pro wedding videographers?

Thomas J. O'Hara

Thomas J. O'Hara

Senior Citizen
I just sent in my resume to a wedding videography company today, and I was wondering....

how many of you guys are, or have been, pro wedding videographers?

right now i'm a freelance, but my gigs are too far a few between.

any tips for getting a job with a company?
 
Yeah, don't do it.

If you must do weddings, go to all of the nice, big churches in your area and present them with a DVD demo of your skillz and let them know you're ready to take on Bridezilla.

If you don't have any weddings to show them, then you might offer to do a wedding for dirt cheap (or free) just for the opportunity to build some stuff for a reel which you could then use to get more work.

If you work for someone else, glean what you can and cut the cord ASAP and go it alone.

People who hire people like you to do work like that have a tendency to tie you up with busy work (shooting & editing) while they make all the $$. You could be swamped with work and under the illusion that you're making money and doing fine. When, in reality, you'd make much more being the shooter/editor/DVD author/producer/salesman.
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Yeah, don't do it.

If you must do weddings, go to all of the nice, big churches in your area and present them with a DVD demo of your skillz and let them know you're ready to take on Bridezilla.

If you don't have any weddings to show them, then you might offer to do a wedding for dirt cheap (or free) just for the opportunity to build some stuff for a reel which you could then use to get more work.

If you work for someone else, glean what you can and cut the cord as soon ASAP and go it alone.

People who hire people like you to do work like that have a tendency to tie you up with busy work (shooting) while they make all the $$. You could be swamped with work and under the illusion that you're making money and doing fine. When, in reality, you'd make much more being the shooter/editor/DVD author/salesman.
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Thanks for the advice.
Did you have a bad experience with a wedding vid company?
 
No, I've never worked for a wedding company. I was approached to assist with one many years ago, but I chose not to when I saw the stink lines coming from their mouths.

Slavedrivers... high turnover rates... working weekends and evenings on a regular basis... low pay...
 
Terry is right If you are green in the ways of the Wedding Videographer work for someone until you learn the ropes then fly yourself. People charge 800 + for wedding s and you will probably make 200-300 to shoot it.
 
just to throw a different angle out- I'm a starving student.

I've tackled a few weddings now, by myself. To me, the worst part is editing the whole thing down. The actual shoot is kinda fun. If all I have to do is shoot the wedding, I'd do it for $200-$300 no problem!

I guess I have to find out more about this job, but $200 a day is good enough for me...at least for now.
 
Whatever you do, don't sign any non-compete agreements. I had a guy I worked for try that with me. I was essentially slave labor. Had I signed it, I wouldn't have been able to work in video within 250 miles of here for 2 years. I ran, screaming, from the building.
 
HorseFilms said:
Whatever you do, don't sign any non-compete agreements. I had a guy I worked for try that with me. I was essentially slave labor. Had I signed it, I wouldn't have been able to work in video within 250 miles of here for 2 years. I ran, screaming, from the building.
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Wow that's crazy. The only thing I would make someone sign is that they won't steal my clients that I currently have
 
SilverWolf said:
Wow that's crazy. The only thing I would make someone sign is that they won't steal my clients that I currently have
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Exactly! I would've signed that without a second thought. In fact, I did sign something like that for a company I do semi-regular work for.
 
Wedding videos can make you some decent money if you get into it the right way. Our first sale was $600 four years ago. Today, our average sale is $4,800 with some coming in at just under $9,000. Truth be told though it is hard work, but will teach you to be a great shooter under tremendous pressure.

There's a lot of sleazeballs out there, but go find the most reputable videographer out there and learn from them. It's well worth the process for the education factor.
 
Tom, I'd say it will be good experience for you. I know you have experience every week with your camera, but a year from now, If people ask you have you ever done weddings. You can say "yeah I have done work on many different types of weddings" instead of "well, I did one for my coulsin's friend once"

Its almost like getting your contractor's license. Even though you know how do build a house, you still need 4 years under your belt to persue that. People just dont want to pay $1,000 bucks or more unless you can honestly say you have had a lot of experience.
 
Kdawg said:
Tom, I'd say it will be good experience for you. I know you have experience every week with your camera, but a year from now, If people ask you have you ever done weddings. You can say "yeah I have done work on many different types of weddings" instead of "well, I did one for my coulsin's friend once"

Its almost like getting your contractor's license. Even though you know how do build a house, you still need 4 years under your belt to persue that. People just dont want to pay $1,000 bucks or more unless you can honestly say you have had a lot of experience.
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That's kinda how I feel about it. I still haven't heard back from them, so maybe they already found someone.
 
tjohara99 said:
so how do i get a job doing corporate parties?
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just like you get weddings. basically youre a party documentor. do parties, do small coprporate events, join up with a company that does such. etc.

just work your way up.
 
I am currently a wedding videographer and broke into it, hired by a company right out of college.

I want to discount some mistruths/half truths previously stated in this thread...

1. DO IT - IT IS GAURANTEED WORK RIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE. Would you want to wait tables out of college for a year, or do wedding work, like a few days after you graduate, then get cinematography/gaffer/editing skills doing corporate shoots with your wedding company - YES WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHERS DO NOT JUST DO WEDDINGS - they do commercials and documentaries as well - I got to PA on a documentary on a local agency that helps troubled youths, real estate videos done by Comcast (local and soon to be national cable giant), music videos, commercials, and have done Motion FX work in After Effects and Shake for WEVA, a national organization - so a small clip of After Effects work I did is on a nationall known website - plus I've won a few wedding edit contests and my name is on their site as well. Plus I met Garret Brown as steadicam work is popular with wedding videos.

2. THERE ARE ARE ARE ARE ARE A TON TON TON TON TON TON TON TON of sleezeballs in the industry - trying to make a quick buck. Quick rules of thumb

a. the bigger the company, the more cookie cutter, high turnover rate they tend to be. Believe it or not a guy working out of his basement usually will produce the best wedding videos in your city. Keep in mind, the smaller the company THE MORE THEY RELY ON YOU = THE QUICKER YOU MOVE UP THE LATTER = THE QUICKER YOU GET A REPUTATION WITH OTHER VIDEOGRAPHERS - (nearly all wedding videographers know EVERYONE in their city). And THEY DO OVERLAP with corporate videographers and often corporate videographers do work for wedding videographers as cameramen for their corporate shoots. So wedding videography is a shoehorn into Commercial work where the $$ is at.

b. The more the company charges the more reputable they tend to be. Any company below the $3000 mark can be shady. Find the most expensive videographers in your area and target them (the company I do work for is probably on of the most expensive in the nation and is quickly getting national recognition). To the poster who said wedding videos go for $800 that is a perfect example of what I'm talking about $800 is garbage for a video edit, so what else did you expect but a bad working experience. STAY AWAY FROM ANYONE CHARGING SO LITTLE AND YOU WILL BE FINE IN THE WEDDING VIDEO INDUSTRY. People who charge under $2000 SPECIFICALLY TARGET COLLEGE STUDENTS LOOKING FOR CHEAP LABOR AND KNOWING THE HAVE ACCESS TO HIGH END EQUIPMENT FROM THEIR UNIVERSITY FOR FREE and try to abuse that.


c. Under $300, while that seems a lot to a student, IS TOTAL shi* PAY. $300 and above is where the companies start to become more reputable.

3. Nearly every city in the country has a Professional Vidoegraphers Association and is usually the City/regions name followed by PVA or VA for shot - Philadelphia is GPVA for Greater Philadelphia Videographer's Association, NJVA is New Jersey Vid. ass., NYVA, SFVA etc. etc. Find you area's association and become a member. THEY ALLOW YOU TO SHOW YOUR WORK AT THESE MEETINGS NO STRINGS ATTACHED. You will quickly get attention if your work is good.


Please do not discount wedding videography. It is NOT an inferior industry IT IS A YOUNG INDUSTRY that is still a child, but HAS BEEN GROWING RAPIDLY and work and companies are getting BETTER AND BETTER and there are PLENTY OF WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHERS THAT LEAVE CORPORATE VIDEOGRAPHERS IN THE DUST. Keep in mind MiniDV is what makes the wedding video industry possible - and that technology is barely a decade old - so yes, there are a few hiccups with some companies out there.

If you buy into the stereotype of wedding videos, please check out this link to see what people who really care and take this seriously can do at
http://www.gpva.com/Theatre/

This was a recent editing contest, where 12 editors in the GPVA were given footage from a Michigan based videographer. Mine is the one all the way to the right (forth one in). Compare that to the guys who charge $800 or to any wedding video you've seen before 1999.
 
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Thanks for sharing, but please refrain from dismissing the posts that came before yours as being "mistruths/half-truths".
 
Terry_Lasater said:
Thanks for sharing, but please refrain from dismissing the posts that came before yours as being "mistruths/half-truths".
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Thanks for your opinion.

Please don't be rude to others who have more experience in the industry you are discussing - I can back what I've just said and you are doing the original poster a disservice by going by a slanderous stereotype as concrete information. I have never been "swamped" by work - most weddings are 1099 workers and you do your own pace, ANY COMPANY makes more for a video than they pay you - it's called capitalism, and if he goes into the industry cold on his own he WILL NOT make more money - it takes YEARS to gain a client base to make wedding videography a profitable business by yourself.

Regards.
 
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Psynema said:
Thanks for your opinion.

Please don't be rude to others who have more experience in the industry you are discussing - I can back what I've just said and you are doing the original poster a disservice by going by a slanderous stereotype as concrete information.

Regards.
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I've been doing video production for a living since 1987. Please point out where I've done a disservice by expressing my opinion and offering suggestions based on my experience.
 
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