How to save money on a demo reel

All the people in front and behind the camera need demo reel.

Are you an actor? a musicians? an artist? Do you have a product that you sell? a room for rent? or a business of any kind? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you need a video online presence. This is referred to as a demo reel or video promo.

Because my kids are both involved in creating these videos, I’ve learned quite a bit about them. One of the things that I have learned is that there are many things that you can do to drastically cut or increase the amount you will pay for these videos.

The more work you do prior to meeting with the video editor, the less you will pay.

Here are three things that you can do to lower your cost:

1. Do your homework. Take the time to watch videos similar to the kind that you want. Take a look at the videos that have high amounts of views. What makes them work? How long are they? Note that the longer the video, the more money it is going to cost you to produce. Most people aren’t going to watch a video (especially a demo reel or an ad) that is more than 2 minutes long. Keep it short.
2. Have the footage in hand. Professionals charge by the hour. If the editor has to call someone to get your footage and then it is the wrong kind of format, they are going to charge you for it. Don’t assume that “Fred has the footage at his house.” Get the footage from Fred.
3. Know what parts of the footage you want to use. Go over the footage that you have and decide what parts you want. Make note of the time on the video where the parts occur. If the editor has to watch four hours of your tapes to try and find footage, it is going to cost you more.

Of course, it is possible that you don’t know how to do steps 1, 2 & 3. You might not even have any footage available. In that case, see if you can get a package deal. Some editors will take pity on you and hold your hand through the entire process. They give you a price that includes all the things that you need to get something up on the internet.

Hope this helps. Have you made a demo reel?