OK, OK, so you want an idea of how much web video costs
That, of course, is the million dollar question!
So, maybe you read my last blog “Did you know that by 2013, 90% of all website traffic will be generated by video?”In that I tried to explain that a) making a decent video that works well for your company is a complicated business and b) that to get the right results you have to work closely with us, the video production people, and you have to understand how the costing scale works. I was lazy and simply brought into play the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’. Which is as true today as it ever was. But I also suggested that with the right planning, you can get a video that you are pleased with, and which has been produced at a budget you are happy with.
Which is fine. I also said ‘talk to us and we will run through the options for your video that ultimately determine the cost’. Apparently, saying that isn’t enough. People want some examples. So that’s what this blog is about. I’m going to give you some ideas as to what you can get for what sort of cost. All of these movies (bar one – see notes with example 3 below) will play in HD provided you have a decent broadband connection. If you don’t, and are suffering buffering issues, watch at standard definition.
Example 1 – low budget
This is an example of what we call a talking head movie. It is a company’s spokesperson, presenting an idea or a product for the benefit of his company’s target audience. Simply put, it is a sales tool.
This type of video is reasonably straightforward to make. We film in just one location, with minimal kit and crew, and we create an edited movie with basic titles and don’t need to buy in any outsourced content (that might be actors/presenters, professional voice-over artists, animated graphics, stock footage to illustrate points being made, multiple music tracks etc). We will use your logos, we will create a style that reflects your company’s look’n’feel, and we will supply a license-free music track.
Remembering that EVERY video we make is an individual project and needs careful costing, this is the sort of video that we might – depending on your location and other factors – be able to make for less than £1,000. If everything is perfect, all the ducks are lined up, then we might even be able to do it for £500 – £750. It would be more realistic, though, to budget £750 – 1250 for this type of movie.
Example 2:
This movie moves us onto the next level. Here we are filming in multiple locations, with some more sophisticated graphics and with a professional voice-over artist.
Creating and filming a video such as this will normally involve a day planning with your company, 2-3 days filming with a 2-3 person crew and about the same again for post-production – edit, voice-over recording/dubbing etc. A guideline costing for a movie such as this would start at a base level of £2,000, and to once again provide a sensible budget proposal, £2500 – 4,000 is realistic.
Example 3:
This movie was created for an international client whose instruction was “make it very edgy/contemporary” – so we did our best! The sad news is that we don’t have an HD version of this movie, so the edit you see here is somewhat less crisp than the previous two examples. Nevertheless, it allows you to see the treatments used and the sophisticated filming and edit techniques.
This, then, is the next level of movie production. We filmed in Holland, with a four person crew. The movie required us to budget for travel, accommodation and F&B, a professional voice-over, outsourced graphics and titling sequences, and approximately 5 days in edit. Budgets for movies such as this when filmed in the UK are in the £5,000- 7,500+ area. Add international travel into the equation and a sensible budget will be £7,500 – 10,000.
So now you have an understanding of the type of costs involved in producing a good-looking video for your company that presents your messages in a clear and professional manner. Whether you spend £500 with us, or £15,000, we will work with you to deliver the results you want. And that doesn’t stop with delivering a finished movie file to you. We also become involved in helping you promote your video using our extensive social media networks and expertise. In my first blog, I said that I would talk about that in my second blog. Well, I didn’t because the feedback I was getting was that you wanted cost guidelines. So now, dear readers, I will invite you to read about promoting online video in my next – the third – blog on the topic of web video.
Vince Holton
Artemis Internet Marketing.
PS: Just for a bit of entertainment, here is a movie example we made for a company product presentation involving a £3,000,000 Sunseeker Motor Yacht – sometimes this job can be glamorous – and also a short showreel for Insignia Motor Yachting, which is a web-based TV channel that I run.
