I have a dream:) Any advice to accomplish it pls:)

OGUL wrote on 10/23/2012, 4:41 PM

...or should I give it up or what are the ways of creating a decent DVD and BD:)

High all,

A - My dream : to produce DVD and BD about my home city Istanbul and
sell them at amazon.com or the build up a special website for selling them.

B - My works : Pls make a search at facebook as "ogul balci"
and see my photographs (if interested of course)
All the pics are shot with GH2 and they have raw files too.
I shot them in 4:3 format thinking that I can make pan and crop more easily.
Do you think the pics should be shot as 16:9 would be better?

C - My skills and knowledge about Vegas : Not very improved.
Maybe only 20% of what Rory Cooper can make with Vegas.
I can make DVD's and BD's with DVDA but again not very professional looking.

D - Your advices about how to display / how to start - how to end /
should I take and add some videos too / or only pictures will suffice /
Should I need a narrator or only backgroud music will suffice /
How about subtitles and many more that I can not visualize for the time being.

E - My equipment : Sony HC3 camcorder
Sony HC9E camcorder
EOS 600D + 50 mm f.1.8 lens / 18 - 55 mm lens
GH2 + 7 - 14 mm / 14 - 42 mm /
Leica summicron-r 50 mm f.2 / Leica elmarit-r 180 mm f.2.8
Canon FD 50 mm 1.4 / Canon FD 70 - 210 mm f.4

Before I begin, should I buy a new camcorder like
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Camcorders/professional/XF305/

Thanks in advance.

Comments

videoITguy wrote on 10/23/2012, 5:17 PM

Whether you have any success selling something (yes, even a Blu-ray disc) is going to be on the scale of ZERO about what camera you have.

You have more than adequate technology on your hands. WHAT you will need are great ideas, and maybe some "art". And even so how you will be able to sell will be totally based on something else!! Ah what is that?

MTuggy wrote on 10/23/2012, 5:20 PM

Go to Createspace.com - the Amazon subsidiary - it tells you what you need to do to set up the marketing and production piece on their end. It will sell on createspace and on Amazon but you get less royalty on Amazon.

Amazon doesn't support BD yet. I wish they did. Just DVD. Print quality is very nice. You design your own cover art, etc.

You really need to narrate it. Having a Turkish accent could be a plus! Music alone will zone people out. Take the time to build good narrations - it is key. The story sells the product really - not the video. Video illuminates the story.

Mike

ushere wrote on 10/23/2012, 5:27 PM

i think you need a much more serious business plan....

after 40+ years in production the one thing that seems a constant is clients producing video's (yoga, travelogs, trainers, etc., etc.,) without any real distribution / sales plan....

ok, you produce a stunning video, stick it on amazon and then what, wait for the rush? i hate to tell you but it isn't going to happen. you might get a few fly-byes, but without letting your target audience know you have a product for sale... well....

i would think you'd be much better off teaming up with some travel agent / organization and producing a 'useful' tool that would not only satisfy your creative / love of city need, but be of practical use by attracting visitors through known venues...

farss wrote on 10/23/2012, 5:44 PM

I can only agree with Ushere. The plan is absurd in the extreme.
Istanbul is a seminal city and highly photogenic. As such it has been photographed and shot by people with incredable skills and equipment, done to death and then some. Heck 40 years ago I watched somone's slide covering that place and they were shot by an architect who knew all the history and with a large format film camera. If I'm really interested there is a considerable number of documentaries on the airwaves and on sale and again done by people who've put an enourmous amount of time and money and high production values into the work and in HD. There's even some coverage of that city in 8K / Imax.

On the other hand there is a way to make a dime from selling decent photos / video in the shops around the tourist traps in almost any city or place of interest. I have worked on such projects and they have and are selling well. Forget the Amazon idea, think local. There you have a captive market with cash in their pocket.

Bob.

Red Prince wrote on 10/23/2012, 8:50 PM

Here’s your competition. Are you better than they are? Can you outmarket them?

musicvid10 wrote on 10/23/2012, 10:25 PM

Everyone likes stills and footage of beautiful, exotic foreign places.
Everyone also expects to see it for free. There is so much of it already available.
You are much more likely to make money on this by b2b marketing and licensing to your local travel and tourism services.

Terje wrote on 10/24/2012, 2:59 AM

@Red Prince ->> Here’s your competition. Are you better than they are? Can you outmarket them?

Given the cost of production of staging another concert, I think he'd have particular problems competing with: "Live in Istanbul Starring Spice Girls (Dec 4, 2007)" :-)

Red Prince wrote on 10/24/2012, 8:53 AM

Yes, I noticed that. :)