Slightly newb videographer, what would you charge?

Blade Borge

Blade Borge

Well-known member
Atlanta-


I'm an intermediate videographer, this lady wants me to do a promotional for a band, 3-5 min edited video, bascially of them performing at a concert, some basic graphic titles, a few soundbytes of them. I'd be using my HMC-150 camera, what would you charge?
 
Sounds like a half-day's worth of shooting (although we all know there's no such thing as a half day), then another day of editing. What does your market bear for day rates, or hourly rates? I'm in the bay area, CA. As an example, it's fair to charge $500.00 for the rental of your camera and P2 cards for the day (depending on the camera), then approx. $40-$60 an hour, depending on your level. Some guys charge even more for the hourly rate, and they're worth it.

Include rental of lights and an audio package.

For editing, a pro Avid suite, or FCP suite, can run you around $150.00 per hour, maybe even more, to rent out (the current economic situation has made some prices slightly open to negotiation, but just a little). If you're doing this on your PC/MAC, then find a price based on your experience. I know some people who would charge more for graphics/titles.

Figure this out, send a quote, then hope to not lose your client like I just did for a concert coming up on Memorial Day.

Undercutting is a reality, but wow, it's really rearing it's head lately.
 
Depends on the profitability of the band. Considering the bands around here, even the successful ones with some CD's at Best Buy nationwide, all still live in the same house (or apartment) together, to save money, and buy more band equipment, the odds of them blowing their money on a high end video production is practically zero. If they'll pay 500 bucks, thank them, do the project, and take their money!

If you want to earn real money, you need to get in corporate videos or some other area of production. Doing this kind of thing for local, or even regional artists, as a business, doesn't pay well. Now, occasionally, you'll find some hip hop jock who has a 20K to drop on a music video, but that's rare. It has always been rare.. That's not something you can develop a reputation around and then milk it once a month.

500 bucks.
 
I charge 5k for EPKs.
As pemtioned, the work you put in depends on the lable's budget and/or what you stand to gain from it.
 
A bit off-topic, but how do you plan to shoot a band's live performance using just one camera? Where's the coverage? How will you be able to cut it in editing? It seems to me that 2 cameras would be the bare minimum for shooting something you hope to get paid for. Not to mention, how will you be capturing sound?

I realize none of this relates to the main topic of how much to charge, and I don't want to hijack the thread. I'm just curious how you're doing this. Maybe I can learn something here.
 
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