I was catching up on discussions in one of the videography forums I belong to and the question, “How long do you take to edit a video?” was raised. I was baffled by such a question because so many factors determine this from having a solid script or an outline to structure the piece, amount of footage shot, complexity of motions graphics, etc. I was relieved to see answers like “4000 hours” to highlight this was a silly question. But some actually gave formulas and boasted of short edit times. This reminded me of a respected videographer who built his business on providing “same day” wedding edits, which sounds impressive on the surface, but I find ridiculous because I would think newlyweds would rather spend their wedding night with each other than watch what they just did a few hours earlier! Further down the forum thread, the person who posed the question wrote he was having difficulty explaining to a client why it takes time to edit even a two minute video.
This could explode into an incredibly long explanation about the erosion of society’s attention span and all its causes and the insanity of instant gratification with everything, but I will stay on topic through the lens of enlightening a client to why the “need for speed” is foolish when crafting a video to sell their business or tell their story.
There are services that have a fixed amount of steps, like an oil change. The car is lifted, screw taken off oil pan, oil drained, screw returned, oil filter changed and new oil poured in. A quick mechanic can pretty much do that in 19 minutes from what I remember from one advertisement. But after researching this online, I found garages claiming a 10, 9 and 8 minute oil change!
Would you want your surgeon to operate on you with that same speed based on a list of symptoms from a manual? Would you want your lawyer to quickly review your case and plug it into a pre-written script that “generally” fits your case? I’m sure that same day wedding video looks great, but in order to do that, it’s plugged into the same format with the same templates and music as hundreds of other clients and you have a generic, cookie cutter video. This is fine if your expectations only go that high.
This is why I created the term “Cinematic Craftsman” to describe myself. My approach is to craft a look and feel based on the individual client’s personality and intention. I spend hours searching for just the right music, hours creating graphics and motion graphics that will enhance the message and time with the client to create a truly collaborative video experience. But, I don’t use all that time just to create a larger bill. I’ve known companies that charged for the time to rewind tapes! My creative thinking time is not on the clock. I only charge for the actual execution of dream to reality. My standards are too high to accept anything less than outstanding for my work. You shouldn’t accept anything less to promote yours.
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