How much did you say it cost for a video? I could do it myself for that!
After being asked for a quotation for a short video set in an office or warehouse type of environment, it has been both said and inferred to us by the business making the enquiry that they were not prepared to accept it for the main reason that they could “do it themselves on their own ‘phone for that”. Maybe they could, but we would never find ourselves saying to a decorator that we could, “pick up a roller and paint the walls ourselves” after asking her or him for a quote. You either accept it, try and find a competitive quote or do it yourself.
We believe that a person’s time is precious whatever line of work they are in and needs accounting for if they are to succeed. After receiving a video enquiry, ours goes something like this which could probably apply in some way to yourself if you run a business:
Researching a client’s business - Seeing what they do
Communication / Meeting on site or virtual with client
Preparing and sending quotation
Deciding on a concept / style for the video
Choosing music
Editing video into basic form
Building titles
Re-editing video until ready for rendering
Render video to view in final format
Upload to cloud and email link to client
Deal with snags, reasonable changes
Upload to cloud and email link to client
Admin for preparing quotation / invoices
Communication / Meeting on site or virtual with client
Preparing and sending quotation
Preparation of equipment prior to shoot inc batteries
Travel to site
Time recording on siteTravel back home
Decant footage back from SD card to PC & optimize
Choosing music
Editing video into basic form
Building titles
Re-editing video until ready for rendering
Render video to view in final format
Upload to cloud and email link to client
Deal with snags, reasonable changes
Upload to cloud and email link to client
Admin for preparing quotation / invoices
1 hr - Usually more.
1 hr say
Inc below
1 hr
1 hr -If we are lucky!
4 hrs say - Can be anything!
1 hr
1.5 hrs say
1 hr? - Usually more
1 hr - Has been 5!
8 hrs - Can be anything
2 hrs - Usually more
2 hrs
0.5 hr
0.5 hr
4 hrs - If we're lucky
0.5 hr
1 hr
Not including working with dialogue or effects if any, all of the above comes to over 30 hours but can be more or less as every assignment is different.
What cost therefore for all the above plus overheads and thousands of pounds spent on equipment that depreciates and will need replacing? We can confidently say that it is more than a few hundred pounds that we are often offered (and have worked for we are sad to say! Plenty of free work too but that’s another story….)