DVD for a club

[bluntfaktory]

i did a show yesterday at a new club here in town for a friends Christmas party . after setting up , the club managers came over and said they liked the show , and would i be interested in coming down for things like specials events every now again when they go all out for a night . to which i said sure that's right up my ally , however what they were also interested in was me making tapes for them to run on there house system ( and or DVDs) for they're regular nights . now i figure a better idea is to make a new pre-mixed DVD once a month and then just rent it to them . my problem is number one , am i shooting my self in the foot if i doing that , and number two what's a service like that worth ? it would be easy enough to do , i was just wondering if anybody out there does the same thing and did they have any advice for me or what kind of contract should i use .

[WordVirus23]

I would perhaps make them a dvd of some not very exciting stuff... logo work etc, something to play on the house tvs, but not exciting, so there's no "thrill" in watching them, that way, assuring if they want some visual excitement, they'll call you. think generic commercial... and since they've already seen what you do live, they'll know the possibilities. good luck :)

..james...

[bluntfaktory]

humm....... good advice . thanks James :nod:

[LEVLHED]

yeah think hard about that arrangement...it would suck to be sitting at home during a "special event" while they have a bouncer play your DVDs....and don't be afraid to charge what they may think is a rediculous amount for a DVD either...its YOUR work after all...I don't think $100 a DVD is unreasonable. Think about the time that went in before you even started making the DVD!

[holly]

Man-o-man, charge WAY more than $100 bucks for a DVD!!! I charged some local VJs $200 for original Halloween footage - and that's a disc that can only be used once a year. $100 for a disc they are going to run all night/every night is chickenfeed, unless it is very generic content with no custom work or logos.... Even at one a month this is barely going to scratch your expenses. If you were turning around and selling the same DVD to about 10 different bars every month then you have yourself a fun little cottage industry, but custom for one place? You wouldn't do their web site that cheap would you?

If they have a house video system why don't you try to turn them on to hiring you as a live VJ?

[Rovastar]

*sigh* lets confuse the punters by playing a VJ set DVD to different music being played. And for like $100 WTF. *sigh*

[mondo]

exactly!!!!! well put rova

[murph]

I say if they want a DVD, it should be totally different than your VJing. Make sure people can tell the difference. Don't make it even remotely seem like it's synced to music, cut in the spinning club logo as often as possible, and put up text mentioning the bar specials or something. Make sure they know this is stock house footage, not the mind-blowing visual environment that's there for special events.

[VjDeranged]

Yeah well said Rova..again..

I actually learnt the hard way by doing an event which was part of a "tour" of nightclubs.. well I did the first club, It was for a promo party for a Very popular Vodka brand.
They really enjoyed the night and later phoned to ask if i could press the video captured that night with some of the dancing 3d bottles etc that I had superimposed on top of it for their "records" and to show internally at their office.
I did as requested, next thing that happened was pretty obvious, I wasnt contacted for the remainder of said tour.. citing budget reasons and guess what ... The same F****in VCD (it wasant even DVD that I gave them) was playing on screens at their events :grrr:

Best thing I think is to Install a Computer System with something like Arkaos/ Reso..flomo etc ... and make a Bank of content that auto runs.. that way they will call you for updates weekly/monthly etc and for special events you wont have to carry your own gear :D

Cheers!
Vj Deranged

[evomedia]

common guys, 100 for a dvd? are you guys mad.

A vj set for 100 is way too low for a club, let alone a dvd. Think of whats involved, if your making custom footage for the club that takes time, also a vj set is only one night, and they club owner doesn't get to keep a disc of footage, they only get use of content for what a few hours. Your talking about actually handing over your content to a customer, this is business remember, not handing a disc to a mate. I can bet the club owner isn't looking at it as a favour, he wants a custom dvd without paying a professional price. Believe me a studio will be charging at least 75 -100 an hour.

So look at it by time and value, if you spend a week making a dvd, then charge them for a weeks work, if the content is all orginal then add the extra for time spent filming/editing etc. If some of it is stuff you have in libraries, then still consider your essentially devaluing you vj footage by making it a more common piece of media.

I'm not saying charge what a media studio would charge, after all, you've no rates or salaries to cover. But still don't undercharge, I view vjing as the cheaper option, after all you reuse media, don't have to recreate for every club dvd, and only spend a few hours playing. For a dvd you have editing, burning, creating, cost of media, time spent compiling and also thinking about style, flow mood all in advance.

So, I always charge alot more for dvd's, after all they could essentially have years of use from it, and its a one off.

So if it was me, I'd not look at less than 800 for my own time (and thats bottom end of the scale, for bigger clubs, it's more custom footage and larger prices), and that would still be using 75% precreated and 25% custom, that may seem steep but I can tell you if I was quoting for work, we'd be charging 5000-10000 for original media pieces. If thats too much then they can always pay the vjing path.

This is the problem, club owners etc, always think well if I pay 100 for a night then they can just record the set and sell me the disc. You need to educate people on actual time these things take, and let them understand that a good dvd takes alot more time than a vj set. After all if you just recorded a set, it could seem off beat, have breaks where there are none and the flow could be all wrong. Thats the difference a good dvd isn't really reliant on a specific beat.

SO don't undercharge, it's business, pure and simple, and a fair price is expected in business. If they argue, comprimise, say ok I can make shorter, it'll still loop, but clubbers may get bored, if they still refuse a cheaper price then don't do it...

This way also has the advantage of them seeing the vjing as a good value option and the dvd as an investment for a year, I always say you'll get months and months of use from a dvd. And if they do then chances are they may order another in 6 or 12 months.

Also one last word in regards to selling services, always ask for 30% deposit, after all if you spend a month on something and they cancel, you have no way to recoup money. Also put in a handy clause that if they pay within 20 days they get 5% early settlement discount (really you add 5% to quote, but that way you get prompt payments) but then if you ring up in 19 days and remind them, every client we have actually thanks us for saving them money, rather than thinks we are chasing. The deposit also means you have a working budget to film with.