Ahh, my favorite question. Unfortunately, my answer is often not the favorite thing a client wants to hear. So, what’s the answer? It depends. What does it depend on? Here’s a partial list of qualifications to determine the cost of producing a video:
How long is the final video?
How many days of shooting?
How many cameras?
What type of cameras?
What format?
What are the lighting and audio needs?
How much travel is involved?
How many hours of editing?
What level of graphics are needed?
Will there be voice-over?
Does it need original music or will royalty-free music suffice?
Who is writing the script?
When does it need to be completed?
Leading us to the friendly cousin of the “How much does it cost” question…
And How Long Does it Take?
…which is answered in exactly the same way, “It depends.”
What does the outline, script and /or storyboard look like?
When are the interviewees available? Where are they located?
Where are we shooting?
Who needs to review the initial video and how will changes be determined?
OK—so you want a “real” answer to these two crucial questions of how much and how long. Well, I’ve got two types of answers for you.
One is optimistically philosophical…a 5-10 minute video that is well scripted includes some interviews and narration could be shot in a day or two and edited in another day or two. Throw in a meeting ahead of time to plan and organize, a day at the end to review and a final day to make changes…that works out to be less than 10 days of time and only about 5-8 days of work. If it’s a low budget project that amounts to $5,000 to $8,000. A moderate budget would be roughly $8,000 to $12,000 and a high budget would be about $12,000 - $15,000.
The second answer is a practical and realistic approach…a 5-10 minute video could take days, weeks or even months to complete from start to finish. The project is often held up by securing interviews, shoot locations, crew and client schedules, review process, technical difficulties, changes in plans, etc. I’ve produced some videos like this that took two weeks and others that have taken ten months. Budgets for these have ranged from a few thousand dollars to over twenty thousand dollars.
How Loud Communications Prices Video Projects
Calculating the cost of your video depends on a few key conditions. One is how many days of shooting will there be for the project. A further breakdown would be how many interviews will be shot in how many locations in addition to how much b-roll will be shot. Another issue is the amount of editing time required. Another important factor is determining the amount of post-production needed. This includes motion graphics, voice-over, music, etc. A professional video production means we’re not using consumer video cameras, editing with a free software program or creating graphics that look like they were made in the 1980s.
Loud Communications primary client is small to medium non-profit organizations. We discount from our standard rates, however, most of our clients are non-profit—so we do not do free videos or do things at cost. We’re specialists and our niche is non-profit organizations. We have experience and expertise in marketing, fundraising, advocacy and communication expressly for the non-profit community. It’s a service we believe is worth paying for and know will be valued by those who put value into it.
A Couple of Financial Shenanigans by Video Production Companies
Some in the video production community take advantage of their under-educated clients. They speak in techno-talk to keep the client from understanding the process of producing a video. They charge for every little thing that you request of them. They overcharge for their time by including time spent waiting for their computers to work while they can be eating, sleeping or doing other work. They push their clients into formats and extras that are completely useless or often unnecessary. They charge you exorbitant amounts to get copies of your raw video or to reproduce your finished product on DVD.
Our primary goal is to produce the best quality video that our client can afford and in the fastest possible time frame. We don’t nickel and dime our clients for small requests. We don’t charge for transferring your video to the web or into some other format. We treat our clients fairly. We treat you the way we would want to be treated. Our clients are partners and friends. We produce videos for organizations we want to promote. We work beyond the bare essentials and aim to help our clients with our experienced perspective. We want our client’s organization to succeed in its mission and our clients to succeed in life.
