Now that you decided to produce a professional video for your business and to work more on enhancing your online presence. Knowing that the cost of business video production is the foremost detail you will search for. It is obvious that the business video company that you intend to hire is the one with a pricing that aligns with your budget.
As with most things you buy, the amount you pay depends on a wide variety of components. And as you’d probably expect, you can find a wide range of prices out there. Yes, it may be a frustrating answer, but the cost really depends on so many elements.
At Business Motion, pricing is usually the number one question we get, which makes sense of course. Whether it is a business video, corporate video, event video, product video, or any other type of video, the pricing of video production ranges considerably depending on several elements.
Before I turn to the elements influencing the cost, let’s look through the stages which every video undergoes regardless of its length, style, or video production company you work with. So on the whole what actually influences the price?
To put it simply, there are a lot of moving parts to create an effective business video.
Business Motion Video Production process
1- Discovery stage: which includes research, ideas generation, brainstorming, and concept development.
2- Pre-production planning stage: which includes scripting and storyboarding.
3- Production stage: which includes filming/ shooting (in case of live-action videos), animation, and VoiceOver.
4- Post Production stage: which includes video editing, motion graphics, special effects, music, and sound mixing.
5- Delivery stage: which may require few minor edits to the video once completed.
As you can see, video production involves a lot of work, time, talents, and preparation. It also involves a good amount of logistics in every stage of the project. Understanding the above video production process should help explain the video price tag.
That being said, here are some of the main factors that affect the costs of video production so you can get a better idea of what is involved.
1. Video style requirements
Whether you choose live filming or animation as a style for your video, this will definitely alter the price.
In addition, each style of animation requires different levels of time and energy. Some are very simple and take less production time while other animations may involve a lot of detailing like character animations and background designs.
Regarding live filming, prices alter as well depending on many things such as the location of the shoot, the cost of the video crew, how many cameras to be used, and the cost of the actors (if any). In general, if the production is large (with many actors in several places) then the cost will be high. A short video with one location and 1 actor would not be as costly.
Note that combining styles can also significantly drive up your final costs. Now here is our list of video styles from cheapest to most expensive.
Whiteboard Animation
2D Animation
2.5D Animation with cartoon characters
3D Animation
Live-Action (stock video)
Live-Action (filmed)
2. Video Length
The length of your video is a key budget factor. Video length can be tricky, because a simple long video can be less expensive than a more complex short one. For example: Filming an articulate talking head with limited editing for 8 min will be much cheaper than creating a 30-sec commercial. We always recommend making the video as short as possible as long as it includes the vital information that needs to be transmitted to your audience.
3. Talents and Crew
A good video is the end product of the hard work of many talented people and a professional crew. Depending on the requirements and the video style you choose, a crew may consist of 3-11 persons. The professionals involved may include: a concept creator, a scriptwriter, a producer, a director, a cameraman, a director of photography, a lightman, a sound engineer, an editor, a motion graphics animator, an illustrator, a professional VO, ….
To sum, the professionals involved in the video production process will definitely affect the cost of the video.
Thus, more talents equal more money.
4. Assets and equipment
Do any graphic assets already exist or do they all need to be created? Assets for the production of your video may include licensed photos, stock photos or custom photos in addition to custom video, stock video, licensed video, stock illustrations, 3D models etc. So if you need video assets for your video there is a cost for those as well.
Another consideration when determining costs related to video production is audio. Supplemental audio or sound effects can incur additional costs. There’s also a lot of tools and equipment that goes into production. Therefore the type and number of equipment needed to properly produce your video plays a major role in determining the cost. The production of your video may require equipment from computers and storage to cameras, drones, lighting, sound… all these will affect the cost of your video.
5. Video production creativity, expertise & experience of the team
As it is with most professions, experience truly matters. When picking a professional to work with, you pay for creativity and expertise. This is the same for any video production company. So in order to make a high-quality video, the production company needs to have qualified professionals in each one of the video production stages.
At the end of the day you are paying for the expertise and experience of the key people responsible for your video.
The talent, skill and experience of the team capturing the creative vision affects the cost. So you can always expect to get the quality for which you are willing to pay for.
6. Deadlines
The last factor affecting the pricing of your video is the turnaround time. Usually a one-minute animated video project takes around 4-8 weeks to be completed (depending on the style and level of complexity) and requires hundreds of hours of work.
A quick turnaround can affect pricing. Thus if you are working against a pressing deadline, your video will cost more because there will be overtime involved, and quick turnaround time in the whole stages of the business video production process.
So note that the less time it is allotted for production, the higher are the chances that the quality will suffer or expensive premiums will be charged.
It seems a lot of work, isn’t it? And that doesn’t even include the meetings, emails, calls, revisions, renderings, uploads, and more.
Hopefully, this article gave you a better idea about the whole video production process, and why most video production companies like Business Motion will always tell you that “it depends” when you ask us about the cost of business video production.
Summing it up, if you choose Business Motion as your video content production partner, a video project may cost you somewhere from $2000 and up…
Considering the factors mentioned above, bear in mind that a quality video can make you a lot of money in its lifetime. So video marketing is an investment that grows your business, and brings you handsome rewards and is worth doing properly.
But remember that having no video is actually better than having a bad video. So make sure to choose a professional video production company that will provide you with high-quality work.
Interested in getting a proposal for your next business video project? Send us a note and we’d love to learn more about your company!