Videography on-the-side business startup

[Undercover Agent]

Afternoon chaps.

As often happens in the pub (Where ALL of the best ideas of the 20th and 21st centuries have originated) I was chatting with a friend last week over a pint (Hop House if you must ask) and we both got to discussing extra income, as we are both freelance (web/graphics myself and Translation for me friend)

We both thoroughly enjoy playing with cameras as a hobby and between us have enough equipment to shoot and edit a medium budget feature film (or it seems like it!!)

We looking to get into corporate/ad videography, but then the question is how to market services? We both know what we are doing with a camera, audio and editing, but being hobbyists have no show-reel to speak of.

[Phunk]

Being a hobbyist and doing corporate video are vastly different.

If look into replicating what YouTube are doing in the states and offer a package which incorporates a business video and ad spend.

You create simple videos for businesses which are all pre-planned and to a set time. You can then upsell for anything more elaborate, graphics etc.

As for marketing your services, create a video explaining what you offer, and target it at local business via Facebook, YouTube etc

Edited by Phunk on Wednesday 8th August 18:20

[TwistingMyMelon]

I did this 10-15 years ago and there was loads of work about, more competition now, but more platforms that show video

I got most of my work through word of mouth, or one job leading to another, this was around the birth of youtube and videos online

Some of included, weddings, club nights, music videos, low budget films, low budget documentaries , beauty salon products , corporate days etc

If you network with other people in the local industry often you can cover for them, or be an extra camera/assist when they need it for big jobs. This was best, as another person did or the organizing, I turned up and got £150-£300 at the end of the day

I quit as I was quite lazy and had so much money tied up in equipment I fancied a change

Club nights were good, as I worked with many z list celebs , we had some wild weekends that were good fun and good pay

Weddings were stressful, as you get one chance to film things .

I also worked with people were launching businesses or had an idea for a product they wanted a film of it. This was hard, as often people had completely un realistic expectations and thats fine until you bill them for the work! One lady wanted me to film 50 episodes of her teaching people to play the piano. I told her this was too much to start and lets try an initial 20 episodes for a set price. For 2 weeks I was locked in a soundproofed recording studio with no windows filming her playing simple keyboard songs over and over again. I then edited it all up as agreed, she was happy and then realized there was no market for people to pay for it . I then billed her for the work done and she didnt want to pay it as she said "the dvds arent selling".

The above was quite common, people often wanted to launch businesses with grandiose ambitions, but lacked the forsight that maybe they were too ambitious

I would get yourself a simple show real and start networking for work, maybe ask around local businesses on FB, once you get a claw in other work will flow.

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Thursday 9th August 14:26

[Super Slo Mo]

There is a lot of competition, particularly from film students who will work for free to get their feet on the ladder.

Some friends of mine do it, they have been at it a good while and have got lots of contacts. They do a lot of government work, stuff for the princes trust and various other big name things.
One of the guys is very very good indeed, his films are superb.
Their daily rate has not changed in 12 years...

There is a huge gap between people who understand how to shoot and edit a film and people who have a video camera and think they can now make a business out of it.
Even people who are great photographers struggle to make great films without the background knowledge. There’s a guy on here, a superb photographer (amateur) who has edited some of his drone footage into films. It’s not really very good, beautifully shot but badly edited, and it shows.
It’s really not easy. By all means have a crack at it but to make a success really you need to learn how to edit.

[singlecoil]

Super Slo Mo said:

There’s a guy on here, a superb photographer (amateur) who has edited some of his drone footage into films. It’s not really very good, beautifully shot but badly edited, and it shows.

I believe I know who you mean.

Having said that pretty much all the drone footage I've seen has been badly edited, but I take your point about good photography not necessarily leading to a good video.

[FurtiveFreddy]

singlecoil said:

Super Slo Mo said:

There’s a guy on here, a superb photographer (amateur) who has edited some of his drone footage into films. It’s not really very good, beautifully shot but badly edited, and it shows.

I believe I know who you mean.

Having said that pretty much all the drone footage I've seen has been badly edited, but I take your point about good photography not necessarily leading to a good video.

Some (stills) photographers can be good at both, but they are few and far between. There are some artistic and technical overlaps, but in film/video production and editing there are a whole new set of skills which need learning.

To the OP, I'd say you're going to find it very hard to break into and it's very true that clients often have a totally unrealistic expectation when it comes to budgets and deliverables, because the vast majority have no clue what it takes to produce good results on screen.

The story about not getting paid is unfortunate, but you just have to be ruthless when it comes to qualifying an opportunity in or out, otherwise you'll be doing a lot of work for little or no money and give up.

I was approached to do some work for Top Gear a while back and although it would have been good for the CV and fun to do, I made sure I priced it realistically and in the end they admitted it was really an extra they were trying to get in within the existing budget so couldn't afford me.

I know some contributors who would have done it just for a credit, but the results wouldn't have been good and they would probably have ended up on the cutting room floor.

[User name]

Thanks all - Some good advice and some... TBH some fully expected scepticism.
I'm under no illusion that its very competitive and having been in freelance photography & web for some time as a side-job, know exactly what to expect regarding people's unrealistic expectations or just not knowing what the hell they really want at all.

I think the most important thing for a start is to put together a brief show-reel, which shouldn't be too hard... slider-shot landscapes, artsy-fartsy shots, basically just examples of what people might want to see, making sure the quality is absolutely top-notch, then as-and-when any work comes in I can add to the showreel and beef it up with real-life works.

I have extremely high production values myself and am always super-critical of my own work, overly so, apparently - I certainly don't have a "That'll do" attitude, as works represent myself as much a the client.

I have a potential lead already via this part of the forum, It's a live streamed event rather than a scripted video shoot, which will require some thinking, but is completely achievable.

[Super Slo Mo]

In my experience, and to be fair I have far more experience with live television than I do film, but you can get away with a poor quality video if the story telling is good.
Of course, you should strive for both but it’s the story that engages people.

I’m an engineer/technical person so I forget this a aspect quite a lot and just worry about the technical quality, although as far as television goes, that’s my job .

Please don’t take any of my comments as negative or discouraging, they’re not meant to be.

Learn how to edit well and you will already be ahead of much of the competition.
As with photography, there are some simple rules. They’re there for a reason, and of course can be broken, but when they’re broken by accident it usually just looks messy.