how to minimize dupes (videography business)

R

rocketscience

Active member
Some of the income comes from the shoot. A decent portion can come from people ordering copies of the video. How do you protect yourself from someone ordering 1 copy and then making dupes and giving out to friends and family? I realize you can't completely prevent someone from doing this..
Recently I did some work to create a demo tape for someone. And they asked for it on CD-ROM (as a wmv or mpg). I had to say no for fear of easy duplication. I want them to come to me for copies. Do any of you out there put your results on CD-ROM? Is DVD the best (since not too many people own the equipment or software to duplicate dvds.. tho this is changing).
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

My guess is there is no real way to stop it, yet. DVD copying is pretty easy, and in fact there are programs that are free to do it.  However, I wouldn't worry about people copying your stuff. While it sucks that you lose money, just think about all the more people that might see it... if that helps you at all....
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

People can duplicate anything these days. Your business model needs to ensure you make all your money up front on the production and initial delivery. You should not rely on making much (or any) profit selling copies to a client.
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

my philosophy is there is no way of stopping them.  if they make a vhs bub, go right ahead...they will lose a generation so i'm not worried...as for dvd, i'd say a majority don't know how to make dubs...yet...but if they do, more power to them...but i try to make sure that they think about what they are doing by puttin an fbi warning in the beginning...just a little scare factor and makes the dvd a little more professional looking i guess...go ahead and download this fbi frame if ya want...

http://homepage.mac.com/joeboo/PhotoAlbum13.html
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

Yes, as some have said, when pricing a job, keep sales expectations in mind... factor copies into initial price rather than "additional cost".

However, the one place where you may be able to display an advantage is in packaging. Disks/Tapes are easy to copy; nice custom packaging isn't. It can be, however, a big effort; but I find that a fair amount of people will pay for a professional looking product in many situations rather than a hand-written copy.
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

thanks for the suggestions. I think the FBI warning is great. Some of my work DEPENDS on the number of copies I sell. I know anything can be copied.. but some are more accessible than others. CD-ROM is just out of the question tho. I will use the FBI warning every time!
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

I have been told that if you burn you work on DVD-R it CAN be copied. If you have a good DVD authoring program that offers copy protection is the way to go. I plan to send my finished product out to have a large quantity of duplicates made and they will be copy protected as well.


Now what I don't understand is how you can control the DVD. What I mean is there are some DVDs you buy in the store and it won't let you skip pass certain things like trailers. You either have to watch them or FFWD through them. How do they do that?
 
Re: how to minimize dupes (videography business)

If your doing DEMOs on CD-ROM you may want to add the word DEMO scrolling up and down and across the screen all the way through the video. I would reduce the opacity so its kinda transparent but make it bright enough so where you can easily see the word. I did this for my last 2 DEMOs b4 I started giving them out and I am soooo glad I did it that way....I had someone that was trying to steal my work!

Along with the FBI warning, you may want to add a disclaimer at the beginning or end to say your work is Copyrighted. Even if it is not officially copyrighted it doesn't hurt to add it to your work.
 
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