Video Editing Costs for a 2 Minute Commercial
 

I have raw footage of testimonials, bikini models, fighters and action sequences. It is about 40 minutes of raw footage that I have to convert to a 2.2 minute commercial.

How do you price something like this?

By the hour? By the minute? By the job?

Please help....thanks

2 minute commercial must be expensive:)

30 second spots seem better?
or you going super late night?

How long do you think it will take you to do it?

Long time because the editing just takes up a lot of CPU time.

I would say over eight hours. I have to sync music, add text, add graphics, add transition wipes and convert it to different formats.


I usually just do stuff like this for friends or myself.

Probably 2-3 hours of work total for a good editor @ $60 per hour

Your right....It is about 30 to 45 seconds..

How about if you have a lot of footage to scan through?

I read that 40 mins of raw footage right?

Worst case you are looking at 6 hours unless some serious custom graphics need doing.

In the mainstream world, editing by the minute/hour is completely irrelevant.

Things are priced by the project. I am not sure how it is on the porn world, but for example... one of those 30 second commercials you see on TV cost at least 50k to make, and most around 250k to 500k to create.

When I was freelancing, I charged by the job, and most times I would think 'it's going to take me 5 hours...' 20+ hours later I was done and the client got exactly what they wanted and I got paid the same amount.

But, for porn, having all the assets at hand and ready to edit, I would say $45 to $60 an hour is a good price. And yes, CPU time also counts (rendering).

I'll do it for $20 per Star Wipe and with every 4 wipes I'll throw in the 5th one for free!

If you want a really good job on a commercial, like the way a mainstream commercial looks with a lot of cuts, music synced to the action, graphics, possibly a voiceover and text on screen and the editor has to look through a whopping forty minutes of raw footage to find the best clips it would take a long time to do this. And you had better hire someone competent otherwise it will look real mediocre. The lowball figures the typical porn customer would want for an editing job like that aren't even worth it. Unless it was my own project that I believed in I would never take on a job like that for less than a couple grand.

This is for mainstream commercial. One for the web and one for TV.

Yes, good editing is very time consuming. I created a 3 minute music video style porno promo for myself that has 85 different girls in it and around 150 cuts. With pulling the clips from the tapes, editing, and re-editing, etc., it took me over 60 hours to complete.

a few thousand dollars

40 minutes worth of raw footage condensed into a 30-45sec commercial.
Adding text, transition star wipes(lol) and music sync...

Total cost 1200.00???? Is that too much?

some kids will do it for 50$, professionals might do it for 5k.


Its all relevant to how much you think your time is worth and if you can deliver a quality product.

I not a video editor professional but I am way better than a kid. I consider myself a weekend editor with professional tools. I am using Adobe Premier Pro.

It's usually charged per project. And without seeing the footage that's a good thing because there's no way to tell how long it'll actually take. Want animations with it? Is there chroma key footage involved? Audio sync? How many different exported formats?

Hit me up if you like a quote or know more, I love challenging edits :)

the tools/equipment/time required are not the main factors when pricing a project. Hell, there's no need for the almighty FCP, nor the well known Premiere or the oldies like Xpress from Avid. They do help, but in no way will make an awesome project if the person doing the 'editing' sucks to being with.

Mainstream you say?

Cheapest 30 sec ad the company I used to work for charged was like 20k I think. This in the Sacramento area.

do 30, 60, 120 spots... they will work different in different markets and different times of day..