What are the factors that determine the price of a corporate video?
The price of corporate video can vary wildly based on a variety of factors, but what are the major elements that impact corporate video cost?
Shoot Days
One of the biggest factors that determines the price of a corporate video is the number of shoot days. Why? Every extra day of filming means an extra day of crew labor (and potentially lodging and meals). You’re also going to have more footage that will require more editing time. Essentially, shoot days is a “multiplier.”
How many shoot days do I need?
This will depend on your concept. If you are filming interviews with employees, the more interviewees you have, the more shoot days you will need. A good rule of thumb is for every three interviews you have, you should anticipate one shoot day.
How did we get to that number? Warning: this gets technical, so feel free to just take my word for it and skip to the next section.
A standard shoot day is 10 (or 12) hours.
- The crew will need time to load in and set up at the start of the day and time to break down and load out at the end of the day. Combined, this will likely take about 3 hours.
- Each interview will take around one hour to set up and conduct (especially if you are changing locations for each interviewee).
- With three interviewees that only leaves 4 hours to capture b-roll. That might sound like a lot of time, but in reality it is only 1 hour and 20 minutes per person, and you do not want to skimp on b-roll.
At Tribe, I’d estimate about 60% of our videos are filmed in one day. 20% in two days and 20% in three or more days.
Locations
Where you shoot will be a determining factor in the price of your corporate video. Renting a location or filming in a studio will cost more than simply filming in your corporate offices.
However, even if you opt to only film in spaces that you own, you should expect costs to rise as you add additional conference rooms, offices, etc. Number of locations and shooting time go hand-in-hand (at least until teleportation is invented.)
Different rooms in the same building are easier to move between. Different buildings on the same corporate campus require a bit more effort, but could potentially be filmed in the same day. However, different cities or countries will likely require additional shoot days.
Do I need to film in multiple locations?
Not necessarily, but more locations is more visually interesting. You could choose a concept that is fairly self-contained, shooting all of your interviews against the same background or capturing all of your footage in the same building. For example, this video for Crum & Forster was all filmed in one building without sacrificing variety.
If you are hoping to showcase your global reach or ensure that every employee feels that their location has been represented, you might consider investing in additional days for facilities across the country or internationally. Take a look at this video for Amneal Pharmaceuticals which incorporates footage from multiple locations across the United States and India.
Editing and Graphics
Editing and graphics take time and revisions can add up quickly. Any production company will likely have a process for post-production, whether that’s billed per round of revisions, per hour of editing, or simply part of the flat fee that you’ve paid. When contracting a video production company, be clear on how they charge for editing and graphics before you start shooting or you could end up with a surprise additional charge at the end of process.
The Upshot
The price of a corporate video is determined by three major factors. Shoot days, locations, and editing. Of course that just scratches the surface, so if you’d like to discuss a specific project and get a quote, reach out!
