Raw Footage
 

Hi,

My name is Rick, after being a shooter/editor in the wedding business for many years I have decided to go off on my own due to differences with my boss. Now I know this may be an unusual request but would anyone be willing to sell me some raw footage so I can have some material that I "own" to show to clients. I obviously would not expect anyone in my area to agree to this due to competition. But I believe I would do this for someone outside of my immediate area to help them out. I would obviously give a copy of the edit as well if it was desired. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rick

Your request is a bit unusual but who knows right? Why don't you post an AD on Craigslist, " Free Wedding Videographer", pretty sure you'll get tons of reply and you'll have one for your portfolio.

My 2 cents

Um, this might be obvious, but buying someone else's footage will NOT be "your own"...

Go shoot a freebie if you need to (or offer a special "grand opening deal", so you make something!), to get YOUR OWN footage, then edit it down for a demo.

Shooting and editing are both personal styles, and you need to show your style, not an edit of someone else's...

Hey Rick

The biggest problem with using someone else's footage as a "demo" is that your first "self-shot" wedding may be vastly different from what you have shown them and the main object of sample footage is to make sure that the client is not going to end up with any nasty surprises when she gets her wedding DVD. At least with stuff you have shot yourself, it is more likely to be similar to the final product!

A family or friend's wedding is also a good idea ..I personally would do a couple of freebies at least and toss in a family/friends shoot also. You really do need a variety of shots on both your website and sample disk to show a client...try to do a traditional church wedding as well as an outdoor one and some variety in-between so prospective clients can see that you are versatile!! Using someone else's footage is pretty risky and I very much doubt that anyone would agree to that sort of arrangement anyway. Plenty of people would LOVE a free wedding shoot and it could also generate leads for you!!

Chris

Rick

What you're proposing has any number of pitfalls and I'd strongly advocate doing some free ones to get the material you need.

The problem with untruths is that they come back to haunt you. With today's mobility it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the actual bride might see herself; then what?

Philip

I understand why you want someone else's video to edit - because you want to edit together something NOW and not have to wait until you can book a wedding. It's the difference between having a demo next week and having a demo in three months.

Would you be interested in a swap of services? I shot my son's wedding three years ago and have never gotten around to editing it. You could use the raw footage for demo purposes, and my son and daughter-in-law would finally get their edit.

Of course, this would completely depend on their approval...

Rick...

Obviously shooting weddings for free or at a very discounted rate is a great idea. Exposure is the best way to sell your self. So when you book a client I would recommend doing a save the date video for them. My first client that I ever booked (that wasn't a friend or co worker) I ended up making them a save the date video. It got my name out there... Off of that one video alone I must have booked another 4 or 5 weddings.
I did the same for them and everything just kinda expanded exponentially (well not that much :-)
You can even shoot a video like this for friends...

Steve

Someone else's footage will look different than what you would do... probably shot with different cameras, different lighting, different audio, different camera technique, and a non-NY venue? None of that poses a problem?

Funny, a friend of mine is trying to start up an event business and asked me the same question, if I would sell my raw footage to her.
I ended up saying no because it was direct competition and doesn't teach her her own style and could lead to problems.

I definitely agree you should shoot one free

Isnt this a bit dangerous for you? You would show your own edit sure but the camera work wouldnt be yours. What if your own work cannot meet the expectations of your clients?

The best advice is to do what everyone here probably did, offer to shoot some freebies. This way you get your own footage and also as its free you normally find a bride whos wedding is weeks away, wants a video but it simply wasnt in the budget.

Thanks for all the input guys. I guess I was just trying to get an edit that I can say was mine done. I will search around and shoot a free one. I have no prob doing this.