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Home: Video University Forums: Marketing & Business:
High School Graduation Video

X-Hamilton
Imported Account

Jun 9, 2004, 11:35 PM

Post #1 of 5 (1704 views)
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High School Graduation Video	Can't Post

I am speaking to the principal of my local high school about shooting at the upcoming graduation on June 25th of this month. He asked me for a proposal and I have a meeting with the person in charge of Audio/Visual at the school. We will talk about logistics, camera placement, audio, etc.
I am new in the business. The business has been established for about a year but this is the first time I'm breaking away from Weddings and Sweet 16's. I have a couple of potential clients, like a limo company and a Video Biography.
Have you guys written proposals for this type of work? I plan to charge $30 per copy to the student and nothing to the school. They are 400 students graduating. The fact that there was no charge to the school was very appealing to the Principal.

X-Bob_Mares_Photography
Imported Account

Jun 10, 2004, 2:48 PM

Post #2 of 5 (1701 views)
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Re: High School Graduation Video	Can't Post

I havent done a high school graduation video,BUT I have a lot of expierence in marketing my photography business to high schools!By not charging the school you have made your idea more appealing to the school officials.Make sure in you proposal to break down the costs per student,also provide a summary on how you will benefit the school by your services.If you go to Barnes and Noble there is a book called The One Page Proposal in the business section I am not at home right now to know the author but it is a great guide for getting your point across on one page!Most school officals are looking forward to working with professionals as they know the graduates will want to cherish the moment and the schools will do all that is possible to acheive that!Thanks!
Bob

Gadget Man
User

Jul 15, 2004, 10:23 PM

Post #3 of 5 (1637 views)
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Re: [X-Hamilton] High School Graduation Video [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've done graduations (from pre-school to high school) and have found that in most cases, high school grad videos DO NOT sell! One private H.S. that we have done for over 10 years has consistantly decreased the number of sales until last year the number dropped to less than 20%. It was a 3 camera shoot, edited, and VHS sold for $27 and DVD for $35.

Did one this year (different school) and charged the school up front for the shoot (2 camera ... $1k) and tapes were extra. The pushed the sales, sent home flyers, ad on the school's web site and sold only 12 videos (grad class of almost 200).

On the other hand, my pre-school and elementary school business usually runs between 75-95%.

You can give your school a shot, but unless people have a different attitude in your area of the country, you could be working for nothing.

Ed/kvi
Ed Wardyga
Keepsake Video/KVI Media
Pawtucket, RI
wardyga@kvimedia.com

Bob A
Veteran

Jul 16, 2004, 1:28 PM

Post #4 of 5 (1610 views)
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Re: [X-Hamilton] High School Graduation Video [In reply to]	Can't Post

Been there, done that. Unless the class or school is packaging the video with some other graduation package for all the kids the chances of making money is slim. The kids at that age are just not interested in preserving memories, but they do get a big kick in ripping any form of media to give to their friends. I would suggest doing it, but as a learning experience and if you make lunch money, all the better. If you can get paid for the shooting/editing and charge a small fee per copy it might work, but the school/class will not be happy about losing money on the project and it might make for a negitive experience for you. The younger kids school stuff (plays, concerts, grads) is better because the parents understand the value of the keepsake and want to keep a video of litte Johnnie. It never hurts to do some pro bono work for the community also. I have been doing the 4th of July parade video free-bee for my town for 10 years and do taping for the local arts council performers also. (and occasionally other gigs that were not intended to be profit-less Blush

kevin
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Jul 18, 2004, 3:34 PM

Post #5 of 5 (1581 views)
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Re: [Bob A] High School Graduation Video [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've had the same experience. My daughter just graduated from a high school in an middle to upper class city. Their class was over 700. I either shot or knew the people that shot various events for the high schools over her 4 years she was there. They were all extremely disappointed in their sales. I don't remember a single one of them saying that they even broke even, much less made any money. In the end they said they would not do it again.

One other note: Lately I've been receiving a lot of emails for directors of dance studios. They are looking for a new videographer to replace their old one. I decided a couple of weeks ago to call them as the request came in and find out why they were changing. I've called two so far and they've stated that their previous videographers were no longer interested in doing it. One told me that she just didn't understand it either - they sold 28 copies of their video at their last all day recital. I went on to asked her 28 out of how many dancers and she answered 210. Unsure

I think what is going on is the same thing we've seen in our own house. We bought videos to every event my daughter performed in and have never watch a single one of them. The difference is that I understand that we are buying them for 10-20 years down the road - for my daughter's kids to see someday. I think that others see it differently though. They just think "we haven't watch any of the other 50 we've paid for, so I am not going to waste my money on it."

Kevin