Cash From Your Camcorder
Making and Marketing Hobbyist DVDs
The explosion in pro camcorder sales says there are a lot of people out there with video shooting kit that will produce professional results, many of them focused on traditional markets like film and television, but when it is not shooting that carefully constructed documentary, or between film assignments, how can your camcorder earn its keep?
One area of enormous growth is SIVs - special interest videos - aimed at the hobbyist market, where there are plenty of people needing to extend their knowledge and skills but with limited opportunities enabling them to do it. A night class may be too far away, or happen in the autumn, when the skills it imparts are needed in the spring. It is a almost a gift market for people with filmmaking skills who are commercial minded enough not to pass over an income generating opportunity presenting itself before their viewfinder.
Is there a market here for filmmakers to tap into? Following the advice of asking man who knows, I turned to Peter Walters, an Essex-based videographer who has made a successful living as an SIV producer since 1987. He specialises in equestrian subjects and dog agilty, both of which have an enormous number of followers, so there's a ready market for the right products targeted on these groups.
"Almost a gift market for people with filmmaking skills who are commercial minded enough not to pass over an income generating opportunity presenting itself before their viewfinder..."
Peter has revealed the secrets of his success in yet another special interest video, not aimed at horse or dog owners, but at people who own camcorders. Well, it is a growing market if you look at the sales figures, so like any smart operator, he's following the trends. Nor is he likely to create competition by giving all away.
The potential for new productions in this market is simply huge. People in search of specialised knowledge are prepared to pay well to acquire it and Peter's DVD will provide any aspiring producer in this field with all the start-up information they need for just £47 including VAT and postage.
According to Peter the market regularly sells SIVs priced from £19 upwards, although he says £19 is very cheap for a good product and says £37 - £47 is the range to aim for. He may be right, but when looking at one of the equestrian websites that supplies specialist videos, most of their offerings were under the £20 mark.
It is always sensible to do your own research in these cases, so that would be my advice anyway, but meantime Peter Walters' market economics are very interesting.
If you made one DVD and sold only 500 copies at £37 per copy (and he says specialised, highly-targeted DVDs can easily sell for that), then you'd make an income of £18,500 for just that one DVD. That is a good rate of return for investing some camera downtime and a few spare hours at your edit suite.
The real benefits though, begin to accumulate when you begin to produce multiple titles, maybe three or four per year.If you were to produce a DVD every three months; that would mean an income of £18,500 x 4 = £74,000 per year, which is certainly not peanuts.
So what do you get for your £47 investment in Cash From Your Camcorder?
Not an idiot-proof guide to using a camcorder, certainly, though there are some basic reminders that never out of place. What you get is very thorough shakedown of this unique market place, so you can learn what you need to know.
"If you can shoot and cut and create a good audio-visual narrative, this DVD could be the foundation stone of a filmmakers fortune..."
It is two-disc set, backed up by a Resource CD that contains legal contract templates as well as useful contacts and web addresses, including the ones that are vital for your own on-line market research. Lots of information too on how to go about getting free publicity for your products and one-step and two-step advertising campaigns, especially the techniques that will cut down on your expense to increase your profit.
Peter presents the programmes himself, which would certainly cut down his overheads and though we are not likely to see him reading the TV news any day now, he makes quite a good job of it in this production. He has a pleasant, straightforward, professional delivery, with no condescention and only the odd stumble. Personally, I would have de-worded and pruned back the script quite a bit because the more words you use, the harder it is for the audience to take them in, but then writing for presentation is a bit specialised. Maybe I should make a special interest DVD on it.
The programme could also benefit from a lot more cutaway shots, making sure the presentation sequences are not too long and enlivening them with relevant visual material. It is quite important to hold viewer attention this way so they don't "drift off." All screen audiences are demanding, sophisticated audiences these days and they won't expect to re-wind in order to catch something they missed when drifting momentarily away. The music stings used to move to the next chapter head were also annoyingly like those 1970s stings in that nostalgic TV spoof programme "Look Around You." Something a little more up to date is called for, but no doubt these things will be addressed in subsequent editions of the package, because one of the huge advantages of DVD programmes like this is that they are relatively easy and cheap to update. Once you have a good earner it is no problem to keep it current and fresh by updating and amending content with a fresh edit before replicating again.
There's an astonishing amount of essential business knowledge packed into these two DVDs and Resources CD. If the financial projections are anywhere near accurate, if you can shoot and cut and create a good audio-visual narrative, this DVD could be the foundation stone of a filmmakers fortune whilst you are on the way to that first feature.
If you are serious about making some extra income using your filmmaking skills and your own shooting kit, this is a very illuminating guide on how to go about it. Technically it's not a perfect production -- we've all been there - but what matters most is the business advice on launching into this specialised field. Returns in any business field depend always, on satisfying the market. This field is no different and what Peter Walters' Cash From Your Camcorder DVD gives you is the tools that will enable you to understand this market, to discover what it currently needs and how to use market intelligence to produce a desirable, saleable production.
On Disc 1 you'll discover:
- How to choose your market
- How to find out exactly what that market wants
- How to make the very DVD to satisfy those wants
- How to discover your likely sales before you even begin
- What subjects you should avoid
- How to choose a strong title for your DVD
- The "lucky 13" most powerful words to use in your titles
- How to price your DVD for maximum profit
- How to work with an expert or well-known personality
- How to gain commercial sponsorship
- Why you shouldn't spend money on unnecessary equipment
- How to create a script outline for your DVD
- Where to shoot your DVD
- How to use chromakey
Disc 2 takes an in-depth look at marketing your DVD and covers:
- Getting your DVD into major stores; yes or no?
- Selling through a distributor
- How to get free publicity for your DVD with press releases
- Mail order: One-step ads
- Mail order: Two-step ads
- How to have killer sales letters written for you at minimal cost
- How to use competitions to boost sales
- How to sell your DVD from a dedicated website
- How to automate your business with a sequential auto-responder
- Creating your own simple template website
- Adding online payment facilities
- Using Google Adwords to drive traffic to your website
- How to sell your DVD on Ebay
- Selling via list brokers
- How to sell to overseas markets
- How to get your product to the customer once you've made a sale
Peter Walters has produced no fewer than 30 titles in equestrianism as well as dog agility training and music, so he's had more than enough time and opportunity to get to know this hobbyist market inside out and to give people pursuing these interests just what they were looking for next. If you are looking for an sound introduction to satisfying the hobbyist and recreational market with DVD production, this is a good choice to set you on the right path and guide you to your destination.
Producer: Peter Walters
23 Winston Close
Romford
Essex RM7 8LL