The Rookie Asks: Wedding Videographers - How do you advertise?

It's kinda tricky what I mean by hire....

If anyone shoots for me...they must meet my standards. They must have a portfolio as well, that I will review. I am not going to just blindly hire someone.

They will have to meet the standards that I set down. And of course, the clients will know whether or not I will be involved in the shoot. I am sure I will do 100% of the editing.

But that is way down the road... hell I am not even going to trust my own wife with her own crew until I am confident in her abilities, and more importantly....she is confident in her own.
 
thisiswells said:
When you hire video, you get "whoever they found with a GL1 that particular weekend"
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There are definitely those types of businesses out there. And for those who shop on price, yes, that's what they'll get. But for those who take as much care selecting their videographer as they do their photographer, there are some real craftsmen out there. And they're not cheap. Last time I was on a plane, the lady next to me ran a videography business in NYC. She does moderate- to high-end wedding videos; $5,000+. She said it's becoming tougher and tougher because every kid with a handycam thinks they're wedding videographers now, and it's just too much work to compete for the little $1500 fees.

And those "kids with handycams" who are smart enough to at least charge $1500 are the smarter ones, because there are plenty of places doing exactly what Wells said: they'll charge the client $2500, hire a "kid with a GL1" for $300 to shoot, hire an "aspiring editor" for $300 to edit, and pocket the difference.

And that cheapens the market for everyone. I ran into one guy who offers to shoot your wedding for free. Free. He has a shoulder-mount VHS camera, shows up and tapes stuff, and then if you want the tape you can buy it for something like $250. It's insane.

Good wedding shooters are hard, hard workers. It's probably the main way that videographers make money with their cameras. Wedding videos should be as expensive as the still photographer's work, at least.
 
Barry_Green said:
Wedding videos should be as expensive as the still photographer's work, at least.
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I couldn't agree more!
But it's up to the videographers to get it there.
As long as there are people willing to work for close to nothing, the prices overall will probably stay where they are.
 
Photographers have one distinct advantage over the videographer...the after ceremony photoshoot...

Are there any wedding videographers here who do the same thing as the photographers which is the "video shoot" after the ceremony...

and I am not just talking about shooting the photo shoot. I am talking about doing exactly what the photgrapher does. The photographer re does certain scenes from the ceremony (although the same emotion may not be captured).

You cannot recreate the actual falling of tears or anything like that (and be honest about it). thats where position and camera angle and knowing what the hell you are doing comes in.

And I do klnow about the engagement video shoot as well..

I just don't see how in this day and age of video media how the concentration is still on the pictures. I am not saying that pictures are not important, they - IMHO - still dont capture the moment by moment emotion. Especially when the majority of them are taken AFTER the most emotional thing has happened, and that's when the moment has to be captured...as it happens.

For example: My wedding...I only had a Hi-8 Camera in the balcony recording everything (long story behind this)...I was so psyche and so happy about eeverything that was happening...

Then my Father in law said a REALLY, REALLY smart ass comment at the altar (which one year later he apologized for.) Even on as low of quality of video as what we had...you could see my jaw clench, because I really wanted to kick his ass at that time.

Afterwards, we had to take pictures...I hadn't had a chance to talk to my new wife about what her father said, and it showed in all the pictures. I looked pissed in all the pics. I couldn't smile to save my life, and it wasn't helping that everyone was trying to force me.

After the limo ride to the reception, I talked to my wife...and I didn't even have to say 10 words, and she knew what I was going to say...

She said, "I know.. I know exactly what you are pissed about. Let it go. I am pissed too...this is our day...don't let that ruin it. I love you. What he said was wrong. I am your wife now...please smile for that."

Every picture and every scene in the video had me smiling from ear to ear.

Wow...that was a ramble...so I throw that out there.
 
One thing about saying that wedding Videographers and Photographers should make the same amount--- I would love to agree with you as a shooter myself, but I can't. Wedding photographers have much higher bottom line that videographers do. Their cameras and memory cards, etc. cost as much if not a lot more than our gear does, and often times they are the company that handles the printing as well, which is also quite expensive. After you consider the cost of the initial equipment purchase, there is nearly no overhead in wedding videography, unless you wear a tux to every event. I only do weddings for family and friends at this point, and I tend not to charge them - I give them their wedding video as my gift to them, but truth be told, other than the set up time, and the time that it takes to edit, it really costs me nothing to do it. I have worked with wedding videographers and wedding photographers who don't get along simply because of the cost difference, and while they make a lot more money, they spend a lot more money.

Here's to us all just getting along. :)
 
profnoxin said:
One thing about saying that wedding Videographers and Photographers should make the same amount--- I would love to agree with you as a shooter myself, but I can't. Wedding photographers have much higher bottom line that videographers do. Their cameras and memory cards, etc. cost as much if not a lot more than our gear does, and often times they are the company that handles the printing as well, which is also quite expensive. After you consider the cost of the initial equipment purchase, there is nearly no overhead in wedding videography, unless you wear a tux to every event. I only do weddings for family and friends at this point, and I tend not to charge them - I give them their wedding video as my gift to them, but truth be told, other than the set up time, and the time that it takes to edit, it really costs me nothing to do it. I have worked with wedding videographers and wedding photographers who don't get along simply because of the cost difference, and while they make a lot more money, they spend a lot more money.

Here's to us all just getting along. :)
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This is so absurd it falls into the category of flame-bait.

[Other comments deleted. I almost got sucked in.]
 
x-angel,
If you haven't already, you might check out the wedding videographers forum on www. videouniversity.com. Most folks on that forum do weddings for a living or are heading in that direction. Generally good discussions on marketing yourself, dealing with troublesome customers, pricing, etc. People post examples of their work; again mostly weddings.
Good luck,
-Dan
 
just as a "bump update"

I investigated some of those service...such as respondweddings.com..and I am already getting spits and spatters of leads. I haven't paid for the full service yet, as I am holding off on that until I get the camera, and things like that. Just an FYI
 
Since you bumped it...

I looked at your website and it screams "rookie".

It appears you are not in a position to do anything before 14 months from now. I doubt you will get any business until you have returned, or at least are close enough that you can take the deployment info off your site.

In the meantime, are you in a position to shoot over there? Do some free or cheap "GI" weddings just to get practice and demo material. Shoot a couple of local weddings for the natives if you are allowed, I bet they have a whole different kind of ceremony and it will be good practice.

Good Luck. Stay safe.
 
Well.. GI weddings are not allowed over here. (Chaplains wont marry since due to legal constraints)

I am planning on doing some sample footage while I am here/there. I am in good with the "PAO" (Public Affair Office) and they are going to allow me access to their Sony HD Camera, and when I get my 100B, I will be doing some short suff... (this will be constrained by the laws of opsec, so I don't cause an international incident like the Norwegian Boys did with their "Kosovo" video.)

When it comes to doing native weddings, that means that I would have to go outside the gate in full battle rattle... that would be kinda disconcerting I think at a wedding, but I plan to get plenty of practice while I am "in country."

I am also doing a whirlwind tour of Europe during my R&R time, and I will have my 100B by then, so I whill have a lot of practice with that. I also will have another 5 months after my R&R to do mor practice. I, PAO, and a few other "independent shooters" (people with just basic mini-dv handycams, etc) are going to gather up all of our video at the end of the mission and produce a highlight reel like no other. (Not the typical "death by powerpoint")

I want to learn the 100B inside and out while I am gone. Trust me... I will have the time. I am also wanting to really delve into CC and other post-production techniques. This is the first technology that I am totally behind the curve on..but I love it..and what I love.. I dive into and totally immerse myself in it.

This time will allow me to develop, focus, and hone my skills. I am planning on a advertising ramp up that will start about 2 months before I come home.. that way I can hit the ground running, and have sample footage on the site. I am also planning - although not sure about the ethics of this - on my wife and I do a sample of the different aspects of the wedding packages. There will be some that we can't do, but we will see.

When it comes to the website.. I built in like 2 hours...I am working on site redesign. Other than the advertisement.. how else does it scream "rookie". I am trying to understand the impression it gives to other people. I have left it up and I am getting my name out there so that it can start circulating through the search engines and other advertisement methods.

Thanks for the input
 
Your first line screams "rookie"

"We are San Antonio's newest videography company."

Then you go on to say...

"Why should you trust a newly founded company to capture your special event?" "Now, with that being said, people may feel hesitant about hiring a company new to wedding videography".

And you talk about the equipment and technology. Nobody cares.

Need I go on???
 
ok... I can see that..

I was thinkning about redoing that in V.2 of the website...

If you feel like going on... please do... does nothing but benefit me.
 
Eric,
All of us who do weddings start from the same position you're in. We have been doing this about 3 years now and it takes time to build a portfolio of work. The first year we tried this we had one wedding that we videoed using 3 cameras at a very nice church in Houston that a friend of mine is the music director at. One was the DVX 100, a friend's Sony DV and a small Sony consumer DV cam. We were given a release from the couple in exchange for a short 5 minute DVD with background music. We used clips from this video to do a mall bridal show and only got 2 bookings. They were from the same family who happened to have 2 daughters getting married 2 months apart. The first demo wedding we did we had no wireless equipment. At the first daughter's wedding we used our new Sennheisers. We were able to use those videos and do other shows. Now we have lots of demo videos of our work. The going was so slow at first that we also added digital still photography to our services. We now offer both as one package. In order to sell your services, you need personal contact time with a client. Make the bridal fairs, shows, etc. and book appointments to go over your service and product to the client. Have them fill out a profile and preference sheet. Show attention to detail. Use large poster size photos of brides placed on easels at fairs, and shows to attract them. We use photo slideshows with music of the stills we shoot played on a 20" Imac G5 which is attached to a 200 watts speaker system. We load a wedding DVD video on the mac when a crowd or potential buyer shows up and start talking to them about all the imaging services we can offer them. We give them a price sheet that has a bridal fair special (We try to give freebies away and not lower prices). We tell them to call us for an appointment or try to set an appointment with them to meet with us at our home. We don't have a studio yet.
We have very few who do not do business with us. We started with very low prices and one DVX and a Nikon Digital SLR and now we have two of everything including the wireless mics. By the way, you've got to have wireless. Our customers love our handheld wireless interviews at weddings. Anyone who tells you there is more work and higher costs in doing digital still photography is kidding themselves. We do both,and to reach the level of perfection we are striving for (but still have not achieved) it will cost way more money in equipment for first-rate video production. Good luck to you. If we can help in any way contact us. By the way we charge 3 times as much now as when we started and still feel like we need double that for what we do. The prevailing market price is being set by a great many weekend warriors unfortunately. If we are not careful there will not be a living to be made full-time in this business.
 
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