I am a 7D nightclub shooter...what should I charge???

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DavidH977

Member
((((LONG STORY SHORT, What should I charge for night club videography??? Just incase you don't feel like reading)))) EXAMPLES :

http://vimeo.com/8525114
http://vimeo.com/8277310
http://vimeo.com/8450123


My current situation...last year what started as a hobby has turned into a small business for me. I am an independent video production team (consisting of myself, for now). I began shooting nightclub videos for friends for free until more people began requesting my services. Now I charge club promoters for videos.

Business is steady and I average 2-3 projects a week. Needless to say video production from developing a concept, shooting, and editing are time consuming. While I feel I am still learning and my editing is OK, I still feel I should be accurately compensated. Accurate compensation is the issue though.

My services typically include 3 hours spent at the nightclub, then however long it takes to edit. I would say an average edit time is 5 hours with importing, exporting, and trying to develop some sort of concept based on what club promoter requests. Total video length is around 2-3 minutes. Just a recap of night editing to music. Nothing super fancy because I am still learning how to do super fancy stuff.

My demand is going up as I make more and more videos. Recently I have raised my prices to what I see as fair. I feel since these videos are so disposable and sometimes not well promoted I spend a lot of time of them for low views. My job is not to promote the videos, just make them. I feel like making some of these videos are a waste of time and not worth what I was charging.

Please watch a few of my videos and tell me what you think is a FAIR and ACCURATE price to charge??????? I want to move away from club videos and start music videos where I know i can charge more. I value the DVX communities opinion. I am located in Boston, MA.
 
personally I dont see why people would like to see themselves drunk and vibrating... I know I look retarded when I am dancing, and thats without being able to see myself... lol. But to each its own. Uhh I would say think on a basis of hours and go from their... price high if they don't like it move down... the last thing you want to do is start low then if it gets popular raise your prices... then all hell breaks loose (NO WAY YOU SOLD IT TO THE JOHNSON'S FOR BLAH BLAH BLAH). Anyways good luck... footage looked good though what lenses are you using... if you aren't using IS lenses I would highly suggest them it make a world of difference.
 
You might want to think about contacting some people or companies that might offer this service (in your city or one of a comparable size) and ask what they'd charge.

Just pretend you're a club owner and ask.

.
 
Perry Wilson said:
personally I dont see why people would like to see themselves drunk and vibrating... I know I look retarded when I am dancing, and thats without being able to see myself... lol. But to each its own. Uhh I would say think on a basis of hours and go from their... price high if they don't like it move down... the last thing you want to do is start low then if it gets popular raise your prices... then all hell breaks loose (NO WAY YOU SOLD IT TO THE JOHNSON'S FOR BLAH BLAH BLAH). Anyways good luck... footage looked good though what lenses are you using... if you aren't using IS lenses I would highly suggest them it make a world of difference.
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Thanks for the advice. I am using kit lens, but for low light shots I am using a Sigma 24mm 1.8 lens. Don't even know what an IS Lens is? Please explain. Are those lens with red strip around them?
 
Chris Santucci said:
You might want to think about contacting some people or companies that might offer this service (in your city or one of a comparable size) and ask what they'd charge.

Just pretend you're a club owner and ask.

.
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Great point I will try that also. I'm just trying to get a feel for the market standard for a club video. Thanks again.
 
As the promoters hand me $860, I am rudely interrupted by my alarm clock. Only in my dreams could I get that much, but I like your quote.
 
on the low end $500

75 x3 hrs for shooting = $225
50 x5 hrs for editing = $250

$475+$25 ( Parking,Mileage,Dvds Etc ) = $500
 
SilverWolf said:
on the low end $500

75 x3 hrs for shooting = $225
50 x5 hrs for editing = $250

$475+$25 ( Parking,Mileage,Dvds Etc ) = $500
Click to expand...

I agree 100% with SilverWolf's estimate. Your videos are watchable and the $75/$50 combo is quite reasonable. One thing missing here is camera rental, $75 an hour for shooter with HD kit is too cheap...

Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women. Learn how to demand what you're worth!
 
I see young talented people short changing themselves all the time. This is a tough economy and its different depending on where you live etc.. I know your in Boston, I've never been there so I have no idea what that market there is like.

However, this seems like its a bit like Wedding videography. We went through a period where any idiot with a DV cam would charge next to nothing to win the business but not make any money. Fortunately many [not all] of them have starved to death or moved on to doing something equally stupid somewhere else. However some truly talented wedding photographers/videographers have emerged, some by losing a little weight and cutting back to win business, but many of the more successful ones have brought a real style and look to their work and over a period of time they have won more business and been able to charge more, not less. A little like you mentioned about what's happened to you on the club scene.

So your getting some video's out there and people are responding favorably. That is a great first step. Who are your customers, club patrons or the clubs themselves? If its the patrons I agree with an earlier post, I don't know why anyone would pay anything to make an ass out of themselves. But if your getting them to part with their money then your videos must be popular. Also, if your producing three of these a week your getting a lot of valuable experience at developing your own clientele, not necessarily repeat business, but certainly good references. After about four to six months of this you should be able to develop a look that is different from just about any one else here and on vimeo. That's what a lot of the wedding videographers have done.

In the same amount of time most of us on websites like this debate the virtues of just about every piece of equipment known to man and produce the occasional short that we all pick over, you have been out there producing 48 to 50 projects figuring out YOUR formula. I bet you can already make them faster and better than when you started.

So here's my long winded advice, since I'm board after the Boise State vs. TCU game.

Think about where you want to be in a year, five years, and then ten years. If you can afford to do this for a year at about $500 each, three a week you can earn about $50 to $60K. I know some of you geniuses will chime in and point out that my math is wrong but life isn't a spreadsheet, you'd be lucky to make that. But your goal shouldn't be that, it should be on creating a look, a style that's uniquely your own. Not fancy rack focusing, or simply quick cut edits and graphics but a mixture of that with a wide variety of application. What are you going to do if a commercial or music video producer likes what you can do but wants something slow and poignant? I'm sure you'd be relieved to point out how easy that would be for you, but if you can't show him/her that you've already done that they will be reluctant to believe you.

If at all possible develop your style with patrons and smaller clubs that aren't likely to spend much money with you no matter how much they like what you do because they just don't have it. And as your style improves then start soliciting larger clubs who if they see a potential way to leverage your services to win them more business might pay more. Remember they don't really care about what you do despite how cool they tell you they think it is, they just want butts in seats. So part of the challenge for you is to figure out a way to help them do that. Even if you do, its not like you'll be able to charge them an order of magnitude more for the next production. So get what you need from them, a couple of productions to keep things going and move on, if they like what you do, so will others and you'll have more to show the others and be able to charge them more. Maybe only a little more at first, but more. The clubs that hired you early on and say they want you to do more will do one of three things, they will recognize the intrinsic value in what you offered and ask you to come back, hire someone else to replicate what you did [which is why your style is so important, you need to set the bar high] and after that fails, because it almost always does forget about it and never try it again.

After about 50 of these productions you should have your own style you can show on a demo reel, and equally important you can have serious conversations with producers about how you worked with 75 hot and sweaty club patrons to get the kind of shots you wanted. You'll be really comfortable developing or breaking down a concept to make it financially manageable. Canon is really starting to push HD on the 7D and Rebel, a year from now, just like DV to wedding videographers there will be hundreds of idiots out there with thousand of "test" videos on YouTube that unfortunately will be displaying some pretty amazing stuff. For the moment you are ahead of the curve and you have a small head start with what you've already done.

You occupy a unique niche, I mean no one with a Red will be competing for this business, so develop a niche market strategy, provide this type of service to clubs and people who are not well served, if at all by anyone else and go after patrons and clubs that are highly self referencing. In other words if you do a good job everyone will know about. But be careful because if you don't they'll know about that too.

You obviously like doing this, that too is a huge advantage, it makes having to survive on $1K a week possible. But after you've completed 40-60 of these things you want to set your sites considerably higher. Again to get there you need to differentiate yourself from the rest of us.

You've got a great start.
 
Loved your videos. :)

I shoot wedding films and would definitely say you're videos are worth watching (ie. NOT a waste of money). If they are meant to promote the club, well done.

If it were me, I would not get out and shoot for anything less than $800 with VIP passes and what not available if I ever wanted to bring friends in. I've done my share of cheap gigs, but the time has got to come where you see value in your work and charge accordingly. Look at it this way, make yourself the PREMIUM so only the whose who of club promoters will hire you therefore increasing their value and yours at the same time. Now all the other clubs will look scrubby with no video.

That's my take. I considered dabbling in club filming, but would get tired of seeing the same faces every week ;).
 
Listen man ur vids are good. I liked them...looks already like a music video. and these Club owners should be paying point blank. nothing less than $700 is what i'd do...actually really $740 based on my calculations (but im in a totally different country than you :) )

so dont go around saying $860 in ur dreams...$700 would be the bottom limit or 600 (pushing it) but nothing less! that should be chump change for these club people to be paying.

know what u are worth...or tell them to keep stepping. your gonna burn urself out and not make any $$

and yes get an IS lens ur a rig to help keep that rolling shutter at bay.


edit :and to Perry Wilson...people will luv seeing themselves in their drunken stupor lol. these look like music vids (with some grading it can even look better). people luv feeling like stars. :)
 
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Here's an alternative way to look at it -- you say you're getting 2.5 jobs per week, right? or 10 jobs per month? And these cost you nothing (nobody to hire, no equipment to rent, etc, right?)

So you can job-cost it out with a per-hour figure, or you could look at it from a totally different perspective: what would it cost you to leave your fulltime job? Let's say you need to make $5,000 per month before taxes, so if you're getting 10 jobs a month, charge 'em $500 each and you can quit your job...
 
ChuckS - thanks for sharing, your words are on point.

I have a bunch of experience shooting nightlife videos for bars/clubs and events. I will say its not easy. I think us just blabbing out prices is not a good way to analyze your particular situation and needs.

I did my far share of 'promotional' work for CFLBARS.COM while I held a good job. Now that Videography is what makes me money, no more freebies. Just glancing you work is pretty good (compared to what other nightlife videos I have seen).

Maybe a better approach is to make a few options for your bar owners. Have a 60 second package most can afford, a larger 2 minute edit that is more $$ and a premium package where you give them all you got. Most tend to pick in the middle so be aware and make it a package you are wanting to sell.

Like how Barry mentioned - Work out how much time and energy is involved in each package, also how much you would like to make in a month, then set your prices accordingly. If you sell what this product will do for the bar/club - they should have no problem chunking out at least $500 which is only a few more walk-ins a month (or 1 vip table booking)... Once you sell yourself and your product (along with what the video will do), they should be buying your premium packages.
 
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