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What does a video project involve and what costs can be expected?

Video Editing

INFO SHEET: Video Production

Video production consists of 3 major phases:

Pre-Production:

  • creating the creative concept (what, when, why) / storyboard development
  • meeting (talking & brain-storming)
  • script development / narration
  • existing material review
  • location scouting
  • permits, rentals
  • talent hiring: voice-talents, actors
  • revisions
  • other

 

Production:

  • equipment set-up
  • set props and preps
  • actors/moderators
  • video shoot
  • interviews / narration
  • other

 

Post-Production:

  • footage review
  • editing scenes according to concept
  • specialty editing tasks like color correction, obstructing license plates etc., also animation and effects
  • adding music and voice-over
  • adding text-overlays
  • adding stock footage
  • revisions
  • exporting video for chosen media
  • delivery

 

Concept / Script / Storyboard (required for many video projects)

A storyboard captures all required scenes including sequences. It is the “plan”.

E.g. if the video is about your family reunion at Thanksgiving then it will include a list of all guests that shall appear on the video including all objects and rooms and key scenes and events. Also it will include if there are requirements for interviews etc. Basically everything that has to be in the final video. Also, the sequences, their order and overlays should be planned in order for the video editor to be able to assemble the final video and deliver the message well. A storyboard consists of textual and visual elements. Illustrated storyboards are more time-consuming to develop then simpler ones that only use text.

All that is valid and applicable for any business / corporate video project, too.

We cannot know about your personal or business requirements, so, we depend on your input. Tell us about the goals you are trying to achieve with the video.

We take all your input and take the infrastructure (lighting, sound, environment, interviews) in consideration in order to compile a concept, a plan, a list of tasks and sequences. We evaluate and discuss what type of B-Roll we need to shoot to deliver your message and achieve your goal.

Production phase cannot start before we all agree on the “plan”.

Costs

“How much does a 3-min video cost?” – that or similar is a typical question.

Many videographers and agencies will respond: “That depends!” … which is totally correct but I’d like to give you some numbers here and these reflect the industry-typical pricing for video production (which you can research yourself):

In our industry there exists a ‘rule-of-thumb’ based estimate to provide a rough idea of expected costs: it is the ‘per minute of finished video’ price point. It is based on actual projects and the final production costs are broken down to the per-minute costs. That should help to calculate your BUDGET.

The information about your budget is required in order to plan it and sometimes to right-size your project when budget and expectations are out-of-sync. 

The typical range for a corporate video presentation goes from $5oo to $15oo per finished minute but complex videos with lots of finesse and sophisticated and cool storyboards go up to $25oo/per minute (unless it is TV broadcast stuff which is even costlier and ranges from 3 to 10k/min.)

That’s pretty simple math: a 3-minute video would be $15oo to $45oo but can go up to 7-8k.

In any of these price brackets the price reflects the work that is involved in PRE-PRODUCTION, PRODUCTION, POST-PRODUCTION — however, it becomes clear that e.g. low-end budgets normally do not allow to hire actors or license music or utilize expensive crews or multi-camera set-ups.

Determine your budget for the video: sometimes you are simply bound to your available monetary resources, that’s understood. However, sometimes you need to invest, if the stakes are high and you have a specific audience.
The general RULE should be … Determine your budget by honestly evaluating your goals. Your video needs to appeal to your target audience and their expectations.

An actual estimate for your project will be itemized and list the applicable services, like rental costs, storyboard costs, etc.

RELATED INFORMATION: Video Production, Editing, Costs

Other project types

There are also projects that are very straightforward and do not require lots of planning, like Real Estate presentations. At least, it is not too complicated to describe the overall process and sequences. Also, e.g. filming a funeral for purposes of archiving the event is straightforward and doesn’t even require much editing.

The per-minute of finished video costs are lower than for the above mentioned projects.

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