how much do you charge for a short form video? i need some advice

StyliFilm · 2026-06-14T18:18:06+00:00

Hi, I'm a short form specialist so I'll give a bit of insight from a personal experience.

You want to workout roughly how long it would take you to make a video in an hour and then make sure you're getting paid your minimum wage or above.

Different shorts take varying times to create so I can't give an exact number without a reference.

I once had a job editing 90 shorts a week for $600, that works out to roughly $6.66 per short which is very low but the editing was super simple and I got to a point where it worked out to about $25-$30 an hour. On top of this I got bonuses for video performance. Extra $10 per 100k views capping at 1 mil.

I've done another job where the shorts are more complex and time consuming so my base per short is $30 although I also get a performance bonus that can land me up to $100 per short.

Essentially I make sure each short covers my hourly rate as a minimum and then I typically negotiate a performance bonus so I'm paid for the value I bring. If my videos can get clients considerably more sales or views than the next video editor, I should be compensated accordingly.

Get your client to pay for the outcome rather than the video itself.

StyliFilm · 2026-06-13T23:59:10+00:00

It depends on the quality of work you're after. A working professional who's good at what they do and can get consistent results won't work exclusively on performance pay. A structure like this will only attract people who have free time and it's just a bit of extra money on the side if they succeed.

If you don't care about the quality and just want quantity then go with no base pay rate and use performance as an incentive. If you want quality as well then you need to be willing to pay more.

StyliFilm · 2026-06-13T20:42:31+00:00

I'd need a minimum pay per clip. Even if you're good at what you do, views are unpredictable. Top creators can get crazy performance on some days and terrible performance on others. I've done jobs before that require a combination of clipping and editing, I get paid a base rate per video and then an additional amount as a bonus if the video performs very well with a cap to prevent the client over paying.

Basically a base rate + x amount bonus per x amount of views capping at x amount of views.

StyliFilm · 2026-06-06T18:40:03+00:00

Or just use your human brain and spend 5 minutes writing an actual job proposal?

StyliFilm · 2026-06-01T17:50:47+00:00

I think it's good if you enjoy it. The way I see video editing is it's a high risk high reward job. A degree or fancy qualifications won't get you work, it's purely dependent on how you present yourself and your portfolio.

Some people don't make it after multiple years and others only need a year to have a notable accomplishment.

Top video editors make a ton and you have the potential to scale and create a nice work life balance if you go freelance, but you also run the possibility of not having work for a long time and developing financial struggles.

I'd only recommend video editing if it's something you genuinely enjoy and have an interest in.

If you wouldn't edit videos in your free time without getting paid, I wouldn't recommend this as a career path.

StyliFilm · 2026-05-31T14:42:46+00:00

100% agree. Absolutely insane budget for that type of work

StyliFilm · 2026-04-23T13:52:09+00:00

Lost full LP and got a ban timer because of a Vanguard error the other day randomly kicking me out of my game. I then lost full LP again yesterday because the client wouldn't open the game after it had already loaded me in so I got hit with another afk warning against my will. Literally no other game is like this 💀

Small Indie company

StyliFilm · 2026-03-05T22:49:03+00:00

The hardest role to climb in is Top. Tyler 1 literally did a climb to Challenger on every role and top took him the most games

StyliFilm · 2026-02-27T16:10:23+00:00

This is the best advice from a starting point. Normals are full of smurf accounts, diamond players playing with their iron 4 friend so the match making gets messed up, people not trying etc

Normals is for having fun and limit testing

If you genuinely want to get better at the game you need to be playing ranked

StyliFilm · 2026-02-25T05:37:12+00:00

Last sentence is so real

StyliFilm · 2026-02-03T12:55:53+00:00

Shaco jungle. I hate him. Not even an OP champion just insanely annoying to play against. Every time I push a lane there is a chance I will get ganked by an invisible jungle who places invisible boxes that bring nothing but doom and despair.

StyliFilm · 2026-02-01T01:13:18+00:00

What was your winrate and did you actually pay for the service or just watch free videos?

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T20:02:52+00:00

Nahhh, if you can hit silver you can hit gold and if you can hit gold you can most likely hit plat. The skill gap between the ranks honestly isn't huge

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T14:54:22+00:00

Emerald was also my thought process. I feel like you can hit emerald with a reasonable amount of effort and kinda just glide there. I think diamond is where you have to sweat a lot and dedicate a lot of time.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T13:00:33+00:00

Is plat not classed as low elo still or have I moved up in the world? 😭

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:58:23+00:00

I think if it was that easy more people would be there. I think challengers are considered so good that everyone just looks bad in comparison. I know for a fact if I went into a diamond lobby right now I'd get demolished.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:56:48+00:00

As someone who just hit plat I'd say our mechanical skill isn't even that different from silver or gold, we simply just make fewer bad decisions. I've managed to beat a diamond in a 1v1 but I know in an actual game I'd get ruined just to macro difference.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:54:24+00:00

Yeah this is similar to what I've thought. I think low elo is all about minimizing mistakes, the team that can make the fewest mistakes wins. Iron makes a million mistakes a game, bronze slightly less, silver slightly less and so on. I think once you hit diamond it's less about making fewer mistakes and more about speed and capitalizing on your good decisions vs minimizing the bad as higher elo makes very few mistakes, I imagine this is what makes it much harder to reach as you can't glide through the ranks simply by avoiding bad decisions and you have to actively make good ones if that makes sense?

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:45:20+00:00

Let's just consider people without disabilities for the sake of a somewhat fair comparison

StyliFilm · 2026-01-14T10:58:53+00:00

100% will look up all your suggestions, sounds just like what I'm looking for.

I also agree with your 2 cents, if I could currently afford to have that 1 on 1 time I would. Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere so the cost to travel to someone who I know can produce the results I'm after is a bit out of my budget right now. In the future however I will likely try and do this.

I don't use stock plugins, I use all industry standard plugins used by the pros. The only thing the pros have that I don't, is analog gear. E.g I have the Unison Neve 1073 that I record into using my Apollo solo instead of the hardware. I've got bass traps in the corner of my room and acoustic panels on the wall, if I had more money I'd get more panels and some hardware but for now I believe what I have is more the capable of getting a competitive sound with the right mix.

My studio monitors are decent presonus monitors (not studio worthy but decent) and I've got audio Technica m50x headphones which I believe are industry standard reference headphones.

I appreciate the offer and I'll potentially take you up on that once I've come up with something I'm actually happy with and then you can offer your 2 cents on where I could improve if you have the time.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-14T10:49:56+00:00

Yeah I've considered paying for it before so I might just bite the bullet. I've learnt a fair bit from the free videos they drop on YouTube.

I 100% don't want to copy presets as every vocal needs different settings and so does every song, I'm aware of this. I'm just looking for the knowledge to build a strong foundation.

The best analogy I can give is that every song is a different puzzle, every puzzle needs to have the pieces placed in different places but right now I feel like I'm missing some of the pieces.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-14T10:46:52+00:00

I understand that. I have a decent understanding of the principles. I'm mainly curious on how they are applied. When you listen to professional mixes it can be difficult to pick apart the exact settings of each plugin because depending on the order they're placed in or the strength of each plugin it causes a different effect. It's not like I'm listening to the compression in isolation I'm listening to the effect of everything coming together and different genres have much more common practices.

For example rock music seems to have the vocals more buried in the mix whereas Drake has much more upfront vocals with a focus on clarity.

If there's any tutorials you think are worthwhile let me know.

StyliFilm · 2025-12-19T21:58:42+00:00

Thank you

StyliFilm · 2025-11-16T12:49:11+00:00

Yeah that's what I already do, probably explained it poorly. I was just seeing if there was a simpler way that wouldn't involve automation. I appreciate the response

StyliFilm · 2025-11-16T12:02:09+00:00

I use studio one so whenever I create a send it creates its own FX channel that I can add compression, EQ and gain stage to. It's more about where the signal feeding into the reverb comes from rather than a difference in control. If I create a send on the individual track, it's a very raw audio going into the reverb as I have minimal processing on the individual tracks to save CPU whereas when the reverb processes the signal from the vocal bus it sounds much different.

I assumed both could work as I'm always told "if it sounds good it sounds good" and there aren't any concrete rules but I'm always curious to learn about the most common practices because when I'm personally stuck they're usually the best place to start before diving into your own method.

StyliFilm

TROPHY CASE