This information is posted in the interest of full transparency on video production costs and to educate both customers and creatives. This is the text that came in to Jumpstart Video from a prospective new customer through our contact form:
“Our entity is a fast growing accessible construction company in Cleveland. We are looking to make a video with testimonials from customers and interviews with staff members. Please reach out to me with more information. Thanks!”
Here is the initial response from the Jumpstart Video front desk:
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for reaching out. I could provide an estimate today if you’d like.
Just a few questions:
Would we write a script and voice it to set up the story or let the interview comments tell the story?
I see some nice photography on your website. Do you have pictures of the projects or the “after” shot that would correspond to the customer testimonials?
Could we take a few days to shoot at various locations or would you envision a one-day video interview session at your location?
Here are some thoughts for discussion:
Based on our experience producing these kinds of videos it may be reasonable to assume that we would budget one day to shoot video interviews with your staff at your business.
Video interviews with customers shot in their home in a session that may also include shooting additional footage of the bathroom or part of their home you improved would probably take a half-day each. So we would budget two days to shoot four customer interviews.
Editing time would depend on the amount of footage we shoot, the length of the final video and
graphic treatment. A static logo to open and close with simple titles throughout takes less time than creating dynamic motion graphics and an animated open and close. We can do either one.
Also, you can save a tremendous amount of billable time by going through recorded interview footage and picking out the best sound bites to be used. We can do this work as well, we bill it out at the same hourly rate as editing.
Initially I would toss out these numbers to help, this is essentially a good video versus a better video:
| One Videographer Shoot – Simple titles method | _________________________________________________ | |
| Three days of shooting @ $900/day | $2,700 | |
| Edit two minute video – 20 hours @ $75/hour | $1,500 | |
| Total example budget | $4,200 | |
| Two Person Video Crew – Motion graphic method | ||
| Three days of shooting @ $1,200/day | $3,600 | |
| Edit two minute video – 30 hours @ $75/hour | $2,250 | |
| Total example budget | $5,850 |
We do a lot of really good videos, and they work! Not every video needs to be a cinematic documentary. I usually share a range to help guide the conversation.
You could reduce shooting time by inviting customers to your location and shooting staff and customer interviews in one day.
If we did this we could also use customer supplied pictures or your own photography and edit them into the video when the customers are talking.
We are experts at helping clients get the most video content for the money and crafting a final video that sells!
These are my initial thoughts. We would certainly be happy to discuss this further.
Thank you!
Dan Joseph
Production Coordinator
Jumpstart Video