Looking for freelancing advice

#1

After the housing market crashed and I got laid off from a job doing arch viz I started doing freelance work. Recently I’ve had more interest in doing video work than the 3D stuff, so I have begun teaching myself how to use After Effects and a few other tools from the Creative Suite. I know my work isn’t up to par with the pros, but I could use some feedback in a few areas regarding my most recent video;

  1. I had to do everything (except writing the music) on this project; scripting, storyboarding, voice over work, 3D, effects, video editing, etc. What would you consider to be the strongest and weakest areas of this presentation? I’m self taught and so I could use some direction on what to focus my studying on.

  2. How much should a video like this this go for (what kind of price tag would you give a client for work at this level)? I feel like I’m working for minimum wage when I calculate the hours I put in versus the price I offered it for, though I’m sure a lot of those hours were lost to my inexperience.

Here’s the video;
My video for Solar Dynamics

I’m trying to keep beans on the table for my family and jobs for someone at my skill level have been scarce, so I appreciate any feedback you can offer to help me become more proficient.

Thanks,

#2

Jeremy, I watched your video. Impressive. I like the way you animated the bouncing a/c unit outside the house - it really shows how hard your appliances have to work without the product you are pitching. Good stuff.

As for freelance advice, I find video services (and 3D) work to be geographically varied. Meaning, as I’m sure you already realize, there are more opportunities in LA or NY than other cities. I’m not trying to slam Mount Pleasant, I’m just not sure you are in a hot spot for that type of activity.

Also, I know what you mean about fees/hours = minumum wage. It can be frustrating. You might want to try billing hourly for your work. Project pricing requires precision estimating skills, and the ability to effectively manage scope-creep and client-requested changes.

#3

Hi Yanoqc, thanks for the input. I worked as an Arch Viz artist in Phoenix for a couple of years, but when the housing market crashed in 2008 I got laid off and had to move in with family until I can find a full time gig again.

I think you’re right… Mount Pleasant is kind of a desert for a digital artist, and if I could relocate for work I would. It’s a catch 22 right now though; if I had the resources to relocate to look for work I’d do it, but I need to find work to get the resources.

With a family to provide for, freelancing is the only real option I have at the moment. I’m keeping an eye on the job boards, but I’m a self taught artist and most places want the guy with the degree. I’ve got a lot of skills to learn before I would even get considered by most companies.

#4

You could go to the forums at CGarchitect. They have several salary surveys listed as well as discussions about what to charge for your services.

#5

Corporates videos varies from 1500$ to 15000$. Sometimes it depend more on the client than the actual time you will pass on it. I think yours is worth 2500-3000$. So much because its long, so few because its not up to modern graphic standards.

  • Work more on your composition, interface, overall look. A white background can be really nice but your objects need to be lighted by the white studio. Now they are just composited on the white BG and its not working so well. Use reflections and GI to add a bit of realism.

  • Use velocity curves. Ease in and out your motions

  • There is flickers in your video. Maybe its only youtube but it look more like anti-aliasing or fields problem to me. Your final need to be flickers/jitters free.

  • Find samples of other corpo videos on youtube. Check other people works.

How long does it took you to complete that one? I think you showed you can deliver the job, follow a storyboard and deliver on time. Thats the most important. Being able to work with annoying clients, not being put down by negative comments or tons of corrections from the client is imperative. Now you just need to work a bit more on your skills both in 3D and AE and Voila! that should do the trick very nicely.

How long did you work on this one? Normally, if you work for a month, you should ask the client at least what you need to survive a month, you and your family. When you’ll get better with your final look, you will be able to charge a lot more.

I would suggest trying few “realisitc” models in 3ds max, like a toothbrush, or a hair dryer. Trying to polish the 3d a bit. Not necesseraly the modeling but the integration onto a white background with nice reflections. To get nice reflections, you need to create a studio feel around your objects… few simples white (luminosity 100% or more) cardboards objects do the job very well most of the time.

I would say you are 75% there. Just need to polish things a bit, raise your graphic skills mostly in the rendering (light, texture, render) departement. Your animation skills look OK for most corporate videos need.

#6

Hi Jeremy,

Moved your work to the wip section, these posts don’t belong in GD.
The voice over was damn good! Maybe you should do that in the meantime to bring in the beans. I am not kidding, a pleasant clear voice is nothing to sneeze at.

As for freelance work, there is as much work put into finding well paid gigs as there is in the work itself, which sux.

#7

Kanga - Sorry if I posted in the wrong section. Since the project was complete I didn’t think it belonged in the WIP section… I was hoping for feedback for future projects and didn’t realize I’d put it in the wrong place. Thanks for the comment on the voice over. I don’t know where to look for voice over work, but I’ll keep looking.

earwax69 - Thanks for the recommendations. I was having trouble getting the renders to look good with the white background but wasn’t sure quite why… that info helped a lot.

This project took about a month, but a lot of that was due to the fact that I was doing After Effects tutorials (this is the first time I have used After Effects for a project). I also had to come up with the script and storyboards myself, and those are areas that I’m not as strong in.

I’m self taught, so I know there are a lot of gaps in my know how (areas where I know it’s not looking right but can’t tell quite why or how to fix it). Eventually I hope to find a junior level job somewhere that I can learn a bit more (or afford some classes). This kind of feedback will help me get more polished looking work in the meanwhile… thanks!

#8

Here you go;

http://designdroplets.com/articles/product-visualisation-studio-environment/

I think its a good link to learn how to emulate studio environment for 3ds max.

But you may want to fake GI in order to get faster render and flickerless animations. I found that just surrounding my objects with 6 to 12 lights with soft shadows enabled give me good result. No speculars (speculars generaly look cheap) but a reflection of a studio map like this;

#9

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