Anyone producing same-day edits?

[Bill Edmunds]

I've started researching same-day edits, and would love to hear from anyone doing them.
- How long, in general, are your same-day edits?
- How long does it take you to produce them?
- How much extra do you charge for the service?
- How much of the edit is 'pre-scripted'?

Any other insights you care to offer are appreciated.

[Jason McDonald]

Originally Posted by Bill Edmunds

I've started researching same-day edits, and would love to hear from anyone doing them.
- How long, in general, are your same-day edits?
- How long does it take you to produce them?
- How much extra do you charge for the service?
- How much of the edit is 'pre-scripted'?

Any other insights you care to offer are appreciated.

I don't do them but I've seen quite a few and asked enough about them I may be able to chime in until some of the veterans answer:

- How long, in general, are your same-day edits?

I've seen them as short as 2 minutes and as long as 5 minutes.

- How long does it take you to produce them?

Going to assume that by produce you mean 'take the data, put it in the NLE, edit and get it ready for showing'. I think it depends on too many variables but I'm sure a lot of it gets done in an hour or 2 during the banquet.

- How much extra do you charge for the service?

I think some people don't charge 'extra' they are hired to produce 'just' a SDE. But I think rates are something that varies on talent vs. work available.

- How much of the edit is 'pre-scripted'?

I don't think any of it is. I'm pretty sure most of the people shooting get to know their couples and how to tell their story over the course of the day and come up with their 'idea' as the day goes on.

Again, could be wrong on some of it...

[Noel Lising]

Here's an article about SDE.

EventDV.net: The Event Videographer's Resource

[Don Bloom]

I myself haven't done it, as a solo operator it would be extremely difficult to do so IMO. However I have helped a couple of other folks do them and in answer to your questions, there are many variables.
First the length depends on the person putting ti together but generally I've seen 2 to 5 minutes as well although I did see one that ran 7 1/2. More than that and I think people start getting itchy, if you know what I mean.
Depending on the style, meaning, is there love story footage, (back story) involved, titling, ETC, then as much as possible is done in the edit suite prior to the event so on that day all that has to be done is the preceremony and ceremony footage that's going to be used. Using tape it can be a drawm out process, with solid state a lot easier. If you have someone dedicated to loading and editing it can go pretty quick and then you or another shooter can continue to shoot whatever, drop the footage on the timeline and add to the already exsisting footage that was done prior to the event, do your magic to the new footage and you're set to go. The couple that I've helped on, were played off a laptop right off the timeline and it worked well. How much??? I don't know as they weren't my jobs, I was 2nd shooter and helped on the edit got my money and was done but I've heard some charge upwards of a thousand and others less. Guess it depends on your market.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
Good Luck

[Roger Van Duyn]

I haven't done any same day edits for weddings, but I have turned around a couple of corporate projects the same day. When the client doing the paying says the deadline is urgent, a videographer's gotta do what a videographer's gotta do. Technically, they were relatively simple jobs, but one had viewers on 6 continents by the next morning!

Yeah, nobody in Antarctica watched it. And to clarify, the client was an NPO, and it was just a speech, a very important speech to a certain group, thus a very simple edit from a two camera shoot, a few cutaways, adjust audio, simple title, fade to black. Though it was simple work, I was really sweating it.

Weddings can be the most complex type of project for a generalist like me. I'm a long way from offering a same day edit as part of a wedding package.

[Art Varga]

Bill - I did my first SDE last month. To answer your questions

- How long, in general, are your same-day edits? Mine was 3.5 minutes

- How long does it take you to produce them? I ended up having about 2 hours for the edit
- How much extra do you charge for the service? $500 for now but I expect to raise this after I get a couple under my belt
- How much of the edit is 'pre-scripted'? Before the wedding I had the music selected and markers setup on where I would drop the footage for each section, i.e bride prep, cermemony photo shoot.

Here are a few more tips

1.) I visted the wedding location a week before the wedding and gathered a lot of the b-footage that I was going to use for the edit. By the day of the wedding I had the project all setup with my music and b-footage
2.) I edit with Vegas and upgraded to their latest version 10 which allows you to work with the native MOV files straight from the DSLR. I never would have had time to complete if I had to transcode all the footage
3.) Set up a labeling system for your cards so you know where everything is.
4.) Whatever time you think you will have for the edit, cut it in half. Stuff happens, things run late, etc.
5.) Before the wedding, practice a "speed edit" give yourself 1 hour to come up with the best edit you can. When the time is up - you're done. I consider myself a very slow editor but was surprised what I was able to do when I had to.
6.) Don't obsess over detail - you are not going to be able to put the same attention to detail in an SDE that you would put into your other work. Make quick editing decisions and move on
7.) Dump your cards to your laptop throughout the day to save time later.
8.) Enhance your SDE the next day. I have to admit my first attempt was a little rough around the edges ( I had a 5 second blank spot in the timeline where I forgot to drop a clip) but everyone loved it non-the-less. The next day I polished it up a bit before posting to my blog.
9.)Hook up with the DJ early in the evening to test your projection and audio gear.

Good luck!

Art

[Michael Johnston]

I've done it once. There was a 3 hour gap between the ceremony and the reception. Bride wanted a video to show at the ceremony right before they were introduced. It was a 8 minute highlight and took me about an hour and a half to edit. I already had the music picked out and had a general idea for what I wanted so I really focused on just getting the shots I needed for that highlight and then the shots for the overall video second. When I sat down to edit (in the back of my SUV) I knew exactly what shots I wanted and in what order. This is where my experience as a news photographer really helped. I'm used to editing under the gun so this wasn't too bad. Bride was happy, parents were happy, and I already had two thirds of my highlight video for the DVD completed. PLUS, I charged and arm and a leg for that same day edit on top of my normal package price. Wouldn't attempt it without at least 3 hours break though.

[Taky Cheung]

I just added SDE as an option. I charge $200 if no projector and screen is needed. $400 include screen and projector. It seems quite tense to perform same day edit. For those who did SDE, I salute you.

[Michael Johnston]

Wow, only $200? I charge between $600 to $1000 depending on variables such as how much time I have to edit, length of video they want, type of video, etc. I charge a lot to discourage them fro asking for it because I hare doing them but will do it if they are willing to pay.

[Taky Cheung]

I actually not quite sure how much to charge. This will be an add-on to the existing package. Let me do a bit more research then I'll adjust the price =)

[Johannes Soetandi]

I used to include SDE as part of the package. I see it as a beneficial thing having to not worry about editing highlight once I got home.

But, I find it exhausting to do SDE and cover parts of the reception at the same time. I started introducing an add-on fee for SDE to include an extra assistant to help on the day.

[Scott Hayes]

Did it once, probably won't ever do it again. too stressful, and getting experienced shooters and editors in my area can be a challenge.

[Noel Lising]

Took the plunge. I booked one for next year. I hired a 2nd Videographer to document the wedding while I take care of the SDE shots.

It's not until July so I have time to prepare. Btw I charged them $ 500 without projector/screen.

[Art Varga]

I'll add this - watching the reaction of 200 people clapping and cheering after the SDE presentation is something that satisfies your ego abit and is hard to get out of your head. After 60- 80 hours of work on a DVD, I normally get a nice thank-you email or occasionaly a phone call but never enough recognition for me for the effort I put into my projects. The SDE brings instant gratification - I can't wait to do the next one!

Art

[Taky Cheung]

Originally Posted by Noel Lising

Took the plunge. I booked one for next year. I hired a 2nd Videographer to document the wedding while I take care of the SDE shots.

It's not until July so I have time to prepare. Btw I charged them $ 500 without projector/screen.

I think I need to increase my price =)