Local Music Festival at DVinfo.net

Alan Ferrier · February 23rd, 2017, 04:36 PM

I have submitted a price for filming a local music festival over three days, approx 4 hours filming each evening and some additional filming on one of the days.

We will be using three HDV camcorders, One small HD camera handheld and possibly two Go Pros somewhere on the stage. The footage will then be fully edited and produced onto muliple DVDs, possibly 20 mins for each support act and up to 2 hours for the main act. I have included for a dedicated hard drive 4TB.
Raw footage will amount to approx 36 hours.

Quote was somewhere in the region of £2000

Is this a reasonable fee to be requesting for this work?

I quoted £1450 for the same festival last year, basically to try and get the job, but they only went for filming one day. The budget was a bit tight, and they're now expecting the same quote for this year.

Any advice would be helpful.

Steve Bleasdale · February 23rd, 2017, 05:03 PM

Hi Alan i did this for Liverpool council and the Eldonian village water festival, four days filming and a cost of £3995. Although not similar to what you are doing it was hard work at 8 hours per day to get what we wanted. The days rained hard so it was a difficult edit to try get a tight feel without the surrounding area which was quite rough and derelict. Maybe it could help you price. Steve

Paul R Johnson · February 24th, 2017, 07:19 AM

The fee makes sense I think - when you consider that depending on the deal, the more well know, but not famous bands might be getting between £1000 and £2000 for their 60 minute set - so that kind of money is available.

I'd also advise getting in early with a request for audio services from the board - these events can be crazy for the sound team, as changeovers are very tight, and very often line checks are the norm, with inconsistent audio quality for the first few songs. There could be all sorts of solutions, but you need to get requirements in early with the quote - we assume that you also require high quality sound to go with our pictures. We need to gain access as a minimum to a proper, balanced and level matched stereo feed from the desk. We can provide audio facilities to enable this, but equipment hire costs can be expensive - so it makes economic sense to allow us to liaise with your audio company to make sure the sound is high quality.

That's maybe a bit strong to go with the quote, but once the accept the quote, I'd get that in pronto.

Pete Cofrancesco · February 24th, 2017, 09:49 AM

From your description that's a lot of work with all those cameras not only filming but all the editing. So yes it's very reasonable price but it will come down to whether they have the budget.

Alan Ferrier · February 26th, 2017, 03:22 PM

Thanks for all the info.

I did think I wasn't being too unreasonable, but i have identified a couple of savings but not much.

The sound guys at this event I've worked with before and they are excellent at providing any necessary sound files you ask for, last year I had another friend re mix the sound files, done as a favour, but think this would be a bit much too ask, I did include for remixing the sound into the budget, but might have to accept a stereo feed from the desk.

They have asked about cutting down on cameras, but it's quite a large event and I think this will detract from the overall production.

Paul R Johnson · February 27th, 2017, 06:12 AM

When people ask me to remove stuff, over the years I kind of honed a response. I am always positive, but CMA.

Thanks for the email about removing one of the cameras to help the budget. I understand why you need to do this. I'll start work on a plan to minimise the problems it will cause. It's a shame that we'll have to not have the big closeups of (enter name of one of the better known people or bands), and make do with the more general wide angles, but it won't detract too much from the product we were hoping to make. The only other thing we could do would be to keep these great closeup possibilities, but lose the panoramic views of the stage and the crowd. To ease the budget, either of these two cuts would work for us, but it's probably best you decide which is more important?

Sounds very supportive and positive, but sows the seed of doubt, and possible blame - I've found that when they get asked to choose a quality drop, they often find the extra dosh.

Pete Cofrancesco · February 27th, 2017, 02:01 PM

Sometimes in such situations if it's not too much work I will still film with the additional camera but I only use it as a backup. Meaning I won't import or edit with it unless I have a serious problem with the other angles.

Alan Ferrier · March 7th, 2017, 03:38 AM

Thanks for all the good info.

Yes Peter I usually have one additional camera for back up which isn't included in the price.

I had included for having the sound re mixed by a friend which we did last year, but have taken this out and going with a direct feed from the desk.

Thanks again

Paul R Johnson · March 8th, 2017, 03:01 AM

The sound part is often a real sticky point. A stereo feed from the desk, when well balanced is workable and has one great benefit often forgotten about. When it's done, it's done. You can apply a bit of EQ, and maybe a bit of 'room' to make it sound more live, but i's a warts and all product.

With modern digital audio desks it's really easy now to get multitracks - one we did recently we did was simply luck. They mentioned their mixer was an X32, and I said that if they wanted, we could record all 28 channels they were using and then we could always do a bit of editing afterwards, and maybe even a few repairs.

Stupid!

Clearly they were never going to have the budget to pay us for audio recording time, so I sent them the tracks as stems - strict instructions that they must not shorten them, so we could simply slap them back in place, then mix and balance - which was agreed in the price.

The edit is 99% done, and sitting here waiting for them to sign off on the audio. They have, from what I know at the moment, replaced virtually everything with new studio versions. New versions pop up each week, which we're gradually building up, but it's taking ages, and we won't get paid till it's done. Bad move on our part by suggesting it. Sure - it's sounding pretty good, but understandably getting their people one by one into the studio and doing the two hour show, track by track is a killer in time. That stereo MP3 sounds like a winner to me!

February 23rd, 2017, 04:36 PM	#1
Alan Ferrier New Boot Join Date: May 2013 Location: Scotland Posts: 5	Local Music Festival I have submitted a price for filming a local music festival over three days, approx 4 hours filming each evening and some additional filming on one of the days. We will be using three HDV camcorders, One small HD camera handheld and possibly two Go Pros somewhere on the stage. The footage will then be fully edited and produced onto muliple DVDs, possibly 20 mins for each support act and up to 2 hours for the main act. I have included for a dedicated hard drive 4TB. Raw footage will amount to approx 36 hours. Quote was somewhere in the region of £2000 Is this a reasonable fee to be requesting for this work? I quoted £1450 for the same festival last year, basically to try and get the job, but they only went for filming one day. The budget was a bit tight, and they're now expecting the same quote for this year. Any advice would be helpful.

February 23rd, 2017, 05:03 PM	#2
Steve Bleasdale Trustee Join Date: May 2010 Location: England liverpool Posts: 1,343	Re: Local Music Festival Hi Alan i did this for Liverpool council and the Eldonian village water festival, four days filming and a cost of £3995. Although not similar to what you are doing it was hard work at 8 hours per day to get what we wanted. The days rained hard so it was a difficult edit to try get a tight feel without the surrounding area which was quite rough and derelict. Maybe it could help you price. Steve Eldonian Village Canal Festival Trailer on Vimeo

February 24th, 2017, 07:19 AM	#3
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,046	Re: Local Music Festival The fee makes sense I think - when you consider that depending on the deal, the more well know, but not famous bands might be getting between £1000 and £2000 for their 60 minute set - so that kind of money is available. I'd also advise getting in early with a request for audio services from the board - these events can be crazy for the sound team, as changeovers are very tight, and very often line checks are the norm, with inconsistent audio quality for the first few songs. There could be all sorts of solutions, but you need to get requirements in early with the quote - we assume that you also require high quality sound to go with our pictures. We need to gain access as a minimum to a proper, balanced and level matched stereo feed from the desk. We can provide audio facilities to enable this, but equipment hire costs can be expensive - so it makes economic sense to allow us to liaise with your audio company to make sure the sound is high quality. That's maybe a bit strong to go with the quote, but once the accept the quote, I'd get that in pronto.

February 24th, 2017, 09:49 AM	#4
Pete Cofrancesco Inner Circle Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA Posts: 3,005	Re: Local Music Festival From your description that's a lot of work with all those cameras not only filming but all the editing. So yes it's very reasonable price but it will come down to whether they have the budget.

February 26th, 2017, 03:22 PM	#5
Alan Ferrier New Boot Join Date: May 2013 Location: Scotland Posts: 5	Re: Local Music Festival Thanks for all the info. I did think I wasn't being too unreasonable, but i have identified a couple of savings but not much. The sound guys at this event I've worked with before and they are excellent at providing any necessary sound files you ask for, last year I had another friend re mix the sound files, done as a favour, but think this would be a bit much too ask, I did include for remixing the sound into the budget, but might have to accept a stereo feed from the desk. They have asked about cutting down on cameras, but it's quite a large event and I think this will detract from the overall production.

February 27th, 2017, 06:12 AM	#6
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,046	Re: Local Music Festival When people ask me to remove stuff, over the years I kind of honed a response. I am always positive, but CMA. Thanks for the email about removing one of the cameras to help the budget. I understand why you need to do this. I'll start work on a plan to minimise the problems it will cause. It's a shame that we'll have to not have the big closeups of (enter name of one of the better known people or bands), and make do with the more general wide angles, but it won't detract too much from the product we were hoping to make. The only other thing we could do would be to keep these great closeup possibilities, but lose the panoramic views of the stage and the crowd. To ease the budget, either of these two cuts would work for us, but it's probably best you decide which is more important? Sounds very supportive and positive, but sows the seed of doubt, and possible blame - I've found that when they get asked to choose a quality drop, they often find the extra dosh.

February 27th, 2017, 02:01 PM	#7
Pete Cofrancesco Inner Circle Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA Posts: 3,005	Re: Local Music Festival Sometimes in such situations if it's not too much work I will still film with the additional camera but I only use it as a backup. Meaning I won't import or edit with it unless I have a serious problem with the other angles.

March 7th, 2017, 03:38 AM	#8
Alan Ferrier New Boot Join Date: May 2013 Location: Scotland Posts: 5	Re: Local Music Festival Thanks for all the good info. Yes Peter I usually have one additional camera for back up which isn't included in the price. I had included for having the sound re mixed by a friend which we did last year, but have taken this out and going with a direct feed from the desk. Thanks again

March 8th, 2017, 03:01 AM	#9
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,046	Re: Local Music Festival The sound part is often a real sticky point. A stereo feed from the desk, when well balanced is workable and has one great benefit often forgotten about. When it's done, it's done. You can apply a bit of EQ, and maybe a bit of 'room' to make it sound more live, but i's a warts and all product. With modern digital audio desks it's really easy now to get multitracks - one we did recently we did was simply luck. They mentioned their mixer was an X32, and I said that if they wanted, we could record all 28 channels they were using and then we could always do a bit of editing afterwards, and maybe even a few repairs. Stupid! Clearly they were never going to have the budget to pay us for audio recording time, so I sent them the tracks as stems - strict instructions that they must not shorten them, so we could simply slap them back in place, then mix and balance - which was agreed in the price. The edit is 99% done, and sitting here waiting for them to sign off on the audio. They have, from what I know at the moment, replaced virtually everything with new studio versions. New versions pop up each week, which we're gradually building up, but it's taking ages, and we won't get paid till it's done. Bad move on our part by suggesting it. Sure - it's sounding pretty good, but understandably getting their people one by one into the studio and doing the two hour show, track by track is a killer in time. That stereo MP3 sounds like a winner to me!