We are often asked for quotes on a video but given very little information to base the costs on. Rather than come out with the old “how long is a piece of string” response we thought it might help to provide some insight in to how costing a video needs to be approached.
A production company need to work out what crew to use, what equipment we will need and how long it will take to film and edit everything. There is no single way of doing things.
To get the best and most accurate costs you are best to put together a brief which the production company can work to. Not sure what you want in your video?
The following list is some of the elements that might impact on the cost of a video if they were to be included. Providing the answers to these questions will help you build your brief.
- What are the main elements to be filmed?
- Will you need Graphic animations (maybe to show an internal mechanism)?
- Is there to be a voice over used to narrate the main story of the video?
- Can all the video be shot in one location on same day?
- How many things to be filmed at the same time?
- Describe what will need to be filmed. Some things like presentations are best filmed from two different cameras.
- Will you want music added to the video. At the beginning and end or all the way through?
- Do you need text to be placed on-screen to explain or annotate things in the video?
- How long is the video likely to last?
- If the content is interviews, how many interviews will there be?
- Is the filming to be done indoors or outdoors?
Hopefully by now you are starting to get a feel for what is involved. Just as placing air conditioning on the spec of your car will add to the quality of your journey’s adding a Jib to your production will add to the quality of the final production. They will both add to the cost. Whether they make it in to the final product probably comes down to available budget and how important they are to you.
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