Video Recordings
Pirates 2007, Patience 2006 and a number of other main shows were recorded by George Hyde who charges just shy of £500 to film and do a live mix of the two Saturday performances using three professional cameras. Through trial and error it has been established that we get a really professional result from him such that we can charge £15 for a DVD of the show to cover his costs and turn a profit.
In the past we have asked YSTV to film the show or (for Princess Ida 2005) just used a home DV Camcorder set up on a fixed wide shot. Both have yielded entirely unsatisfactory results.
Printed DVDs
MH's company has recently had a batch of CDRs printed by Short Run. The quality is excellent, with a proper glossy finish, and they don't cost a huge amount per cd. It would give a good finish to the next DVD, and probably doesn't cost any more than the inkjet label printing Mark did for Pirates. Certainly easier. Cheaper for amounts > 50.
Even more convenient, Lulu.com are an on-demand printing company. They do custom production of CDs and DVDs, including the sleeve, etc, for just under a fiver, and ship it directly to the customer. We could use this for the online store.
Update: 11/1/08
Lulu isn't really great for DVD videos - for a start they won't let you upload a file >2GB, while the isos for the DVDs fill the whole dvd (4GB).
Update: 25/1/08
I've registered G&S to be sent cheques by Lulu.com when/if we start selling stuff - this happens quarterly if the balance is over $20 and is made out in dollars.
Magellan appear to do on-demand DVD replication in the UK, which would be ideal. Pricing isn't listed on the site though.
Amstore also mention on-demand, the pricing looks like around £8/dvd in single quantities, dropping to about £6 for 25+
CreateSpace is based in America, and is part of Amazon.com.
Acutrack also do short-run/on demand in US.
Online Clips
We should produce a few 'teasers' from the last few shows to put on the website. This would (hopefully) attract, or at least inform, new members, and encourage people to come to see our shows.
Online Sales
We should sell copies of our latest show DVD online. People who came to see the show might want to buy a copy, or people who have left the society. See Merchandise
G&S Classics
In order to 'monetize' our archive, Chris C thinks we should sell copies of our old recordings for £5 a go, under the title 'G&S Classics'. More info on the linked page.
Audio Recordings
We currently don't have much in the way of audio recordings, but there are several possible sources for new material:
Goole
We could record our concerts at Goole and produce a CD, or put some clips online
Cast recording after the show
Once the show is over, it would be nice to record the songs properly, in a studio setting. Ideally this would not cost much.
Mark suggests we could use St Oswald's Church (Fulford) to do the recording, and borrow some equipment, possibly from the CU.
This would require that we inform both the cast and the orchestra as early as possible so that they are aware they will be needed for a day of recording at the end of February.