A Guide to Video Production Pricing
We get asked this question quite often and it’s a question that it’s almost always impossible to give an accurate initial answer to. For most businesses who are planning on producing a film for either promotional and training purposes budget will be a key factor. We all want to ensure we get value for money and that we’re presented with realistic cost options upfront.
The main problem with film and video production is that there isn’t really an off the shelf cost that we can hand to new enquiries and to be honest you should be wary of anyone who does offer an upfront “package cost” for film production. There are so many variables marketing with video production pricing that need identifying and these have a huge influence on costs.
One of the most flattering things a client has ever said to me was “when we first saw your work we thought we couldn’t afford you”. I took this as a compliment but it really does illustrate how people’s perception varies as to how much video production costs. The truth is simple, film and video can be produced for ANY budget, but the production quality will directly reflect how much budget has been allocated to produce the project.
The Image below illustrates this well. The image quality increases from left to right in in line with the increased production budget.
The quality and production levels of a £1500 project will be ideal for some customers and brands, whereas other companies will require a level of production that requires a budget nearer the £20K mark. At the far end of this scale we have clients and projects that require that “Hollywood look” and long periods of production with very large crews which only come with 6 figure budgets.
Video Production Pricing
So how should you go about establishing video production pricing that incorporates all your video production needs. Well after the initial discussion with your film production company (get quotes from several) you should expect them to do a location visit to see exactly what needs filming and how it should be done. What is physically required to be filmed is a key part of the cost. For example: a series of talking heads shots with a simple lighting setup is significantly cheaper than producing an elevated dynamic sweeping crane shots of a building, landmark or land area.
The location visit should be done on a non-obligation basis and used to really nail down the type of film you need. Once this is done you should expect the production company to produce a full breakdown of your video production pricing and a detailed quote. This should be provided along with a basic production script document that gives you a summary of what the final film will include both picture and sound wise. This will now allow you to get a good overview of what you’ll get for your money and offer options of areas where tweaks can be made.
If you decide to proceed engage the production company who should then start the pre-production in full and develop the skeleton shooting script into a fuller document for you to review prior to shooting.
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