So How Much Does Video Production Cost?

The number one question we get asked here at iVideo Towers is:

“Can you give me a ballpark figure for a video production?”

We all wish it was an easy job to pick a video product from a shelf with a price attached but the truth of the matter is that every video we have ever made has had a set of differing requirments. That said there are some things we can tell you that’ll give you at least a heads up to why video production prices are what they are. It is important that our future clients have a clear understanding of industry rates, but if you want to skip to the bottom to see rough prices for videos then go ahead. We would though suggest you read on.

Using BECTU (Broadcast & Entertainment Union) Rate cards we can quickly show you what we are legally bound to pay our crew and editors per day.

Alternatively you can borrow a flip camera, shoot some video and upload it to YouTube – all for free. We have on occasions recommended this as an option to some of our leads as it made more sense for both parties involved.

IN DEPTH

The good news for businesses looking to engage a video production company is that many of the factors that affect the price of a video have been going down over the last few years. Some dramatically. Assuming you find a company that does great work (this is a critical first step by the way – if the company doesn’t do great work it’s not worth paying anything for). Which brings me back to the original question ‘how much does a video cost?’ There is no simple answer to that question but here are 15 factors (ranked in order of importance to the overall quality of the video) that affect the price of a web video:

1. Production Experience.

Doctors, mechanics, lawyers, videographers… whatever profession you care to mention, experience matters more than any other factor and, all things being equal, you do tend to get what you pay for. There are many, many moving parts in the creation of a video but at the end of the day you are paying for the expertise and experience of the key people responsible for your video.
Costs: You can pay £150/day for a recent media school graduate or £450/day for top drawer talent. On average most production companies will charge between £250 and £350 a day for the people involved in key activities such as shooting and directing.

2. Concept / Script / Storyboard

Doing video for the sake of video is a waste of money (although it’s great for the video production industry!) What measurable business objective are you trying to achieve? How is this video specifically going to achieve that objective? And of greatest importance, do the people creating your video have the experience or guidance to create a video that will help move your business forward? Lighting, sound, framing and editing are all important but they don’t matter in the least if what you are creating has no value to your intended audience. Like companies that spend £6,000 on website development and little or no money on content for the site, many companies waste a lot of money on nicely shot but otherwise meaningless video.
Costs: Expect to spend between £30/hour and £65/hour for an experienced marketer (does it make sense to have an film script writer or video production assistant develop your marketing script?) to develop a concept, script and storyboard that serves as the blueprint for you video.

3. Editing

The editing process is highly nuanced. Editing is where you create the style and substance of the video – you sequence all of the available assets into a cohesive story that communicates your key messages in a clear and engaging manner. Editors arguably should be the most highly paid (and skilled) in the entire process (quite often they are not.)
Costs: Editing costs run between £250 and £600.

4. Actors/Presenters

Do you need to hire professional presenters, actors or models to improve the quality of your presentation? Not everyone is good on camera. You may need to make difficult decisions about who should represent your company. In a broadcast commercial quite often it is not someone in your company. Even in a corporate video you may decide that hiring outside talent is the best decision.
Costs: Presenters, models and actors can range anywhere from £50/hour to £350 per day or more depending on experience, demand and union costs.

5. Camera Hire

The quality and flexibility of the camera you shoot with can make a huge difference in the finished quality and editing options for your video. Are you shooting on a £500 DV camera, a £1,500 DSLR, a £7,000 Full feature HD camera, a £15,000 RED or are you shooting on Film? The pace of technology advancement in film and video is breathtaking and the features and capabilities of cameras are changing weekly. Bottom Line: You should be able to see the difference in the final output quality in more expensive cameras. If you can’t, then it’s not worth paying for. Most companies though build this into the price quoted for the job if they have in house equipment.
Costs: You will spend between £70 – 250 per day or more depending on which digital camera is used.

6. Equipment

The more experienced video production companies tend to have a wide variety of tools and equipment on hand for each shoot. Do you need a track dolly or a jib-arm to create a shot with movement? Do you have a high quality field monitor to know exactly what you are getting (or not getting) as you shoot? Do you have all the necessary audio equipment (lav’s, direction mics, booms etc) to capture the audio you need? Lighting and framing are everything in video. Do you have lights – lots of different lights to accommodate a wide variety of shooting scenarios? Do you have a variety of lenses to create the specific feel you are after – wide angle, fixed focal length or Cine lenses for narrow depth of field, etc?
Costs. Equipment cost can run anywhere from £5 to £100′s per day or more depending on what specific equipment is required.

7. Crew

If you’ve ever watched a movie or television show being filmed you might wonder why you need so many people standing around idle on a set. Most business web video productions don’t require more than two people (and sometimes one is enough) but depending on the complexity of the shoot you may require a crew of three or more. If you are conducting man on the street interviews as an example, you need a cameraman, a sound man and a directer or interviewer. Concept videos like commercials will often require more people to help with the logistics of the shoot.
Costs: Expect to pay between £250 – £600 per day.

8. Locations and production time

Where are you shooting? How long will each scene/interview/shot take? Are you shooting in one location or many? What are the specific requirements and constraints of each location? Are you indoor or outside? If you are shooting outside is weather a factor? If so what happens if it rains? How much set-up time is required? Are the locations close together? The most important factor is the total amount of time required for production. There are few economies of scale for time – but with good planning you can do a lot within a specific period of time.
Costs: This cost is arithmetic. Two days of shooting is twice as expensive as one day. {If shooting extends for many days or is regularly scheduled then most companies offer a discount}

9. Studio shooting

Do you require the use of a sound stage or studio? Do you need a controlled environment to shoot in? Are you shooting green screen and keying out the background in edit? The use of a studio has to be factored into the overall cost of the production one way or another. Larger companies may include studio time in their shooting costs and other companies include it as a line item as studio rental time.
Costs: Factor in between £250 – 400 per day depending on the size of the studio. (If you need a studio you will be charged for it – one way or the other)

10. Set, Props, Equipment, Extras

Aside from video production equipment are there other special props or pieces of equipment that need to be included as part of the costs? Do you need to rent a van, rent furniture, hire extras, hire a plane or helicopter for an aerial shot or bring in special equipment for the shoot? These all have to be factored in to the cost of the shoot.
Costs: Depends on what is required.

11. Stock footage

Do you require supplemental footage or images to support the video? There are many websites that sell high quality still and video footage. Some videos are comprised completely of stock footage, text and voice-over.
Costs: Stock images can be as cheap as £5 and great quality HD stock footage can cost as little as £50.

12. Voice Over

Do you need a voice-over to tell your story or to tie the video together. Video is a powerful medium but it is even more powerful if you take full advantage of audio to support what is being shown on screen.
Costs: Voice-over costs have dropped dramatically over the last five years. Many voice artists work from home and can produce great work for almost any budget. £250 – 400 for a 2 minute video is reasonable depending on the experience and demand for the specific voice artist.

13. Music/Sound Effects

Do you require a music bed, special sound effects or other audio to supplement your video?
Costs: Good quality music for video starts as low as £15 for a two or three minute track. Custom audio can cost £500 or more depending on the experience of the musician and what is required.

14. Encoding

Digitizing, transfers, rendering and uploading. Video takes on many forms during the production process. If you shot on film you have to transfer it to a format that works in your editing system. After you edit it, you have to render it to a presentation format (for web, for broadcast, etc.) and depending on where it’s going you may have to upload it somewhere (your web server / YouTube / The Academy Awards, etc). All this takes computer and human time and you generally have to pay for both.
Costs: Sometimes these costs are buried, sometimes they are line items. Tape transfers are still very expensive (£100′s). Rendering and uploading time are usually buried in the costs but can also be charged out at an hourly rate (£30 – 75 per hour).

15. Length of the Video

The longer the video the more it is likely to cost. Web videos tend to be around a couple of minutes although this varies considerably depending on the type and purpose of your video. Filming an articulate talking head (limited editing) for 10 minutes is much cheaper than creating a 30 second commercial. So…
Costs: All things being equal (they never are) consider longer to be more expensive, but it’s not arithmetic. An extra minute of video might only cost you %10 more if you have planned the extra requirements into the overall workflow.

Our Guideline Prices

Credit for much of this article must go to the excellent Jimm Fox at One Market Media, he’s a must follow for all the best things Video Production.