Video can be a ridiculously expensive business.
I’ve met people who have spent up to £10,000 on a four minute video for a website – bringing in teams from across the country who spent days filming as if they were doing a major production.
But it doesn’t need to be like this. Let’s think about what you are paying for.
Skills
Firstly, you need to pay for the videographer’s time and expertise. A good videographer needs to have great craft skills in filming and editing. But most of all, they need to be able to use these skills to tell a story – and one that aligns with your objectives.
If you are being charged £500 a day for kit hire – that is probably far more than you need!
You need to be paying a good day rate for someone who knows what they are doing. This is where saving money is not a good idea!
Equipment
The second big cost is kit.
You can spend a fortune on equipment. And video professionals love nothing more than a new camera or gadget. But the cost of equipment is coming down all the time and there is no reason that the total kit cost – cameras, lights, micropones and the rest – should be over £10,000. Probably substantially less.
They’ll need a super-fast editing laptop – but that should easily squeeze into that £10,000 budget.
Most video producers will expect you to pay a contribution to the cost of buying and maintaining the equipment on filming days. But again, given the low capital costs, that shouldn’t be enormous.
If a company comes to you with the latest high end broadcast kit – a Red or an Arri camera costing tens of thousands of pounds – you will get a lovely video. But at the end of the day, you are putting it on the internet. It’s being watched on phones or laptops. It’s not being streamed to a 60 inch 4K UHD television in someone’s living room.
If you are being charged £500 a day for kit hire – that is probably far more than you need!
There will also be small extra costs – like the cost of any music used in your video. But this shouldn’t be more than a few pounds if the videographer is using a cost-effective music library.
If you want a voiceover artist or a presenter, the cost will depend on who you get. But at Rough Cut Media we have engaged established broadcast presenters for very low costs.
So how much should it cost
If you want a really good 2-3 minute video to sell your business or to lead your charity appeal, you should allow a videographer 4-5 days to make it.
Normally, a day planning a video is a good idea. I would normally expect to spend a day (spread over a week or two) batting ideas back and forward, drafting a script and fixing up interviewees and locations.
Then you need a day filming. That can be the expensive day, given you will be paying for equipment and any travelling expenses. A single day should be plenty for a short video.
I then usually allow two days for the edit.
I’ll spend most of day one making a first cut of the video – and then the client gets to look at it and suggest changes. There should be plenty of time over the next day to get it right, and then polish the final video ready for launch.
When Costs Rise
Some videos can’t be filmed in a day. A client might have people or facilities in different geographical locations who just can’t be filmed in a single day. Clients have to work with the videographer to work out the costs and benefits of additional days.
Indecision is always expensive. If clients want endless rounds of changes to the video, then the editing doesn’t get finished in two days and it gets more expensive. Sometimes clients aren’t clear on what they want and decide they want new elements filmed after the edit. Again, that can add filming days, and a longer edit.
Finally, once you have made your film you might want to use the material for shorter social media clips, maybe in a vertical or square format for different platforms. This is a really cost effective way of using the high quality material you have gathered – but it might mean a bit more editing.
Saving Money
The best way to get cheaper video is to bulk produce content.
Maybe you want an overall branding video, as well a video selling specific projects or products (or focussing on particular charity appeals). If you plan them all together, maybe you can get them filmed in a day (or maybe two). The editing process may be a little longer, but the cost per video will be lower – especially if you can use the same material across different films.
Vloggers employing professional film makers can record ten vlogs in a sitting and they can be edited very quickly to a template. The whole lot could be done in two days or less.
The big question
When you are hiring a videographer, you need to find out their day rate, and kit hire rate – and see what you are getting for your money.
If you are being quoted £5,000 – £10,000 for a video you’re paying for a lot of days. Or maybe for a business with crazy overheads!
I find it difficult to see how the base cost of a straightforward video should rise much above £2,000. For some projects, it can be considerably less.
Rough Cut Media Ltd 