354: Mark Clarisse – How to shoot video and stills for wedding and commercial clients successfully

354: Mark Clarisse – How to shoot video and stills for wedding and commercial clients successfully

Andrew Hellmich:         Hey, it's Andrew here and I'm recording from my front balcony here in Terrigal. I've got Mark Clarisse up from Melbourne with me, and funnily enough, I emailed Mark last week and suggested he come on the show for an interview. He's been a PhotobizX member for I think three or four years now, maybe even longer. And he's always super positive in the group. He's always contributing. And I've also been able to see, you may have noticed this if you are a premium member, that Mark has transitioned from weddings into commercial photography, videography. I think he's also doing a bit of drone work and he's really sort of changed his business model and he seems to be going from success to success. So I sent him an email hitting him up for an interview and it turns out that he was actually coming up to Newcastle to photograph a wedding and he's here with me in person right now and he's going to join Linda and I for dinner. And I thought, why not record an interview while he's here. So, Mark, welcome.

Mark Clarisse:               Thanks Andrew. Yeah. What a coincidence.

Andrew Hellmich:         Funny enough, when you turned up, so I'm guessing it's an [inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               It is.

Andrew Hellmich:         I saw you walking in with a suitcase. I didn't thing you're staying. The bed's not made up.

Mark Clarisse:               Oh, did I not ask you that? Sorry.

Andrew Hellmich:         So what's the go with the suitcase?

Mark Clarisse:               Well, it's got a couple of days of clothes in it, but it's got my gear so it's got two cameras, a gimbal, audio gear. So the bare essentials. I didn't want to check in any luggage because I was shooting a wedding on Saturday. I drove straight to Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne, caught the first flight out of Melbourne, up to here to Sydney. Drove up and shot the wedding about half an hour after I arrived.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right. So you got two weddings in that suitcase?

Mark Clarisse:               Yup.

Andrew Hellmich:         And that's why you're not leaving it out there.

Mark Clarisse:               Yes. I'm not staying here so you're safe. I'm staying in Newcastle tonight so you're safe. You can actually get rid of me.

Andrew Hellmich:         I was only joking. [inaudible] For any member that's been here [inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah. Someone knocks on your door.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you wouldn't even leave your bag and your camera gear and I guess the digital files from the weddings in the car, even though the car's inside like...

Mark Clarisse:               Nah, no. Never do at home and I do it. I mean if I don't have my gear in the car, I leave my car unlocked all the time in Melbourne because I want it stolen.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you leave it unlocked?

Mark Clarisse:               Unlocked. The next stage is to leave the windows down. But I haven't been brave enough to do that just yet. But yeah, when I've got my gear, my gear basically goes with me everywhere, and I've actually been talking to Ryan Teague quite a fair bit about backups and I have a Western digital hard drive that I copy. As soon as I finish a wedding, all the hard drives go. Everything's copied to that. So audio falls from my zoom recorder goes straight into that Western digital hard drive, all the cards get copied, the drone footage gets copied. So I've literally got three copies of everything before I even sort of leave the wedding.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you do that at the wedding or when you get home or at your hotel?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, basically as soon as the wedding is finished, as I'm sort of in the car, I'll stick a card in there and copy it. And then in the next, I suspect 10-15 minutes to do about a 128GB card so it's pretty quick.

Andrew Hellmich:         So is that right then that you're shooting video, stills and drone by your self, without an assistant at a wedding?

Mark Clarisse:               By myself. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I used to have assistants, but some would ask him a question and the assistant would give him the wrong answer or have not the attitude that I want them to have so my whole vibe on the day is to be very relaxed, and you know, just be chummy with the guests and the couples and that sort of thing. And so I just find having assistants, you can't have that problem. Probably me being a bit of a control freak from that perspective.

Andrew Hellmich:         Can you actually relax so that you can get all that different thing?

Mark Clarisse:               No. It's crazy. No, I'm literally running from pillar to post. That in my very first meeting with my couples. I'll say to them, this is a stress-free day and I allow a buffer through each stage. So for the ceremony I'll get to half an hour before the ceremony sort of start. So I know that I've got to set up my camera on the tripod or monopod. I mike up the groom, and then I backup audio device into the house PA or wherever it might be. So I allow myself plenty of time.

Andrew Hellmich:         So are you only shooting video at the ceremony and the reception of the speeches or you're doing...

Mark Clarisse:               Everything the whole day.

Andrew Hellmich:         The whole day?

Mark Clarisse:               The full highlight. Yeah. Yep.

Andrew Hellmich:         Wow!

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. So I usually run, I learned this one. I went across the site a couple of years ago because I wanted to up my video game cause I was a little bit over, not over trying to say this tactfully. Couples will book videographers. They had completely different style to my style and just, it was, yeah it was talk and chase. And I came home from a, I keep saying wedding a couple of years ago and I just thought really nice guy, but he was two inches from the bride's face for like 20-30 seconds and I'm standing back and going, this isn't cutting it, this is not good. And it has an impact on my style and the way I shoot. And also the couples, you know, they're over it and it was, you know, it was interesting, you sort of have a chat to the guest and they're like, Oh you know, we heard the photos meant forever.

Mark Clarisse:               I'm like, "Hey, it wasn't me." I was done at dusted really quickly. So the video guy. So I literally came home that day and just sent emailed all my couples for the next six months and said, Hi, I'm now offering video." I'll be doing it in the background. I was offering free slideshows and I was adding video snippets in between, so I'll just say like, Hey, I'm just going to do it as a legit thing now I'm not just going to do it as a bonus for the couples.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay so you practice, so once you feel comfortable and competent with your offer as part of your package, when you went back to those couples for the next six months, did you give them a price that they had to pay upfront?

Mark Clarisse:               Yes, yes. It was very minimal. It was more of a highlight video.

Andrew Hellmich:         How much?

New Speaker:               It was like $400.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay. And then today if they want to do that?

Mark Clarisse:               So it's 2,200 just for a highlight video on top of the photography, which is thirty nine and then what I do for every single wedding because couples don't know what their speeches, what the ceremony is going to be like, how emotional the groom's going to be. Like say Sunday's groom, the groom yesterday, maybe Sunday, I don't know what day it is.

Andrew Hellmich:         It's Monday today.

Mark Clarisse:               It's Monday. He was, yeah, he was super emotional. Like he had his back to his bride and he saw all the bridesmaids walking down and he was losing it then. So you don't know the emotion that they're going to convey until it actually happens.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right. And you're shooting stills.

Mark Clarisse:               I'm shooting stills with one hand and video with the other hand.

Mark Clarisse:               I really am. Yeah. Like I get to the end of a wedding day and I'm absolutely I had luck. They're not young either, so it's all adding up. Oh no, I'm pretty old. What's all with this gray?

Andrew Hellmich:         Well, how old are you?

Mark Clarisse:               I'm 48.

Andrew Hellmich:         I'm 48.

Mark Clarisse:               I would know this young spring chicken said, so I've got a hat on hiding all the greys.

Andrew Hellmich:         So what would you say to the other photographers when you hear these younger photographers saying, "Oh, there's no way. I want to be shooting when I'm 49, 50.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. I only stopped shooting weddings when I was 41. I didn't pick up a camera till I was 40 yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Oh, how long you'd say you're going for?

Mark Clarisse:               Ohh. I don't know. Under the current rate, it depends when I crash and burn. Well, the thing is to convert eventually into more commercial and probably become more of a consultant into commercial sort of video photo and media.

Andrew Hellmich:         Hang on. So what do you mean consultant? So off the gear [inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Not like you're planning badge for 30 years. It's been, no, gear. Just put that on the record.

Andrew Hellmich:         So stop shooting and actually do consulting?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Yes. To commercial businesses.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right. So you'll go on and hire the videographers, the photographers to do the shooting.

Mark Clarisse:               Yes.

Andrew Hellmich:         But you've been [inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, basically, yeah. And I'm sort of doing it. I've got a found, so it's been the last couple of years where I'm sort of trying to downscale the amount of weddings that I do and up the commercial component of the business. And what I've found even more recently is that a lot of businesses, and I'm finding this probably for more small to medium sized businesses that they're so far out doing so many different things. I have so many hats on. They know they've got to be on social media, but they don't know how to execute. They don't know what to do. So that's where I go in and, and I've literally, what I'll do is I'll spend, I mean it's been hard now this time of the year being the peak of the wedding season.

Mark Clarisse:               But what I'll do is I'll spend at least half a day every Friday or every second Friday and just hit up my local businesses. And just have a chat to them. Literally just go in there, say, "Hi, my name is Mark, I'm from a local media company. I'll do photography, videography. What's the current social media strategy like?" And most of them are like, yeah, they always roll back in they're like where do I start? I don't even know what to do. And some of them that do, they'll have like a casual 16 year old employee that will do it for them. So there's no real strategic or marketing plan as such in regards to the social media. And I say to them, you realize it's all free. So you know.

Andrew Hellmich:         What's free?

Mark Clarisse:               About social media, it's like Facebook, it's all free.

Andrew Hellmich:         But you're not free.

Mark Clarisse:               No, I'm not free, but I'm saying to them like I can create the content for you, but they can utilize it as much as I want.

Andrew Hellmich:         They don't even know what they're doing.

Mark Clarisse:               They don't know. No. That's the thing they don't know.

Andrew Hellmich:         Alright. So hang on. First of all, have you had any success doing that?

Mark Clarisse:               I have. Yes. Yeah. Yup. I've had a little bit and I was just saying to Linda before, I'm actually getting a few of those businesses that I've had prior to the now coming back to me asking some more questions and asking about how they can actually make this content worth their while. So making the investment worth their while. So the first one I did was, I'm just a local, I'm down in Berwick and I approached the guys, [inaudible] and do a night market every year. Last year was their first one and I basically just went through all of their socials and they didn't even have an Instagram page. Checked their Facebook page. And I only had photos from the vendors that the vendors had actually taken.

Andrew Hellmich:         So hang on. So this is guys or a business that puts together a night market selling food...

Mark Clarisse:               All that sort of thing. Yeah. And I didn't have actually in it, they didn't have anything at all to showcase the night market.

Andrew Hellmich:         So hang on. So what made you approach them? Did you realize they didn't have any?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, I just looked through all my local businesses and I've sort of thought, okay, what's coming up soon? So I look at my Facebook, have a look at what events coming up. You couldn't or not, you could have hot night market coming up, had a bit of a scan. I sort of thought, okay, the only content I've got is from what like the food truck owners have posted. There's nothing from a generic night market position. So...

Andrew Hellmich:         You see that they've got nothing.

Mark Clarisse:               Yep.

Andrew Hellmich:         Do you email them? Do you send them a PM? Do you go and knock on the door?

Mark Clarisse:               I DMd them. So if Facebook them, that was super keen, straight up.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right.

Mark Clarisse:               And then.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you sent them a DM via their Facebook page?

Mark Clarisse:               Via their Facebook page, yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         You're not friends with anyone?

Mark Clarisse:               No, not at all. Nope. Just went in there cold turkey. Just basically went in there and say, "Hi, my name's Mark. I'm a Berwick resident. Yeah, we had a lot of feedback from local friends that loved your markets last year. Realize that you don't have any content to promote this year." And that was about a month before the market started.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right, okay. So what was the reply from them?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Great. They were positive. They're like we want to hear more, so I'll send them a couple of examples. So I've done a couple of videos for some, like a local barber that had just opened up a new Fandango new shop that had a cafe in there and all that sort of thing. So I sent him probably my favorite three clips that I did sort of last year and this year and they were really keen. I showed it to a couple of the other committee members and then I took, yeah, it took a little while, took about a week or so to get back to me and I'll literally just walked in there on a Sunday. I thought it's the following Friday. If they don't act now, they're going to miss the boat. So I literally went in on a Sunday and had a chat to them?

Andrew Hellmich:         Is your plan then to get content together for the upcoming market?

Mark Clarisse:               Yes.

Andrew Hellmich:         So where were you going to get your content from if the markets weren't even open?

Mark Clarisse:               Shoot the market. So it's actually the first, so it's every second Friday. I had started early November, so the 9th of November, ongoing it's up until Christmas till about mid December.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay. So you will be there Day 1...

Andrew Hellmich:         Day 1 I'll shoot. So I'll say to them, I'll create, I'll literally shoot the whole the four hours of the first market and put some content together in time for the next one. So basically that next week. So between myself and my editor, we sort of put a couple of pieces together for them so they could use that actually even go in there and set up an Instagram page for literally go in there and.

Andrew Hellmich:         So let's go back to the actual pitch. So I imagine one of those exchanges. They must've said, how much is this going to cost? Oh yeah, yup.

Andrew Hellmich:         So how do you answer that? Did you have a price structure ready to go?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yep. Yep. So I sort of say to them I say it depends. Look, there's so many different levels. The basic level is to go in there and basically shoot and then just hand over the raw footage. This is where it's very different.

Andrew Hellmich:         Is this raw files or is this color corrected JPEGs and video footage?

Mark Clarisse:               Just video.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. So if the photos were not [inaudible], I sort of approach it a bit differently. I sort of say okay because in my conversations with them I sort of say, have a look at social media, have a look at your Facebook, have a look on Instagram. Either 90% of it that you've seen on your feed, it's all videos and it's yeah, the way the algorithms work, the videos are getting pushed a lot more. And I say, look, I'm a photographer but I have to do video because that's what these platforms are pushing. So it just makes sense to do that. And then I'll say to them, I'll put together a one minute video and then a slightly longer one for website and Facebook page and then a stories version, which is just a cut of that. The 16x9. Yeah. Yup.

Andrew Hellmich:         Upload it either be on Facebook, Instagram and web content.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Yeah. So this is essentially one mine video, which is for their website, which is the longer one. And then I'll make a shorter version at 59 seconds for Instagram. And then I get another version of that one for stories in the 9x16 format.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right, okay.

Mark Clarisse:               So I'm not shooting it again or anything like that. I was just utilizing the content that I've got. So I'm shooting for 4 hours, I'm actually getting a lot of footage and then I'll sort of say to them, you know, what are they looking for in terms of do they want more video, do they want photos. So it's a bit of a balance. So I sort of give them around about 20, 30 photos and those, yeah, those two videos.

Andrew Hellmich:         [inaudible] That's a package.

Mark Clarisse:               It's a package, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         And the cost for that?

Mark Clarisse:               So the cost of that is $500. So it goes $1,200 and that's basically shot and edited with no voiceover. So as soon as you start adding voiceovers and that sort of thing, that's where the editing starts getting really, really tricky and very involved.

Andrew Hellmich:         Who do the voiceover?

Mark Clarisse:               I do the voiceover.

Andrew Hellmich:         You got a good voice.

Mark Clarisse:               I don't do it.

Andrew Hellmich:         Oh, you don't?

Mark Clarisse:               No. Yeah. I mean it might be like a talking head where you know, I did a local private hospital and we did a video of their new maternity ward. So I went to the [inaudible] and we basically pretty much the same setup that we've got here. I've got a microphone plugged into a zoom and then I'll just sort of say, well we've got some key points that she need to talk about. So I don't do the voice over.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you get someone that knows the company...

Mark Clarisse:               Part of the business. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay. So then do you develop a script for them?

Mark Clarisse:               In conjunction with the marketing people. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         So that costs more than...

Mark Clarisse:               That's over and above. Yes. So any voiceovers, so 500 is essentially just footage. Just video footage. So it's all graded.

Andrew Hellmich:         Did you put the music track in the background?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         That's included?

Mark Clarisse:               That's included. But music, having shots for somebody about this the other day so I can spend 8-9 hours just finding the right song. That's insane. So what I do now is I give them three different choices.

Andrew Hellmich:         And they choose.

Mark Clarisse:               And they choose their favorite out of those three because it's [inaudible] me. I've even gone cause I've got a music background so I've even gone to the stage of actually buying like a USB cable and that sort of thing. And I've actually used it a couple of times cause it's just easier if I just need something just very basic and nothing too involved just for a bit of atmosphere.

Andrew Hellmich:         And who are you using to get your music? Triple scoop?

Mark Clarisse:               I'm using. Ah, I'm subscribed to about three different, so I'm using Musicbed, I'm using Epidemic Sound. I'm using Artlist IO. And they all sort of, yeah, there's not one, it's like cameras. There's no perfect.

Andrew Hellmich:         Yeah, I got it. So are you going with that rich...Is that via...do you give that to them via DM or email?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, via email. So I use Sprout at the moment, so I basically will go in and I'll create a quote based on my discussion with them on what they want. But then I also have other options as well. So if I do want to go the voiceover, if they want to go more videos or if they want to go something over and above that, if they want drone footage, that's all extra kind of thing.

Andrew Hellmich:         You cover that in that initial conversation in the DMs or you actually jump in on the phone?

Mark Clarisse:               I'll try and do it in person or on the phone. Cause if you try and do that for either via email or DM it's too much, they just get overwhelmed.

Andrew Hellmich:         I can imagine [inaudible].

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you're angling to get in the front door, get your foot in the door, suggest the idea, sell the idea and then you won't have the face to face conversation.

Mark Clarisse:               And hopefully they might upgrade. They might realize, I actually didn't think about the voiceovers actually. Really good idea because and I think we've talked about, we spoke in the past about ray of flood, that the, what's it called? The text over the video footage.

Andrew Hellmich:         Oh yes. Okay. Captions.

Mark Clarisse:               Captions. Thank you.

Andrew Hellmich:         [Inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah, yeah. So just even doing something like that, you know, a lot of people weren't aware that you could do that if that service was available. Yeah, yep, yep.

Andrew Hellmich:         Got it. Okay so let's stick with the market people. So what happened in that situation? You go from DM to your Facebook Page or a phone conversation?

Mark Clarisse:               Phone conversation.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right.

Mark Clarisse:               And then I'm like, okay, so I'll have a chat with them and they'll come back and then she said to me Hey look, we just need to get permission first. We need to get the okay from the committee because we're spending over a certain amount. I said, that's fine. Didn't hear back three days later. So I thought like, Hey, send him a couple of more DMs. Didn't hear anything. So I said, Okay, I'm going to go in on a Sunday and just sit on me she's saying I'm going to be at the market. I'm coming to see you. Let's have a chat.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay, so hang on. This is so important. So good because in the group, how often do you say [inaudible] and I say this all the time when someone tries something, like third party marketing, tried it, didn't work.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Like dude, you got to go again and again and again.

Mark Clarisse:               You're going [inaudible]

Andrew Hellmich:         You can't give up.

Mark Clarisse:               No.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you have one exchange.

Mark Clarisse:               Yup.

Andrew Hellmich:         Then you send three other DMs. Didn't hear back.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         And then a phone call?

Mark Clarisse:               I left DMS and then a phone call and then I send a couple other DMs waiting for the confirmation saying okay to go ahead. I didn't get a yes and I thought we were running out of time, so, and I just thought Okay, I'll just go in there.

Andrew Hellmich:         Why do you think that they still wanted it?

Mark Clarisse:               She was super keen in her first message and yet I think with a lot of these you can gauge people's interest levels based on the first or second message you get from them.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right.

Mark Clarisse:               It's like usually the wedding inquiries.

Andrew Hellmich:         You never thought like you were bugging them?

Mark Clarisse:               Not at all, nah. Nope.

Andrew Hellmich:         Is your mindset [inaudible]. What is your mindset like, were you chasing, will you keep following up, following up?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, I think because in my telephone discussion with her, like we got along really, really well. Like we were, yeah, she's very open and very professional, but I just got the feeling that she was drawing basically.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right.

Mark Clarisse:               Cause she's, she's the market manager.

Andrew Hellmich:         Who has the upper hand.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And her issue was that the marketing committee made of about, they're made up of like 90 year olds, so they still want to advertise in the paper. It's like, yeah, on the line what?. So she's basically, she's essentially beating her head against the wall, trying to get a lot of this thing over the, a lot of these things over the line because they don't want to spend the money. They don't understand. You know, they're still looking at, you know, 20-30 years ago when it was the paper and with these night market, there's a lot of families, you know, your target market stare at like Facebook and, and that sort of thing. So she knows that. And just from her, she works like she just doesn't have the time to do it. So I think that's, for me, that's what got it over the line for me because I sort of thought, well she's super keen. She knows a little bit about it, but she just doesn't have the time. So that's why I went in there afterwards.

Andrew Hellmich:         Mate, it almost feels like you're going to be giving [inaudible] because you're going to give all the video footage.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         She's still going to do the [inaudible].

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Yup. And I should just had a missed call from her before when I was having some lunch. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay so what happened? So you turned up on the night market and she's there to meet you?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. So I turned up on a Sunday, which was the week before. So the night market was the following Friday. I went in on a Sunday because I know that the normal day market happens on a Sunday and I just let literally went in there and said, Kathy, it's Mark, how are you? And she literally just shut the door. She let me in and she just locked the door behind us cause she knew that it was what I, obviously I've created sort of a bit of spark in what she was sort of looking forward and knew that it was gonna help her. So she turned her walkie talkies off, she locked the door and she sort of said, okay, talk me through this. She wanted to understand it. And one of the other guys that was in there with her was one of the committee members and he said, look, here's the ability to, here's your authority to actually authorize anything under a certain amount of dollars spend, which meant that we could do it then and there like giving me the go ahead to say yep, let's it for this Friday.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay, in that Facebook page, I get a feeling that some photographers give too much information with [inaduble] every little tiny bit of what's going to happen or do you keep it pretty general?

Mark Clarisse:               I keep it really general, like some of the other companies or businesses that I've walked into, I had a chat to them. Yeah. Their first reaction is "Oh, yeah, how much is this going to cost me?" kind of thing. And then so I thought don't go there straight away. I'll sort of say, well it's tiered based on what you want and what you need. And a lot of them don't know what they want. So you know, and a few others just sort of, you know, like they give you the brush off and on. I think the average is probably I think one in every eight, one in every ten you actually get. You say yes. You actually progress. You progress with them and you actually get into a conversation with them. And as I said, at the early part of this is now, so those guys start to come back. And they sort of sparked their interest and a lot of them have said, yeah, don't want to know until Christmas is done, let's do something in a year. So it's also about timing. And I started this in October. So yeah, a lot of businesses are, as I said previously, the idea that they're wearing many hats and they just don't have the time.

Andrew Hellmich:         So when you say you started this in October, you mean going directly targeting people?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah, my direct local businesses. I just thought, what do I like to do when it was a bit of a, I mean the whole video thing started as a bit of a passion project for me, bit of a hobby. And it's sort of developed and I sort of thought, Oh I can add this in with weddings because there's so many moments at weddings where you sort of standing there and you just chatting or you know you might be doing nothing. Just having a chinwag with whoever's there. So I just thought I'll just quickly just get a bit of footage, like five ten second snippets here and there to start adding that and then just started doing more video, more video and I sort of thought this is really cool. But it was another, I suppose it was just another option that I could add, which people want to, I mean a lot of people, especially wedding clients, a lot of them ask if I did video and I use to liaise with the videographer prior to then. But yeah, even with that, like with back to the weddings, I sort of start with, you know that highlight video. Then I'll go in with every single wedding and I'm just like, Hey, pretend that they've gone from my biggest package. They've gone the works. So full ceremony, full speeches, full formalities. But then that also gives me the option to actually say to them after, it was like, if they had an absolute voltaire of a speech segment, they might say yeah can we get a copy of those speeches? I'll hit him up for $800 just for the speeches.

Andrew Hellmich:         Alright. So you're shooting it whether or not they paid for it?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah,

Andrew Hellmich:         Alright. Every single coverage.

Mark Clarisse:               Every single wedding.

Andrew Hellmich:         So even if I booked the highlights, snippets package

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         You're shooting everything.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Cause I'm there. Yeah. And I'll say to them in my first meeting with them, I say to them, look, you know, we don't know what your wedding is going to be like. We don't know how your speeches are going to go. We don't know what your vows is going to be like. We don't know how emotional or how crazy your wedding is gonna be. So I'll just cover it all off. And if they don't go with anything, that's totally fine. Like I've done it, I've shot it. Yeah. It's always hard to go back and recreate it. But yeah, this way I've captured it all and it's basically it's up to them whether they want to go down that path.

Andrew Hellmich:         So when do you revisit the idea of pitching to the wedding clients? I'm going to come back to commercial clinets in a bit.

Mark Clarisse:               Sorry, I'm all over the stuff with this.

Andrew Hellmich:         [inaudible] So when do you revisit the video package to the wedding client?

Mark Clarisse:               So in the first email they know exactly so I've gone to an a la cart system to [inaudible] just photography, nothing else.

Andrew Hellmich:         How much?

Mark Clarisse:               39 just for 10 hours of coverage and that's it. And then I'll have it structured. So the highlights package will be essentially just me shooting highlights through the whole day and that's all I get. So I get like a 5-8 minute highlight to license music. And I say they know fully well from the very first meeting. That's why my first meetings are really long. I go for like two and a half, three hours sometimes, but I cover everything. So the idea was to get them excited.

Andrew Hellmich:         Are you doing that at home?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Oh you are. Glass of wine or a beer?

Mark Clarisse:               A couple of times. It depends.

Andrew Hellmich:         So not all the time.

Mark Clarisse:               Not all the time. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         So it's very relaxed.

Mark Clarisse:               It is very relaxed, yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         In a studio setup type of situation or is that off on [inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               No so in this year so we've got a basement at home where, Tracy, my wife has her studio set up, so we've got some couches and that sort of things. I've got some albums on display, that kind of thing that I just done professionally and we have a really good chat. I'll just sort of talk to them about their day, what they want, what they don't want. I've run through the full schedule of their day. It doesn't take long, but they always walk away going, we had no idea like even about whether they're gonna get you know, they might book 18 months in advance and they haven't thought that far ahead. And I, like I say, I don't expect you to have that down, but that's all part of that, yeah. And I'll say, these are your options. Go ahead and think about it.

Andrew Hellmich:         Do you have a printed pricelist?

Mark Clarisse:               Nope. Everything's online. I don't do any prints.

Andrew Hellmich:         So how do you arrange these prices? Do you have it printed out?

Mark Clarisse:               No, I basically just showing them. So I have.

Andrew Hellmich:         An iPad?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, an iPad that I give to them so they go throw it all in and most of the couples have seen it. I mean I should say most of the brides have seen the pricing. Most guys just turn up and like I am here. How long is this 20 minutes going to take? Two hours later they're still counting. So I used to do printouts, but I'd change my pricing all the time. I'll just tweak it. So I had to keep getting these prints redone.

Andrew Hellmich:         So is that price list online, is that available for everyone or that's like a hidden URL?

Mark Clarisse:               It's a hidden URL.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay. [inaudible].

Mark Clarisse:               At the moment, it's hidden. Last week it was all there. It was all, I had full pricing.

Andrew Hellmich:         [Inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Alright. You've been experimenting.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yeah. Keep trying to change it up and see what works and what doesn't and let's see.

Andrew Hellmich:         Yup. So you go through then the video inclusions, the stills photography inclusions to getting ready, the whole thing.

Mark Clarisse:               Yup.

Andrew Hellmich:         So let's say at the end of the day they say "Mark, we want you to photograph our wedding. We also want the highlights package. But then at the wedding you shot [inaudible]. You've got everything you need.

Mark Clarisse:               Yes.

Andrew Hellmich:         When do you re-pitch about the video cause they have your rates page?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Yup. Usually that'll happen on the wedding night.

Andrew Hellmich:         Really?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. So I'll say to them, and I'll gauge... Yeah it is. Cause they are high from the speeches and that sort of thing. And so I'll have another camera that's set up at the person that's doing the speeches, but I'll actually stand probably five to 10 meters away from the couple and just get any reactions like from when maid of honors or maids of honor, I should say, maids of honor?

Andrew Hellmich:         I think that's right.

Mark Clarisse:               Maids of honor.

Andrew Hellmich:         The bridal party.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. The bridal party. So the two main ones and the best man when they do these speeches. Usually there's a bit of, you know, there's a bit of cringe-worthy material comes out. Good reaction. So I stay with the couples. I get a pretty good idea in terms of what they're gonna like, what they're not going to like and that sort of thing. So I used to say to them after the speeches that was a cracker, like that was really, really good. So they just get their mind tweaking at that point. And then in their highlights, what I'll do is if there was a really good one, I'll add it in my sneak peek after wedding day. It's like, I'll do like a 42nd video highlight, just a few cuts of the day and maybe five seconds in one of the speeches just to remind them so I can keep revisiting it whether while they're on their honeymoon and then, so I'll change my backend. I've changed the back end a little bit. I was getting him to come in and saying everything, doing the album reveal the video and the online gallery and a lot of them sort of said to me, this is too much. Can we go away? Can we go away and have a think about the album? Because I designed it to the day and what a fan it was taking forever. It was taking too long. So what I've started doing recently...

Andrew Hellmich:         Which part was taking too long? The actual sales part?

Mark Clarisse:               Them coming back to me with the album design changes. Yeah. So I wanted to get them when they're fresh from the honeymoon, show them a slide show or their video, show them the online gallery, show them the album design. It's like Hey, we're here to do your album design. And I would say that in their email. So then you either wouldn't do it then but they're like, Oh, we need more time to look at it. So I'll change my tactic a little bit. Probably over the last couple of months. So when they come back from the honeymoon, I'll send them a link to everything. They've got a week to see them at home, like I mean, we actually dedicated time and a date for them to come in and do the album design changes. They pay for the upgrades there and then they get like a 30% off. If they take longer, they'd pay full price.

Andrew Hellmich:         So they might have got say a 40 side album for example included?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, yup. I'll do 20 sides.

Andrew Hellmich:         Okay 20 sides. And then you're going to design a 40 or 50 or 60 sided album?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, based on the day.

Andrew Hellmich:         And if they take it as it is they get 30% or whatever the upgrade they get 30%.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, that's right. Yup.

Andrew Hellmich:         Nice. [Inaudible]

Mark Clarisse:               Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         And then the video, when do they say yes to that?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, so they've had, so, I mean, as I've said this is all new. And I meant literally about to do my first couple of next week. Oh, sorry. This week, which is Monday. Yeah. This week. So they come back from their honeymoon. So I've sent last week, last Tuesday, I sent them all of their online links and all that sort of thing, album proofing, all that sort of things so they know that when they come back, when we meet again on Thursday that they have to fork out the, I think it was 900 over above for the album design.

Andrew Hellmich:         Right, oh because you've seen the...

Mark Clarisse:               I've seen the album side as we've done.

Andrew Hellmich:         And were they getting the highlights video package?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, just highlights.

Andrew Hellmich:         So, when will you sell them on the idea of getting a full video package or won't you?

Mark Clarisse:               I'll sort of, I'll leave that one based on just the, I suppose the email communication from after the wedding day up until we meet. So I'll sort of, yeah, also to get a fair idea on their feeling on what the speakers were like and the full video, but I'll still offer it. So, you know before when we drafted the email in regards to how much they're over and above album spend is and I know that, yeah. For the speeches is $800. For the full ceremony, it's $800 over and above what I've already paid. So if I do want it, they know that that are the prices.

Andrew Hellmich:         And that's there in front of them, they can see that.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Awesome. Awesome. So how much is your average client spending with you now for weddings?

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah, it keeps moving. It's up to about six and a half now. And having said that, I've had a couple of weddings this year where I've actually gone well and truly below my 3,900 cause I'd got on with a couple so well and we still chat now like the groom, still sends him messages now and that sort of thing. So, and that's actually ended up being my favourite wedding of the year so far.

Andrew Hellmich:         Well, hang on. How would you end up [inaudible] it? Cause they couldn't afford you?

Mark Clarisse:               They couldn't afford it. Yeah. I was way out of their, and it was sort of like a friend of a friend of a friend kind of thing. So he knew the family, got them in, had a chat to them and I said after that consult I said I want to book them. I said I'll even do it for free cause we got on that well and really good looking couple so I thought I know that's politically not correct, but I'm just like stuff that. Just got to have, and they're actually on my logo on my website and I'm, I did a wedding fair, which is your equivalent to the Hunter Valley up here and now on like a big prospects.

Andrew Hellmich:         So you're getting maximum exposure.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Well I'm making sure. Yeah. And even one of the videos, the video that I did at that wedding was, yeah, was a bull tear. It was really, really, it was a cracker. So, I've got a lot of other ones. So in terms of that, I think that there's a bit of flexibility with your 39 my base. But if I think there's potential, I'll come down to 35, 30 so yeah.

Andrew Hellmich:         Mate, we better wrap this up because Linda's going to have dinner ready for us.

Mark Clarisse:               Oh cool.

Andrew Hellmich:         Mate, massive thanks for sharing everything that you have. And you always have such a positive light inside the member's Facebook group. I know that the listeners or the PhotobizX members will hit you up with follow up questions on what you're doing, how you're doing it. We're going to follow along see how Chilli Media develops.

Mark Clarisse:               Yeah. Cool.

Andrew Hellmich:         And mate, it's been a real pleasure.

Mark Clarisse:               Thank you. Sorry about the verbal diarrhea and going from pillar to post, but hopefully I made some sense.

Andrew Hellmich:         Absolutely. Absolutely. Alright mate, thanks again and let's have some dinner.

Mark Clarisse:               Thanks Andrew. Looking forward to it. Cheers.