Long gone are the days when a simple newspaper or radio advertising was enough to convince the consumer. « See to believe » derives here its full meaning! The winning solution: A corporate video.
Corporate videos are nowadays a widespread tendency among various industries. Still, many questions remain when it comes to budgeting the production of a corporate video. Wouldn’t it be easier to just answer with a fixed price, you may think… Way too easy in fact. In reality, the final bill of your video relies on specific factors more or less unavoidable depending on your objectives and expectations.
6 fundamental questions to understand your video production quote:
What do you want to show?
Each corporate video has its own production needs. A video that is intended to be released on the Web asks for different resources than if it was released on television. It goes without saying that the same argument is applied in the case of videos with different lengths. Accordingly, a video filmed in a café requires a smaller financial involvement than a video filmed by a cameraman parachuting over the Mont-Royal.
Which location is the best?
Choose wisely your shooting location. Sometimes, shooting directly in your office is complicated and might not turn out as well on the screen. In that case, would it be more suitable to rent a studio or to book another space? Moreover, some locations ask for additional technical support: stronger lighting, casting to fill the space, a larger technical team…
What equipment is needed?
A large part of your budget will be allocated to the equipment costs. To establish, prior to the beginning of the production, your objectives, the context of production and its final destination is imperative.
If you are shooting on a cloudy day, would you need additional lighting? Does your video require a dolly, for fluid movements of camera, or only a tripod? One or more cameras? And which cameras exactly?
Who will be in charge of your video production?
The difference between what a film student and a corporate video specialist can produce is huge! The choice of your production crew will then affect the final bill but also greatly influence the quality of the video.
The price will vary in function of the crew size (directors, cameraman, editors, etc.) and the expertise of its members. Some projects ask for only one person to both film and edit, while bigger productions need a larger team to help storyboarding, shooting, recording sound, adding graphic designs, etc.
When is your deadline ?
The production of a corporate video includes several steps, each one with different time needs: storyboarding, shooting, editing, FX, … To be able to end the project on time, your video could then require additional members.
With who and with what ?
You also have to consider who will appear on your video. Will you hire actors, extras or a narrator? The amount of members and their expertise will then have a major impact on the end result.
Similarly your video might require additional footage (B-Roll), royalty-free files (stock footage, sounds, music) or graphic elements (motion designs, 3D graphics, interactivity). Even if this elements bring additional costs, they can be very effective in clarifying the content of the video and making it more attractive for the viewer.
Now that you have had an overview of the different factors that affect the final cost of a corporate video, you will be able to estimate the amount of work that is required to produce a high quality and complete video.
Here is a short summary of the different costs that come into play in the production of a corporate video.
