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Weddings & Hours: this look right?

matteusclement

matteusclement

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
1,144
0
victoria
I just did a wedding in which everything went relatively smooth and was able to log my hours properly. I shoot with two canon HV30's and edit on a quad core intel mac pro with 8gigs ram (FCP Studio 3) I was curious to know if this looks about right for time spent.
Does anything look abnormally long or short?
Ha, did it for $300.
http://vimeo.com/13928554

Tape
Video Capture (6 tapes) 6hrs
Video Conversion (to 24p) 4.5hrs

Editing
Setup workflow & Sync 2hrs
Edit Ceremony 45mins
Color Correct Ceremony 1hr
Color Rendering Ceremony 1.5hrs
Color Correct Reception 30mins
Color Render Reception 2hrs
Summary Short Video 1hr

DVD
DVD menu and authoring 1hr

Shooting
Cameraman 1 10hrs
Cameraman 2 10hrs

Total: Roughly 40 hours.
 
While the turnaround and time seems rather quick, 300 bucks total is really cheap. Besides tape and equipment charges, the editing alone should be in the $30 an hour range, shooting in the $20 an hour range. You gave them a steal of a price.
When I do audio work my rate is $150 for two hours of work and 1 hour of combined set-up and breakdown.
Though your clip was pretty nice I like the old film camera look.
 
Ah, being a student sucks...

Not as if I wanted to take 300 for the gig, but when you're a student, you take what you can get.
Again, this was the first time that I had logged my hours to see how much work went into it. Now that I know, I can charge appropriately. Media for me is more of a serious hobbie than a job.

thanks for the words!

I again am looking for the hours breakdown as to weather or not I am spending too much time in the editting phase.
I FELT LIKE I COULD HAVE SAVED TIME by doing white balancing through out the day/night.
 
-DH said:
Sheesh. $300.00 for 40 hours? Don't forget to include your costs; tape stock, batteries for wireless mics, wear & tear on cameras and Mac, insurance, marketing, etc.

Why didn't you just go ahead and pay the client to let you do the job?

-DH
Click to expand...

DH, you are right on the money, $300.00. SCREW THAT!!!!!:confused:
 
Stop making excuses about being a student! That is NO reason to charge less. Next time, work as an assistant to a professional, or get with the program and charge the going rates. You are just undermining the profession. Brides have big mouths and they will brag to everyone how cheaply they got video. Word like that spreads around. You want to work for free? Call around and offer your discounted services to non-profits who might need video. Give THEM the discount... not some bride and groom who probably can afford to pay more than what you charged them.

Somewhere out there is a professional videographer who you robbed of a job. If you aren't going to charge full rate, then don't do it at all. Trust me, there will come a day where you will be bitching about someone (a student) who is undercutting your rates.

You got ripped off by the client and you ripped off the job from some professional who deserved it more than you.

I guess what pissed me off about your post was that you kind of have a smug attitude about how cheaply you got the job done. Truth is, you don't know what you are doing or you would know the correct way to bill out the job.
 
I wish the pros would answer your real question; time spent on your editing and DVD creation. I suspect they can't really say much to the 9.5 of work for that since the challenges would vary by project. By the way, you didn't mention how long you spent editing the reception.

Your mention of white balancing during the day seems to be a good self tip. What you get correct up front means less time trying to correct things later on.

I'm curios why 24p, and if that is why some of the video is jerky?

Keeping track of your hours is always a good idea in this type of work. When customers ask why you're asking your rate, you can give them feedback of the time really involved in doing the work. I would think that you want to make more than B.C.’s general minimum wage which is $8 per hour.
 
Ya, ripped off a pro...

Before some of you go off on how I took the job from a pro, this was a job offered to my program & classmates (applied communications). These people were already on the cheap and looking for FREE. There's no way they would have gotten to a pro. Don't worry, the photographer took home 1500.

Being a student isn't about doubting myself, it's about needing the money when I had the gear kicking around anyways. It was also the first time working with an "assistant" who had minimal experience.

I did the 24p because it just looks nicer than the 30p. Clients have noticed the difference.
 
Yes the hours look ok but.......

Please don't undermine the videographers profession!

So let's get this straight - a bride & groom turned up & said "we've paid 1500 for our photographer but we want our video for free"? your college should teach you to value what you do!

You should have asked why the couple didn't ask the photography students to shoot their wedding for free.
 
Value us?!

HA!
As if my school has any respect for us and the work we do. They are giving us "networking" opportunities all the time. IT's a crock.

thanks for letting me know that the hours look right.
 
matteusclement said:
HA!
As if my school has any respect for us and the work we do. They are giving us "networking" opportunities all the time. IT's a crock.

thanks for letting me know that the hours look right.
Click to expand...

HAHA, one of my courses we had to go out and find a company and then create and fully produce a 5 minute piece. Be it promotional, informational etc. And then the places got to use our work for what ever they needed.
But in seriousness networking is the only way to really get a good start.

Also why didn't you shoot in 24p mode?? As per Cannon your cameras have that option. And yes you would have saved your self some time white balancing there, which is like video 101. Though you would have more then likely still spent sometime doing some CC.
About how long was the final video lengths? That would give us a better idea of your editing time.
 
times

The video short you see is one piece
The ceremony was about 30 mins
The reception & speeches was hour and a half.

the HV30 shoots in 24p wrapped in a 60i shell. You have to reverse telecine it to remove the shell. So while it does shoot 24p, there is a process. The HV40 does not do this.
 
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