How to figure out video production cost and budgets
Roll cameras, cue the lights, and... hold on! Before you dive headfirst into creating your next amazing video, let's talk about the unsung hero of every successful production: the budget. At HiLo Motion Pictures, we've seen brilliant ideas take flight, and we've also seen fantastic concepts crash and burn, not because of a lack of creativity, but because of a lack of financial foresight.
Figuring out video production cost and budgets can feel like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. It's complex, with many moving parts, and if you don't understand the mechanics, you'll just end up with a jumbled mess. But fear not, aspiring video magnates! As a leading video production company, we're here to demystify the process and give you the confidence to budget like a pro.
Think of your video budget as the backbone of your production. It supports everything else – the vision, the talent, the equipment, and ultimately, the quality of your final masterpiece.1 Skimp on the backbone, and your entire project might just… slouch.
The Big Three Pillars of Video Production Cost: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production
Every video project, from a quick social media ad to a full-blown brand story, goes through these three crucial phases.2 Understanding what goes into each will give you a clearer picture of where your money is going.
1. The "Blueprint Stage": Pre-Production (Roughly 20-25% of Budget)
This is where the magic begins on paper. It's the planning, the strategizing, the meticulous setup before a single frame is shot. Skimping here is like building a house without an architect – possible, but probably won't end well.
Concept & Strategy: Developing the core idea, message, and how it aligns with your marketing goals.
Scriptwriting: Crafting the narrative, dialogue, and voiceover. The more complex, the more it costs.
Storyboarding & Shot List: Visualizing each scene, shot by shot.3 Essential for complex narratives or product video production blog features.
Casting: Finding the right on-screen talent (actors, presenters, voiceover artists).4 Professional talent comes with professional rates.
Location Scouting & Permits: Finding the perfect backdrop and securing legal permission to film there.5
Scheduling & Logistics: Planning shoot days, coordinating crew, equipment, and talent.6
Our Take: Many clients think pre-production is just "talking." We call it laying the foundation for success. The more clearly defined your vision is here, the smoother (and often cheaper!) the subsequent stages will be. It's also where we connect your video's purpose (e.g., boosting sales for your video production services) with the creative execution.
2. The "Lights, Camera, Action!" Stage: Production (Roughly 50-60% of Budget)
This is where the rubber meets the road – or, more accurately, where the lens meets the scene. This phase is typically the most resource-intensive.
Crew: Director, Director of Photography, camera operators, sound engineers, lighting technicians, production assistants, hair and makeup artists – the size and experience of your crew significantly impact cost.7
Equipment Rental: Cameras (high-end cinema cameras versus standard DSLRs), lenses, lighting kits, grip equipment (dollies, jibs, stabilizers), audio gear, drones – the complexity of your desired look dictates the gear.
Locations: Rental fees for studios, private properties, or even public spaces that require permits.8
Set Design & Props: Building custom sets, sourcing specific props, wardrobe.9
Travel & Accommodation: If shooting on location, factor in flights, hotels, and local transport for the crew and talent.10
Catering: Keeping the crew and talent fed and hydrated throughout long shoot days.
Our Take: This is where the magic truly happens, but it's also where costs can escalate quickly if not managed meticulously. As the best video production company, we optimize every shoot day, ensuring efficiency without sacrificing quality. For a deeper dive into what goes into a professional shoot, check out the Video Production Orange County Blog.
3. The "Finishing Touches" Stage: Post-Production (Roughly 20-25% of Budget)
The raw footage is just clay; post-production is where it’s sculpted into a masterpiece. This phase often involves highly specialized skills and software.
Editing: Assembling footage, cutting scenes, refining pacing, incorporating sound bites.
Sound Design & Mixing: Enhancing audio clarity, adding sound effects, mixing music and voiceovers to create an immersive experience.
Motion Graphics & Animation: Creating titles, lower thirds, animated logos, explainer graphics, or even full animated sequences. This can be a significant cost driver for complex animations.
Color Grading: Adjusting colors and tones to achieve a specific visual mood and ensure consistency across all shots.11
Visual Effects (VFX): If your video requires special effects, green screen compositing, or CGI, this is where that magic happens – and it can be highly specialized and expensive.
Music Licensing: Securing rights to use background music. Custom scores will cost more.
Revisions: Factor in a certain number of revision rounds. Excessive changes can increase costs.
Our Take: Post-production is where your video truly comes to life, turning raw footage into a compelling story that resonates with your audience and achieves your objectives.12 This is where our expertise in video production services shines, transforming disparate elements into a cohesive and impactful final product.
Key Factors That Swing the Cost Pendulum:
Beyond the three phases, several specific elements can significantly influence your overall budget:
Video Length: Longer videos generally mean more shoot days, more editing, and higher costs.13
Production Quality & Style: A simple talking-head video costs less than a cinematic commercial with multiple locations, actors, and special effects. Animated videos also have a wide cost range depending on complexity (2D vs. 3D, character design, etc.).14
Number of Locations: Each new location requires setup, teardown, and travel time.
Talent (On-Screen & Voiceover): Professional actors, models, or recognized voiceover artists will command higher fees, sometimes including usage rights.15
Originality vs. Stock: Custom graphics, music, and footage cost more than licensing stock assets.
Turnaround Time: Need it yesterday? A rush job typically incurs rush fees.16
Budgeting Like a Boss: Your Next Steps
Define Your "Why" & "Who": Revisit the previous blog post! Your objective and audience dictate the video's scope, which directly impacts cost.17
Research & Get Quotes: Don't settle for the first number you hear. Contact a few reputable video production company providers (like us!) and get detailed quotes. Be clear about your needs.
Prioritize: If your budget is tight, where can you compromise without sacrificing your core objective? Maybe fewer locations, less complex graphics, or a shorter video?
Ask for a Detailed Breakdown: A good best video production company will provide a clear, line-item budget, not just a lump sum. This transparency is key.
Factor in a Contingency: Always, always add a 10-15% buffer for unexpected costs or unforeseen challenges.
Understanding these factors is your superpower in navigating the world of video production costs. At HiLo Motion Pictures, we believe in transparent pricing and working closely with our clients to craft stunning, effective videos that align with their budget and deliver exceptional ROI. Ready to get a realistic quote for your next video masterpiece? Let's talk!
Let me walk you through the process for how we breakdown our time to help you understand it better.
1. CONCEPT PLANNING
The first thing is simply getting on the same page with the client to make sure we’re producing what they need to meet their goals. At this point, we’ve likely already met with the client before preparing their video proposal, so this concept planning meeting typically only takes about 30-minutes to 1-hour and can be done in-person or over the phone. We do things like:
outline the approach to the video (Treatment Planning)
discuss with client the subject matter and raw video that must appear in the video
discuss how many on-camera interviews will be conducted; select interviewees and discuss plan for contacting and coordinating each person
Go over locations, Talent and any other on set variables we will need (this can get time consuming in the process) NOTE: Talent, locations and Sets all are additional costs that can be discussed up front.
2. PRE-PRODUCTION
Next, we start to assemble all the things we’ll need during the shoot. This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours. Preparations include:
Create the treatment or outline of the video including all talent, graphics, shots, scenes and scripts
create any necessary shot lists (based on the concept meeting)
prepare interview questions (based on the concept meeting)
prepare equipment (checking/testing the camera, lights, media cards, tripod)
NOTE: most of the time there is multiple cameras, lighting, electric (grip), full audio set ups, make up artists, directors, cinematographers, talent and producers on set. ITS ALOT:)
3. VIDEO SHOOT/FILMING
The day of the video shoot (SET) is the most obvious to people because we’re on-site so what we do is on display and you can actually see whats going on. This is a big part of the “it depends” aspect of things but also plays the biggest role in pricing sometimes. How many video shoots will be required to capture what we need for the video? How many days?
NOTE: Talent and location also charges daily as well.
It’s talked about and decided in advance when the video proposal is being prepared. Sometimes everything we need to shoot is in a single location and all available on the same day. Perfect.
On the other hand, sometimes there are multiple locations involved, someone critical to the video needs to be interviewed on a different day, et cetera. All of these things add-up.
As far as the shoot itself, here are some of the things we do:
cinematographer visits each site to shoot everything on the shot list. (location scouting)
cinematographer also shoots other raw video he/she finds relevant or beneficial
cinematographer interviews predetermined people
Most of Hilo Motion PIctures videos only require multiple cinematographers, but there are cases where additional resources are needed or requested. We have helped coordinate things like additional videographers, sound technicians, an live online streaming coordinator, a teleprompter operator, hair and makeup, et cetera. Adding professionals like these does increase the production’s cost.
4. POST-PRODUCTION
This is where a lot of the time gets spent that the client never gets to see. It’s the other “it depends” variable. How much time gets spent in post-production varies depending on the amount of raw video there is to sift through and how complicated the story is to tell. It could take anywhere from 2-5 days in most cases. Some of the things that need to be accomplished are:
Logging Raw 4K Video
review all the raw video that was shot
transcribe sound bites from interviews
Video Edit
edit video according to the approved script
relevant graphics are created
preview video is provided to client for viewing
minor changes are discussed by phone, changes requested by client are made
Motion Graphics and Animation
•This is one of the most time consuming and longest processes in the mix. Also the most expensive hourly so all motion graphics and animations are discussed before the Production including CGI if necessary.
Wrap
digital files are created
Taking into consideration each of those phases… concept planning, pre-production, video shoot, and post-production… most projects take 60-90 days to complete, costing about $15,000 – $60,000.
Price is always agreed to in advance with our clients, so they know what the cost is before production begins. We have had a few situations where a project takes longer than anticipated and the price has changed during the process. In all of those cases, the clients added shoots, or other components, and then agreed to an accordingly higher price. Communication is the best way to avoid any potential cost issues.
5. LOW-COST LOCAL PROMO VIDEOS
We do have a low-cost option for small business owners with tiny marketing budgets. We produce some really nice short videos for around $4,000-5,000.
Those videos are all about keeping a very strict production schedule. From beginning to end, the entire production needs to take us less than a day to create the video. We do that with a 1-hour video shoot, during which we ask a string of questions leading to answers that essentially create the script on its own, then we edit everything together.
Basically, these clients relinquish that control to us and trust we will deliver a video that’s on-message. Clients do not get a script to approve or a preview video that allows them to ask for changes in the final video.
This cuts down on a lot of the time it takes us in post-production. If a client wants editorial control in one of these low-cost videos, they can purchase it for an additional charge. We have never had that situation come-up, and our clients who have purchased our low-cost videos have been thrilled with the end result, and of course, the cost!
6. Videos For Crowdfunding Campaigns
This is one of my favorites because it breaks the mold of regular video production. Crowdfunding videos are a whole different ball game and alot of the time when you offer incentive packages for the production team, they may cut the rates down. As for me, I am always willing to knock some money off the crowdfunding production budget since most of these people are passionate start ups. I put together crowdfunding video packages that help young business owners launch their crowdfunding campaign a little easier.
BREAKING DOWN YOUR VIDEO PRODUCTION COST
Those basic steps for how the videos are produced should be pretty universal from company to company. Of course, every production company prices things in their own way, but that’s how we determine the cost of a video. I hope this at least gives you some understanding behind the process.
Here are some samples of price ranges:
1. RED DIGITAL CINEMA PRODUCTION:
PRICE RANGE: $30,000.00-$60,000
3. IN STUDIO PRODUCT PROMOTION VIDEO PRODUCTION:
PRICE RANGE: $9,000-$22,000
5. MULTIPLE DAYS-LOCATIONS-TALENT INCLUDING AERIALS AND TIME-LAPSE FILMING:
PRICE RANGE: $50,000-$150,000
