Making a Video for City Board Approval at DVinfo.net

Steve Kalle · January 22nd, 2011, 09:17 PM

I have a friend who runs a city's housing program and he asked me to make a documentary-type video roughly 5-7 mins in length in order to get the city's board to approve a zoning change and a new voucher program for their subsidized housing program. The big picture for his plan is to stabilize housing prices in certain poor neighborhoods which were viable communities 30 years ago. The plan is to get approval for a certain block as a test and then expand to more properties if the plan works.

For this video and Phase 1, he has an investor who will purchase and build a 3 unit building including a handy-cap accessible unit. One unit will be provided a tenant by the city's housing program and the other 2 units will be left to the investor for renting.

The video will be shot over the next 30 days and finished within 60 days because this project is a side job for me. I told him that $1000 per edited minute is the usual cost and a voice over would run $300 per minute, but I was thinking of charging $3500 for a 5 min video and $300 per minute over the 5 mins (up to 7 mins) not including VO.

My plan is:
1) shoot interviews of local residents and one or two board members who can discuss how this area looked 30yrs ago, how it looks now, how this could impact the local community including schools, churches, businesses and community support groups.

2) interview the investor and include the blueprints and drawings of the proposed building.

3) interview 2 police officers who are in charge of the gang unit and one who oversees a project to assist local communities that suffer damage from criminal activity (broken windows, vandalism, etc).

4) include video of run-down areas and images of what it used to look like 30 years ago

5) include numbers and graphs of what the housing bubble has done to the country, the city and this neighborhood.

6) illustrate how this project will help returning veterans who need affordable housing and those who need accessible housing due to severe injuries.

7) illustrate the impact on kids.

The city's mayor has a special welcome home for all veterans and is a big supporter of our military. He also has a charity for kids in order to keep them out of gangs and to provide food and educational assistance. Helping the veterans and the youth are his biggest priorities; so, I need to highlight this as much as possible.

I am stuck on what else to include. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks.

Andrew Smith · January 23rd, 2011, 03:29 AM

Sort out the script first, else they'll be thinking of extra things ("Hey, I just had a good idea. Why don't we ...") and it will drive you nuts.

A script kinda ties things down. A shot list is even better.

Andrew

Craig Seeman · January 23rd, 2011, 11:11 AM

I have no idea how you arrived at your price. Finished minute makes no sense to me. You have to estimate based on how much time it will take you. You have to give them a time budget they can't run over.

I once worked for a large post house that took on work for a rail project for a flat fee. I was on staff and paid hourly plus overtime. We were given what we thought was final script and edited to a scratch voice over. We thought there'd just be a few timing changes with the final read. After 3 weeks of editing, we were handed a revised script which was ENTIRELY different. Basically 3 weeks of editing had to be thrown out. The facility lost money on the job (my pay for what eventually was about 8 weeks of work was higher than the budget). The producers made no money since what they thought would be profit went to pay what they could of the bill (which they couldn't cover in the entirety).

You MUST nail down time you devote or hourly they're willing to pay for overages. You must have approval for near final story board if not script. They must accept that graphics need to be constrained to time allotted or overages paid.

January 22nd, 2011, 09:17 PM	#1
Steve Kalle Trustee Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 1,554	Making a Video for City Board Approval I have a friend who runs a city's housing program and he asked me to make a documentary-type video roughly 5-7 mins in length in order to get the city's board to approve a zoning change and a new voucher program for their subsidized housing program. The big picture for his plan is to stabilize housing prices in certain poor neighborhoods which were viable communities 30 years ago. The plan is to get approval for a certain block as a test and then expand to more properties if the plan works. For this video and Phase 1, he has an investor who will purchase and build a 3 unit building including a handy-cap accessible unit. One unit will be provided a tenant by the city's housing program and the other 2 units will be left to the investor for renting. The video will be shot over the next 30 days and finished within 60 days because this project is a side job for me. I told him that $1000 per edited minute is the usual cost and a voice over would run $300 per minute, but I was thinking of charging $3500 for a 5 min video and $300 per minute over the 5 mins (up to 7 mins) not including VO. My plan is: 1) shoot interviews of local residents and one or two board members who can discuss how this area looked 30yrs ago, how it looks now, how this could impact the local community including schools, churches, businesses and community support groups. 2) interview the investor and include the blueprints and drawings of the proposed building. 3) interview 2 police officers who are in charge of the gang unit and one who oversees a project to assist local communities that suffer damage from criminal activity (broken windows, vandalism, etc). 4) include video of run-down areas and images of what it used to look like 30 years ago 5) include numbers and graphs of what the housing bubble has done to the country, the city and this neighborhood. 6) illustrate how this project will help returning veterans who need affordable housing and those who need accessible housing due to severe injuries. 7) illustrate the impact on kids. The city's mayor has a special welcome home for all veterans and is a big supporter of our military. He also has a charity for kids in order to keep them out of gangs and to provide food and educational assistance. Helping the veterans and the youth are his biggest priorities; so, I need to highlight this as much as possible. I am stuck on what else to include. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks.

January 23rd, 2011, 03:29 AM	#2
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,015	Sort out the script first, else they'll be thinking of extra things ("Hey, I just had a good idea. Why don't we ...") and it will drive you nuts. A script kinda ties things down. A shot list is even better. Andrew

January 23rd, 2011, 11:11 AM	#3
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	I have no idea how you arrived at your price. Finished minute makes no sense to me. You have to estimate based on how much time it will take you. You have to give them a time budget they can't run over. I once worked for a large post house that took on work for a rail project for a flat fee. I was on staff and paid hourly plus overtime. We were given what we thought was final script and edited to a scratch voice over. We thought there'd just be a few timing changes with the final read. After 3 weeks of editing, we were handed a revised script which was ENTIRELY different. Basically 3 weeks of editing had to be thrown out. The facility lost money on the job (my pay for what eventually was about 8 weeks of work was higher than the budget). The producers made no money since what they thought would be profit went to pay what they could of the bill (which they couldn't cover in the entirety). You MUST nail down time you devote or hourly they're willing to pay for overages. You must have approval for near final story board if not script. They must accept that graphics need to be constrained to time allotted or overages paid.