How much would you charge - examples
 

Need some advice on how much to charge. I have read a lot on hear about different peoples prices but I just want to gut reaction numbers.

Seeing is believing so below are links to a couple videos I have finished recently. How much would you charge? From start to finish no additional duplication just one DVD master and no gear rentals?

Video 1
http://www.winepressgroup.com/upload.../E_J_Scott.wmv


Video 2
http://www.winepressgroup.com/upload...eep/video2.mov

They don't have intros or credits. Did you just leave them off for the versions you showed us or are those exerpts?

I think length is a big factor in how much you charge.

How long did it take the make the interviews? While the real goal is a final result, the experience working with you and your time involved is also a concern. If you presented yourself well (and I assume you did), then that's probably worth something more than just paying for a final product from someone who wouldn't do that.

You are doing commercial work-- that is working for people who will be gaining financially/in terms of publicity-- so it would be fair to charge a good amount.

I'm not really sure what price to say, since I haven't done this type of work.

It really depends on your relationship with your interviewee, so you'd know better than me.

I can see anything from $500 to $10,000, depending on a few things.

You might also consider some payment based on their revenue. That would be more fair to them but also good for you if the books really did go somewhere.

I'm curious to hear what others say for this type of work.

Jacob,

I think I read here somewhere, that $500 per finished minute is a rough guide. Being that yours are about 5 minutes each, $2500 per seems pretty reasonable for the work you've done. That being said, I turned down a very similar job (book author wanted video for website), because the guy just didn't have any cash. It's different when you're working with corporations that have a budget for such things, vs. the self-financed, self-publisher types, who've already spent there last dime, and run up the credit cards. I think then that you either do it cheaper (or defer payment), or don't do it at all.

I'd like to know the details. Did you quote a price prior to producing? Or are these just examples for another client?

Daniel, Ken Thanks for the replies. I’ll give a little more info so you know where I’m coming from. I work for a self publishing company. It’s self because an author actually pays to have there book printed. Its becoming increasingly popular because authors want to maintain control of there book, verses if they go to a traditional publisher that buys their manuscript they have very little say in where it goes from there.

Usually what happens is the in-house publicity department “sells” the author on the idea to have a video made of them and their book. So you have that aspect that the authors don’t even really have the idea to get a video made.

Both videos where real quoted projects. I would quote before working on the project, and the author pays in full upfront. Sometimes the book is already in print other times not. Depending on what the author pays for sometimes they get a full motion menu, multi video project. And other times it’s more cut and dry for web. Sometimes what happens is I do a quote get into the project and do more work than expected. That seems to happen often.

Right now I am leaning towards charging a base price and then going hourly. I have heard a lot of discussion about “bill works faster than sally” arguments for how fast people work, but I think I should be paid for my time.

And I am not some seasoned professional, I know that in this biz how good you are determines how much you get paid (along with a lot of other factors) so I’m just trying to feel out what I should be charging. I don’t want to rip people off but I also don’t want to undercut myself.

Figure out how much your time is worth and estimate the time it takes. It sounds simple, and if it is a side job, it is simple.

If it is your main job, you have to consider planning, downtime, sales, marketing, everything.

Well I don't know about that. You work looks pretty damn professional to me. The New Orleans one was great, I really enjoyed it. But besides that, good audio, great lighting, really great pacing and editing, hell, I've seen projects where people are getting paid tens of thousands of dollars for stuff like that (not me unfortunately!). Your work is really, really good. Get paid as much as you can for it, and know that no matter what they paid you, they got a great deal.
What I would recommend is that you figure out a basic day rate. What will you charge to be hired for 8 hours of shooting? What equipment, if any, will you bring with you included in that price? Then charge an hourly rate for post-production. Don't get into these "price per finished minute" quotes. Ok, its $1000 dollars for each finished minute, and in the first 30 seconds I want aerial footage of the Oregon coast, then the camera dives underwater and follows a migrating humpback whale. That's only $500. For the next the 30 seconds... well, you get the idea.
Keep up the good work!

I agree...the New Orleans/Katrina one was
 

very well done. I'd like to echo Bert's comments, and to encourage you to keep up the good work. Alas, I'm relatively new at this and am likely more uncertain than you about what to charge for work I do. Though I'll admit (regrettably) that most of mine has been on-location event work with no chance for re-takes. I haven't had any jobs similar to what you've made available, but look forward to the opportunity.

Despite my relative inexperience, just from working repeatedly with a local indie and having some idea of what he charges, I'd guess the New Orleans/Katrina job would be worth between $ 3 and 5 K - and perhaps more - depending on the amount of time invested and the market you're working in.

One caution I would offer is similar to others made here: be careful to not get caught in a situation where someone can't pay you or is even subconsciously counting on your generosity and good-heartedness. As an example, and only because it's readily available, the man in the New Orleans/Katrina footage certainly comes across as earnest, sincere, and dedicated to his cause. However, while someone may be clergy, work in a ministerial capacity, or otherwise be "of the cloth", that, in and of itself, does not get an automatic discounting of what you charge for your services. (I don't mean to come off as cold, but this is a business).

Good work...I'm jealous...keep it up.

Fine work there. Charge absolutely as much as the market will bear. At this level of production, there is no reason to discount unless you don't need the money. Seeing the inflating cost of housing the past few years, almost everyone needs the money. Your work will help these people make money so it is fitting that you get paid.

I think the only thing I didn't like was the cutaways in the EJScott video. The other office setups didn't look nearly as good as the interview head shot.

Thanks for all the response guys it does help!

Marcus I agree the office shots in video two didn't look very good. But what where the cutaways you didn't like in video 1?

Sometimes I have a hard time editing interviews, since in this case the original interview was like an hour, and I was supposed to edit it down to 5 min. When I do that sometimes I will use other pictures or cutaway material so the story is more fluid than fades or cuts. Especially if there are a lot of cuts. (in this case there where)

Do you mean the cutaways seemed out of place or just a bad things to cut to?

Thanks for the input.

I suspect he just doesn't like them. I agree-- they weren't as high quality as the rest. The angles didn't seem very well planned, and the meetings seemed sorta like fake informal discussions-- ie, staged.
Not terrible, certainly. Just didn't match everything else in quality. (A good thing, if you think about it, I suppose, since that's the only thing trailing behind.)

Jacob, I was just wondering if you could walk me through the process of how you did your wipes/reveals for your text and lower thirds, particularly the in the second video. I'm well aquainted with After Effects, so you don't have to put it in layman's terms. I really liked it and would like to know how exactly you did it, if you don't mind giving away your secrets!

Hey Bert, Below is a link to a couple of After Effect projects with the thirds you talked about. Its probably easirer for you to see them verse me trying to type it out. The one named "Thomas" used an plugin from AE 7 pro which I'm not sure is with the standerd AE. I'll leave the links up for awhile case anyone else wants to grab them. O and the only thing thats missing from the "Thomas" one is a small motion clip from iStock. So its just a solid blue for the background.

http://www.winepressgroup.com/upload...eep/thirds.zip

Thanks so much! Got them and checked them out, very cool. Good use of layers and masks. Really appreciated you sharing that, awesome!

Hey, just wanted to thank you one more time, both for sharing your videos and the After Effects projects. I played around with them today, and adopted some of your ideas to some Jumpbacks lower thirds I have. Seeing the lower thirds on your video inspired me to do a little more than just fade them up like I have been doing. I'll be using the ideas for my next project, as we have some interview shots. Hope your future projects go well and keep sharing. We're almost in the same neck of the woods btw!

Congratulations
 

Hi Jacob,

Very nice job on the testimonials - definitely worth several thousand dollars or more.

Audio is always important to me and I thought you did a very good job with the voices and music mix - the lavalier looked a bit high (normally placed on sternum) but as long as your talent doesn't move their head, it shouldn't be a problem.

The talent on the first video had a lot of shine on his head - always a good idea to bring along some makeup (I've even heard of lighting folks spraying on Arrid Extra-Dry in a pinch). I liked the cookie and the practical light on the second video - if you could just move the camera back another 5-10 feet, you'd improve the depth of field and take the background out of focus (a bit distracting, especially the copper pot to the left of talent's head).

Add a bit of backlighting on the talent's hair/shoulders, adjust the ratio of the keylight to fill-light, and you'd nail it perfectly.

I noticed the camera vibration bump on the first video and the focus problems on the second video - no problem, you can deal with that in post (I'm sure you have plenty of B roll for cutaways).

On the second video (with the talent and the brunette lady at the conference table), I noticed you kept the correct perspective on the first two cuts but violated the 180 degree rule on the third cut (moving over to the talent's right shoulder). The tight shot that follows is great (but back over the talent's left shoulder again) - it would be even better if the zoom out was slower, perhaps disolving earlier if you have a time crunch.

On final item on the critique - limit the zoom-outs and try to space them away from adjacent footage; the second video had quite a few zoom outs placed near each other.

Okay, enough nagging for a great video - I also liked your varied camera shots that all worked well (over the shoulder, extreme close-up, good use of the rule of thirds, good use of props, etc.) And as other mentioned, your special effects were terrific. Excellent job - thanks for sharing!

Warm Regards, Michael