expecting.

[Noel Lising]

Hi Luke,

I would be wary accepting the job, you did not shoot the video, you gave her sister a good finished product coz you shot the video and you are familiar with the shots during post production. This is just my personal opinion though and it's your call.

[Luke Oliver]

well i have asked him for the original dv tapes if he can get them but i do understand that the footage is poor then it would be a struggle, also its really hard to predict how long it could take, im waiting for him to get back to me letting me know how long all the footage is. Still though its a hard decision.
i think ill go for £30 an hour ( about $60) i had not had a price yet cause his was the first paid wedding i did and i only started marketing last week, i have my basic package, £580 for bronze , £980 for silver and £1200 for gold. Least the feedback for it was good i guess.

Whats everyone else's hourly rate ???

[Vito DeFilippo]

Originally Posted by Luke Oliver

well i have asked him for the original dv tapes if he can get them but i do understand that the footage is poor then it would be a struggle

If you can't get the original footage, it could be a very difficult job to make much better. You are limited to the shots already used, and have no handles for making new dissolves or other transitions, and will lose a bit every time you want to use a shot that has a dissolve somewhere else.

From experience in other jobs of this type I've done, you need to start from scratch. Invariably you find unused material that is actually very useful.

i think ill go for £30 an hour ( about $60) ... i have my basic package, £580 for bronze , £980 for silver and £1200 for gold.

This will be where people will think it's too much. At £30 an hour, a 32 hour edit brings you to the price of your silver package, but with no shoot included.

This kind of job can be a mix of frustrating as hell dealing with crappy footage, to very satisfying being able to produce a much better product than the other guy did with the same material.

I was asked to redo one edit because the bride was so disappointed she cried. They gave me the footage, and when she saw my version, she cried again, but from happiness. It made me feel really good to get such a nice reaction.

I even posted about it if you are interested:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/wedding-e...d-footage.html

Anyway, best of luck with the job.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Honestly, I think I'd want to see the original footage before ANY commitments or estimates.

You know the old sign that says something like:

LABOR RATES:
$40/hr - if we do it
$80/hr - if someone else worked on it first
$100/hr - if you tried doing it yourself...

You need to know if you're being asked to be an editor, a magician, or a miracle worker... and price accordingly.

If a client knows they got a hack job and you give them a fair quote and explain the problems of working from a disadvantage, they shouldn't worry about the bill. I've done repairs in another industry for many years... people know when they are and aren't getting what they are paying for, or they learn pretty quick.

[Vito DeFilippo]

Great points, Dave.

Actually, thinking more about it, I would refuse the job if the original footage is not available. You can't remove any video effects, titles, etc, and working with mixdown audio would be a nightmare.

[Aaron J. Yates]

Originally Posted by Luke Oliver

i said thats no problem but am unsure how much to charge , shall i charge an hourly rate and if so how much???

In our market, we get a lot of "family videos" and things that other filmed and we're asked to edit it down to be more "watchable." We charge $40 per hour for everything... capturing, editing, color correcting, rendering, burning. Also $10 for each copy if they want color inserts and printed DVD.

It's not impossible, but you have to prep them to understand you can only do so much with what you're working with. I can take a family-shot wedding, add music and a couple of titles, and they love it. We forget that the little things we can do add so much to the video-watching experience. Just taking out the stuff where the guy didn't hit "STOP RECORD" can make the video much better.

[Luke Oliver]

thank u all for your excellent replies
guess ill wait see how bad it actually it before i sign up for an impossible task

cheers