I mostly make videos of my family vacations and such as a hobby.
A distant family member liked my edits, and now wants to hire me to shoot a video of a professional conference. I haven’t accepted yet, and I’m reluctant to because I’ve never done anything on this level before. They’re quite desperate because they can’t find a “real” videographer for their budget ($500 USD for ~4 hour shoot). Money is not really a concern for me. I’d love to do this job, but I don’t want to let them down if something goes wrong.
I only have one camera - Fuji X-T3, and one lens decent enough to possibly work in low-light indoor setting - Sigma 16mm f/1.4. I’m worried about data loss since even though the X-T3 has dual SD Card slots, it only writes video to one of them. I also don’t own any lighting equipment aside from a GoDox flash (not even a remote trigger for it). I do have a gimbal for stabilization, but very little experience actually filming with it. And of course the fact that they’re extended family complicates things even further.
Not sure what else I should be worried about. Should I bite the bullet and take the job? I’ll be up-front with the client about both my (lack of) experience and limited equipment, of course.
For $500 they get what they get. Get it in writing that they are accepting your results unconditionally.
That’s another thing I’m totally unfamiliar with. How do I even word something for them to sign? Are there any contract templates out there for this sort of thing?
If you’re in the US I’m assuming you’d be considered an independent contractor, in which case they would provide an agreement and you can negotiate from there if needed. It should specify what happens if they’re unhappy with the result, like requesting revisions. But as long as you fulfill the terms of the agreement in good faith, I don’t think you need to stress about it.
Not even remotely a lawyer and only have a little experience writing IC agreements for a small nonprofit.