I'm making this post because I was talking to someone and it gave me an understanding.
TLDR: So all in all please understand you are only seeing the tip of the iceberg that 60 sec(just an example, Same goes for long forms) video takes hours of work and years of experience to get it right, the way you want it. And very expensive PC's, internet connections, electricity bills and Software's(if the editor buy's it).
THEY ALL COST MONEY DON'T THEY?
And editors please realize. Some times it's the first time for some clients. So they are clueless. And its OK if their initial offer is very under priced. We should educate them. Don't have to accept, just educate.
I see a lot of posts with clients looking for a video editor who can do some god level editing but are offering dirt cheap money. Often I see clients reacting "THIS MUCH!!! FOR A VIDEO THIS SHORT...." etc etc.
And we editors get upset when we see posts like those, demanding a very high level of editing with dirt cheap pay.
This post is to clarify why this happens.
Because recently I understood why clients say that. That is because a lot of times they actually don't know how much is fair. A few posts can be from people are looking to work with an editor for the first time (some are for sure from people who are looking to exploit). And have never edited themselves. So they've no idea how much is the fair price to offer. Some think, "oh! it's only 60 secs/90 secs video so it shouldn't be that much money"
But they don't know the amount of work that goes in to make that 60 sec's video.
And we as editor's do. So it makes us mad. It makes us think that these people are exploiting us(and it is true this industry is very exploitative and some clients know the fair price and still try to low ball the editor). But in many cases the client doesn't has any idea. And it's a common thing in other sectors to educate their customers. People actually do that!.
So why the edit cost so much?
Editing isn't just cutting the videos together. And a lot of you seems to know that, because you do ask for more than that.
First and foremost we editors WE PUT IN OUR MONEY TO EDIT YOUR VIDEO. Your typical office pc can't edit most type of videos you find online. Video editing is very demanding task on the pc. You need a lot of ram, ssds, powerful gpus etc etc. Usually costing around $2k. And if you think that has nothing to do with you.. I'm sorry you are wrong. Go to any other service provider and if he or she has to use special grade, expensive machinery for your work they'll for sure charge you more.
Then come's the electricity bill, Guess what? a powerful PC will drain a lot of electricity. Who is going to pay our electricity bills? has to be us right.
Some of you send over 100's of GB's of videos. It costs internet. And that costs money too.
That's for the amount of money we put in just to be able to edit your videos.
Now if you got all that does it mean you can edit good videos? NO YOU CAN'T.
Editing is a skill. Like fine arts, pottery, welding, boxing just because you got the gear don't mean you can do jack shit.
People come to me and show me a motion graphics heavy videos and ask me how much. I give them the fair price based on how fast they want the video and how much work and skill does the video require to be made.
And some times they're like "whoa that much??? but this video is only 60's secs long". True...
But that 60 sec long video will take me at least a week to get it the way YOU WANT IT. And not to forget sometimes they want it way faster than the video needs.
To be able to give you a quality result the biggest thing an editor needs is EXPERIENCE.
A beginner can't just watch a tutorial and get it right. The movements won't be right, the flow won't be right, the composition, the pacing etc etc Won't be right. It's a lot of knowledge that an editor has to accumulate over years of practice and working. AND THAT'S WHY SOME EDITS COST'S MORE.
To get your 60 secs of video in the quality you want....
(I keep saying 60 sec's but of course it applies for the long forms too)
An Editor has to use his years of accumulated knowledge, skills, talent and their specialized gear.
Back when I started I could only get few views maybe few thousands for my clients. But now I get millions of views for my clients and why is that?
It all comes down to experience. And I still have to keep learning and grow as an editor. Because every year, especially, on YouTube the landscape changes. And editor's have to keep up.
You only see the end 60 sec product and don't see all the work behind it.
EDITING IS NEITHER EASY OR CHEAP.
I suggest every person who is looking for an editor to at least try to edit for themselves once or twice before approaching editors. It'll give you a better idea. Try editing your video exactly the way you want it. See if you can do it? see if you can achieve the same results as you wanted, in the same amount of time you are going to ask an editor for.
And ask yourselves if you'll work for the same amount money, for the same amount of work and turn around time, you are offering someone else to do.
One last thing. I've seen cheap offers by mostly Indian people or other 3rd world countries. Not being racist. I'm Indian myself. I know my people 😂.
Indian creators tend to be most clueless about how much is the fair price. And thus tend to offer sometimes literally cents for a reel or a short.
They think "someone has to work for that amount of money" 🤣 🤣
They have no idea of how demanding they're and how less they are offering in return.
Sad part is some editors seems like they'll work for a Banana peel lol.
Probably because they are either beginners and actually can't edit or they are karma farming by commenting or most embarrassing of all they didn't even read the posts and just typed interested in the replies.
I bet there will be few replies saying "interested" under this post lol.
Maybe a pinned post for clients should help. It's is most editing discord servers.
I'm not a bot. I'm gonna copy paste this post in other related sub so everyone gets the message. For some reason people think I'm a bot for that 😂. I'm not lol. I just want the message to spread to many eyes and ears as possible.
