5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Freelance Videographer in Minnesota
When it comes to creating a video for your business or personal project, it’s important to ensure that you have the right team in place to bring your vision to life. Hiring a freelance videographer can often be a great option, as it allows you to work with a talented professional who can provide you with high-quality video content at a reasonable price. However, before you finalize your decision, there are a few key questions that you should ask to ensure that you are hiring the right professional for your project.
Why Minnesota is a Great Place to Find a Freelance Videographer
Minnesota is home to many talented freelance videographers who offer a wide range of services to clients. Whether you need a promotional video for your business or a creative video for your personal project, you can find a videographer who can help you bring your vision to life. Minnesota also offers a great backdrop for videos, with its beautiful natural scenery and vibrant city life. With so many talented professionals to choose from, you can find the perfect videographer to meet your needs in Minnesota.
Question 1: What Kind of Video Do You Need?
Before you start looking for a freelance videographer, it’s important to determine what type of video you need. There are many different types of videos that a videographer can create, including promotional videos, event coverage videos, social media videos, and more. Once you know what type of video you need, you can look for a videographer who specializes in that area and has experience creating similar videos. This will ensure that you get the best quality video for your project.
Question 2: What Is Your Budget?
When it comes to hiring a freelance videographer, pricing can vary widely depending on the professional’s experience, equipment, and the complexity of the project. It’s important to determine your budget before you start looking for a videographer, as this will help you find a professional who can work within your price range. Be sure to ask the videographer about their pricing model and any additional fees that may apply so that you can get a clear idea of the cost upfront.
Question 3: What Is Your Timeline?
Another important factor to consider when hiring a freelance videographer is your timeline. You’ll want to make sure that the videographer can complete your project within your desired timeframe. Be realistic about your expectations for the project and communicate your timeline clearly with the videographer. This will help ensure that your project is completed on time and to your satisfaction.
Question 4: What Is Your Vision?
When it comes to creating a video, having a clear vision is key to success. Before you hire a freelance videographer, take the time to think through your vision for the project. Consider the style, tone, and message that you want to convey through the video. Communicate your vision clearly with the videographer and ask for their input and feedback. This will help ensure that your final video is exactly what you had in mind.
Question 5: What Is Your Communication Style?
Clear communication is essential to a successful video project. Before you hire a freelance videographer, think about your communication style and how you prefer to work with others. Look for a videographer who matches your communication style and is easy to work with. This will help ensure that the project runs smoothly and that you are able to get the video results that you desire.
Conclusion
When it comes to hiring a freelance videographer in Minnesota, taking the time to answer these five key questions can make all the difference in ensuring that you get the results that you desire. By understanding your needs, budget, timeline, vision, and communication style, you can find a videographer who can provide you with high-quality video content that meets your expectations. Whether you are creating a video for your business or personal use, investing in the right videographer can help you achieve your goals and bring your vision to life.
Freelance Videographer
Owner / Operators with gear
Interviews, testimonials, remote camera crew
Small 1-4 person crews
Fast paced, multi-talented, jack-of-all trades to get fast projects done with minimal expenses
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Videographers focus on smaller productions like documentaries, live events, short films, legal depositions, weddings, birthday parties, sports events, commercials, and training videos.
For smaller productions, a videographer often works alone with a single-camera setup or with a small team of light technicians and sound technicians.
How much should you pay for your videographer? It really depends on what you’re looking for – but expect to pay between $700/day on the low end to $2500/day on the higher end + rental costs for the gear you’re wanting.
What does rental cost?
LensProToGo and BorrowLenses are great online rental places to get an idea for the gear rental costs may be. Expect $200-500/day for gear depending on whether you only need the basic DSLR or a Red – plus lenses, tripod or gimbal – lights (or 3, 4, 5?) – laptop to transfer footage – etc… All those pieces of gear add up to your “kit fee”. Don’t worry – most videographers include a basic kit that’s actually much less than renting all of the pieces in the kit individually – and you don’t have to actually rent it – they bring it all and manage it all.
Freelance Director of Photography (DP)
Experienced and Professional
TV Commercials, Corporate Video Production, Web Streaming Series, Feature Films
Medium to large crews: 2-9 people
High stakes projects, they have their own style of work, ample previous sample work, and they ensure a consistent "look" in the end video.
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A DP is responsible for capturing their style, look, or feeling into the video project. They are often hired because of their unique approach to visual storytelling and filming – and the company hiring them want to ensure the quality of their video lives up to a higher standard of work than merely hiring a freelance videographer. This is not a knock against a freelance videographer – they just have different skillsets.
They are experts in their field.
A DP focuses on achieving a specific look – and the specific lighting and movement it takes to achieve said look. They typically spend years (or decades) training to develop their style and they often work with camera operators, 1st AC, 2nd AC, grip and gaffers to light the scenes the way they need to achieve those looks. That’s why they are often used more-so on larger productions. Smaller video production projects with smaller crews often don’t have a budget for just a DP.
Some DP’s will also operate a camera if budget is tight – so you can have a DP / Director / Shooter – but they will almost certainly require at a minimum of a dedicated assistant or 1st AC to help with the technical side of their technical duties with high end cinema cameras.
Freelance Director (or Producer)
Support when you need it
Talent or Client Interface, Shoot Organizer
Small to Large Projects Alike. Large projects may have multiple of these roles
These are the people that bring everything together and keep everything moving smoothly
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Depending on a director’s goals, a good film director has a function that helps push that goal into reality. For example, a director might work exclusively with actors whereas a producer helps coordinate the entire project.
On smaller projects, a director may be directing everything going on that day.
In most cases, a good director will always prep the client (on corporate video projects) and prep the talent. They’ll review the plans, the goals for the shoot, the script or potentially questions (if doing a testimonial, interview, or talking head).
They will run through the plan for the shoot – the flow of things – including alternative plans if things don’t go as planned.
This verbal runthrough is like a dressrehearsal or test to ensure everyone feels comfortable on-set.
Even small corporate talking-head type projects or customer testimonials will still appreciate a director who walks the talent through a little rehearsal to remind them of how things will go.
In the beginning – a director can be brought in to help plan a project and can suggest a good DP (director of photography) or crew they’ve worked with.
A good director will see your project all the way through to the end – and even when sideballs come flying – they’ll calmly make sure the talent, client, and everyone involved get what they need.
How do you find a great videographer?
The best freelance videographer is the one who not only understands how to tell a story, but also how to tell a story visually.
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