How much to pay for amateur videography?

blabla89

I couldn't bring myself to shell out the thousands of dollars that professional videographers around here charge. FI and I didn't really feel the need for it, either.

Someone on my neighborhood's message board recently posted that their high-school aged son has experience in video production/editing (he's looking for an internship) and I'm thinking about asking if he'd would be interested in filming our wedding to add to his portfolio. The sample videos he shared looked pretty good and it sounds like he has decent gear. Since we realized my dad can't come to the wedding, it would be really nice to have a DVD to send him.

So, what's a reasonable amount of money to offer? I was thinking $150-200 but that's completely arbitrary and I have no idea if it's right. I don't want to over pay, but I also don't want to make an offer that's too low. I think we would need him to be there for 8-10 hours on the wedding day, plus whatever time he spends editing.

larrygaga

Let's say you pay him about ten bucks an hour. That's pretty good for a non-professional in my state, so I'm going with that.

For ten hours, that's 100 bucks. Plus maybe 4-5 for  editing and that would be another 50. Throw in 50 for a tip and I say for a high school that's a pretty sweet day of work!

novella1186

larrygaga said:

Let's say you pay him about ten bucks an hour. That's pretty good for a non-professional in my state, so I'm going with that.

For ten hours, that's 100 bucks. Plus maybe 4-5 for  editing and that would be another 50. Throw in 50 for a tip and I say for a high school that's a pretty sweet day of work!

I agree with this, except: 

Do you expect him to FILM for 8 to 10 hours? Like you want footage of the whole entire thing from start to finish? Cuz that could easily be another 10 hours worth of editing or more. 

I've edited videos before, and only did simple stuff. It takes a ton of work and a ton of time. For a wedding, I'm sure this kid will want to do a really good job, so I'm sure he won't be cutting corners and just slapping clips together. 

Maybe up it to $300. Even for an amateur, a LOT of time and work still goes into it. Especially to make it 1 cohesive video out of 8 to 10 hours of filming. 

photokitty

You don't need 8-10 hours of coverage. Being an amateur he isn't going to be useful while you are getting ready and during the photog time if you do a first look. He is going to get int he way of your professional photog - you don't want this. I would only ask hm to film the ceremony and reception. After toasts, first dances, cake cutting, all the big stuff - have him film maybe 30 mins of dancing and reception stuff and send him home.

My professional opinion, don't hire an inexperienced amateur to film your wedding. If you only want a video that document the ceremony and toasts, then you should be fine. But you're not going to get a good wedding short set to music or a well crafted reception montage. This takes talent and experience. Not to mention a high school student is going to have very limited knowledge of what happens at a wedding - how many has he even been to, let alone paid close attention to?

That said, just call me Debbie Downer, I would offer him at least $20 an hour while he is on site and a flat fee for the editing. He's probably not going to be that interested in filming a wedding and a wedding is not a portfolio builder unless he is planning to go into that line of the industry - so I'd want to make sure it was worth his while to pay attention and do a good job. Don't forget to feed him while he is with you.

GL!

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

My FI is a professional video editor and sometimes does weddings on the side. I know he always says the majority of the work is the editing so I would make sure to compensate for that especially. He charges about $800 for shooting a wedding and the editing, so I would say maybe $400 for an amateur?

blabla89

photokitty said:

You don't need 8-10 hours of coverage. Being an amateur he isn't going to be useful while you are getting ready and during the photog time if you do a first look. He is going to get int he way of your professional photog - you don't want this. I would only ask hm to film the ceremony and reception. After toasts, first dances, cake cutting, all the big stuff - have him film maybe 30 mins of dancing and reception stuff and send him home.

My professional opinion, don't hire an inexperienced amateur to film your wedding. If you only want a video that document the ceremony and toasts, then you should be fine. But you're not going to get a good wedding short set to music or a well crafted reception montage. This takes talent and experience. Not to mention a high school student is going to have very limited knowledge of what happens at a wedding - how many has he even been to, let alone paid close attention to?

That said, just call me Debbie Downer, I would offer him at least $20 an hour while he is on site and a flat fee for the editing. He's probably not going to be that interested in filming a wedding and a wedding is not a portfolio builder unless he is planning to go into that line of the industry - so I'd want to make sure it was worth his while to pay attention and do a good job. Don't forget to feed him while he is with you.

GL!

Not a downer at all - I appreciate the info! I ended up telling him we'd need him there for 3-4 hours total and asked what his rate would be. We'll see what he says.

larrygaga

I am always a fan of helping a kid out! My post was the minimum, I think.