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05/18/2010 04:45:15 PM · #1 |
Ok, a guy from work came to me last week wanting a photo montage to play in the background for his wife's 60th birthday on Memorial weekend.
He didn't want music, and had 60-70 photos estimated. At that time I didn't give him a price, but mentioned I was going to check with my colleagues as to what they would charge and i'd be fair. Photos to me by Wednesday (tomorrow).
He just called and now has 140 photos and wants music. What do you all think would be a fair price for doing something like this? All of the photos will need to be scanned and then dropped into the software program, then burned to disk. He was concerned about price and I told him the time involved would be the biggest cost as I estimated about 7 hours to do all of this.
I mentioned one had thought $150 min. when we were talking 60-70 shots, so I told him let's just double it. He's going to now get back to me.
What would you all charge? I will also suggest they can cut down the number of photographs.
Thoughts? Cost suggestions? I've never done this for someone else, but I've done it for myself. I appreciate any and all suggestions.
Thanks gang!!!! ~ Kat
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05/18/2010 05:54:16 PM · #2 |
almost as a starting point, you really need to ask him how what his budget is. the key to a successful outcome is for you and your client to be on the same page in terms of what they're expecting to get and what they can afford to pay.
the main thing is being realistic about an hourly rate. i know kids around here that will do this type of stuff for minimum wage, and do a pretty decent job. the thing you have to keep in mind is the difference between providing creative services and providing commodity-type technical services.
you can actually get this type of work done for $15-25 an hour as much of it is now more a matter of process baby-sitting than creative work. even though it's technical, it's not rocket science. you can charge more for the creative part, but that largely depends on the tools that you use. i'm producing some really wicked videos using animoto, but for all intents and purposes, i'm not doing anything creative - i'm just uploading images.
also, the amount of time per photo depends on your scanner and the quality image you want. a video only requires a 1024x768 pixel (or maybe smaller) 72dpi image, which is probably a lot quicker to scan than a fullsize 300dpi image.
on the other hand, my lab charges $6 an image regardless of image quality. so, you can offer him a range of options, charging more for higher quality scans that could be reprinted, or charging less for a basic digitization.
if you have a decent scanner, you really shouldn't have to deal with too much image manipulation. if you're using a workflow tool like lightroom, the processing and prep should be a snap.
another factor is the length of the video and the number of images required to fill it. i've done some pretty cool 2.5 minute videos with only 25 images and i did one 7.5 minute one that used about 250 images. it all depends on the tool that you're using.
hope this helps and is not too confusing...
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05/18/2010 07:27:51 PM · #3 |
| It's good info to have. I think if I can scan the photos quickly I'd be thrilled to do this. He wants to be fair and I don't want to overcharge, so we'll see what he says tomorrow. He said this whole party is getting out of hand, so I'll see what tomorrow brings. If they are not using the photo cd to print anything from, this may be less of a project. I'm all about being fair, so... |
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05/18/2010 07:35:42 PM · #4 |
[putting on my audio production hat for a moment]
Remember, especially since this is going to be used in a public performance, you will have to license the music being used. There are a number of royalty-free production sites you can purchase from which I can refer you to if you like (or you can just google, of course), assuming he hasn't requested specific songs. If he's looking for specific songs, you'll need to contact the copyright holder for Grand Rights (public performance).
ETA - Actually, you would need to request both Grand Rights and Synchronization Rights (primarily sync rights, but since the work is being done specifically *for* a performance, you would, in my opinion, need grand rights as well. Always better to cover your butt than just cross your fingers).
Point being, be sure you consider that fee in your budget.
[puts photographer hat back on and scurries away] ;)
Message edited by author 2010-05-18 19:46:05. |
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05/18/2010 08:07:25 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by cdrice:
Remember, especially since this is going to be used in a public performance, you will have to license the music being used. |
charles, i'm not quite sure about this. i believe there's a difference between a public performance and a private performance, private being a closed room available to invitees only. that would be different if he were selling tickets, but there's nothing commercial going on here. i may be wrong, i'm just going on what i've been told by friends in the music industry... |
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05/18/2010 09:00:38 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by Skip:
charles, i'm not quite sure about this. i believe there's a difference between a public performance and a private performance, private being a closed room available to invitees only. that would be different if he were selling tickets, but there's nothing commercial going on here. i may be wrong, i'm just going on what i've been told by friends in the music industry... |
Nope, very common misconception. Doesn't matter if it's a "private" party, a "free" / nonprofit performance, or a ticketed event -- if somebody shows up, it's public performance.
(I've worked in audio production since 1993, and deal with music licensing in one form or another almost every week).
Music licensing is "one of those things" that is overlooked (more often unintentionally than on purpose) very often, but as artists ourselves, we need to consider using other people's art (music in this case) without permission is just like somebody taking one of our photos and using it without permission. Some people don't care -- some people care a lot. Some people release their art solely for the purpose of letting anyone using who wants to. You don't know which is which unless you ask.
The obvious question becomes how much you care and/or worry about seeing yourself on the wrong end of a claim. Hypothetically speaking, if someone was charging an "un-budgetable" fee for rights, I may have let licensing slide for small performances and/or if I didn't see high risk of being reported -- but I would have also, hypothetically speaking, made sure my business insurance was paid up to date... and my name wasn't on any paperwork. ;) |
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