Hiring A Video Production Company
We’ve had the opportunity to travel abroad to film commercials, documentaries, music videos, explainer videos, tutorials, and more. It comes at no surprise, that people in different locations have varying expectations when hiring a video production company. In this blog we hope to cover a few of the different expectations we’ve experienced and what to expect when hiring our company, Mecoclub, to film your next project or marketing campaign.
Our first example takes us to a place we know and love, New York City. In 2019, New York City’s film and television industry paid a labor force of over 100,000 people upwards to 12 billion dollars in wages according to this official NYC economic impact study. That means that if you are someone that’s hiring a video production company in New York City, you have likely worked with video professionals before. You know some of the ins and outs, and it’s common to see a professional video production team or camera operator in your neighborhood. So common you may sometimes completely ignore them as you cross a street or text on your phone.
But now if you are from the rural midwest, that’s a different story. When a client hires our video production team in Central Illinois, where we are based, often there are a lot of questions. Many of our clients in these regions haven’t worked with professional video teams before and they don’t always have anyone available with experience in front of a camera.
Does anyone know where a cinematographer is?
This isn’t about comparing places. Honestly, the expectations are just very different depending on the clients and locations.
Even if you’re not hiring a videographer, this is still true. I want to take a moment and point out that many people in major cities like NYC, Chicago, or even Nashville have little to no experience hiring a roofer, or someone to install siding or gutters. I think they’d have very different questions for those contractors and different expectations than a person living in a more rural area where people tend to own their own homes.
That all being said, we’re going to cover a few basic areas that we often address, and that everyone everywhere needs to be aware of before our production crew can begin shooting your project.
If it doesn’t look good in real life, it might not look good on camera.
People often expect that because we use professional cinema gear and we know what we’re doing, we can make anything look great. That’s only true if we define “great” as quality. We can make it high quality. High quality doesn’t always mean great. That basement office that needs remodeling, is still going to look like a basement office that needs remodeling, and that can be a whole vibe! We can lean into that creatively, but we can’t make it into something else. This is why we stress the importance of thorough pre-production.
In pre-production, we look for locations that are going to be visually appealing, and that fit the ad copy or narrative. Some great locations are obvious, like a mountain or a beach, we all know they’re inspiring on their own. If it’s interior the location may need to be a place with a lot of color, or a studio where lighting can be used to provide style and flare. There isn’t one right location but there are definitely wrong ones and we want to find the best ones before we turn on the cameras.
A great video production may take longer than you might think.
Very rarely is a shoot just an in-and-out experience and often when customers want it to be it’s for one of two reasons. They either believe that it’s always as simple as pointing a camera at something and hitting the record button, or they think that time is money and they want it to happen fast, and often they believe both!
In most cases executing a great commercial or video is generally a long process. A lot of hours go into pre-production and planning so that when we arrive on set to shoot, we all know our roles and it can all happen smoothly. Even so, there are a lot of moving parts.
For example, if we are starting the shoot at 9 AM, we will need one to two hours to set up, assuming all details were planned in advance. If we move to different locations, even in the same building, it still takes a lot of time between shots to set up again and frame the scene in each area. A lot also depends on the talent on camera. Do they know their lines? Did we get all the shots we needed for each scene to be complete?
One of the first jobs we ever bid on was for a publicly funded institution with a large operating budget that asked us to film at 4 different locations with interview-style audio at each. The locations were all in the same city about 10-15 minutes apart. We quoted them for 4 hours of labor and they came back and told us that it would never take that long and that they were no longer interested. We should have quoted them for a full day of filming because there was no possible way we could do it in 4 hours and it still be a product we are proud of or that would reflect well on the business they're trying to promote. It was simply a problem in their expectations and a lack of communication on our part. We expected them to know instead of helping them to understand.
When investing in a video marketing campaign, a website, content creation, or any asset that you are hoping can grow your business and increase sales, expect it to take time. The waiting is the hardest part as Tom Petty says, but trust me when I say you don’t want a video production team or a designer to be in a hurry.
Just a dog waiting patiently
What’s it cost? We have to know the details to know the price.
When you contact us about your video production needs, we want to know the details so that we can know how big or small the scope of the project is. It’s our job to get creative, to give you ideas and options that we can use to fulfill your company's vision and end goals. We talk through every aspect of your project from locations to gear to crew and talent. We can then offer you different packages at different price points and you can choose the video that’s the right fit for you. Our rates don’t change, but the scope of the work can be very different depending on the style of the video and what we hope to accomplish.
There is no “one price fits all” video production. Any place that is offering out-the-box pricing, is giving you an out-the-box video. There are a lot of videographers that are making all the customers essentially the same video and they may have set prices for some of those as they are just replicating what they already did for your competitor. These companies have their place but they are not full-service film production companies. It’s important to know what you want and whether the team you’re working with can produce content at that level.
Since the goal is engagement, we want to avoid that style of content, and when searching for film and video professionals expect a good video production company to have standard rates but not set costs.
Hopefully, these tips help you to know what to expect when hiring a video production company. We are happy to help and answer any questions you may have. When working with us we stress pre-production and planning, we will review and answer all your questions, we will provide a timeline, and we will be upfront about our rates and pricing and find a plan that works for you. Don’t work with a video production team or marketing company that isn’t willing to do the same.