The Wonderful World of Subcontracting

Subcontracting is when a business hires another business or individual to do work that can't be done by said business.

In this case, it's when a DJ has hired a videographer or editor, such as myself, to do work that they can't do themselves. It's all a part of the All in One entry that I discussed earlier.

There are some DJ companies in which subcontracting has been beneficial, both for their business and for my business. I get work from those companies through referrals and I appreciate their business.

However, there are other DJ companies (for their sake, let's call them Credit Takers) that have taken the meaning of subcontracting work and have demolished it. The idea of subcontracting is to work together.

I'd like to make the analogy of when Coke or Pepsi sell their business to stadiums and restaurants. They sell their product wholesale and make agreements to sell and advertise their product in these places. There's no such thing as Yankee Stadium Soda because they agree to exchange services for money.

I've sold my product to Credit Takers and somewhere along the line, they made it solely about their business to the point where they have taken credit for my work. 

Even worse, Credit Takers have found a way to take work that I've done and make it "passable" to prospective clients by plagiarizing and mimicking edited works that I've created. 

If this is the kind of attitude that Credit Takers have with the services I've given them, then imagine how Credit Takers will treat you as a client. 

I pride myself and my business on giving you a fair deal on the services you've paid for. I don't nickel-and-dime you and I will make sure you get your money's worth from my services, which is something every self-respecting company should want to strive for.

The All In One

"All in One" describes a deal in the event business in which you can get everything you need for your particular event through one company whether that be DJ's, photography, and/or videography.

Is it convenient? Sure.

Does it save you money? Perhaps.

Does it guarantee you quality? Absolutely not.

A company that primarily involves DJing will offer services for other things such as photography and videography.

There's a DJ that will sell you video. Then there's the guy behind the curtains that hires the videographer and editor to do the video. That guy behind the curtains will hire just about anybody to do the job.

They could be good, they could be bad. You don't know. They may not have experience to do the job and then you may wind up having a story like this to share.

Although I have years of experience of working with DJ's, you wouldn't come to me first for a DJ, just as shouldn't go to them first for a video.

Just as with a lot of All for One deals, you may get everything you ask for, but in the end, you may get nothing you want.

Having worked in the business for 20 years, I've had to edit shoots that, without editing, would have looked like those at the nightmarish story at the link.

In the battle of quality vs. quantity, I've learned that quality always wins and that you get what you pay for.

The Pecking Order

The pecking order is alive and well in the event industry.

Let me explain.

What's the first thing you think about ordering when you decide to plan your wedding day?

The reception hall.

The next thing? Probably catering.

The next thing? Probably the DJ's.

The next thing? Probably the photographer.

Somewhere at the very bottom, you have the videographer. For whatever reason, the videographer is always amongst the last things picked when planning an event such as a wedding or a sweet sixteen.

Why is that?

It may have something to do with the way videographers operate during the actual event. During the event, they don't speak (or very rarely speak) and are the least intrusive.

With DJ's, you hear and see everything that they do. They are flashy and talkative throughout the event. 

Sometimes, photographers like to set their shots and so they can also be talkative and somewhat intrusive.

I'm here to propose...no, not a wedding proposal. I'm here to propose a change to the line of thinking that video is the least or next to the least important of all aspects of an event.

You probably won't remember the food you ate, you may not remember most of the music you played and you won't remember your parents' speeches the further you get away from the event.

When you get a finished video from I Do Video, all of those memories come back.

Not to be morbid, but God forbid you lose someone in your family, you may want those memories of happiness on video. All of the memories you had of that loved one will come back if you hear their voice as it was.

As with most every post in this blog, video (whether shooting a Sweet 16 or wedding or prom) gains value over time.

The pecking order needs to change and I hope that those that read are convinced as well.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

My nephew Christopher wrote a wonderful article on his blog about the late Michael Jackson and I felt I should share it here.

I Do Video takes on Youtube!

Youtube is a wonderful website because you can find video of all kinds on the website.

When I'm not working, I go on there sometimes to watch rare videos of old concerts and snippets of older television shows.

I like that there are videos that you probably wouldn't find anywhere else and I like that you can upload the videos relatively quickly. However, the quality of the video suffers immensely.

Everything gets compressed to save space and the sound and video get distorted enough to be a nuisance. Think of Youtube as the Diet Coke of streaming video.

With portable media players like the I-Pod on the rise, you can upload your wedding video into your player and watch the video the way it was meant to be seen...in its best quality.

Do you want it done fast or do you want it done right?

The Wonderful World of Video Transfers...

Moments on video are supposed to last forever. The only thing is that the way we see video has changed over the years.

Growing up in the late 70s, the format that was made most available to consumers was the VHS. The VHS standard gave way in the late 90s to the DVD.

Perhaps a lot of the family moments and events that you have are on VHS. Birthdays, communions, bar mitzvahs, sporting events and even the television shows that you taped upwards of 20 years ago are all just sitting in a box somewhere in your garage.

With I Do Video, you get to relive those moments over again with the power of transfers.

As mentioned earlier, the value of video increases over time. With the power of transfers, you can restore and maintain that value.

The Importance of Video...

This may sound intimidating to some of you, but it's a lot more simple than it sounds.

You hire a photographer to shoot your wedding. That's great. You get anywhere from 100-400 pictures of the event and memories that'll last forever. You'll look at the picture and travel back to the day that you got married.

However, when you hire a videographer to shoot your wedding, you're getting someone that will be taping the entire day, sometimes between 4 and 6 hours of tape. That tape will get edited down to about two hours.

When you watch something on television, you're watching 30 frames per second...30 pictures per second for two hours would make thousands of pictures.

The important thing to note is that when you watch your video over time, that video will not only instantly send you back to the day that you were married, but to the entire period.

Perhaps your 10 year old kid was a baby then or you talked differently. You may have had hair years ago or you may have grown a beard!

The point is that with video, your memories will last much longer.

Now think about a world without video or without television.

It's practically impossible.