Hi All

I did ask nicely in the video bio thread if any current threads existed about what wedding videographers do to keep busy in the bleak Winter months or during the week when weddings seldom occur but none seem to exist. As promised I started a new thread to see how we fill in our time between wedding gigs.

Alex from France was looking at doing video bios but it seems people shun away from the cost of doing a decent one and spending a reasonable amount of time shooting.

What do you do to supplement your wedding videography income to keep your cameras busy???

Chris

Well at one time I thought about robbing banks but I can't run fast anymore. Then I thought about porn but my wife slapped me on the head and that thought went away very quickly. ;-)
I was thinking of giving it all up but I still need to make a living so during the slow season I find I'm doing more and more holiday parties. Yep the good old Xmas and NYE parties that more and more companies are bringing back. While not as big and extravagant as before they are doing them and can be a reasonable source of income but more importantly, they get me contacts. Since I'm really trying to cut back all of my workload this year I'm only giving myself a certain number of dates during the off wedding season to work but they do seem to be filling in.
Anyway that's what I try to do.

i'm still very new to the video side of things, but previously for the stills, i did some stock photography which can sometimes unexpectedly yield good results.

For video I was thinking of looking at stock footage, what i was thinking was, take a theme for instance, castles (of which there a lot of here) and create a catalogue of themed footage. The list could be endless.
I have no idea if theres any money to be made from it or not tho!

R

Back in my day, if business was slow we'd send out a mailer to all of the law offices in town reminding them that we shoot depositions. Always got a surge of new work out of that tactic.

Use winter to catch up on backlog. Shoot in the summer, edit in winter.

Go on holiday for three months.

Thanks Guys

I think I like Don's answer..rob banks..you don't need to be creative at all there... Christmas parties are an issue over here cos it's mid-Summer so we are going crazy with weddings anyway!!!

It's not really even seasonal as I often have days of the week free but my Realtors keep me busy with rental shoots

The thread was posted actually for Alex in France so I'm sure he would appreciate some genuine ideas..legal depositions sound good I wonder if that happens in France..I suspect they would be a bit boring to do but money is money!!

I must admit editing in Winter sounds like a good idea but I couldn't even remember the day after 6 months and brides here would go ape if they had to wait that long

Thanks for the ideas so far

Chris

Hi Chris.
Sorry if my comment seemed flippant I know that winter down time can be a serious matter when building a business, the first couple of winters have broken many who have relied solely on weddings. I started when weddings here could only take place in a church or a town registry office (often dismal places). At that time weddings during winter months were very scarce and usually very low budget. In 1995 the market was opened to licensing other venues (still more restrictions here than you seem to have) and winter weddings increased as couples who didn't want a church wedding could choose from a variety of venues many of which offered very enticing packages. Over that time I have seen my market move to about 75% civil venues which are better spread throughout the year. However with the mood of pessimism and uncertainty which has been hanging over the country for the last few years, the whole wedding market seems to have shrunk in both numbers and budgets so finding things to earn from away from weddings is becoming more necessary throughout the year, not just in the winter.

My holiday comment though tongue in cheek wasn't to far away from my reality. We have a home in France which we go to whenever work is short in the winter, though unfortunately not for three months at a time. I had spent many winter months in UK fretting when no work was coming in but now with good communications (and Ryanair) I can keep my business ticking over during quiet times just as easily as I can at home here in UK. I note that Alex, the member who's question raised this thread, is in France and I assume that he is either a French national or fluent speaker as I found it extremely difficult to build a business in that country as a non-national.

I've just realised that I haven't offered any suggestions as you had asked for; here are some of the things I've done to expand the range of work I get.
Contacted schools offering to film their productions for free, just ask for exclusive sales of DVDs with a minimum number. I have 5 or 6 regulars.
The same with local dance and am/dram groups, again a few regulars and the odd one-offs.
I've contacted events organisers and I've picked-up quite a few seminars, company promotions and charity events. I either produced video inserts for presentations, provide live cameras for cctv room screens or records the event for them to send out to those that attended or for their use as a tool to attract new sponsors for future events.
I also have a nice connection with a health and safety compliance company producing individual induction videos for companies.

Hi George

Not a issue at all except I was slightly jealous!!!

Thanks for that input..I'm sure Alex will appreciate the ideas!! I do much the same thing with dance companies..as long as you have a reasonable audience it pays to do the gig for free..my dance company I do here also distributes the DVD's for me and takes pre-orders at interval...it's always proven profitable for me.

Schools in Australia are a nightmare! You have to have police clearance now PLUS a signed release from every single parent!! Really not worth the hassle..they treat videographers like they were child molesters!!!
I don't do them at all but IF a school has a concert/performance at a public venue you don't need all the red tape ..it's only if it's held at the school.

I think that any seminar/presentation/lecture etc etc is worth doing "on spec" as long as you know roughly how many people will attend...it's no good doing a shoot for 2 hours and selling 2 DVD's!!

Your ideas are much appreciated..I might even use some myself!!

Chris

Hi Chris.

I only do the schools and dance groups if they pre-sell the DVDs, I require that they sell a minimum, they take in all the money and do all the distributing, I will only deliver to the school premises never to individuals. and insist on just one payment. I did the first few times sell direct to parents, that was a nightmare The schools' usually add a mark-up and I give them a couple of free ones. As for CRB, I know it's generally perceived to be an issue but I've never had a problem (must have an honest face). I do insist that I'm never in a position where there is not a teacher or official in the room. They all do however get permission from all of the parents to agree for the performance to be recorded and I never put anything on the internet. I clear all materials after 3 months after I know they've had the copies they want.

As for the seminar/eventsI don't do those on spec I do it on a day rate and they add a mark-up and sell it in their corporate packages as an option. I don't get every event, only when a company goes for it. Despite the impression of gloom there are still companies with money to spend.

This week I've had a warehouse induction, a manufacturer one tomorrow a drama production on Friday night and a wedding on Saturday (the first this year) and wayho the sun is shining for the first weekend in I don't know how long. If I had to pick a year with no early weddings this would have been the one with so many cold wet weekends so far.

Chris If you're interested in seeing the induction I've just completed to get an idea of what they are PM me. As they are on company premises I don't post publicly.

Funerals.

Stable, always to be found, and family that wants to remember with a biographical DVD. Coverage includes shooting stories of the family & friends, photo albums, momento. Split with the funeral home to get your foot in the door and card up front.

I shoot Birthdays (Filipino 18th to be exact), they are as extravagant as weddings. Basically it is like a wedding shoot without the ceremony. Advertise on the local Filipino community newspaper in your area. There's no slow months I did 3 in December last year.

Next in line would be funerals, very easy to shoot and edit.

My 2 cents!

I've found that nothing beats weddings for well paid, well organised, steady income. I tried commercial work and found it very hard. Lots of dithering people to organise and tight budgets. The next best sideline for me is converting peoples old VHS video tapes to DVD format. Quite a nice little earner...

Next in line would be funerals, very easy to shoot and edit.


I once got a call out of the blue to shoot a funeral. The person on the phone told me the purpose of the video was so they could send it to relatives who were living out of Hawaii. Easy money, I thought, just shoot and edit and give them the finished product!

When I arrived at the chapel, I found out the deceased was a college kid who died in a motorcycle crash. He was Vietnamese. To my horror, it was an open casket funeral. Lots of college kids came, and huddled around the body, openly sobbing. The kid's mother was crying so hard that they had to literally pry her off her son's body. They carried her out, and she was kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs for her son. What do you shoot in this kind of situation? I felt so sick, I was shaking from the heaving. I made a promise to myself never to shoot another funeral again.

Hi Warren

My feelings exactly..weddings are happy occasions and I love doing them but I have turned down requests for funerals and don't think I will ever do one...I wouldn't have liked to have been in your position!!

Realty Shoots still keep me busy during the week and stop me from getting bored..I get around 4 a week and that keeps the wolf from the door..they are hardly creative (I do condition reports for rentals) but it's really easy work and keeps my cameras (and me) busy!! There is no budget issues either..every house/apartment my agents rent out gets a shoot at a fixed rate and they pay me at the end of the week...it only brings in around $36K a year BUT it keeps me active!!

Chris

I really try not get affected when shooting funerals. I don't listen to the speeches and try not to look at the emotions of the greiving family. The only time it really affected me was the time when the deceased has the same name as me, so when they were shouting " Noel" when the casket was being lowered, it made me think how fragile life is.

But in the end, it's a job that needs to be done =). No highlights, no glidecam, just pure straight documentary.

I've been contacted about funerals a couple of times but have never accepted, for the same reason that Chris mentioned. Weddings are fun and happy, funerals not so much. Some of the staples for weddings such as shots of guests arriving, reaction shots during speeches, etc., would not work for funerals as people don't want to watch themselves crying. Especially not in crystal clear sparkling high definition.

For those that have shot funerals, do you just focus entirely on the service - the priest talking, eulogy, readings and so on, and capture absolutely nothing else?

For those that have shot funerals, do you just focus entirely on the service - the priest talking, eulogy, readings and so on, and capture absolutely nothing else?We cover all those plus tasteful shots of the coffin arriving in the hearse being unloaded & carried by the pallbearers. Nice establishing shots of the venue. It's not so different to shooting a very low
key wedding but with all the guests in long shot. Get some favourite photographs of the deceased & then you can do a slideshow or montage at the end of the DVD to end on a high note.

I guess it's very much like the start of a wedding reception..sorta the speeches part and as long as one avoids the weeping family, it's really just a video shoot..a record of an event.

I think my avoidance is mainly due to the fact that it's a sad occasion and I don't like sad occasions..then again at least everyone behaves at a funeral and you are highly unlikely to get a wild drunk best man crash into your camera. I would say that Nigel seems to film the event and keep the dignity and rather make it a celebration of life with the slideshow at the end.

Chris

Chris.....you've never been to an Irish funeral then :-)

at least a rural one, i've been to some where a bottle of whiskey would be produced at the graveside!! that would be following a two or three day wake.

It's also difficult to upsell yourself at funerals because you don't want to offend anyone. Sometimes selling copies, or creating highlights even feels like you're taking advantage of someones unexpected time of grief. I would be happy to do more if they would book 6 months in advance!

I Contacted schools offering to film their productions for free, just ask for exclusive sales of DVDs with a minimum number. I have 5 or 6 regulars.
The same with local dance and am/dram groups, again a few regulars and the odd one-offs.
I've contacted events organisers and I've picked-up quite a few seminars, company promotions and charity events. I either produced video inserts for presentations, provide live cameras for cctv room screens or records the event for them to send out to those that attended or for their use as a tool to attract new sponsors for future events.
I also have a nice connection with a health and safety compliance company producing individual induction videos for companies.

George I'm interested in what sort of license you obtain from PRS for such a production to cover the music

Peter

George is currently enjoying himself in rural France but will be back in a week or so. I'm sure he will scan the forum when he returns. He did say that internet connection where he is is tricky at the best

Chris

I love it when the last wedding of the year is done, pack the cameras away and get on with my first love. The wedding season is over, but the shooting season has begun, www.endsleeshoot.co.uk After spending 44 years behind cameras, and now in vey enjoyable,semi retirement, it is bliss to be out in our woodland, working the dogs, and making some money in the process, this to me is total bliss.

George I'm interested in what sort of license you obtain from PRS for such a production to cover the music

If it's recorded music I use the Limited Manufacture Licence. 100 copies of a 2hrs show will cost £128 and include it in the selling price. If they cannot confirm 100 or more I ask them to obtain the licence.

Limited Manufacture Licence (LM) (http://www.prsformusic.com/users/recordedmedia/dvdsanddigitalmedia/Pages/LimitedManufactureLicence%28LM%29.aspx)


If it's live musical performances such as a commercial musical (i.e. Grease) where they will have bought the score and script with rights to stage a number of performances from the publisher they will have had the option to purchase a 'Grand Rights Licence' a the same time to record the performances. I advise them of this and leave that entirely to them but do ask to see that they have it.

http://www.prsformusic.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/LM%20Grand%20Rights%20Guide.pdf

Some schools write and score their own production with original music and lyrics, such as Nativities where copyright is not an issue.

If it's live musical performances such as a commercial musical (i.e. Grease) where they will have bought the score and script with rights to stage a number of performances from the publisher they will have had the option to purchase a 'Grand Rights Licence' a the same time to record the performances. I advise them of this and leave that entirely to them but do ask to see that they have it.A Grand Rights Licence may either be prohibitively expensive or simply not be available for some popular works.

For schools and none commercial or charity productions there are special rates I believe. I know that a couple of schools I've worked for do obtain licences when they buy the script and score packages. It will be different for a theatre with paying public or companies wanting to make a DVD to sell to the public, rather than parents.
They are not as easily obtainable in the straightforward way that the PRS LM licences are.

Hi George

I did a dance recital that used very up to date commercial music and to save all the hassle they arranged the recording and performance licencing themselves. Then again these guys do this every year so they obviously are pretty familiar with the procedure and being an "educational organisation" they do get a lower rate. In the UK are you covered if the school obtains the necessary clearances and then employs you are the videographer?

Chris

It's not a given that a Grand Rights Licence can be obtained for an amateur production. Andrew Lloyd-Webber for example is very protective of his revenue stream & keeps a tight control over productions of his musicals even by schools or youth groups. So a Grand Rights Licence is available for Joseph & His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat but not for any of the other works e.g. Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera etc Check out his licensing site http://www.stageamusical.com/