Client Review with Client?

[Sam Shore]

I have a project review coming up. I'd prefer to be with the clients when they see the project, but it's probably going to be more convenient for us all for me to give them a disk and let them review it on their own then give me their feedback.

I'd like to hear about others' preferences regarding project review and if their is a certain insight I should factor in when determining which route to take with it.

Thanks!

[Don Bloom]

I rarely if ever sit with a client when they look at the project for the first time.

If its a wedding they don't get a "review/preview" copy anyway and if its a corporate gig, they might have gotten a time coded raw copy on DVD (used to be vhs) to help them decide what I needed in the final project so when editing there's very little guess work OR they allow me full creative control to edit as I see fit so in either case I don't sit there with them to watch what I've seen a thousand times already. If they have a question or a comment or want changes they will let me know-its all covered in my service agreement.

Don

[Rick Steele]

Wedding videography:

1.) They call me
2.) I set up a time to visit in their home 10 days from now
3.) I send a demo so they can watch it before that meeting

I figure if they really dislike the demo or had something else in mind they'll let me know before cleaning the house and waste their time (which hasn't happened yet).

They also received copies of the contract, pricing, etc along with the demo. The face-to-face meeting is the time to pitch and close. By the time we meet, they know 90% of what they need.

I have demoed stuff in their prescence before and hated it. It's too tempting to "stop" and explain things or they ask a question and miss a very important part while I'm answering.

A lot of wedding videographer's merely tell their clients to view the on-line video from their sites they've provided which is enough.

[Don Bloom]

Ahhh,
I might have misread the thread. For weddings I pretty much do the same as Rick. If they want a "demo" whether they've looked on line at samples or not-I'll send them a disc with the paperwork so they can view it (the demo) without comments from me-they either like it or not. For corporate stuff I'll send them something similar to what they want me to do. EXAMPLE: if its a seminar I'll send them a highlight version of a recent seminar-if it's a training video I'll send them a disc of one of those from a previous job. Then we talk about exactly what they want. Again though I rarely if ever sit with them to look at the work.
Don

[Sam Shore]

Thanks for your insights. I realize now that the main reason I want to review the project with my clients (who are acquaintances) is that I think they are going to be wowed by the gorgeous footage of their refuge and exotic animals and impressed with the editing. In other words, I think I'll be delivering waaay more than they expect, and I like to enjoy the immediate delight of that.

It's rare and always nice to bask in the immediate "wow;" but, in the end, circumstances will probably prevent that this time.

I see now that with wedding and corporate videos not being present would be the way to go.

[Peter Jefferson]

never.. never again i mean..

sure ill send out demos to those that are far away, but when it comes to reviewing.. no..
not ever...

i had one client.. contract clearly states 5 days.. they took 7 weeks and wrote out a 5 page email of requested changes asking for shit to be changed AFTER they had already told me specificlly how they wanted it before the wedding.. after the wedding they changed their minds...
tough cookies..

i used to be a nice guy and try to keep EVERYONE happy, but with my workload and some of teh expectations of some of these clients, its now a conditional requirement of the contract for them to tell me exactly what kind of style they want (in reference to the demos theyve seen or tv shows or whatever) such as "no old film effect" or "extra BW" but if they change their minds after that, tough..

Another thing about giving out preliminaries, is that the more time u give them, the more they will nit pick.. also many will feel that its an obligation to request changes.. so if u do this (i only do this for my high end 4k+ clients) to advise them that ist for technical and pacing ony, not for a "oh i dont liek this shot, or i dont liek that effect, or whatever.. .)

thing to remember is that they hired u for YOUR editing talents, not theirs... I had one bride (this was after 8 copies were burnt and delivered and the job WAS finished.. ) came back to me 3 weeks later and ask me to remove a child from the footage... im like WTF??

See their faces?? i used to want to do that.. give clients more than they expect?? I always do that.. its the only way to stay on their good side especially if youre like me who takes a little longer coz im pedantic with my editing..

but lets face it.. preliminaries invite people to request change. I had this one couple hang onto a prelim for 7 weeks.. its a joke... 5 pages of changes which were a chang of mind from the initial directive.. These people amaze me sometimes..

[Sam Shore]

Thanks Peter... valuable insights! You make a good point that "review" might suggest changes are encouraged.

One thing in my favor regarding re-dos in this case is that the client has a fixed deadline for delivery because the video is an invitation for an event. The event is coming up quick, and I think the event preparation pressure is bearing down more on them than this deadline is on me. Whatever re-edits will have to be done in the next day or two in order to send this thing off for duplication with time to spare for sending off the invites.

[Joel Peregrine]

Hi Sam,

I'm not sure about the ethicalities of linking to another discussion group, but this was just talked about in regards to completed weddings here:

http://www.videouniversity.com/forum...iew_collapsed;

[Sam Shore]

Thanks Joel... very helpful discussion.