As work gets back to pre-pandemic levels, digital content is more important than ever before. Events need sizzle videos, brand-name products need commercials, and non-profits need informational content. Video production is critically important to a brand’s success. In this article, we’ll breakdown a few ways to budget for video production to ensure maximum budget utilization and efficiency for the best outcome.

We often get asked, how much will our video cost?. It would be great if we could just throw out a number, but it’s rarely as simple as a few-second decision. Due to the number of variables that go into production, costs can vary. In the article linked above, we discuss the many factors that can impact your video production budget. For this article, let’s discuss a few methods we’ve used to help maximize the on-screen value for the most impact. We’ll outline a few tips according to each stage of the production process: Pre-Production, Production, and Post Production.

Pre-Production

While it might seem obvious that a big chunk of the video production budget comes from production, it’s actually in the pre-production phase that can help save costs down the road. Having a solid game plan can help set up the team for success and prevent unnecessary and costly delays.

First: Finalize your creative concept before moving on to pre-production. This will prevent wasted resources trying to make the production happen before the creative aspect is even finalized. Once you start locking down crew, locations, actors, and insurance, a change of the underlying story can significantly complicate the project quickly.

Second: Lock your budget before you finalize creative. For example, a creative brief that relies on a high-speed chase sequence through a downtown area will cost more than an actor walking in a public park. Just on the insurance cost alone, the video production budget can be dramatically different. Depending on the level of production, you may get a brief from an agency and be working with repped directors providing production support or you’ll just be a hybrid agency/production company working on both the creative and production side of things. The sooner this budget gets locked, the quicker you can get the pre-production underway.

Third: Decide which crew members are absolutely necessary and which are nice to have. It would be awesome to have a 2nd AC or an extra grip on every production. But many jobs’ budgets don’t justify the cost. You may be able to adjust your budget allocations to different production aspects later in the process. Every job is different and you should talk with your department heads to discuss the best choice crew and the minimum to get it done well. A happy crew will work much better than a grumpy crew!

Production

Now that your pre-production is complete and you are ready to shoot your video production, let’s break down a few ways to help allocate a budget wisely.

First: Avoid overtime by eliminating numerous takes. Does the director need coverage from three angles? Do you really need all those insert shots? When overtime is on the line, you’ve got to decide which elements are absolutely necessary to tell the story. Before the shoot day, we highlight the “critical shots” and what are “nice to haves” if we have extra time. You want to make the best video possible, but is it worth going into overtime for a few additional options?

Second: Stagger your shoot day to give different departments a lunch break when they are not actively needed. This primarily applies to Grip and Electric (G&E). If you are rolling the same set for a few hours but have a change after lunch, have your G&E team take lunch an hour before general crew lunch. This would allow them to start setting up for the next shot while the other crew is eating. Be 100% sure you won’t need anything from them during lunch or things could get complicated quickly!

Third: Ensure solid communication. We aren’t just hiring workers, we are hiring humans. As video production sets get bigger and chains of command get longer, it’s often easy to lose sight that a person is doing a task. From actors to the crew, everyone plays a role! If someone misses something, it can get costly quickly. If one task is delayed, other aspects are delayed and you risk going overtime. Yes, it’s work, but film production should be fun when it’s appropriate!

Post Production

You’ve almost finished your video production, but now you’ve got to do post! Let’s see what we can do to save some cash.

First: Ensure you have a strong treatment and final outline for the video before starting editing. This can help minimize the number of revision rounds and editing day rates.

Second: Create a stages of post-production document for your client and have them sign off each stage of the way. It might seem great to go back and change the order of shots after the picture is locked, but it’ll create additional costs with your editor and colorist to sync things up again.

Third: Consider alternative sources of music licensing, depending on your project and delivery platform. Music licensing fees can add significant costs to your budget. Instead of paying a pricey corporate license for a song, you might consider hiring a musician who is familiar with music scoring to help create a custom piece. This can also be costly, but less so than a generic song with extreme licensing costs. The cost and creative outcome of a custom piece can elevate your creative vision.

Thanks for taking a moment to read our tips on how to budget for video production! Looking for a professional San Francisco video production company? Contact Us Today!