Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Hi Daniel

Do a google search for : "wedding documentary jessica & ryan" ...The guy that shot the 8 part series is called Dan Perez ...his camera work is not outstanding but I was sorta smitten by the style..It's real story telling and a behind the scenes probe into how each person felt during the wedding and what they were thinking.

This is part 1 :
I really thought that brides would have fought to book something like thris approach but alas I was wrong OR my marketing sucks!!!

Watch all 8 clips (even if you watch just a bit of each) so you get an idea of how it's all put together.

I would value your opinion actually!!

Chris

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

So much work though. You'd have to get $10k to make that worth it, wouldn't you?

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Best way to make money in the wedding game is to run courses to show others how to do it and set up a marketing style website with the secrets hidden behind a $1,000 dollar button; then discount it to $500 to show how inclusive you are.

Just looking at this and other websites there seems to be almost as many people trying to find the magic dust that will take them to the $5000+ market as there are brides looking for a video.
I'm not being facetious, I have been one of those for over 20 years. (A videographer, not a bride).

I think I know what Bill means; the secrets if there are any are all there to be found in these forums and elsewhere, it's not the market, or the skills as a videomaker that count as much as having a positive attitude, a driven market approach and a dogged sales attitude. Many of us, me included, can be so frozen by our insecurity as a 'creative', easily side-swiped by just one negative comment about our work or paralysed by a customer's complaint, that when we reach a plateau where we feel comfortable we don't want to break the mould we've created for ourself. The difficulty that I always encountered was during that transition time when by upping your game (and prices) you loose the market you've built but haven't claimed enough new clients to see you through the year. The feeling that it could take a couple of seasons to climb back up, and even then there's no guarantee you'll gain the new market makes it more difficult to carry on and easier to re-claim the familiar market.

I've tried at various time and in various ways to make such a change, each time convincing myself that my market wouldn't stand it, which I know it wouldn't, but knowing in reality that like a butcher in a vegetarian community I'd have to convince them that meat is nice, or start selling somewhere else, or something else.

Whether £5000 weddings will ever be possible in UK I don't know but I do know that if they do exist they won't come knocking on my door I'd have to go out there and find them.

I'm not trying to be clever, I've been happy making a modest living from sub £1000 weddings for the last 20 years; supported by casual and ad-hoc work, some related to my video work and some not, but my main income source has been wedding/event video. If I were starting my business now I'd pay great heed to Bill's words and cultivate my market approach and mental attitude as much as my video skills.

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Thanks Chris,

I'll just derail this thread for a moment and I guess we can start a new thread if this is a full conversation we want to partake in.

I didn't have time to watch all of it now, but got an idea of the work. It's interesting for sure and I agree with Bill that this would be a lot more work. It looks like they were there a couple times before and once after.

I wonder if there's a way to make something like this more marketable. Perhaps instead of an 80 minute documentary you (or whoever) could incorporate this into more of a short video or highlights. Perhaps something closer to 20 minutes would make this easier for the bride to watch over an over again. It would also be more internet friendly.

The material in that video (from what I saw) could be shortened and still the same basic story told.

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Daniel,
I'm not sure this has been on the rail since it started :) Here's an example I'm working on right now. Trying to incorporate interviews into the final film and trailer. That gives me their story and a direct view into their personality. I'm excited about the possibilities.

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

That's really good Bill. I like it a lot. The interviews help the story telling. How many people did you end up interviewing? It looks like it's all at the same location.

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Bill,
Your opinion on pricing and views about getting the market you want is definitely one I share. In fact, I live in the sf bay area and I know the market here can support $3k+ videos and definitely upwards but its really that mentality of thinking what you think you are worth is the key. I was hesitant when we started and of course as any business would. I think really we just let our videos speak for itself and price our packages according to what we think its worth. We decided beginning of last year to double our prices and interestingly enough we still booked as much as we wanted.

In regards to putting interviews along with the videos, we actually started doing that beginning of 2012. Our main focus first was to get to know the couple more than usual. What we've learned is that we get to fully understand their story and what's important to them. We find deeper meanings in what is and who is important to them on their wedding day, and we find out why. This results in a much more heartfelt video which they can better connect with rather than stitching together some clips of the day. But dont get me wrong, we're no StillMotion since they have a better grasp of dissecting couples. I'm just your average joe.

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Just the couple and the sister. Interviews took about an hour. I ended up with 20 mins worth of sound from both. That's enough to make a 15 min film I think. The other 2 I've done have been just the couple. But I also use the rehearsal quite a lot.
Bill

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Hi Chris,

I didn't give my opinion because I thought this topic has been discussed so many times already and it always ends up being the same. On top of that, my own personal journey and the experience I've been through is probably different than many people so most of you probably can't relate to my stories anyways, not to mention that very few people here would be insane enough to do the things that I did and sacrifices I've made so far.

So if you want to know my story, I really don't mind sharing it or giving advices, but at the end of the day, whether it applies to you or not, all I have to say is just do what you think is right for you and most importantly, just do what ultimately makes you happy.

Happy New Years!

Long

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Long, I would be interested in hearing your story.

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

SHARE - Please!

Re: CreativeLive Wedding Cinematography Course
 

Great Video Bill, along with great story telling.