Just curious about the market rates. Say u r asked to shoot a 3 min documentary (out of the sky idea) that may take 3hours to shoot in one day. Editing takes say... 5hrs plus company ask you to redo twice.
How to quote something like that? I would breakdown by hours but again, i am not sure what people r doing out there.
For small projects, I usually do calculate by hours as well, but do factor in your creativity charges for script & concept development...
The shortest & cheapest corporate I've done was a 2 day shoot & 2 days of post production that came close to $5k budget....after deducting off director/producer fee of about $2000, production and post production fee came to about $3000.....That's more than 50 hours of work from start of production to delivery, and it tabulates to about $60/hr of my time.
Is it worth it? Maybe worth it for some...but I must say that it's on a shoe-string budget.
I do post-production as an editor for local tv stations & international stations for 2/3rd of that amount even without spending a cent on equipment investment.)
Another example:
My last corporate training video that i took up was a very low rate at below $20k, considering client's requirement of chroma key filming.
Perhaps let me break down a bit for your considerations.
- Scripting & storyboarding - $2000
- Producing / Directing fee - $2500
- 5 days of filming with full crew - $6000+
- 5 days of post production with VO recording & use of licensed music - $8000+
(Not exact figures, but close enough for reference)
With a bit of ding-donging between clients, amendments, changes, requests for last minute shoots to squeeze in a few interviews with the company's bosses, etc.....
All these time and money spent went to pay professional crew and other services that it tabulates to a pathetic amount of earnings for the trouble of producing and project managing this corporate video....
It's no doubt that we can cut corners, cut budget, save a bit here and there, self-produce, self-direct, self-film, self-edit, etc.....but if each individual department of production should be paid what they're worth, shouldn't you be paid what you're worth even if you're taking up all these roles in the production?
Unlike wedding or event videos where it's usually a one-man production, event driven storyline/structure, corporate videos need a lot of pre-production planning and scripting. And usually the one-man production team will find it hard to handle alone....I've been there and done that.....when you require external production assistance, your cost will go up, so you'll need to take in considerations of proper budgeting.
Do remember that if you cannot deliver the video as promised, your reputation is at stake.
Some of the figures I've mentioned may be considered quite a high amount to some, but it is really considered to be damn low.....just imagine some creative companies charge $100k to produce a 30sec TV commercial.....
