Questions to the High End wedding Pros

[Kelly Langerak]

I second Noel. I greyd out my first package as "Sold Out For 2010" The calls came flooding in for my second and third package. I also put, "Book us now, only a few Saturdays' left"

I'm not B.S'en, I didn't want to sell my first package anymore, I sold enough.

It has done wonders.

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

[Tim Polster]

This has been a great thread with a lot of open sharing of information. What a great example of DVInfo at work!

I have done quite a few weddings over the years but find I do not market for them as I tend to shoot other things. One aspect of wedding work that has kept me away is the music copyright issue. I get a sense that the higher the price, the more folks will want copyrighted music in the finished product. And the tougher it will be to say no.

How does everybody handle the copyrighted music issue inside or your business'?

Sorry if this is a **** in a punchbowl type of question inside of a great thread, but it is part of the game.

[Jason Robinson]

Search for the many many MANY other threads already discussing this issue. :-/

[Tim Polster]

Jason, I am not asking what to do, I am posing a question to the many that responded to this thread.

How do you handle this in your business?

[Philip Howells]

Tim, with respect, may I suggest you give up while you're ahead?

Jason has been very polite and very accurate. Copyright is not a universally accepted concept but legal tenet governed by different laws in different countries.

Knowing how I, or Travis C, or Chris H or Uncle Tom Cobley deals with it will not benefit you in any way unless you're working in their jurisdiction.

[Jason Robinson]

Almost all of us in this section of the forum have already spent entirely too much energy and time describing our positions on this subject, and frankly I don't think any of us have the time to re-hash, re-post, and re-engage in that conversation when there is a fantastic search feature that will easily pull in all of our previously written comments.

I'm not trying to be rude. I'm just saying "we already went there (a few dozen times)."

[Susanto Widjaja]

Hi TIm,

dont get jason wrong. He's not trying to flame you. I also have this "ugh... that subject again..." everytime someone posts a music copyright question.

Its been a subject that has endless discussion with no real definite solution for everyone. You can find tons of discussion about it with the search function :)

Santo

[Tim Polster]

Well, I must say this question meant as conversation rather than explanation has brought about quite a defensive response.

To Philip, give up while I am ahead? I don't know what to think about that but it does not seem positive.

And with due respect back, you have been the only person who has replied to this thread out of my jurisdiction.

Disregard and carry on.

[Dror Levi]

and what do you say when they ask you about this one...I mean,it is a service and not a product that you don't have in stock.
Does it really work?
Do you really see the deference?

[Kelly Langerak]

I hope this posting gets back on track. It was going so good.

[Geoffrey Chandler]

Originally Posted by Chris P. Jones

Hey Jason,
4. what r some of your most useful tools in shooting the wedding (ie steadi cam etc.)

I like to travel small and light. 19" DP Slider and Stedicam Merlin. Light Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod for ceremony only, monopods for the rest of the day.
jones

Chris,

I hope you can answer a couple equipment questions. Do you use camera "rigs" or does the monopod do all you need in terms of steady shooting? Also, do you have a tripod head on your monopods? Thanks a million.

Geoff

[Chris P. Jones]

Originally Posted by Geoffrey Chandler

I hope you can answer a couple equipment questions. Do you use camera "rigs" or does the monopod do all you need in terms of steady shooting? Also, do you have a tripod head on your monopods? Thanks a million.

Hey Geoff,

I find the monopod to be more than enough to keep things steady, although I am considering getting a Cinevate Uno so that I can weave in and out of people more stealthily. I would use the Uno during prep time and fast dancing, so I wouldn't be getting rid of my monopod.

I have the fluid head on my monopod that came with the monopod (Manfrotto 561BHDV). If my 2nd shooter wasn't opposed to using the monopod during the ceremony, then we wouldn't use a tripod at all throughout the day.

Hope that helps,
jones

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I notice many of you said you use 7D DSLR but doesn't that have a 12 minute max continual shooting? It would seem like the ceremony would have choppy breaks, risk running out of time at crucial moments, and have to do many re-syncs in post. I'm not denying the image quality and dof you get with dslr just the problems it introduces would be unthinkable to me.

One other related question. For many years we have been told 3 chip is a must for quality image/color. Even now the vast majority of pro video cameras are 3 1/3 " chips. I get the feeling manufactures are dragging their feet and don't want to release any 3-$5,000 camcorder with one single large chip that would compete with their broadcast $10,000+ cameras. While Sony has released NEX-VG10 it lacks or intentionally been crippled to not have features a pro would require. How do you explain the disparity of advancements in the sensor between dslrs and video cameras?

[Brian Johnson]

I too am going after the high-end market (after years of budget to mid clients) and have created a new "brand" to service these brides. New name, website, unified marketing, etc. My question for the high-end videographers: to post your packages or not? I've seen it go both ways locally and am curious as to what the pros and cons might be for each. Currently I have very little package info, just a cryptic "investment starts at $XXXX" and a suggestion to "contact us for package details and enhancements." With this being prime engagement season I feel I might be missing the boat without posting further package details. Thoughts?

[Travis Cossel]

Pete | Yes, the 7D does have many limitations for the wedding filmmaker, but the image is so gorgeous and the lowlight is so nice that many of us have chose to deal with the limitations. Shooting a wedding with DSLR is definitely more work, but personally speaking, the look of the footage is worth the pain.

Brian | Your's is a tough question to answer but here's my take. If you compete mostly on price and on the 'stuff' that's included in your packages, then I would consider listing it all online because that's how your bride will be shopping your website. However, if you feel you're competing more on the quality of your work or the style of your productions, then I would suggest either no pricing or a starting price.

We go with a starting price because we want to filter out all of the budget-shopping brides. For us it's a total waste of time to return phone calls and emails for brides who have a budget that is 1/2 or 1/3 what our starting price is. The flip-side to this is that by posting your starting price you WILL see a decrease in the number of inquiries. That can be scary, but you have to keep in mind that for the most part, the drop in inquiries is for brides you would never book anyways.

The option to keep all pricing off your website can be good if you feel you're competing on quality/style but your market is small and doesn't have much of a high-end segment. This way you get more brides in the door and you have a chance to 'convince' some of them to use you by showing them your work and giving them your spiel. But if you find yourself in lots of consultations with brides that you know will never book you, I would consider listing your starting price or at least mentioning it in an email or on the phone.