Event Video Recording and DVD Sales
 

I am considering video recording events and selling the DVD's on site as the event ends. I am imagining that my workflow will go like this:

I bring two cameras, a video switcher, dvd recorder, dvd duplicator, and printer to each show. Before the event I will print about 30 labels for the DVD discs with the printer and laptop ready, in case more labels are needed. I record the event directly to DVD with the cameras and switcher. At the end of the event, I immediately start the DVD duplicator and begin making DVDs. When the DVD's are finished, I put them in a transparent CD case and sell to the customer. I'd sell the DVDs at a price of $25 per disc.

Are there any obvious flaws or possible problem areas to this plan?

Clearance and copyright?

I'll get the permission of the person/company who is conducting the event

I don't know how fast your burner is, but at 15 min or so per DVD (I'm guessing), most people are going to be gone by the 4th or 5th DVD. I would bring some order forms as well just in case.

Good luck

MarkG

Other than running out of time...
No text, no credits, not being able to check the audio etc.
And not being able to edit out dead time or the unthinkable...
A recital I videoed the other day one of the kids had a puddle appear beside him while he was playing the violin.

In terms of quality or quickness...I choose quality

I think copyright is the biggest concern. If its some play they wrote themselves and they own the copyright then your ok with their permission. But if its a re-creation of a commercial play/show then you (as well as those putting on the show) need permission. Some plays get permission on the basis that its not recorded. Theres always some school in the news here in the UK whos just been told off for putting on a school music of Grease or something.

Agree with the last post. The quality may not be that great and people who pay $25 may be a little unhappy. But saying that, you may be quite exceptional and have nothing to worry about.

lol, puddle.

That's a good point. Raw footage of the event might end up embarrassing me rather than helping. Also, if I can't generate the DVDs quickly enough, I will end up losing customers.

What is the best way to approach DVD sales via order form? Do the people fill out an order form with their information and when the DVD is complete I mail a copy to them? Is there any special information that I should include on the order form other than name, address, and amount of DVD's ordered? Does anyone have a sample of an order form that I can view?

Also, it'll be useful if I can accept credit cards also-- what is the best credit card processing service that doesn't charge a monthly fee?

Let the event promoter handle orders and fulfillment? They probably have the contact information anyway, and putting an order form together should be simple - and they may have merchant services already for CC. Give them a cut per unit sold, and offload the workload.

What about a web site and some business cards.
 

Can you just have a really clean website, and direct event attendees to it with some business cards or something?

Then you can do a really great sample edit for people to see that night (or whenever they decide to check.) Then they can order directly from your site.

Does that make sense? You've got a small level of immediacy with the website. Do a quick edit and hopefully you've got a great sample uploaded for them to see right when they get home.

That's a good idea, but I've noticed that it's best to catch people in the heat of the moment immediately after they leave the event and are excited about it rather than after they go home and have a chance to think about it.

I'd like to offer both. That's a great idea, by the way.

Hi jeremy

PayPal works good for online order processing. Just make a "Buy Now" PayPal button for your web site. Then people can order online with Credit/Debt cards. Works great for us. No monthly fee, just a percentage fee for of each transaction. A $40 transaction is costs about $1.50.

What if I want to manually input all of the credit card orders based on information that the person wrote on an order form? Can I do that through paypal?

yeah, you can but I prefer to have them enter the info. I don't like having people's card info. If I need to do order forms then I take cash or check only and send the folks that want to use cards to the web.

Getting permission from the person/company/organization may not be enough. There are a number of potential legal issues.

1) If the company holding the event is hiring a speaker(s) their contract with the speaker(s) may or may not include rights to video tape, reproduce, and sell copies of the speaker's presentations. I imagine that some speakers might not take kindly to having presentations taped and distributed on unprotected DVDs the content of which could then appear virtually anywhere. You might be able to work with the promoter of the event to clear the speakers . . . but then this becomes a hassle for the promoter.

2) If the event is a trade show there is ripe potential for trademark infringement.

3) If persons are paying for admission to the event the event is not public and they would have some expectation of privacy and this would mean you have to clear the use of the image of anyone appearing in the videos . . . unless you get the promoter to paper the place with signs to warn people they are agreeing to have their image sold, or give them advance notice of same . . . a hassle for the promoter.

4) Even if the event is not a trade show there is ample possibility for trademark infringement. Any mark appearing in the background or on people's clothing might have to be blurred and the rendering times on that process might alone make the quick turn around on DVDs trickly

5) All incidental music would have to be cleared . . .

If anyone thinks these are trivial issues, I'll cite a recent demo by Garret Brown (inventor of the Steadicam) at B&H that BH video taped. B&H blurred out nearly every trademark and face out of the video.

See the video at: http://www.video.bhphotovideo.com/

(I tried to embed the video here, but failed. Chris, when will we be able to embed videos here?)

Good luck with your venture Jeremy.