Producing How-to-Videos
A Florida video-grapher produced a How to wedding planner DVD and
sold over $250,000 worth of videos in just 12 months. Think about
it: If you sell your video for $25, all you need to do is sell
around 80 videos a week, or 325 videos a month to gross $100,000 a
year.
A typical "small" production can sell as much as 1,500 videos a
month, or 18,000 units a year, at $25 each.
It's the Topic:
If there is one single factor that makes or breaks a How to video,
its the choice of topic. Another factor to consider is the length
of the material. To remain interesting the average how to video
must be fast paced and relatively short not exceeding 45 minutes.
More successful videos are no more than 30 minutes long as this is
a tolerable length by which a video can effectively cover a topic
and remain interesting.
Duplication cost
The length of your video also affects your duplication cost.
Following is a rate structure for duplication charges based on set
quantities for a factory-load VHS DVD:
Length 1000 2500
10 min $1.50 $1.15
20 min 2.10 1.80
30 min 2.50 2.00
The shoot
Who's going to do the shooting? If you decide to do it yourself,
where will you get the camera? What format are you going to shoot
it in?
The average cost of renting a 3/4 inch U-Matic camera, with
wireless mics, and standard lighting equipment is around $495 a
day. A camera person with an assistant will cost an extra $250.
The Editing
Once you've shot all the footage you need, you edit the work,
assembling the footage in an orderly and coherent fashion that will
effectively deliver the thought.
Depending on how you shot your footage, editing can take 20 to 50
times the estimated finished length of your video. this means a 10
minute video may take 4 to 5 hours to edit, and so on.
Studio time ranges from $40 to as much as $100 an hour, depending
on the special effects you want to have available for your editing
project.
Packaging
Full color printed sleeves start at around 40 cents a piece if you
order 1,000 or more. You also need face labels on your DVDs, as
well as shrink wrapping for protection.
