OT: Where do you start to make $ from Video Prod..

im.away wrote on 4/16/2011, 5:18 PM

Please take this as constructive criticism.....the kerning in the word "Productions" doesn't do it for me. I'd like to see the letters "P" and "r" moved closer together , as well as the "t" and the "i".

I take it that all of the important info like contact details will be on the rear of the card?

Cheers

Russ

TheHappyFriar wrote on 4/16/2011, 6:02 PM

I just wondered, what are some ways to make start making money off of video editing and production? Not big time. I'm not ready to start any type of buisness or major income, just on the side.

Know people who know people. :) I got my first real taping/editing gig because I asked on this forum about a transcription record player & someone pointed me to his mom who was down the road. She didn't have a transcription record player but I did get several gigs with her. Now I'm the regular videographer/editor for her friends productions.

That if you don't want a serious business with it. I'm happy my editing pays for all my computer toys (software, hardware, etc).

i c e wrote on 4/16/2011, 6:57 PM

Im.Away. Absolutely, thanks for pointing those out. Certainly will look better. Anything else?

TheHappyFriar, So, uh...what do I do if I know no one? Lol.

thanks guys.

peace

CClub wrote on 4/16/2011, 7:27 PM

I started doing paid work about 8 years ago. I did work that none of the local studios would do, as the jobs didn't pay that well (local bands, video montages of family members that passed away). I researched all local clubs that had bands playing, looked at their schedules, then called or emailed each band. I then did a few memorable documentaries on subjects that the local communities felt were important. I then had a short resume... I emailed (then called) local businesses that I felt would benefit from video production.

I just do this as a side business to pay for family vacations, buy great equipment, and have a great hobby, but I was up to 2-3 projects a year paying $3-5k each, and that was just fine with me. I could have done more if it was my main business. Now I'm laying low a bit until there are clearer directions for paid video work, as things really seem to be changing.

It seems to me that there is great money is weddings (others on this forum would be better resources than I)... I never recorded weddings, as they are their own art form and there were always so many people in my area doing them.

I just think you have to bust your a** by getting your name out there and producing a unique product that can't be done easily by just anyone with a camcorder. Find work that no one is doing, let people know why they need your product. Do it well at a good price (may need to come in lower than others until you're somewhat known) and you should eventually find a niche. My 0.02.

dibbkd wrote on 4/16/2011, 7:43 PM

Ways to make money doing video editing? Shoot some weddings, corporate events, sporting events, etc.

Where do you start? Get a website and show some of your best examples there.

PeterWright wrote on 4/16/2011, 8:04 PM

In the early days I picked a category of organisation in the Yellow Pages (classified telephone directory) and sent a letter to 50 at a time telling them what I did and suggesting ways it might help their organisation to use me .... I got two or three replies from each batch of fifty, and usually one of these resulted in a job.

From there things snowballed by word of mouth and I've never spent a cent on advertising.

By the way, your business card design looks a little ... dare I say - demonic! Not the name, the black and the flames. May be ok if you're trying to attract the Bikie market, but I don't think you are!

Peter

ushere wrote on 4/17/2011, 1:58 AM

pretty much the same way as peter did - however, i did have 20+ years working for film and tv companies prior to starting my own business.

your card is your 'identity' - it might be seen by people who don't know you from adam. make sure it's going to appeal to the market you're after - in fact, make sure it's appealing to ANY market. and as the old saying goes - less is more.

websites are a great brochure, but totally useless unless somebody knows you have one. ok, a search might bring you up with a few 1000 others, but that's pretty hit and miss if you're trying to make a living out of video production.

what peter, myself and many others did years ago worked because there was a 'need', nowadays the need is 'multimedia' - you need to sell either 'packages', ie, website, with multimedia content to business lacking such, or your talents at producing better than they have. not an easy business today - especially with all the aspiring spielberg and cut rate one night stand operators around.

maybe look to see if you can get a foot in the door with an existing production house, even as a gofer, then you'll see the business in a completely new light.

good luck, and good night

dibbkd wrote on 4/17/2011, 5:04 AM

"websites are a great brochure, but totally useless unless somebody knows you have one. ok, a search might bring you up with a few 1000 others, but that's pretty hit and miss if you're trying to make a living out of video production."

I should have clarified, a website and be on page 1 of Google results for the keywords you want.

After you start getting web traffic, it's up to your site to keep them and then have them contact you for actual business.

And, it's not that hard to do if you're specific about the city you're in. I'm on page 1 for Google results for four completely different categories of sites I have.

i c e wrote on 4/17/2011, 9:26 AM

Thanks everyone.
I appreciate the feed back. Helps a lot. I will be attempting to tap the Colorado market. I was thinking that there might be some dough in filming and editing peoples adventures, hikes, horse back riding, climbing, rafting, etc....

What are the legal rammifications of such work? Do I need a license to film and edit for people? Is it a big deal if I don't?

oh, and demonic was not quite what I was looking for. LOL. So I think this is better. Thanks for the warning.

Thanks a million.

John_Cline wrote on 4/17/2011, 2:11 PM

Both versions you have posted are hard to make out the actual name of the company, you have to look at it for a moment to figure out what it says. In the first one, "Productions" is difficult because the font is so thin, in the second one, it is the name of the company itself. Maybe you need to stroke the text with white to make it more readable. Because of the lighting and texture effects, the letters "end" and "oot" get lost. Maybe lose the word "productions" altogether as it seems to sit in front of the name of the company. I assume that's some sort of flower coming up out of the name, but it's not very obvious that's what it is. Also, the green vapor coming off the logo doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Your eyes are drawn to the green vapor and whatever that bright thing is coming up from the name and the name itself is lost. Personally, rather than attempt to modify this concept, I'd start over and make one that "pops" the name of the company the moment you look at it. Make the name the most prominent thing and just because you can do all sorts of lighting and texture effects, doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

Sorry if all this comes off as a bit harsh. All that matters is the name of your company and that should be immediately obvious at the first glance, everything else is "eye candy."

dibbkd wrote on 4/17/2011, 3:18 PM

You're in Colorado, and you want to film and edit peoples adventures, hikes, horse back riding, climbing, rafting, etc.

Your logo design should be cut out for you.

Here's a thought for what ideas should be in the logo: film, video, Colorado, adventures, hikes, horse back riding, climbing, rafting, etc.

The logo itself should pretty much tell your audience what you do, but don't go to the extreme and make it too "busy".

Just a thought on the design. Think outside the box and scrap what you have. Give this a shot, go with a more western theme, something brown but not boring. I love the name of your company, "Tendershoot" implies both shooting video, or even "shooting" a gun like in the old west. Make the "o" in shoot into film reels, change the whole font to something else.

Just some ideas.

crocdoc wrote on 4/17/2011, 3:24 PM

I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs and this is probably what you already have in mind, but it may be worth your while trying to align yourself with some of the outfitting/guiding companies that cater to interstate/overseas visitors. Being a fan of the outdoors myself, I couldn't imagine hiring someone to come along on one of my bush adventures to film me, whereas I can imagine someone that's already paying for a guiding company to go on an organised horse trek/wilderness hike/climbing/rafting adventure package wanting a DVD of the adventure to take home. The guiding company can sell it as an added extra to the clients and I think most people paying for an adventure would be happy to pay extra for something they can take home to show others. Most of the footage would be common to all of the paying clients on the adventure - the preparation of equipment before the adventure, the scenery in which the adventure is taking place etc - but you'd have to make a point of getting enough footage of each of the individuals on the trip to edit them in at key points. The people taking the DVDs home would feel the whole video is all about them even if they only appear in a small proportion of the video.

MUTTLEY wrote on 4/17/2011, 4:21 PM

For me I started when MySpace was in their heyday, I had bought an XL1 (state of the art at the time!), a jib, a dolly, and a horrible tripod (that I actually still have, hate it but it makes for a decent base for my jib) and had tinkered around a bunch, learning most of what I knew on these forums actually. Anyway, what I did was I wrote every band in Austin that had a page saying something along the lines of that I was getting into video production and looking to build my reel and that I'd be willing to cut a deal, I think it was a good couple thousand that I had painstakingly messaged one at a time. Beyond that did the same thing for every band in my area I could find that had a website. One of the first to reply was Patrice Pike, some of you might not know her but she was the singer of an amazing bad called Sister 7, she later was on the show Rockstar Supernova. I was floored and stoked. We met and hit it off and I made one little live vid for her for free and used that piece as my calling card with other bands. I later did some paid work for her. I think the next band I did I charged 2k if I remember correctly, not that I'm charging much more for some of mine these days! All depends on the band/song and concept.

Though this now (directing/shooting/editing) has become my sole source of income, I love what I'm doing and am more than willing to make a deal and take a hit if it's something that I can get excited about. Still grateful for Patrice and her willingness to meet up with me and give me a chance.

- Ray
Underground Planet

John_Cline wrote on 4/17/2011, 4:37 PM

"I love what I'm doing and am more than willing to make a deal and take a hit if it's something that I can get excited about."

Me, too, I call it the "fun factor" discount.

winrockpost wrote on 4/17/2011, 4:45 PM

You gotta get samples of your work,, you want to do vacation adventure stuff....then you have to have vacation adventure stuff. As Mutley example,, do one or twelve for free and get an idea of how to put it together , then go do my favorite thing...not.. and sell it, or hire someone to sell it for you

i c e wrote on 4/17/2011, 5:17 PM

Okay,
some very good help here. I feel I am starting to get somewhere. Something could definately click here.

dibbkd: The font is actually a vintage western font. It is extremely rare and that is why I like it. I like what you say and would love if you could elaborate on how I could get there.

Seems like everyone concludes by suggesting to go out and put out a lot of advertisments. As much work as it would be, sounds pretty straight forward.

and I will see if any of you like this better:

If I can ask again, what's like the legas stuff I should look into before doing this? Is it serious? Is it a lot?

Thanks so much guys.

dibbkd wrote on 4/17/2011, 7:41 PM

i_c_e, that logo you just did above looks 100% better in my opinion.

I'd change the text below Tendershoot from just "productions" to "video productions". But make "video productions" easier to read, maybe a drop shadow would do the trick, but it doesn't pop out.

and then just have "graphic designs and websites" below that, if at all. And if you do leave it in, make it easier to read.

The whole look of it is much better, but still a little too dark. Maybe leave the film reel thing but lighten up or change the other darkness on the edges, maybe just fade them off.

I'm liking it though.

And if you don't already own the "tenderfootproductions.com" domain, get it NOW.

i c e wrote on 4/17/2011, 7:45 PM

Thanks so much dibbkd,

Your really helping me right now. I like it a lot better too. I'll work on those changes (I just editied the post as you were posting to make the "graphic design and websites" darker).

I agree with "video productions" The only reason I didn't put that in in the first place is because I don't really know where I am going with all this yet, so I want to leave it open. I do a lot of audio too, as well as other production type projects. Want one card for it all.

Do you think anyone would misunderstand the card for possible Western Reinactments or something being that it looks pretty western right now?

dibbkd wrote on 4/17/2011, 8:00 PM

Try changing the bullet-chambers to film reels.

That will help with the "video" part of your business vs complete western stuff.

put your website on the very bottom so people can go there and see what it is exactly you do.

Your business card can't say it all, and if it tries too, it'll look junky. You want something short and sweet, simple and to the point.

I was thinking maybe add a silhouette pic of a video cam or an old timey person taking a flash picture under the cover thing. Not sure what it's called...

edit: and all those words you have above Tenderfoot is too much, I'd just take them out.

i c e wrote on 4/17/2011, 8:19 PM

Technically those are film reels but your right, they look more like bullet chambers. *Sigh. I'll find somehting else.

Like the idea of a camcorder... would look cool.

you don't like the words? Gosh dibbkd, your cruel. You don't let me have any fun decorating. Lol.

thanks man... I'll post the updates tomorrow.

dibbkd wrote on 4/17/2011, 8:31 PM

Hmm, yeah, now that I look twice I do see they are already film reels.

That was my original point though, that the "shoot" part of your name would have a double meaning, but maybe a reel that looks just a little less like a bullet chamber.

and take the "tm" off the name, it's unnecessary.

John_Cline wrote on 4/17/2011, 9:19 PM

Yes, vastly better! Maybe try making the interior color of the film reels that are black into the same tan color as the outline of the Tendershoot text. That way they could either be film reels or wagon wheels, kind of a two for one deal, both are applicable to the theme. Also, maybe make the reels the closer to the same height as they rest of the text. But now I'm just nitpicking, this latest version is a much better treatment. I like the subtle background text, too. Nicely done.

ushere wrote on 4/17/2011, 11:37 PM

from way out left of field - prefer tendershot to shoot....

vtxrocketeer wrote on 4/18/2011, 6:35 AM

I saw firsthand an example of crocdoc's suggestion above, concerning a way to get involved in family expeditions. I went ziplining in Costa Rica, paid the company, and coming along with our whole group was a photographer. I was never clear on whether the photographer was a company employee, but it was clear that he was sanctioned by the company and I was CRYSTAL CLEAR on the fact that he sold (and I bought) CD's containing his photographs and video of my family.

The video was from an HDSLR and, frankly, was pretty crappy and the sound absolutely horrid, but NO ONE except me dared to bring equipment while perched hundreds of feet in the canopy. I had my beloved XH-A1 strapped to me and I shot plenty of footage, but this guy did something I literally couldn't: shoot one-handed WHILE ziplining.

Back to business: the guy's CD (when I looked through it later) clearly indicated that he ran his own business. But he found a way to come on board with this tour company, peddle his services, and make a boatload. Yes, I and many others were happy to open our pocketbooks. In contrast, I would never have thought to call someone out of the blue to accompany JUST MY FAMILY, shoot (VERY NICE) pictures and so-so video. This guy had it down and he raked in the dough.

$0.02,
Steve

P.S. The photo/video zipliner somehow managed to quickly separate photos and videos into bins that pertained to the respective parties in our larger group. This was nice as I didn't have to pore through media files of people I don't know on the CD that I bought. He was really a class act and funny to boot. I hope this gives you some ideas.