How Much Does Video Production Cost?

As video is one of the most powerful marketing and communications tactics available to businesses today, everyone wants to produce video content to draw in new clients, sell their services, and educate customers. However, for your videos to be engaging and appealing, they must be clean, crisp, and relevant. For this, you need to acquire the services of a video production company. But, depending on the content you want to create, services can be pretty expensive.

If you’re wondering what goes into deciding the cost of video production, you’re in luck. At Tetra Films, our experienced video producers have gone through the film-making process hundreds of times and know all of the key elements that impact the pricing of video productions. To share our insights with you, we’ve explained how production costs are estimated.

Generally, the cost of a business or educational video can range from as little as $0 if you do it yourself to as high as $1 Million or more if you work with an agency to create a national commercial. However, most of our corporate clients spend between $5000 and $150,000 on the creation of a single video.

The price of our video production services varies so much, mainly due to the different factors involved in the creation of a video. Each of these factors impacts the production cost and can cause your project expenses to increase dramatically.

To ascertain what factors will impact your video’s pricing, you first need to consider its purpose. For this, you must determine if you envision creating something tactical and short-term like a new product explainer video, or something with a longer shelf life for training or educational purposes. Once you identify the purpose of your video and what it will include, you’ll be able to see the factors contributing to your costs, which are also known as predictable and measurable key cost variables.

Key cost variables

With knowledge of your key cost variables, you can work backward to decide on your budget. Knowing what your cost variables are will also help you determine the cost of your basic requirements and those additional aspects that will spruce up your content.

For example, when you buy a car, there is a base price for the standard model, and additional costs for the bells and whistles, depending on your needs. Similarly, when you focus on the bottom line, we recommend that you make sure you’re clear on the story you want to tell through your marketing strategy and key messaging. The fancy bits can be looked at later.

To narrow down your options, define the scope of the shoot, and the desired production values you would like to work within, you can look at some video samples for reference. Once you have a good idea of what video or videos you need and the story you want to tell, it’s time to consult with a producer.

The price quoted by your producer to create the video you have in mind will depend on factors like time (video length and time it takes to produce), people (audience, talent, and production staff required) locations, equipment, editing, and effects. To show you how each of these factors play a role in the cost of video production, we have explained them in detail below.

Time

When deciding on a budget, the first key cost variable to think about is time. Irrespective of the logistics of your video, you need to plan for pre-production, production, and post-production and how long it will take to complete each phase. You will also want to think about how long your video needs to be. This will dictate how much shooting needs to get done.

People

The second key cost variable is people, which refers to your film crew, makeup artists, possibly actors, and anyone else needed for the production. Of course, a simple video may involve only a handful of personnel, such as a company spokesperson, director, cameraman, and sound specialist. But, a more elaborate video will require additional people and support. This will increase your ultimate costs.

Location

The third key cost variable is location. It can be free if you decide to shoot your video in your office. At the same time, it can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you shoot in a studio or at an exclusive location. Try to decide on your budget in advance to help you clarify what you can afford for a location.

Equipment

Sometimes, you must have a particular piece of equipment or camera gear to get the shot and the effect you want. Most companies have various production tiers, from simple videographer packages to more involved technical shoots where they use multiple cameras, each with their own operator. The more specific equipment you need, the more expensive your production will be.

Editing and effects

Editing and effects are part of post-production, and depending on the project, you may need music, VFX, voice-over, fancy transitions, animation, or other post-production effects. The more editing and effects required, the more your budget will increase.

What’s essential for your project?

Now that you understand what drives cost when producing video content, you can start making decisions about what is necessary and what isn’t. Generally, it all swings back to what your goal is for the video. If a $10,000 video can generate $100,000 in sales or reach and help one million people or better position your brand in the marketplace, it’s a no brainer to spend the money. But, remember not every production needs every item on the menu (i.e., the fancy elements).

In summary, we recommend three basic steps to help you choose what’s necessary for your needs:

1. Make a conscious commitment to adding video to your marketing and communications strategy. When you are aware of what you are doing, you can condition it to achieve exactly what you require.

2. Contact an experienced producer like us to provide you with efficient guidance. We will ask you to fill out a creative brief, which is a great tool to start your budgeting process. Through it, we will consider all of your cost variables and help you determine how much you need to spend and where you can cut costs.

3. Give us a call if you have any questions about the video-making process. When you have doubts and questions, it’s vital to have them clarified and answered to ensure you and your producer are on the same page. This will help you prevent unnecessary expenses and also guarantee you receive the desired video content.

If you have any more questions about video production for your business needs, get in touch with the experts at Tetra Films. We are a leading corporate video production company serving clients across Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Maple Ridge, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, West Vancouver, Abbotsford, Victoria, Mission, British Columbia, Toronto, Ontario, Calgary, Edmonton, Alberta. We produce video content for a variety of businesses, both big and small, to educate and attract consumers. Our content is created with passion, experience, and state of the art technology so that you receive nothing but quality. Moreover, we work along with you to determine your needs and budget so that you obtain precisely what you desire.

To learn more about how we can help you, please click here or contact us by clicking here.