Video Production fee

Hello a few years ago i asked this question on the old board, thought i would put it up here if anyone wanted to see it. if anything has changed between then and now then go fot it.

Post 1
Craig Parkes

It's highly negotiable, even in the professional arena.

What I would suggest as a newbie is look at what you think your time is worth an hour - estimate how many hours you are going to be putting in, and charge them out at that but let them know that it's a trial deal and you are just covering your time and expenses to be there, not any cost to use equipment etc (unless of course you are hiring, in which case you should obviously cover your costs for gear hireage.)

Alternately just go the Koha route - say that you are young and wanting to learn and are going to be putting roughly this many hours in to do it and that you'd be happy for them to judge what your time was worth to them the first time out once they have seen the finished product.

Post 2
Backfocus

yep, it's like saying how long is a piece of string (rope)

If you are going to make money from your efforts make sure you offer a professional service in every way and be completely honest about your capabilities through out the process.

A ball park figure for a promotional video for a company in New Zealand is about $1200 to $1800 per finished minute of the production (of course it can be higher or lower but those figures are about what a client can expect to pay in Auckland for a promo non TV production) for international work it gets up to around $4000 per finished minute.

Remember the client has expectations of their production looking as slick as what they see on TV or the movies, so offer up examples of what you are capably of producing (a showreel)

A few rules of thumb:

* Never let the client or the testimonials talk directly to the camera (never) no matter how confident they think they are. Always interview them while you sit beside the camera and they look at the interviewer.
* Make sure you get the person who knows the most about the product or service talk - not the most pleasant looking person who happens to work for the company. Lack of sincere knowledge comes across quickly on screen.
* Allow yourself plenty of time for production no matter how busy the client is, get your sound, lighting and background perfect before you role tape (this saves a lot of headaches latter on)
* become an expert on the product or service being videoed
* 4mins is the maximum time for a promo video (as far as audience attention time, and for anything thats going to be online) and don't let the client tell you otherwise. A series of 5 two minute videos will be of more use and effective to the client than one whole ten minute video.
* Never do anything for free or barter, charge for everything (even at a discounted rate if need be) make sure the client is aware you are not a charity - They are unlikely to give you anything for free so why should you. Come across as a professional from day one.
* Avoid having a presenter for your production unless you can afford someone who knows what they are doing. (they are few and far between)
* Do get the best voice over talent you can afford - it will add a lot to the production for a relatively small cost.
* Be aware that delivery of the video via DVD, web etc will be time consuming in terms of delivering the quality the client expects.
* Have a contract with the client (no matter what) listing the expected outcomes of the video. If the creative on the video extends beyond the contract, then you and the client know clearly it will cost more.

I recon there is plenty of scope for businesses to use video as a way of marketing themselves, but what ever the video, it's quality needs to reflect the quality the business wants to portray in terms of production value, branding, market focus bla bla bla

Haha... I could go on, oh the memories. hope some of that helps.