Wedding question. What would you do?

after_effects

after_effects

Carbonite Member
Hey guys,

I am shooting a wedding for a couple and giving them the coverage for free. I am also doing an edit and author on dvd to show clients in the future. The thing is, I would like to sell the edit to the couple and not give it away for free. What do you think is the best way to approach this? I was thinking of waiting until they say they want an edited version, but that might be hit or miss. The other is tell them i will do an edit for this amount, but since i have nothing else to show, if they dont like the edit then im in trouble.

Thanks
 
Well i've got an idea. Take it with a grain of salt if you'd like but...

Tell them that you're charging X amount of dollars for an edit. Say that since it's your first wedding that you are actually charging less than you normally would. You should also include you have had experience filming before (assuming you have). Then, in the end if they don't like it you can say they don't have to pay for the edit... but if they do like it then they'll pay. The thing is, don't tell them that you'll let them have it for free if they don't like it until they say they don't like it.

Just my thought.
 
You could always do the edit as your going to do and use it for your promo, but then send them a short highlight of that promo with your logo or some sort of watermark over it, not slap bang in the middle but enough so they can watch it without it being too annoying. Who knows they might decide that it'll be worth spending that X ammount of dollars to have a wedding DVD thats been edited nicely with music etc rather than just the raw footage their getting. Kind of like a teaser trailer.
If they ask for the edited copy then you can negotiate the price.
 
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i say go ahead an edit it so you have something for your reel. i've booked something like 13 or 14 paying weddings this year, and that all started with one i shot for free last year. so shooting and editing one for free led to enough gigs to buy an hvx200a, nikon d300, several lenses, and tons of accessories. and that was just from the deposits. it will pay for itself in the long run.

as far as the couple getting the edit, they gotta pay for that. you're giving them coverage and raw footage for free already. just do a kick butt job on the edit, and put a low rez version up online somewhere for them to check out. if they like it, they'll pay a fair price for it.
 
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Hi,

Of course, if they look at the edit and don't want it show to anyone, you're out a demo.:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

In for a penny, in for a pound - after all, it started out as a free job.

I don't think you had planned to make anything on the this job, so that's likely how it should stand. It should be your demo job. Make a nice demo, get a great recommendation and get the next job at the price you want.
 
I would give them the full price of your local competition (call around act like it's for you). Then say to the couple this is what they charge this is my special price for you. Also helps to find another wedding video online that matches your style (or what you think you can do). Hope that helps you. -John
 
since you've already told them you would shoot it for free dont back down on that, not good biz. but def. edit a kick butt wedding video for them and give them a small taste of it and they will pay for it. if nothing else you'll have your self a nice looking demo for future weddings. also dont tell them this your first shoot always make the client feel they are hiring a seasoned vet.
 
Yeah I've had to do my share of free work already, and for me it's worth taking the risk on the free work in hopes that in the future it will pay off ten times whatever I've put into it.

With more boring work, though, like corporate work, wedding video work, etc., I wouldn't offer my services or time free because I've spent too much money on equipment and have too much knowledge to give away free products like that. We're in the process of doing some virtual tour videos, which I hadn't done before, and we definitely discounted the price to reflect our experience level but fortunately this company gave us the opportunity at least to do the work. We hired a professional cinematographer and the rest of us three on the crew are basically doing stuff we don't normally do. My editor is a grip / electric, I'm a director / grip / electric / PA / production design, haha, and my producer is driver / grip / electric / etc. Now that we have a lot of experience doing this type of work, though, if I were to do more virtual tours in the future, no discounts, I have to get at least a fair price for my equipment and a better price for my time. I'd say more like 50% above what I'm getting on this project minimum, not to say the pay is bad it's just a ton of work for the pay.

I think bottom line is it depends on what you've done before, but some work shouldn't be done free just because you haven't done that exact thing before. If someone said at this point, "Yeah we want a simple Web ad for our business," ok I haven't done that before exactly, but I've done plenty of work way more complicated than that and I expect to be paid fairly for that regardless of my experience doing that exact thing.
 
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