Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Unless I'm different from everyone else, surely you guys don't shoot absolutely everything that moves at the reception? I film the important events but I certainly don't run around following little Jimmy just in case he does something cute and the bride might ask me to include it.

I include everything I film cos I shoot for editing so if I have shot 90 minutes of footage the bride can be assured she will see no less than 80 minutes of it (just cutting out any bad shots or wobbles)

Sorry, but I STILL think that the bride should trust the videographer to select enough decent footage and the videographer should have enough confidence to put it together without the brides help. With myself if it's not in your final video then I simply never shot it so don't ask me to put it in! If you want people to be cut out of the video then you shouldn't have invited them in the first place.

I am still of the opinion that offering a preview of the completed DVD is opening a can of worms but, each to their own!!

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

My experience has been almost identical to Adrian's regarding what types of requests that I get for revisions. For the short form videos, if I do get revision requests then they are almost always about a specific person that the bride would like to include. For the long form videos they usually ask if I can add in more of a certain type of footage (dancing, socializing, photo booth, etc).

Fortunately, in cases where I didn't get the shot they're asking about, they've always been very understanding. I suspect they realize that these are not shots they specifically requested prior to the wedding and that it's unrealistic to expect me to get every single person on camera.

Adrian made a very good point that these requests give an interesting insight into what the brides are often looking for when they watch the videos. The bride and groom almost never notice the same "mistakes" that I do. For instance, my assistant last year would consistently under or overexpose shots which drove me crazy. For the short form videos I could often just not use the footage, but in the long form videos I had no choice to cut to his camera at times. However, I never once had a bride mention anything about those shots being blown out or way too dark. The requests we got were almost always about including or excluding specific people (and sometimes about including more footage of a specific part of the reception).

While I'm not going to stop paying attention to focus, exposure, and composition...I am going to pay more attention to getting a very wide variety of coverage and try to get some footage of pretty much everyone who attends the wedding. Of course, when showing videos on my website for potential clients, they're not going to care if I left out a step-sister, but they may notice if the bride's face is exposed poorly during the ceremony.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

I trust my barber to cut my hair, but he still holds a mirror up at the end and asks if I'm happy with it. I appreciate the courtesy; yes he's a professional hairdresser and I am not, but it's my hair at the end of the day.

Preview Videos are a similar courtesy, one I know my clients value and appreciate from my consultation with them. I do shoot more than I need, not everything, just more. I like having options to play with when it comes to editing, more flexibility, but as a filming style, I'm aware others shoot differently and I'm not knocking that. As you say, to each their own.
However as a consequence, I am making choices and to presume all those choices will be the correct ones for my clients is hardly confidence and more arrogance. Most of my decisions are correct, occasionally though some are not. After all, I can hardly claim to have a window into the Bride's mind.

Yes it could open a can of worms, which is why the trick is to ensure the couple never get their hands on a can opener, metaphorically speaking of course.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Hi Steve

Just for interest what would happen IF you said "It's a complete and utter mess ..did you flunk barber school" ?

I base my decision on the fact that over the last say, 5 years, every bride has been happy and prior to that I still produced the same thing BUT I offered a proof copy for evaluation and brides decided that if I was stupid enough to ask for changes they might as well make my life miserable. I present them (personally) with the final 3 x DVD sets and they are immediately delighted with the cover photos and presentation.

The way I see it still is ..if the end result is as good as my online demos then the bride will be happy. I'm sure after a few views they would indeed maybe change a few things BUT they are never that serious that they NEED to be changed ..that's the way the day unfolded. I do however make sure that any unflattering footage, rude comments and such are left out of the edit ..that's my job as an editor .. to make the raw footage look as good as possible and flow nicely. When you start getting comments like "A piece of my hair has fallen across my face ..edit that out" or "I hate my bridesmaid so photoshop her out of the entire video" then you know that it's not going to stop there and every single blemish must be attended to.

Each to their own but for me offering even a minor edit will start a snowball effect and it may never stop once the bride gets started so I never offer it in the first place and my life is a lot easier for it.


Chris

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

I would promptly shoot myself for daring to use the word 'flunk'. :) Seriously though the analogy isn't relevant here. Bad service from a barber usually means I'm using someone whose work I'm not familiar with. All my clients have seen my work, so have a pretty good idea as to the quality of the final product. The barber analogy refers to the idea that even though the same barber has cut my hair successfully 20 times, on the 21st time he still as a courtesy asks me to confirm I'm happy with it. In the same way, I am as a courtesy asking for my clients approval even though I've filmed successfully more Weddings than I care to remember.
I don't ask my clients for changes, I ask for them to confirm they're happy with the product before preparing final copies. Most are, naturally as they're familiar with my work. Those that do ask for changes, aren't quite as picky as the loose hair over face, but neither are they so severe as to reflect poorly on the video, which they are for the most part very happy with. It's tweaks nothing more.

Why do I do this? Well if you'll excuse another analogy, McDonald's and Burger King both work in the fast food industry; their respective business models though whilst similar, are not identical. In the same way my business is similar but not identical to yours. Being my Wedding Video business I offer a service that reflects my own ideas and style. Preview Copies is an extra service I throw in, no different than say packaging Popcorn with the DVD or taking the couple to watch the video at a local cinema, which some do. It's an example of how I differentiate my business from other Videographers and market my service as a whole and I know clients do appreciate this from speaking to them.

I'm not arguing that your way is wrong, I'm arguing that my way is right for me. I won't be changing it any time soon.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

I didn't read every response here but . . . those that never offer a review or changes come off sounding arrogant and rigid, to me.
And comments such as: "i don't need the help of the bride to edit their wedding" - that's just ridiculous.
The idea is a review copy before final run not collaboration. Everyone can make mistakes and working closely with material can cause a bit of myopia. Make them happy; why would you want them to feel that it's less than perfect.

Should you guard against ridiculous lists and extreme re-edits? Yes.
Should you make it a big deal to tweak the cut and cause the bride stress after getting paid for what you love to do? Your choice, but i believe that's bad client relations and inflexible.

It reminds me of the prima donna attitude i have always observed in the photography industry.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

I do not agree with the barber analogy at all and this from from first hand experience!

Chris, I totally agree with what you are saying and absolutely get it and you know what, it has served
me extremely well to this day.

That said, if you are offering previews and amendments from a selling viewpoint because you feel that is your strength in marketing, fair enough.

Anything else and its crazy in my mind...just crazy,lol.......

Those worms are waiting to bite.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Everyone's a critic. :)

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

What's your definition of a mistake? If I would make a edit mistake and the bride finds out afterwards, that always is fixed free of charge. Anything else is a matter of taste, she might find the dancing part to short or the speeches too long or maybe wants another song for a certain part of her film.

For me everything would be ok to change but if it's not a edit mistake they are paying me a hourrate and if I need to remake the dvd's they are going to pay for that too, the easiest way to deal with re-edits is show them the full version before you start making your dvd's, then you only need to make changes in your timeline but even then I never would consider doing this "for free". Even when the changes are minor it can influence the way I edited the music and I need to change that too and I need to recheck the entire film just to make sure it's ok.

Also by giving brides a possibility to make edit changes can seriously mess with you agenda and create a backlog, they may come back in a week but maybe also in several weeks, in the meantime you have to spend time to push them to let you know something and if you have several clients with editing requests this will fill your harddrive up with almost finished projects, maybe they tell you "I want to like to see the changed version before you make the dvd's" so you again are uploading it online and maybe she reconsidered and requests another change. In the end you will be switching back and forth between projects to get them finished and while doing so you might make another mistake.

I"m glad I"m not offering this nor mention it verbally anymore but do mention in my contract that any re-edit is at a price and that they will receive a new quote for that, that's not arrogant and rigid but common business sense.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

I can understand why some Videographers don't offer free re-edits or re-edits at all. Wedding Videography is a business, not a charity. However as a business, we must all decide what is our level of service, what is it we're prepared to provide. I am not crazy for offering a Preview copy, nor am I expecting to be bitten by a bunch of hungry worms that have recently escaped from a can marked 'told you so'.

It seems some are offended by this notion that some of us offer couples the chance to tweak their Wedding Video. In the end, I am providing a service, this is a part of my service and how I work. My clients appreciate this service and I do not find it an inconvenience. If I did, I would not offer it. Now if any of you cynics have a spare can of worms that needs opening, feel free to pass it on to me. I skipped dinner.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

To be honest I find it's just the opposite as well with some who seem to be offended that some don't want to offer this. :)

I think there is nothing wrong in either offering or not offering it to your client, whether that's included in your price or not. Only outright refusing to change anything if a client requests it, even if she wants to pay for it, could get you burnt and then you need to decide if it's worth having a unhappy bride and them trashing you online. Only if they don't want to pay for it, that's another story, only the sun comes up for free.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Not me; I'm delighted that there are so many that don't offer re-edits. It means I got something else of value in my service to market, and every little helps when there's some good competition out there.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

I find myself completely in agreement with Chris, where I just do not offer a preview at all. Of course I will correct any of my own mistakes and perhaps change something like an incorrect name that has been given to me for titling, or something that is genuinely upsetting for the couple.

I had a couple of periods last year when we filmed seven weddings in 8 days, and the logistics of having offered to preview and re-edit possibly all of them would have been impossible, along with the continuous flow of new weddings. I do however have a clause in my contract that states that any corrections required, must be notified and agreed within 7 days of delivery, just to leave room for discussion.

I also agree with Steve, that his business model of offering previews and re-editing options works for him and he feels very comfortable with it and presumably allows for it in pricing. If it works stick with it, just as I have for 30 years.

Roger

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Hi Roger

Well, at least I'm not on my own! Just to set the record straight I never ever refuse to do a re-edit ..I have just had a bride who wants half a dozen changes ...doesn't like the live audio during the congrats to the bride and groom outside the church so she just wants music ...weird, but that's what she wants! The whole idea there is to catch the audio of the guests congratulating the couple but she doesn't want it ..in fact 90% of her changes seems to be substitute live audio with supplied music. I will do it of course but it will cost her for my time but she seems happy to pay !

Yeah, I have also done one or two where I mis-spelt the name and sad to say one where the menu titles had the wrong year on them cos I used a previous template done a month before that just happened to be December 2013 and her wedding was 3 weeks later in 2014!!!

Chris

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Hi Chris,
I don't see anything different in what we do, as I would also never refuse alterations or changes that were not just nitpicking. I just don't promote it or offer a preview which would suggest that they can change it.

As there seem to be plenty of analogies in this thread, I would compare it with trying to sell video in the first place. If you ask a couple at a wedding show 'Do you want your wedding filmed?' the answer will usually be no, because it is the easy answer and they can walk on and maintain control. If you offer a client a preview and ask them if they want to make changes, they are quite likely to say yes, because again they are maintaining control.

If your business plan includes it then that is your choice and presumably works for you. Mine doesn't include it and works for me, so Vive la difference!

Roger

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

That would be me; I'm a sucker for analogies.

The idea of submitting a Preview Disk was introduced to me when working for the Media Department at a University, where I was expected to submit one to the Department requesting the video for approval before final disks were prepared. When I began my Wedding Business, I carried this practise over and assumed everyone did the same. This thread though suggests a wider range of policies regarding re-edits and whilst in years to come I may re-evaluate this service, for now it has a place in my workflow, not to mention a few lines in my marketing brochure. :)

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Steve,

Just to murky the waters a little more, I offer re-edits. To my corporate clients. With time code, watermarked previews, and a completely different way of billing the work. I explain it on my site.

Wedding clients don't get previews. If a wedding client wants a change, after receiving final copy, mistakes are normally fixed for free. Requested edit changes not due to a mistake on my part are handled depending on circumstances. Quick and easy changes would be cheap, maybe even free. Changes that require substantial time and work, I give them a quote and let them decide if the changes are worth it.

I've found you can't handle corporate clients and wedding clients the same way. I try to explain it on my site to everyone's satisfaction. Corporate clients that are used to having video work done understand. So far, all my wedding clients have understood also, I think.

I guess if I did run into a control freak bride that wanted a lot of re-edits, I'd give her a pay as you go billing structure like the corporate clients from the start, and have her log in and view low res, watermarked proxies with time-code so she could give me all the ins and outs to her heart's content.

Re: How do you politely tell customers 'no preview copy'
 

Hi Roger,

It doesn't murky the waters for me. I've been dealing with Corporate and Wedding clients for years and yes there's differences, but they're all my clients in the end and all coming to me for a service. Remember that some of my Wedding clients could be managers in Corporate positions, and will apply that experience in dealing with me as a Wedding vendor. Some of my Wedding clients have become my Corporate clients and potentially the reverse is true.

It doesn't change that a Preview copy for my Wedding clients is just another part of my service. If I told you that I personally hand delivered each Wedding Video or that I wrapped it in an expensive box with a lovely pink bow (I don't by the way), would this aspect of my service invite discussion or question. I look at Previews in the same way, just a little personal touch that some offer and others do not or do to a different degree.
I appreciate that many here have done the same and got their fingers burnt, I may too one day, or not. As I keep saying, we must all decide what's included in our service, and none of us are going to include the same things. A proverb tells us there's more than one way to skin a cat and equally there's more than one way to deliver a Wedding Video Service too.