Why they don't take us seriously.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Joel Peregrine

Hi Yang,

If you're still looking I've got a few open weekends in August. Even if you just need a shooter I'd be happy to turn over the tapes...

YANG..... TAKE THIS OFFER!!!!!! Joel does fantastic work. Check his web site if you don't believe me.

[Yang Wen]

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

YANG..... TAKE THIS OFFER!!!!!! Joel does fantastic work. Check his web site if you don't believe me.

No doubt! already contacted him offline and it won't work out due to travel involved..

[Blake Cavett]

I did a bridal show a couple years back and got a call from a lady who loved my demo. She said she and her daughter were on the floor LAUGHING at how bad the others were... then plopped mine in (can you plop in a DVD?) and were floored. They loved it.

Not saying my demo was great... but they didn't fall over laughing. So I guess that's good! Didn't book her though, go figure! But it was nice to know that the quality of work was appreciated. Would have been more appreciated with a booking, but what can you do?

Recently a lady I work with went to some bridal shows and brought me some sample DVDs of other area video guys. I got to sit down and watch them... and lo and behold... THEY ARE GARBAGE! I'm not trying to say I'm great by any means, but if there's one thing I've learned...

RARELY do people know crap when they see it, nor do they care if you shoot HD or VHS! They see $ and they see themselves on TV.

The nice thing about capitalism & technology is that prices remain low so almost anybody can afford a good camera and NLE system.

The bad side to it is that almost everybody is getting a good camera and NLE system...

[Edward Phillips]

Let us delve deeply into the subconcious of the client. I think growing up in a world of home movies being shaky super 8, grainy VHS, and so on, people associate the realness of being there with bad quality looking video. If you make something look like a "movie" they almost seperate themselves from it and it doesn't feel so "real". As the kids that grew up with digital video and iMovie move into marrying age then you'll see an expectation of better quality videos. I'm just speculating but the glory of video for many is just to be able to see themselves dressed up on TV.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

No doubt! already contacted him offline and it won't work out due to travel involved..

Hi Yang,

Don't tell me that you are going to let a couple hundred miles keep you from getting Joel P. If I were getting married, he would be on my short list, and he's 800 miles from me. You have one chance to get this right. If you can find someone locally who you like better, well then I understand, but this is too big of a gig to let the distance stand in the way.

[SiuChung Leung]

Originally Posted by Blake Cavett

They see $ and they see themselves on TV.

so ture. I've notice when the couple watching the video, they like to point who's and who's is on camera...funny....

[Vito DeFilippo]

Originally Posted by Edward Phillips

I think growing up in a world of home movies being shaky super 8, grainy VHS, and so on, people associate the realness of being there with bad quality looking video.

True, and I can see why that makes wedding videos shot on Super 8 to be a draw. But wrong aspect ratios? Spinning cubes?

I didn't grow up with that on my home movies.

You make some salient points, however. I tend to agree with you that expectations will change.

[Yang Wen]

Originally Posted by Mark Von Lanken

Hi Yang,

Don't tell me that you are going to let a couple hundred miles keep you from getting Joel P. If I were getting married, he would be on my short list, and he's 800 miles from me. You have one chance to get this right. If you can find someone locally who you like better, well then I understand, but this is too big of a gig to let the distance stand in the way.

Mark, my wedding is in Detroit. ;) I would love to talk to Joel about shooting my wedding but I guess he doesn't travel that far.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

Mark, my wedding is in Detroit. ;) I would love to talk to Joel about shooting my wedding but I guess he doesn't travel that far.

Hi Yang,

Okay, I'll cut you some slack.

[Mick Haensler]

So I guess the moral here is there are two ways to go:

- Become a service oriented business and give the clients a decent product at a lower more affordable price

- Stick to your artistic guns and do your thing for less clients

It's juuuuust that easy.

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media

[Steve Shovlar]

Like any sensible businessman I have checked out the work of every rival in the area. Checked their websites, ordered samples, watched tham and fear nothing. In fact I know I am head and shoulders better. So I am completely confident.

However, don't underestimate the pleb bride. She might be from plebsville and likes cheesy music, plebby pink balloon transitions, out of focus filming of the speeches and worse.

If she didn't my rivals would never get any work!!!!!
:)

[Ethan Cooper]

Originally Posted by Mick Haensler

- Stick to your artistic guns and do your thing for less clients

I'll let you know how this works out. We haven't officially posted it on our website yet, but we're raising our current prices roughly 70% for 2010. Either I go broke or we start getting paid better for doing good work.

We arrived at those prices by settling on what we felt should be our per hour fee for shooting, editing, graphic design, planning, digitizing of material (half editing fee), then estimated the hours we put into a project both for shooting (x2) and everything else and came up with a figure for what a wedding should cost. Then I divided that hugely expensive number by roughly 1/3 (wedding shooter discount) and arrived at more or less the new prices.

So when you figure up what the new prices will be, think to yourself that it should be 66.66% more than that if we were billing these things out per hour like real production companies do.

[Joel Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Mark Von Lanken

Hi Yang,

Okay, I'll cut you some slack.

Thank you for the nice words Mark! I am looking for some 'shoot only' gigs as my season is pretty full as it is. I can see that I already have enough editing to last me to this time next year. It just happens that Yang's wedding is a in Detroit and I'm heading out of town the day after his event. I was hoping to do something closer to home that day. Detroit would be a stretch. Michigan has some great videographers. Lee Thomas, Ryan Koral and Don Pham come to mind, and I'm sure there are many more.

[Joel Peregrine]

Not that my current strategy is really proven yet, but I cut my prices by taking my time out of packages and I booked up faster than ever. I set it up so my hourly rate is the same, but I need to shoot more events to make the same amount. I'm happy to be working during the downturn while building up my referral base. When the economy improves I'll be in a far better position than if I had fewer gigs at a higher amount per job.

Originally Posted by Ethan Cooper

I'll let you know how this works out. We haven't officially posted it on our website yet, but we're raising our current prices roughly 70% for 2010. Either I go broke or we start getting paid better for doing good work.

We arrived at those prices by settling on what we felt should be our per hour fee for shooting, editing, graphic design, planning, digitizing of material (half editing fee), then estimated the hours we put into a project both for shooting (x2) and everything else and came up with a figure for what a wedding should cost. Then I divided that hugely expensive number by roughly 1/3 (wedding shooter discount) and arrived at more or less the new prices.

So when you figure up what the new prices will be, think to yourself that it should be 66.66% more than that if we were billing these things out per hour like real production companies do.