Alexa
Veteran
Hi Yorlov-
hope this helps. of course this is not complete..but good luck. my own business really needs my attention, so I can't really offer much more than this.
Ask yourself WHY DO YOU WANT TO START THE BUSINESS? not being smart, just a simple question...at every other event, we get at least one person come up to my shooting partner to ask about how to start this kind of business and how much we charge. looks fun and easy..if you want to do it full time..you better have the skills to bank on it..and a few years to get your business going.
-work with another established company as an EDITOR. Of course, this requires you to be a decent editor, first..but you get the point. You can learn how to be a good shooter by editing video. The worse the video, the more you will learn! Hopefully though, you might find a good videography team or company whose footage does not drive you crazy. You will also start conditioning yourself to the very time intensive task of editing weddings. If you cannot sit there for hours a day and knock out great work with each hour, then this could be problematic..unless you find other editors to work for you. You will also find out if it is agreeable to you to listen to the "Air" ( Bach) Trumpet Voluntary, and Ave Maria's over and over again. What is your reaction to seeing people that closely for hours? Do you loathe them? do you love them? That said, $$$$ can buy you some love...
-if you are a man, it helps to have the opinion of a female on occasion, for your editing, for your marketing, etc. understand your client. and SHE is your boss. if you can do that, your life will be a lot less painful. people are really touchy about their weddings and relationships.
-work for another established company as a shooter. if this is not possible, try a ton of practice shoots on live events. even the preparation and planning aspect of doing something simple will help you. what kind of simple live events? a local band playing a gig. a church ceremony of any kind. a sporting event, best when people are moving around more. if you can shoot good handheld then you have a good skill. learn to use your body to shoot, not always just your arms.
-take small business accounting
-make a business plan OF SOME SORT.
-look into your support services..marketing, graphic design, web design. or pick up the skills yourself. it helps a lot to know photoshop, in addition to your editing and DVD authoring.
you should consider another DVX, or renting another one for jobs in the future. A one camera wedding shoot will cost you more time to "fix" in editing than it would to rent or hire someone. on that note, a shooting contractor that sucks will cost you a lot of everything ( time & money)
I doubt you will use your lighting kit for the weddings much.
What about your on-camera lighting? if you have promised 2 videographers, you will need, in my opinion, THREE lights. search " on camera lighting" or something like that.
what about another camera/ deck for capturing? speakers? NTSC monitor?
lens adapters make a pretty big difference, but you have to be very adept at quick changes at the appropriate moments if you are doing a live event or people moving quickly. they are easy to lose if you are not careful also. weddings move FAST and no one is going to wait for you to find and lose stuff.
for video production on a commericial level ( several clients), you should really consider a desktop someday, but yours could work until you determine the need to expand.
your firewire is a good start, but to build a portfolio that brings you higher dollars, you need to be saving your good stuff or have it accessible to re-purpose again for showing your capabilities. what you have there is what I use just for music and sound fx.
$500-$800/ mo to invest is nice, but try and get a feel for your potential and true desire, first..before shelling it all out so quickly. you could be an awesome editor or shooter, but if you cannot deal with the clients, appeal to brides/grooms, market your skills, then your business will fail or you will always be UNDERPAID.
what about your general office machines? printers, photo printers ( if you are doing covers? dvd printers?)
so how do you know if you'll like video production? how good are you at selling yourself and skills? YOU MUST BE.
if you want to be good at anything, there are tons of ways of learning and practicing. I never had a real "lesson" but do things like:
-look at good work in video-film-tv production. restating that..study things frame by frame.
-read
-learn from books & DVDs..takes patience and dedication. dvd-books are awesome, but don't go overboard and buy too many. the best and cheapest thing to do is practice and complete your own practice jobs..from getting the shoot to putting it on DVD.
-you would know if the person is good by seeing some of their work. knowing if they are a good person or good business person is another story. the problem with this..is just one guess...many people just don't have the time to train people. you are dealing with usually, very small shops, where 1 or a few people do everything.
if you come across that scenario, don't be discouraged, learn on your own and try to minimize your your likelihood for mistakes (backups).
also check videouniversity and dvinfo., weva.org membership might be good for a newbie like you, too.
hope this helps. of course this is not complete..but good luck. my own business really needs my attention, so I can't really offer much more than this.
yorlov said:
Ask yourself WHY DO YOU WANT TO START THE BUSINESS? not being smart, just a simple question...at every other event, we get at least one person come up to my shooting partner to ask about how to start this kind of business and how much we charge. looks fun and easy..if you want to do it full time..you better have the skills to bank on it..and a few years to get your business going.
-work with another established company as an EDITOR. Of course, this requires you to be a decent editor, first..but you get the point. You can learn how to be a good shooter by editing video. The worse the video, the more you will learn! Hopefully though, you might find a good videography team or company whose footage does not drive you crazy. You will also start conditioning yourself to the very time intensive task of editing weddings. If you cannot sit there for hours a day and knock out great work with each hour, then this could be problematic..unless you find other editors to work for you. You will also find out if it is agreeable to you to listen to the "Air" ( Bach) Trumpet Voluntary, and Ave Maria's over and over again. What is your reaction to seeing people that closely for hours? Do you loathe them? do you love them? That said, $$$$ can buy you some love...
-if you are a man, it helps to have the opinion of a female on occasion, for your editing, for your marketing, etc. understand your client. and SHE is your boss. if you can do that, your life will be a lot less painful. people are really touchy about their weddings and relationships.
-work for another established company as a shooter. if this is not possible, try a ton of practice shoots on live events. even the preparation and planning aspect of doing something simple will help you. what kind of simple live events? a local band playing a gig. a church ceremony of any kind. a sporting event, best when people are moving around more. if you can shoot good handheld then you have a good skill. learn to use your body to shoot, not always just your arms.
-take small business accounting
-make a business plan OF SOME SORT.
-look into your support services..marketing, graphic design, web design. or pick up the skills yourself. it helps a lot to know photoshop, in addition to your editing and DVD authoring.
you should consider another DVX, or renting another one for jobs in the future. A one camera wedding shoot will cost you more time to "fix" in editing than it would to rent or hire someone. on that note, a shooting contractor that sucks will cost you a lot of everything ( time & money)
I doubt you will use your lighting kit for the weddings much.
What about your on-camera lighting? if you have promised 2 videographers, you will need, in my opinion, THREE lights. search " on camera lighting" or something like that.
what about another camera/ deck for capturing? speakers? NTSC monitor?
lens adapters make a pretty big difference, but you have to be very adept at quick changes at the appropriate moments if you are doing a live event or people moving quickly. they are easy to lose if you are not careful also. weddings move FAST and no one is going to wait for you to find and lose stuff.
for video production on a commericial level ( several clients), you should really consider a desktop someday, but yours could work until you determine the need to expand.
your firewire is a good start, but to build a portfolio that brings you higher dollars, you need to be saving your good stuff or have it accessible to re-purpose again for showing your capabilities. what you have there is what I use just for music and sound fx.
$500-$800/ mo to invest is nice, but try and get a feel for your potential and true desire, first..before shelling it all out so quickly. you could be an awesome editor or shooter, but if you cannot deal with the clients, appeal to brides/grooms, market your skills, then your business will fail or you will always be UNDERPAID.
what about your general office machines? printers, photo printers ( if you are doing covers? dvd printers?)
so how do you know if you'll like video production? how good are you at selling yourself and skills? YOU MUST BE.
if you want to be good at anything, there are tons of ways of learning and practicing. I never had a real "lesson" but do things like:
-look at good work in video-film-tv production. restating that..study things frame by frame.
-read
-learn from books & DVDs..takes patience and dedication. dvd-books are awesome, but don't go overboard and buy too many. the best and cheapest thing to do is practice and complete your own practice jobs..from getting the shoot to putting it on DVD.
-you would know if the person is good by seeing some of their work. knowing if they are a good person or good business person is another story. the problem with this..is just one guess...many people just don't have the time to train people. you are dealing with usually, very small shops, where 1 or a few people do everything.
if you come across that scenario, don't be discouraged, learn on your own and try to minimize your your likelihood for mistakes (backups).
also check videouniversity and dvinfo., weva.org membership might be good for a newbie like you, too.
