Save the Date Video - comments welcome!

[Mike Williams]

OMG DUDE! I was thinking at least a grand! At least. As an add on to a 3-5k wedding package min.

Your work is really good and I wish you all the best in the future! I hope you can charge enough to live and keep up with equopment depreciation and the rapid evolution of software, hardware, editing techniques, waistlines, and fad diets :)

I had a similar concept but it involved stock footage and titles :) You have officially put that concept into a death spiral of shame :)

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Vito DeFilippo

And to be picky, she looks like she's painting something low to the ground, but you cut to a shot where they are painting relatively high.

Another great catch. As soon as I captured the footage and saw that shot I was like "Well that came out well, except I had the tripod too low." It's another one of those things I'm sure I would have caught onsite if the shoot hadn't felt rushed, but oh well. I did adjust that clip shortly after posting it to make sure her eyes were completely in the shot the whole time. In this edit you only see her eyes for a second and then they are partially out of frame and it doesn't look right. It's fixed now, though.

By the way, I post stuff here to hear the nit-picky stuff too. So don't ever hold back. I want to get better.

Originally Posted by Vito DeFilippo

Travis, I can only express my appreciation of your work. It's top notch.

Thanks, Vito. It helps to hear that because I'm trying pretty hard!

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

OMG DUDE! I was thinking at least a grand! At least. As an add on to a 3-5k wedding package min.

Your work is really good and I wish you all the best in the future! I hope you can charge enough to live and keep up with equopment depreciation and the rapid evolution of software, hardware, editing techniques, waistlines, and fad diets :)

I had a similar concept but it involved stock footage and titles :) You have officially put that concept into a death spiral of shame :)

"Death spiral of shame ...", that's the funniest thing I heard all day!

Anyways, yeah, I'd like to charge a grand for this product, but I'll be really lucky to get brides to pay half that. Most of the couples I meet with are looking to spend around $1-2k tops on their wedding videography (many are even looking for $500-600, crazy), and I'm already having to convince them to jump to $3k just for their package with no options. It helps that my wife is a photog and so I get to meet with more couples that way, but she charges top dollar for her photography and if a couple gets really sold on her stuff they often cut me out of the picture entirely. It's a weird situation to be in, lol.

Thanks again for viewing and commenting!

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

"It helps that my wife is a photog and so I get to meet with more couples that way, but she charges top dollar for her photography and if a couple gets really sold on her stuff they often cut me out of the picture entirely. It's a weird situation to be in, lol.

Very odd, I would have almost expected the opposite, that it would bring in more. But I suppose if she is a top producer, then clients go with her because their focus is on Photography not videography.

[Travis Cossel]

I've adjusted the opening (not visible via this link). The "bars" of video in the beginning now slide in twice as fast and it looks much better I think. I also cut out the title for the musical artist and instead used that part to reverse the DOF I created in post.

I tried to find a way to "fix" that first closeup clip of the couple walking, but nothing I tried seemed to help. Unfortunately I don't really have a different clip to use there. I guess it stays as is. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions on that part, though.

[Yang Wen]

Very nice travis, the latter part of the clip was very stylish. I especially liked the shot of the white paint dripping down the canvas.. the location was stylish as well. However, that being said, that stylishness did not exist in the beginning of the clip with them loading their car in the parking lot... I don't know what I would have done differently since you have to convey them getting the material...

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

Very odd, I would have almost expected the opposite, that it would bring in more. But I suppose if she is a top producer, then clients go with her because their focus is on Photography not videography.

To be clear, I've booked better with her doing her thing because I get more exposure. But I do find myself not getting booked because a couple is dumping all of their money into photography sometimes. It's like a two-edge sword.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Yang Wen

Very nice travis, the latter part of the clip was very stylish. I especially liked the shot of the white paint dripping down the canvas.. the location was stylish as well. However, that being said, that stylishness did not exist in the beginning of the clip with them loading their car in the parking lot... I don't know what I would have done differently since you have to convey them getting the material...

I know exactly what you are saying, and I think I know what the difference is. The latter part of the video has a heavy focus on the couple and their interaction whereas the earlier parts do not. The reason for that was that the couple had a different attitude early on, and the interaction was not very good. It wasn't until they started painting together that they started having fun together.

So for the initial part of the shoot I felt I had to pull the focus away from the couple somewhat to make sure I didn't convey the groom's obvious lack of interest, plus they just weren't interacting much and I didn't want to force it. I also had much better plans for the driving portion, to really emphasize the couple and them interacting, but due to them arriving an hour late to the shoot I had to shoot the driving stuff AFTER the painting. And because they had paint all over their clothes and hands and faces, etc. ... I couldn't shoot most of the shots of them that I had planned. I actually had to re-edit the song to shorten it some because I just didn't have enough usable shots from the driving (too many shots with paint showing). I couldn't show paint on them BEFORE they arrived to do the painting.

So I think that's what you're catching. I felt it as I was editing, but there just wasn't much I could do about it. Sharp observation on your part, though. Thanks.

[Steven Davis]

Very nice Travis. I'm glad you didn't fall out of the car while filming the tire.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

To be clear, I've booked better with her doing her thing because I get more exposure. But I do find myself not getting booked because a couple is dumping all of their money into photography sometimes. It's like a two-edge sword.

Well at least it all goes into the same home, so net win. :-) If you had an outside partner you worked with, that would be different, and not as good of an arrangement.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

To be clear, I've booked better with her doing her thing because I get more exposure. But I do find myself not getting booked because a couple is dumping all of their money into photography sometimes. It's like a two-edge sword.

One possible idea for you Travis, since your better half is getting the prime bookings <wink>.

Since the couple is there already, but may be "blowing" the last of their budget on getting a top notch photog, you might want to consider offering the video with a "delayed gratification" option - point out the statistics that most brides later regret not getting video, but you understand the budget thing.

Then, presuming you would otherwise have the day "off" anyway (unless you shoot second photog, or are the world's best assistant, or book separately)... Offer a "shoot only" fee - enough to cover tape/supplies, and minimal time. This can be a relatively smaller portion of your "typical" fee, as it's really "found money" on top of a better photog booking. Discount as needed to make it affordable...

The rest of the offer is that they have a year to pay a agreed to amount to have the rest of the video edited and produced (or however long you want to allow them, to allow you some time control - you're not going to want to go down in the archive cellar for the 25 year anniversary edition... or maybe you would... I did a "1st anniversary" edit) . This should probably bring the price to the equivalent package you'd other wise have "sold", maybe even a bit of a premium, as you're taking some risk that you might later get an overload of requests. You could even just write it as "current rates" and leave the time open ended...


The idea is to get the footage in the can as it were, as there's ONLY one chance to get it. Later, when they've added up all the wedding gifts and maybe have settled down a bit, maybe there's a realization that they really WANTED that video, and now there's a bit of money to go ahead with it! Of course you can "sell" them on the idea along the way too, but worst case you got to "practice" your shooting techniques and made SOMETHING for it, best case, you get some "delayed gratification" <wink>.

This is a "sneaky" way to get yourself the bookings while not cutting into your photography side of the biz and risking offending your photographer!

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

Since the couple is there already, but may be "blowing" the last of their budget on getting a top notch photog, you might want to consider offering the video with a "delayed gratification" option - point out the statistics that most brides later regret not getting video, but you understand the budget thing.

I tossed around this idea to a few clients, but I never got any interest. Seems like a bit of short sightedness on the clients part, or the desire not to have any future financial obligations (which I can certainly understand).

But your thought exactly mirrored what I was thinking. That way they get everything filmed, I can use it for demos, and they can settle in and decided later. It also allows me to cut a trailer, hand that to them to get them excited about the movie and hopefully get a sale. I think I'll put this option back on the package list because I took it off a year ago after not getting any solid interest.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Probably works better with a photography package they are already on board for... and if structured right, they shouldn't feel "obliged" to purchase, this is just a "courtesy" so the moment is not lost forever.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Steven Davis

Very nice Travis. I'm glad you didn't fall out of the car while filming the tire.

That shot was nothing, lol. I was just "leaning" out the window. I actually got a crazier shot. I was half-way out the window (praying that no police would drive by) shooting through the passenger window to catch the bride and groom as they were driving (profile shot). It looked real good except for the paint on her face. Doh!

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

Well at least it all goes into the same home, so net win. :-) If you had an outside partner you worked with, that would be different, and not as good of an arrangement.

Yeah, I'm not complaining really. My exposure is better now. It just gets old and frustrating sometimes when people come in and think the video is overpriced but that the photography is not. People just don't have a clue how much time it takes to shoot and edit.