How not to lose a lot of money when ordering a video for business

My name is Ilya, I am a co-founder of Graphist video production, and over 10 years of creating various video content, we have studied the client’s thinking, his prejudices and how this can play against him.

In this article, we will figure out how and from whom to order a video in order to get a high-quality video that will solve your problem and save your budget. Purely informational article about sore. Have questions? Write to telegram.

1. I just need a video!

Perhaps the first and most common customer mistake is a misunderstanding why he needs video in principle.

Customer: I need a video.

Production: Where will it be used?

C: On the website and YouTube.

P: Well, what task will it perform?

C: [silence]

P: Sure, we’ll shoot something for you.

It’s one thing when you want to film your date or your child’s birthday: there’s nothing to explain, it’s a memory.

But when you order a video for a business, it is first and foremost a tool. And you must clearly understand how a video for 10 hryvnias will bring you 11 hryvnias.

If you can’t answer this question, then you probably don’t need a video at the moment (or you have nowhere to put your money, congratulations on being a rich person). I advise you to contact a marketer who will build a strategy for you and the video will occupy a specific position in it.

What functions can video perform?

By the way, the client will lose most of all at this stage, because the options for implementing any video are infinity, and projects worth several million dollars live in this infinity.

2. I’ll order from Natasha’s son, he seemed to have a camera.

That’s right, almost everyone can buy a normal camera today. That’s just a good video is not always = the presence of a camera.

Here’s what the video production market consists of:

• Beginning guys.

You should not expect a good result, but they often shoot for free.

If you have a budget for video up to 1500 UAH, it makes sense to work with them.

• Videographer.

One person who has his own technique and shoots everything that is asked of him.

He won’t ask about the task, he will just make you a video that will be OK.

• Mini production.

Only in Ukraine there are more than 10 thousand of them. Roughly speaking, these are some creative associations of several people. There is already a scriptwriter-director, and an operator, and even a producer-administrator.

And if you’re lucky, a unique concept will be created, and the scriptwriter will delve into the study of your product and task.

• P-production.

The guys who have specialists of all directions on board drive cars with the inscription PATRIOT (you have obviously seen them in your city) and will charge you a huge price for their work. But they will give you a truly masterpiece result.

Keep in mind that if you don’t have at least 20 thousand dollars in your pocket, then you don’t even have to write to them.

• Producer.

Another option, how you can order a video, is to contact a freelance producer.

He will select the necessary specialists for your budget and task, control the entire production process and have a nice coffee with you.

From whom to order a video for you? The answer to this question is hidden in the task of the project.

3. I need like Dudya

Believe it or not, every third client comes to us with such a reference.

And everything would be fine if then the client was not frightened by the price. The production of a video like Dud’s costs about 25,000 hryvnias.

But before we abandon the idea of ​​making a video, let’s figure out what “Like Dudya” means. And what is the price of the video.

Main items on the budget:

The video “Yuri who blows” is filmed on 3 cameras, each camera has its own operator. Each camera comes with a lens and a bunch of other things that allow you to control the shooting process, to be sure that one of the cameras has not stopped recording, etc. It all costs money.

Expensive devices are used for lighting, I will not delve into this moment, there is a lot of physics.

Equipment for shooting cannot be brought by metro. Usually all filming equipment weighs tons and occupies the entire interior of the bus and costs tens (hundreds) of thousands of dollars.

When it comes to editing, don’t forget that an interview filmed with 3 cameras is 4.5 hours of footage. Just to view them you need 4.5 hours. The installation itself takes several days. For dessert, one more fact: 4.5 hours of high-quality video takes 1.5 terabytes of memory and they also need to be stored somewhere.

Of course, you can save money, and instead of three operators, take one and cameras not for 1000 tugriks, but for 300. And the light is cheaper. Yes, the shadows will be harder and the picture will be slightly worse.

Perhaps one camera stops recording video sooner than necessary, or one of the guests is out of focus.

Perhaps your task does not require more. But it is important to have a dialogue with the production.

For our clients, we consider the estimate according to the reference that they provide us, but we immediately ask the question: do they need exactly such a result? Then we offer an option that in all respects will be beneficial to the client.

4. A year later… Can we change the editing a bit?

If the production counted on your project to buy a hard drive, it’s not because they decided to cash in on you. As we said, 4.5 hours of source material weighs 1.5 terabytes (sometimes much more). This amount of memory must be taken somewhere.

And they take it to the store. In the case of production, this is a consumable and there is a strict rule: 1 project = 1 disk.

You can convince the production that buying a disc is not necessary at all. But then if you want to redo the editing of your video in a year, then the source files will no longer exist in this world, and you will need to shoot a new video.

In summary: decide why you need a video. Always talk to a production representative and ask how and what you can save on, but be quick to ask what the implications of the savings might be.

Personally, I love to shoot and talk about shooting. If you want to ask me a question, consult or just have a coffee together, write to telegram.