Delivering "raw" footage for clients?

How do you guys deliver raw footage for client jobs or weddings? Now, I'm talking about raw in terms of the layman's "raw" not BMCC or RED uncompressed raw.

Usually during shooting in live situations we have messy shots surrounding great shots. I'd like to chop off these ugly bits and keep the files in tact. Then I just send a bunch of original files without the ugly bits. I'm not sure if any program does this?

Another way is to maybe put all the clips on a timeline, clean up and then export in a decent bitrate for h.264? cutting out unusable footage is usually the first step of my workflow anyways, so it's not a lot of extra time except encoding.

My first thought is: Why are you giving them the RAW Footage?

That's a good question. I said yes without thinking, so it's on me. Now I need to find an approach to handle this situation.

dmonk wrote in post #15711682
How do you guys deliver raw footage for client jobs or weddings? Now, I'm talking about raw in terms of the layman's "raw" not BMCC or RED uncompressed raw.

In some cases, we provide watermarked, but un-edited footage to clients so they can decide if they want to license the clip.

The delivery method is via providning a link to where the clip is stored, then if the client wants to license the un-watermarked clip another link is forwarded once an license fee is agreed to.

Wayne

videography is different than photography. If they are paying you to shoot the video, they own that footage. You give them everything. If they are paying you to produce something (shoot, edit and deliver) it can be a different story. But usually, they own it.

99% of the time, they hire me, we shoot and give an edited deliverable. Sometimes they want all the raw but not usually. The production company (you) has to decide up front what the deliverables will be. I would charge them the cost of a drive and transfer time to throw everything on it and leave it at that. Don't do any processing, grading, audio tweaking etc if they want the crap.

Think of it this way... Most of the time, the videographer is not the editor. You get paid to shoot the even and deliver the raw for the editor of your agency or an outside agency to use it. Unless you specifically made out an agreement where you deliver a finished cut to them and you have rights to the rest, just give it to them.

By not editing it and giving them the raw, you can parlay that later into an edited deliverable outside the scope of the original job and more money. Hell, are you ever going to use the footage again? And you are allowed to use their footage as promotion material for yourself in a reel but you aren't allowed to sell that for stock or anything else. Why not just hand everything over?

Channel One: that is an interesting approach and seems quite reasonable. I'll give it some thought.

peepdeets: I plan on commercial work in the long term, and I am new to this industry so that was actually enlightening. I'm going to note all that down. For now this is a just a wedding (producing) job on the side so I'm handling everything including editing. What would you do?

I would give them a nice edited version and all the unedited stuff, crud and all, 'dumped' on a drive. Then they will (hopefully) realize how important the editing is.

Unless you weren't supposed to deliver an edited version.

I have never dealt with a wedding since my job is commercial production and editing for television. Basically for my line of work, the arrangements are worked out prior in the job pitch. MOST of the time, they are paying for a produced product so we go shoot what we need, go through rounds of revisions of the edit and deliver a final product of the edit as delivery. Very seldomly do we get asked for all the footage. It is great for broll for the future. So say we are doing a shoot in the city and we get a bunch of broll of commuters and random stuff... we can use that down the road for future stuff. We were paid to create the deliverable and the shoot was essential to create that product. Sometimes they ask us for selects of the edit so they can create bumpers for commercials. They usually don;t want to deal with the logistics of saving all the footage. They know they can come back to you at a later date for whatever they need.

For example, we hire camera guys to shoot with our equipment (or rental) and we digest the video from the cards. Sometimes the DP's come back at us and ask for raw footage so they can use in their reel. But essentially, we are paying them to be our operator and that is it. Once their day is done, the footage is ours and sometimes our clients. It's a fine line.

Many times we have been asked to edit stuff other people shot. We almost never get the footage from our client so we usually connect with the production company that shot it. Normally, people don't want all the footage.

However, a wedding seems different. It is highly unlikely you will use that footage for anything else other than part of a promotional reel of your capabilities. And with those "precious" moments I could see the potential of some weekend warrior to create their own video themselves with your footage. And post producing (color grading, sound editing, etc) are part of an edited deliverable. If they want the raw, I would not waste a second making the raw look good or trim the fat. Simply copy all the video to a drive they pay for and give it to them. Post production costs money. They are paying you to either shoot, shoot and edit, or shoot, edit and process everything. Don't give away anything for free.

If you agreed upon giving them everything AND producing a video, I would bite the bullet and go that way. If you didn't agree to giving them all the raw I would explain that you were paid to produce a video and that is what you are delivering. Raw costs would cost extra. But again, you were paid for your time, equipment, etc. The footage is of little use to you afterwards so why not just give them everything? Even if you do, you can still use that footage down the road.

Basically, I do whatever the client wants. If I produce a video and they want the raw... whatever. They already paid me a ton of money anyway. I don't have time to deal with nitpicking over a couple hundred bucks. And once they realize they suck at editing they will come back and pay me more to create another deliverable for them.

One quick example. I freelanced for a production company that shot and produced all the stuff for 51 television shows. They gave me all the footage after the days shoots. I cut and worked on all the shows. I still have all the footage. The production company has to come to me if they want anything. The network has to come to me if they want anything. And my time to look through archive, transfer anything and get it to them costs money (ie makes me money). I charge minimum half day editing rate for anything. For finding something shot 3 years ago and the big wigs don't care anything about just got me $400 for 10 minutes of my time. Bridzillas may be different, but when doing commercial work... most places don't care about anything but the final deliverable. If that final deliverable is an edited video, usually all the raw is yours. But again, I don't hesitate to throw it to them if they ask.

If YOU are the production company and are hiring a camera man, they abolsutley have NO RIGHTS to the footage they shot unless they want it for their reel or you made previous arrangements. Whether you have the rights or the client is between you two.

ejenner wrote in post #15712528
I would give them a nice edited version and all the unedited stuff, crud and all, 'dumped' on a drive. Then they will (hopefully) realize how important the editing is.

Unless you weren't supposed to deliver an edited version.

Interesting way to put it. Certainly never thought of it in that way, but I can see what you mean definitely.

peepdeets wrote in post #15712567
I have never dealt with a wedding since my job is commercial production and editing for television....[]

I think you've illustrated a lot of situations and good reasons for your decisions. You've also said what evener pointed out. I really appreciate all the detailed info and I'm going to sit down and digest it then think of an approach with the client. The good thing is now I got some options that I can justify pretty well.

My wedding videographer charges extra if you want the unedited RAW video clips. It makes sense.

MrSo0h0o wrote in post #15714181
My wedding videographer charges extra if you want the unedited RAW video clips. It makes sense.

The only sense it makes is charging for the time it takes to transfer the raw and the cost of delivery mode (usually a drive). It's a good racket if you can do it but it is not indicative of the way real professional videographers and/or production companies work. He must have been a photographer in a former life.

So you hire him to create a completed deliverable correct? If that was the negotiated deal then I can see charging extra for the footage. If you are hired to capture the event, you always give them all the footage at no cost other than time and hard costs.

peepdeets wrote in post #15714299
The only sense it makes is charging for the time it takes to transfer the raw and the cost of delivery mode (usually a drive). It's a good racket if you can do it but it is not indicative of the way real professional videographers and/or production companies work. He must have been a photographer in a former life.

So you hire him to create a completed deliverable correct? If that was the negotiated deal then I can see charging extra for the footage. If you are hired to capture the event, you always give them all the footage at no cost other than time and hard costs.

Yes, he takes care of everything, soup to nuts. He and his wife film the event from start to finish, and provide a 5 minute highlight video(about a 1 month turn around time) and also a full coverage DVD/Blu-Ray(about 4-6 month turn around time) all edited.