At What Price Video Excellence? « Videomaker Community Forums

EarlC
Moderator

At What Price Video Excellence? Know when to curtail your drive for perfection
& deliver profitable, quality video. My philosophy may not sit well
with the vast majority of video artists who think they are
businesspeople as well. E.C. Come, E.C. Go

Posted 2 years ago #
TheDVshow
Member

Earl

We got to get you on our podcast to talk about this topic...how can I contact you apart from the board?

Posted 2 years ago #
EarlC
Moderator

I sent you a PM.

Posted 2 years ago #
Cville
Member

Earl

I enjoyed your blog post about video excelence. I understand how easy it is to get caught up tweaking every edit.

I recently did a 60th anniversary party. My role was to set up in one location and allow the attendees to share a story or just congratulate the couple in video. The family provided me digital still photos of the rest of the event and I put together a montage of the video and still photos of the celebration. The focus was not great on some of the photos they provided. But I knew the client well enough to know that they wanted those photos included even though I would normally not put them in.

It is not always about providing perfect. You have to satisfy the customer and they are not alway looking for or appreciate what you may think is perfection.

As always thanks for sharing.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tom Skowronski
Staff

this is true, I cut two of the worst projects ever for some clients 3 years ago... That were just awful. I mean, watching them made me want to hide and I felt that I should have my hands rolled over by a steam rollar just so that I shouldn't be allowed to edit with them ever again... but you know what? They loved it! I gave them everything that they wanted and they didn't need the best video, the best angles, the best audio or the cleanest looking product. What they wanted was their memories, and since both parties gave me horribly shot amatuer video... I cleaned it up, repackaged it and made them happy.

Associate Editor
tskowronski@videomaker.com
VM Customer Support: 1-800-284-3226

Posted 2 years ago #
NormanWillis
Member

Yes. Providing a service is never about what we believe is best. It is about satisfying and pleasing the pay, whoever that may happen to be.

With artistry, it may happen to be us. With ministry, it is Him. And with paying clients, it is them.

Posted 2 years ago #
NashuaVideoTours
Member

I find this is the biggest barrier between photographers/ videographers and success in business.

There's nothing wrong with perfection - we all strive for it - but the average customer doesn't see most of this! I see photographers and videographers obsessing over minute, technical details of their work - when the only people who notice it are OTHER photographers! Time is money, and if you obsess over perfection, you will spend more time on a project which ends up pricing your project out of the realm of reality for most (hence, little business) or you will go out of business because you could be making more money flipping burgers.

You have to achieve a balance so you're profitable and at the same time, producing a quality product that satisfies your client.

Creative people are always far more critical of their own work than their audience!

High definition, narrated real estate video tours

Posted 2 years ago #
JohnCrawford
Member

A good real estate video on the Internet is worth more that two real estate salesmen trying to sell or rent the property.

What's a good real estate video?

One that shows all of the visual details of the property and the neighborhood.

Posted 2 years ago #
EarlC
Moderator

John, please keep to the real estate related threads and try to refrain from hijacking threads where your message is essentially OT.

Posted 2 years ago #
JohnCrawford
Member

No problem. Thanks for the advice.

Posted 2 years ago #
grinner
Member

My clients dictate what the price is for excellence as they pay me by the hour. Keeps things very simple here.

http://grinnerhester.com

Posted 2 years ago #