how do you show your DVD sample work to potential clients?

[Leo Zheng]

2 scenarios for me:
1. I visit their home and play my DVD on their player
2. We meet somewhere in between and play it with a laptop.

I got into pretty embarrassing moments when their DVD player can't read the disc properly. Should I bring my own DVD player?

Or is it a common practice to invite them to the videographer's house?

thank you

[Patrick Pike]

I would always bring a device to play the DVD on, whether its a laptop or a portable DVD player. My reason is probably different than yours though--I once met with a couple who was ready to sign a contract, all they wanted to do was watch some samples. Right before I got to their home, their "good" tv broke down, and they had to pull their old one from the garage.

My sample (and I believe any DVD) looked horrible on this TV. The DVD compression was flat out ugly, colors were off, their speakers were blown making the audio crack, there was a nice coat of dust on the screen, etc.

I watched the video in amazement that day, wondering if I was just being very self conscious of my work, or if my quality was really bad. Thankfully, my wife (also at the meeting) said the same thing to me. Later that day I tried the same demo disc on a number of different DVD Player / TV's and started to realize how different things look based upon the settings on the TV.

Now I always bring my laptop or portable DVD because I know my video looks good on it and typically try to meet at the clients homes to make life easy for them. Plus, I clean the lasers on my DVD players staying away from those embarassing moments you mention,

[Matt Rickman]

I would meet them at somewhere like starbucks and either use a laptop to show work, or a portable DVD player. I wouldn't have people come to my house (fortunately I have a commercial space where I can meet with people). Nor would I go to someones house.. I did that once and I didn't like it.. too personal.


matt rickman

[Leo Zheng]

thank you guys for the inputs.
i just visited 3 clients' house last week, each time there were the couple with parents of the bride. it did make me feel uncomfortable. Yeah, I guess portable DVD player in a cafe would at least screen off the parents and makes it easier for the couple to decide.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

I just invested in a portable DVD player....great topic! Thanks guys!

Do you leave the DVD with them or have a seperate one for them? I'm going to have 2 - one with all my stuff and one just for them with only relevant videos on it.

Also, just a tip....you can put your contracts and lots of other "data" in the DVD-ROM section of the DVD. In iDVD you can do it and I'm pretty sure most other software can do it too. That way they've got the contracts with your full screen video - of course, they'll still need a PC/Mac. But, it's a cool thing to have your data accompany your videos. :)

[Jennifer Moak]

I prefer they come to me. We have a home studio that serves many purposes and one is to show that we are in fact established. We collect full payment prior to the wedding day, and I wouldn't feel comfortable asking for that if I didn't give them plenty of good reasons to trust us. Knowing that they can find us and seeing our set-up usually lends them this confidence.

Also, I don't want to be at the mercy of their TV's or players or surroundings.

Lastly, I like having options at my disposal. So if a certain topic comes up or issue, I can pull a wedding off the shelf and pop it in. Couples seem impressed by that. I wouldn't want to be limited by what I can carry with me.