Need Some Advice...

Ok, so far, the graphics for Maciej (the DJ from Toronto) is going very well. I sent him a test video last night and he loved the design, just one small change to the text and it's done. I'm also going to provide him a numbered sequence transition to showcase his Top 10 videos. I know this is above and beyond what he was looking for, and almost 2 weeks early.

I now feel like I've finally crossed that line. The line between amateurism and (semi) professionalism. Now it's time to start getting paid.

So now, how do I go about introducing this potentially client-relationship destruction? What is fair?

I've been thinking about this lately, and I really don't feel comfortably putting a price on "work involved" for a project. It's almost impossible for me to keep track of when and for how long I work on a project or video to really put a price on it.

But what about just putting a price on the delivered product? Like say, $5 for every second of delivered rendered HD video. And have a premium scale, like 5$ for videos under 20 seconds, $4 for videos 20-59 seconds, $3 for videos over a minute. Most of my work falls into the 5-40 seconds, and I only have one delivered video that was over a minute.

But what about formats? There's Standard Definition, 720p HD and 1080p HD. There's a huge cost in time between Standard Definition and 1080p. So, maybe keep Standard Definition videos cheap, or even free? 720p will sport the standard price scale, and 1080p will incur a $1/sec premium charge.

What about my current clients? Fusion has really been good to their word about actively helping me get work and they really like my designs. It was Fusion that landed me the Toronto Dj gig just now, and I know that they really have a spot in their family for me. So maybe continue to keep doing videos for Fusion on pro-bono?

And Maciej has really liked my work so far, and he is looking to spice his videos up every 6 months or so. I don't feel good popping the price on videos I am working for him now, it's just too soon and I don't want to let him down. Maybe after the final product has been submitted and we have time to discuss this. Now that he knows that I am trustworthy and can deliver a good product, maybe he will be inclined to a small charge the next time he needs videos in a pinch? For what it's worth, the final product submitted to him will be 75 seconds total, that would of been $225 for 720p and $300 for 1080p. I think that's a decent charge, and I KNOW that is cheap as hell in the motion graphics world.

Maybe I should just be blunt and ask them how they feel about a charge, and what they would feel comfortable paying me?

In my experience, it never hurts to be up front and honest. Maybe I'll go over with it with the Fusion crew first as they have deeper insight into how deep these pockets are and what people are probably willing to spend. Since I know I won't charge Fusion at all, building this relationship even further might prove to return substantial gains.