I have just had my first video accepted. Can someone please tell me if I should edit videos like an image? Should I leave saturation as it is out of camera or do customers like videos with vibrant colours? I didn't edit this video. I only trimmed it and compared to my images it looks kind of flat and boring.

Naturally, some buyers would prefer flatter looking clips so they can grade to taste and match other footage.

BUT - every single top selling item I've ever seen has been quite heavily graded to a ready-to-go look. 

I thought they might like it natural but I am not sure because they seem to buy my over the top edited images which I don't like. I always think that something like that doesn't exist in nature. Not that I want to leave images flat and boring but not that saturated.

You've got to assess the probabilities of the buyer base. Will you sell more to buyers who want fully "pay-n-go" clips or to buyers who want flat, more editable clips? I can't say because all of my clips (other than my animations) are graded. The only way to tell would be to have another mirrored set of ungraded clips and compare sales. But that is not practical.  So I choose to assume that most buyers want a finished clip and do not want to have to worry about another POST Processing step.  But that's just my hypothesis.  There are others in here with far greater video experience than me.

Quote from: Mantis on July 23, 2017, 08:29

Quote from: HappyBunny on July 23, 2017, 08:23

I thought they might like it natural but I am not sure because they seem to buy my over the top edited images which I don't like. I always think that something like that doesn't exist in nature. Not that I want to leave images flat and boring but not that saturated.

You've got to assess the probabilities of the buyer base. Will you sell more to buyers who want fully "pay-n-go" clips or to buyers who want flat, more editable clips? I can't say because all of my clips (other than my animations) are graded. The only way to tell would be to have another mirrored set of ungraded clips and compare sales. But that is not practical.  So I choose to assume that most buyers want a finished clip and do not want to have to worry about another POST Processing step.  But that's just my hypothesis.  There are others in here with far greater video experience than me.

I actually tried once (over a year ago) with a set of 70 clips on Pond5- had one set uploaded with ungraded S-log3 footage. No sales. The graded set sold many clips since. I guess it answers the question...

That's a good data point. Thanks for sharing.

I have just had my first video accepted. Can someone please tell me if I should edit videos like an image? Should I leave saturation as it is out of camera or do customers like videos with vibrant colours? I didn't edit this video. I only trimmed it and compared to my images it looks kind of flat and boring.

This would depend on the codec you're using. More specifically the compression. Truth be told, most buyers do like a graded clip that "pops out". Having said this, you can go overboard and make them ask for a refund, especially if it's overly compressed.

It also depends on the markets (read that as "sites") you've listed the clip on. Not that the sites themselves required you to, but you have to look around and see how to make your clip stand out. Also, have it ready in a non-graded version. Some sites like Pond5 will contact the author of the clip if the buyer has a problem with it.