Start a Video Editing Business

You don't have to be a computer geek to set up a video editing business. What you should know is the art of storytelling. If you know this, then you can cut those video shots that are redundant, and join those that add value to the video. Of course, you would need some technical training to edit the video. But it is not difficult to learn.

Qualifications: You can do a degree course in video editing or join a commercial video-editing course. Both will give you requisite skills to edit short commercials, music videos, instructional films, wedding and party videos. However, you must remember that the first order in video editing business takes time. A video will be assigned to you only when a party has full confidence in you.

Income: A video editor can earn anything from $16 to $25 per hour depending upon his skills and nature of the video. The most highly paid video editors are film editors, but they operate from well-equipped film studios. They are also highly qualified, and experienced. The commercial video editors operate from home and take up freelance work like editing of wedding or party videos. They can easily hope to earn anything from $3,000 to $5,000 per month.

Target market: Initially, the video editing business was confined to the film studios. Most of them had their own video editors and did not need outside support. Today, video has become an important part of daily life. The corporate houses need slick videos that showcase their products or company facilities; the human resource departments need scores of training videos; event management companies want videos to be shot of the events that they organize; even political parties need slick videos that talk of their achievements. Finally, families need professional videos of family events like birthdays, weddings, social gatherings etc. But where are the video editors? The best, of course, are in the film industry or in the advertising industry. But the demand is much more outside these two realms. A freelance video editor operating from home can never be short of work. In fact, a good video editor may find it difficult to handle all the assignments.

Start up costs: The start up costs are heavy, especially if you are starting from scratch. You would need both software and hardware to set up your studio. This can easily set you back by a few thousand dollars. But it is an investment that must be made. You should not try to save a few dollars here and there because that can affect the quality of your work. Go for the best, even if it hurts. Also, keep upgrading your software and hardware. In this business, it pays to be ahead on technology. Besides equipment, you will need an air-conditioned room. There is no point in exposing the equipment to heat and dust. You will only be reducing its life.

Financing: You certainly need outside financing in the region of $20,000 to 25,000. This is a large amount and you need to have a good business plan before you approach a funding agency. The business plan must stress on your technical skills, and experience if any. It should also highlight the potential of the business. Among the points that need to be spelt out are the per hour video editing rates, existing competition and the volume of work. If this is likely to generate more revenue than cost then you are through. You can expect the loan to materialize.

After that, it is for you to get the business going. If your work has class, you may even end up editing film videos.