Unfortunately enough, I'm sure many of us have been there: sitting on what seems like a mountain of raw footage, the beginnings of a project that grows in scope, intimidation, and horror every day you continue putting it off. In such circumstances, you may have found yourself longing for a fast and easy way to scope out the reels of freelance editors, who could sculpt that mountain into the final cut you'd been wanting all along -- and maybe even set your price range. Thanks to the services Viedit and Videopixie, these scenarios are now realities. Each offers a variation on a 'marketplace of editors,' both focusing on speed, modest pricing, and ease.

This info comes us to via TechCrunch, who recently wrote up Videopixie -- the comments of which also opened my eyes to Viedit. The services are fundamentally comparable, with some subtle but potentially key differences in their models.

Videopixie: "The Best Editors & Animators for Any Budget"



Straight from Videopixie:

Everyone wants to have great video on their website, but hiring an old-school video agency gets really expensive. Videopixie is a marketplace where you can hire the world’s best video professionals at a range of price points, to fit any budget.

Retailers use Videopixie to make weekly product videos. Game companies use Videopixie to make trailers, using in-game footage, to air on national TV. Newly-weds use Videopixie to edit their five hours of ‘big-day’ footage into a five-minute keepsake for life.

Check out some example videos, or take a tour.

Videopixie takes a bit of a simpler route for clients than does Viedit (which we'll explore a little later on), highlighting flat rates for various styles of projects. That said, "Prices vary based on the amount of footage, the attention to storytelling, the presence of animations, the need for color grading and sound correction, the design of new assets, the experience and talent of the artist, and the number of iterations." Base figures are as follows: $500 for wedding keepsakes, $400 for 'spunky game trailers,' $200 for narrated screencasts and mobile app demos, $150 for fundraiser videos, $100 for 'vacation memories,' $70 for customer interviews, and $50 for product video edits. Editors are selected in the following ways:

Basic Editing (3 cuts). These projects have fixed prices, and you don't get to choose the editor.

Prices range from $50 to $300, depending on the type of video. Creative Contest. In this option you set the prize money ($300 to $500). Then the editors create teaser videos, and you pick the one you most like to finish the project. Ask For Bids. In this option you don't set a price - you ask the editors to bid a price for your project. Then you look at the editors' prices and reels, and pick one. Bids tend to range from a a hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

According to Videopixie's FAQ, an editor does not get paid anything if s/he does not 'win' a project -- the service is also considering altering this policy and is reaching out for feedback regarding the matter.

Viedit: 'A Global Video Editing Marketplace'

Given the following videos, the differences between Viedit and Videopixie become pretty apparent:

Video is no longer available: vimeo.com/66594056

And, on the other side of things, is some info for would-be Vieditors:

Video is no longer available: vimeo.com/66594055

Viedit's categorization process does seem to allow a bit more customization in terms of genre and style than Videopixie's, but then again, Videopixie seems more flexible in allowing running times beyond Viedit's four pre-fixed lengths. That said, both of these services are significantly young, and though they currently have a seemingly majority-focus on non-narrative material, that doesn't mean they're necessarily 'dead-ends' for freelance editors. We would certainly like to hear from users of either service from both sides of the client-editor experience.

What do you guys think? Are these rates too 'cut-rate' for any reasonable editor to bring home the bacon? Or, could these models offer a convenient gateway to happy transactions for both clients and freelancers?

Link:

[via TechCrunch]