Why Hire a Professional Videographer?

With all the high quality video cameras out there, it's tempting to have friend or family member "do" your video.  I cannot stress enough that simply owning a good camera does not make a good video. 

I'll explain just what you pay for and why, and what the differences are...

Sound

OK, every camera has a microphone on it. Think, have you seen someone's party or holiday video? Could you really hear what was going on? How about background noise?
We use pro quality microphones. We capture to multiple audio recorders. Each camera, and one or two remote sound recorders. Why? Because we can choose when editing which device recorded the best sound. We have wireless mikes, PZM mikes (these are wide area mikes that "hear" like a real ear), shotgun mikes, and can tap in and record from most any resource; DJ, church PA, you get the idea.

Video

OK, this one is obvious, but doing it right is important. A great camera on an inexpensive tripod won't give you smooth pans. Also, we use multiple cameras. In the simplest one person shoot, we still use at least 2 cameras. Why? Because you never know when someone's weird uncle is going to jump in front of the camera at the worst moment. We always have a second camera on a wide shot to go to. Also, for hand held, we use a shoulder support that I designed. A hand held camera can only be held steady for so long (try holding a 6 pound object in front of you for ten minutes, picture an hour long event, think about that...), and the "video stabilization mode" on most cameras are not as effective as we would hope.

Editing

Video effects are so much fun, and they have their place, but simple and elegant is the only way to shoot a wedding video. We have all the effects, and one of the best professional editing softwares available, but years from now all the wipes & page curls will look very dated, even cheezy. We use soft blends, elegant, and timeless. For music videos, commercials and special projects, we have many options for special effects. Adobe Premier is one of the best the best video editing software packages.

Output: VHS or DVD?

We can give you both, but is one better? Of course. DVD is the current "best" available to consumers. According to reports published by the television industry, VHS tapes have a reliable shelf life of 20 years, DVD's have a shelf life of 80 years. Movie film was the way consumers recorded family events into the 70's. The 80's brought VHS, BETA, and now DVD's are the standard. By the way, we can put your old 8mm films onto video too...

Cost

OK, here's the big scoop. You get what you pay for. No kidding. Let's look at a typical 3 camera, 2 person shoot, a wedding.

Let's say the wedding is at 2pm, the reception starts at 6pm. The two video people are at the brides house by noon, get some "getting ready" shots, then head for the church to set up. Shoot the wedding. One camera may go with the wedding party for some fun & pictures while the second person packs up, and heads for the hall. Setup at the hall, shoot the reception. Leave by 11pm.

That's two video people for 11 hours plus travel time. Be cheap, pay 'em 10 bucks an hour, that's $220.

Video tapes are $10 each, 3 cameras, 3 hours, batteries for the wireless mikes, $100.

Now it's time to edit. 9 hours of tape, 9 hours to copy it into the computer. Now it "creativity" time. It takes about 30 hours to edit a wedding video down to 2 hours. Write some DVD's & tapes, make nice covers for the videos, done.

Call around, editing goes for $60 to $125 per hour. How about you give me $20? That's $600, not including the 9 hours of video transfer, how about $10 an hour there? $90. Blank DVD's, tapes & cases? $30

You with me so far? I count $1,040

Now my equipment isn't free, I need to maintain it, my cameras are $2,700 each, I have $5000 worth of computer editing equipment and software (Adobe Premier is $700 alone...). Camera batteries, tripods, chargers, lights, microphones, portable sound recorder (not a cassette!, I have a Korg portable digital studio, 'bout a grand), I recently totalled up my equipment, there's around $18,000 worth of nice toys there...

So add a donation to help me keep up the equipment.... you pick a number.....

My basic price for a shoot as described is $1,200

Like I said, you get what you pay for..... a bit more, actually....

Now there are always options... please call me before you make a decision, I may be able to help you decide what's best for you, whether I do your event or not, the conversation is free, and you will be armed with real information and options.

- Dennis LaFerle