Ok, so I’m plotting my escape from corperate life back into my love…filmmaking (or videomaking).
I just bought an imac and have already created a music video for a local band. I didn’t get paid because they have no money and are my friends…but I love the work.
So give me some ideas that I can use my videography skills to make money…such as weddings, etc.
More bands (hopefully bands with a little money)
Family reunions
Graduation parties
I have a girlfriend that does corporate videos. Very lucrative.
Being an indy filmmaker is a challenging way to make a living, but if you’ve got some drive it’s certainly doable. Here’s two ways my friends in the industry get by between projects:
Corperate training videos: Oscar-winning stuff like “Could You Identify Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?”, “Salmonella Risk Reduction Practices”, and my favorite: “Modern Meat Packing Safety” which, ironically, the filmmaker used to fund a short film about 70’s gay life in Chicago.
Pros: they pay well enough that one or two jobs will see you comfortably through the year and you get to hire your actor friends. Cons: It’s hard to learn who the department heads who do the hiring are, harder to get your foot-in-the-door, and once in you seriously have to learn to network and cater to the clients needs. You also need to learn good budgeting skills (professional camera/light rental, actors, permits, sound studio time, etc.) and that’s just to submit the bid on a project. Also, expect to become an expert on whatever subject your doing, because clients don’t typically hand you a shooting script. If it’s a piece on sexual harassment, you’ll have to learn all you can about it, write a treatment, submit it to the client, revise, rewrite, submit, rewrite, lather-rinse-repat.
Accident re-creations: Lawyers use these in car and aviation accident lawsuits. Pros: They’re pretty easy stuff, pay well, no script, no sound studio time, you can use a camcorder and Mac editing software. Cons: you frequently need to know some 3D software to show an animated simulation of the crash. You need to make painstaking measurements of the crash site and need to know some physics (a 3200 lb. truck made a 30 foot skid mark, how fast was it traveling?).