HOW TO MAKE MONEY PRODUCING SPECIAL EVENT VIDEOS.
Special event videos are much simpler and a lot less worry than videotaping
a wedding ceremony. In many cases, you'll only need one camera, one
microphone, and little or no editing. You'll charge less, of course, but
your profit margin will be higher.
You can provide this service to any professional person or group - attorneys,
salespeople, financial advisors, professional speakers _ anyone who must
give a talk, presentation or lecture before a group of people. Workshops,
meetings, conferences, reunions, all are potential jobs for you.
As with weddings, meet beforehand with the person or persons you will be
taping, both to get their permission to DVD them, if necessary, and to get
a feel for what they specifically want on DVD. If all they want is a DVD
of their speech, then all you'll need is one camera (two if you want a spare
in case of problems), one microphone and a tripod. Set your equipment up
well ahead of time, to allow for testing. Be sure to have the subject of
the DVD do a test of part of their speech, so you can be sure the microphone
is set right. It's important to have clear sound for event taping.
For panel discussions, meetings and other group events, you'll want to have
a camera pointed at every person, or possibly at every two people, as well
as one at the whole group. Make sure every person can be picked up by your
microphones. When you edit the DVDs together, try to have the speaking
person on screen as they speak, unless that would mean too many rapid
changes, which can be disorienting to the viewer. If taping an interview,
the subject of the interview is more important than the interviewer. While
it's good to cut in a reaction shot of the interviewer from time to time,
keep the focus of your DVD on the person being interviewed.
Unless you need to use multiple cameras and heavy editing, you should charge
less for event taping than you would for wedding taping. There are a few
reasons for this. First, you will spend far less time on an event DVD.
Second, you have a higher potential for return business. If you do a good
job, you have a good chance of being called in again for the next meeting or
conference. Finally, there is always the possibility of selling copies of
the DVD to targeted customers. This can either be done for the subject of
the DVD, with you getting a cut, or the subject can pay you a license fee
for each that he or she sells.
An up-and-coming event to DVD is the high school or college class reunion.
Offer your services to DVD the reunion as a keepsake for those who
attended, or those who couldn't attend. If you price your service right,
you may be able to work a deal where each attendee would get a copy of the
DVD as part of their registration fee, with a cut going to you. You'll
make less for each DVD, but you'll be make up on quantity. You should be
able to make $10 to $15 per DVD just for copying the master onto a blank.
Set up your DVD players, start the copying, and grab a good book. Sounds like easy
money to me! If you DVD a reunion, try to get a class list so you can send
a personalized letter and brochure to those who didn't attend. They are a
good market for copies of the DVD. You will need to work out details with
the planning committee of the reunion, as they will probably want a cut of
the profits, which is fair. But, you are entitled to the lion's share,
since you did the work.
When taping a reunion, make sure to get a good group shot of the attendees,
possibly panning across the group for clear face shots. Be sure to DVD any
and all speeches, important class members like the valedictorian, class
leaders, sports figures, and any class member(s) who have become local or
national celebrities. Be sure to get plenty of candid material, too, which
can be edited in. You'll want to make sure your skills are good when holding
the camera for an event like this.
Other events you may want to consider would be family events, like birthdays,
bar/bat mitzvahs, holiday get-togethers, as well as business and school
parties, award ceremonies, etc. You'll get these jobs primarily from
referrals, which means your marketing expenses for these occasional events
will be little or none.
Scan your newspaper periodically for local publicity events like hot air
balloon races, boat races or shows, trade shows, scouting events, or other
events that appeal to a specialized crowd. Get permission to DVD these
events, then work out one of these deals:
- Sell the DVD to the sponsor of the event;
- Keep the rights to the DVD and give the sponsor a royalty
fee for each DVD sold.
Also, you could DVD a group of similar events and edit them together into
a compilation DVD that could be sold to targeted customers. There are many
potential profit areas in event taping, if you keep your eyes open!
