Please visit my website, tell me how much I should charge.

chromeboy007

chromeboy007

New member
Hi there,

Simple as that. My website is on my sig (uvstudio.ca). I'm going to tell you no more about myself (no gear, education, experience info that might influence a prospect's opinion about me and my service) and let you guys decide how much I should charge for a 2 min promo video (i'm also not telling you what type of prospect we are looking at so your answer would be bias free and would only be based on my site/portfolio).

Thanks for the help. The reason I'm doing asking you guys to evaluate is because I have no idea how much to charge and, consequently, I have no idea which type of clients I should go after.

thanks again.
 
I'll have to think about how much to charge. Some thoughts on some of the copy:

Multiple camera edits, black and white filmming, lighting and audio challenged environment, live events and prepared music videos.

Filming is spelled wrong (one m), and are you referring to multicamera shoots, or multicamera editing? Or both? And "lighting and audio challenged environment" - are you saying you can handle that or provide that? It's gets a little confusing. I think another pass with a copy writer for consistency and clarity throughout the site would be beneficial and give your potential customers a sense of quality and production value when they come and visit. Also, make sure that product listings are correct with any trademarks and registrations. Also, full product names like Adobe After Effects is the correct reference.

Also, can you point to any youtube videos you have already produced as links?

On services, I would speak more to the talent than the actual tools you use. Knowing those applications is great for you as an artist, but you are not applying for a job at a facility or company - your customers want to know you can create great looking and sounding videos and presentations regardless of distribution format and regardless of tools.

Good luck with your company - great city, I always enjoy my visits to Toronto.

Michael
 
MichaelP said:
I'll have to think about how much to charge. Some thoughts on some of the copy:

Multiple camera edits, black and white filmming, lighting and audio challenged environment, live events and prepared music videos.

Filming is spelled wrong (one m), and are you referring to multicamera shoots, or multicamera editing? Or both? And "lighting and audio challenged environment" - are you saying you can handle that or provide that? It's gets a little confusing. I think another pass with a copy writer for consistency and clarity throughout the site would be beneficial and give your potential customers a sense of quality and production value when they come and visit. Also, make sure that product listings are correct with any trademarks and registrations. Also, full product names like Adobe After Effects is the correct reference.

Also, can you point to any youtube videos you have already produced as links?

On services, I would speak more to the talent than the actual tools you use. Knowing those applications is great for you as an artist, but you are not applying for a job at a facility or company - your customers want to know you can create great looking and sounding videos and presentations regardless of distribution format and regardless of tools.

Good luck with your company - great city, I always enjoy my visits to Toronto.

Michael
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback.

I have as this point corrected the spelling of 'filming' and changed 'multiple camera edits' to 'multicamera projects' to get the meaning across better.

Some of the videos shown on the site are also on YouTube. You think it's a good idea to link them? I feel that I get better video quality from loading direct from my site than using YouTube, but on the other hand showing videos loaded by clients on THEIR YouTube channel is almost like having customer testimonials. I have reviewed a lot of my peers' sites here and elsewhere, they do not link YouTube videos to their sites.

Should I have a little 'R' for 'registered trademark' right after, say, 'Final Cut Studio'?

How do I speak to my talents in words, without bragging? I thought I would have the videos do that side of talking for me and words would be used to explain technical specifications for the more educated prospective clients who know a few things about videography (ie, marketing agencies).

Thanks again
 
No

No

No, no need for an "R" after Final Cut Studio or anything like that. Actually that comes across as amateurish to me, or like a press release, which it is not. It's just clutter, basically.

I agree with what you said about YouTube. The quality is not that good anyway, so I steer clear of showing anyone anything on YouTube. It can be a good promotional tool but it's not the greatest for showing off your work ideally...
 
I can't speak to what you should charge...

but I will say that the site is quite slow, especially due to the Quicktime videos. You say you do web video? They lets see the video in a flash payer, that loads quickly and efficiently and doesn't ask me to update my player (I know it's my computer that prompted me to upgrade, but your site triggered it). Also perhaps a *little* heavy on the video ... for example the animated logo on the "contact" page looks cool, but I'm not sure what role it plays on the site ... it comes off as a little cheesy almost.

- Mikko
 
mikkowilson said:
I can't speak to what you should charge...

but I will say that the site is quite slow, especially due to the Quicktime videos. You say you do web video? They lets see the video in a flash payer, that loads quickly and efficiently and doesn't ask me to update my player (I know it's my computer that prompted me to upgrade, but your site triggered it). Also perhaps a *little* heavy on the video ... for example the animated logo on the "contact" page looks cool, but I'm not sure what role it plays on the site ... it comes off as a little cheesy almost.

- Mikko
Click to expand...

Did you have to wait for the video to load enough lead time for you to play it comfortably? I'm told that I have relatively slow internet speed but even I didn't have to wait for it to load at all. The site is perhaps a bit slow because I made it in Dreamweaver. The code may not be the most efficient.

I like to have videos in Flash format. I'm seriously considering DV Kitchen but for me the jury is still out on them at the price of $80. On the other hand, don't you think that .mov is the best picture quality format out there?

Thanks regarding the animated logo - I do agree it pushes towards the cheese zone. I've just started learning AE and I don't have anything material to 'show off' my newly found talent yet, so I slipped it in there. LOL!

Thanks for inputs guys.
 
chromeboy007 said:
I like to have videos in Flash format. I'm seriously considering DV Kitchen but for me the jury is still out on them at the price of $80. On the other hand, don't you think that .mov is the best picture quality format out there?
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter how good it looks if people aren't even watching the video. Go flash.
 
Advertising claims

"UV Studio is downtown Toronto's leading boutique corporate video production house"

Are you sure about that? Can you defend that claim?

YouTube

Read the Terms of Service. They pwn your stuff. Or your client's stuff. And it can look pretty awful. And right after your client's video plays, their competition's video is in the YT queue. Right on your client's web site.

QT

We like QT. It has its uses. But if you want ubiquity, then you're stuck with Flash. And if you're Toronto's leading corporate video production house - boutique or otherwise - you need ubiquity.

Cheers,
George
 
chromeboy007 said:
Did you have to wait for the video to load enough lead time for you to play it comfortably? I'm told that I have relatively slow internet speed but even I didn't have to wait for it to load at all. The site is perhaps a bit slow because I made it in Dreamweaver. The code may not be the most efficient.

I like to have videos in Flash format. I'm seriously considering DV Kitchen but for me the jury is still out on them at the price of $80. On the other hand, don't you think that .mov is the best picture quality format out there?

Thanks regarding the animated logo - I do agree it pushes towards the cheese zone. I've just started learning AE and I don't have anything material to 'show off' my newly found talent yet, so I slipped it in there. LOL!
Click to expand...


William sums it up perfectly.

You say on your website that you can do Flash video; if that's the case, do it. If not, pull it from the website (and look for a new line of work, if you can't do Flash, then you can't do online video!).

Flash is just a wrapper, just like Quicktime. They can both carry multiple codecs, including the same ones. H.264 is the most common web video codec out there, and it's supported by both QT and FLV, so the quality will be the same, but FLV (in a proper player) will play much much better. Assuming your copy of Dreamweaver is somewhat up to date, it should have built in (basic) support for flash.


Pro tip: Putting up you work because you like it is only self servient. You should only put it up because your (prospective) clients will like it.

- Mikko
 
Ok... time to invest in DV Kitchen for real (right now I'm running on the trail copy) and go Flash.

Putting up you work because you like it is only self servient. You should only put it up because your (prospective) clients will like it.
Click to expand...

I like to think that I have half decent taste. If I like them, and if it is my best work, then I should do myself and my prospective clients a favor and show it.

Are you sure about that? Can you defend that claim?
Click to expand...

Sure! :)

So umm... back to my question... how much?
 
Hm, I've dealt with a lot of corporate video production houses and haven't heard of you. I think he means that the claim should only be made when you have the work to back it up, not necessarily a shot at the quality of your work.

I think only you can answer that question to be honest - you can't ask a message board to price your skill level - most of the people answering aren't even in Toronto. You have to consider your competitors, market rate, etc. Figure out what YOU are comfortable charging and find out what people in your surrounding area are charging. It is a process and its not something that can just be "slapped on" your website.

Kegan
 
Yeah Hunter I wasn't gonna put my prices on the site even if I do come up with a firm set. But yes I do agree with you about your approach.. over time. I was hoping that you folks would take the bias that I myself have out of the equation though.... however I think I have posted too much here and thus have created bias in your heads.

EXPERIMENT FAILED! lol!

Thanks for all the input though - been great help!
 
just food for thought chromeboy, the ad agency i just left acquired a video production and post production house in NY and they've done tons of stuff that's on HBO and showtime...i notice none of them have prices on their websites especially since every project is different.

also we used to get a lot of clients with deep pockets that almost never had the latest quicktime plugin on their computers (who are mainly pc users) and we showcased all video projects in flash. you can always raise the bitrate when encoding your quicktime videos to get a sharp picture in flash.

theres no need in having a bunch of quicktime files of your videos if your clients cant see them anyway.
 
What are you providing the customer? You talk about shooting differently than the other boutiques in regards to audio. Talk about the clients needs. Great audio is expected. Discuss what your shoot does for them so they don't need to worry about it. You take the worry out of the shoot. You give them what they want.

Discuss what the editing does for them. how do you solve their needs...their problems?

I think you should look at a few competitors in the business. Here is one I'm familiar with. http://pixelfish.com/ Whether you like their site or not they get business.

Your focus has to be on the customer and not on you or your technical know-how.
 
DV Kitchen is worth its weight in gold. It will take all your clips at once and convert them in record time to whatever format you want. Flash is a piece of cake for DV Kitchen. Plus you have world class support. It's like 24/7. I never had to wait more than a few hours even when in the weekend and on holidays and late at night; I don't know how they do it.
 
Hmmm, wish I could give some advice. Camera ops in LA charge a couple hundred bucks per day to use their equipment and services. Thats not including editing. Charge an equipment fee plus your hourly rate.
 
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