When most of the people consider video production, the first question they ask is, “How much can be a video production cost?” Video production cost depends on various factors like the crew size, the gadgets to be used and obviously the experience of the crew members.

If you have a small budget then you should work on ideas that can be executed in a small budget. You should not plan a chase scene as you see in Fast and Furious. Because that will affect the quality of the video negatively.

Producing dozens of low-quality videos will be bad for your brand image. Rather, create a high-quality video that will attract people towards your brand.

What’s in it for me?

1. Quality over quantity
2. The cost breakdown
3. What kind of video are you looking for
4. What will be the video duration
5. Where do you want the video to be shot
6. How much time
7. Which equipments do they need
8. Which type of post-production do you want them to do
9. Whom do you want as the crew members
10. How to get a good video in a small budget
11. Conclusion
12. FAQ

Quality over quantity:

Do you know more than 500 hours of fresh videos are uploaded on Youtube per minute? That’s a lot. Is it possible for you to watch them all? I think, no! Probably, you also think that can’t.

So, which videos will you want to watch? Those, which are of your work and of good quality. No one likes to watch a crappy video. But most of the videos which are daily uploaded on Youtube are not of good quality.

Every single music videos don’t achieve the success of Despacito. So you unconsciously always prefer quality over quantity. But when you pay for something, you look for the return of investment.

If you get 5 videos for Rupees 1 lakh rather than 1 video for the same amount probably you will think that getting 5 videos will be a great choice. But, you should actually check the quality over the quantity in this case also. Why?

Let’s have a look at the table.

62%	23%	60%	57%
of your potential customers will make a Negative perception about your brand if you publish poor quality Video content.	of the people who have watched a poor quality video published by your brand will hesitate to buy your product.	said that if they an online poor video experience will be enough to stop them from engaging with that specific brand and its social media accounts anymore.	will never share a poor quality video on social media sites.

Doesn’t the table look scary? So when it’s about video production everything is about the quality, not quantity. Okay, enough bad news for today.

Now let me share something good. Fortunately, the cost of B2B video content is at an all-time low now. According to a survey conducted by Wyzowl, 79% of the consumers prefer to learn something from a video rather than reading some text and a good video convinces 84% of the consumers to buy a product.

So, I think now you know, what gives you the better return of investment. Instead of making a dozen of average or bad video quality video contents make a good one.

You may have to add some extra bucks to your budget for a video. But with that kind of high conversion rate you are going to get back your money in a couple of months, though the effect of the video on your consumer’s psychology will be forever.

Let’s take an example.

If you invest Rupees One Lakh for a good explainer video for your brand, you may use that video forever. Maybe you will be able to use that for 5 years. Then the video will cost Rupees Twenty Thousand per year. For all these years thousands of customers will be attracted to purchase your product or your service just because of the video.

You get a lot of promotional emails every single day. Right? You do not open most of them. But, do you know the open rates increases by 19% and the click-through rate increases by 65% if you include videos in your email marketing campaign? Isn’t it amazing?

So, never spend a lot more than your capacity for a video, but also never compromise on quality for saving a few bucks.

Now, let’s come back to the point, “How much does video production cost?”

Well, video production cost depends. It depends on many factors. An ad video for TATA may cost Rs 2000000, and an ad video by the same video production agency for a smaller brand may cost as low as Rs 300000.

The crew size, the experience level of the crew members, the gadgets, the effort the agency has to put on the post-production, all these factors cause this drastic difference of cost.

The Cost Breakdown:

What kind of video are you looking for?

The cost of video production depends on the type of video content in many ways. The cost of the animated video will never be the same as the cost of a video shoot with real cameras.

What will be the video duration?

Agencies don’t usually charge on the per-minute or per-second basis. The cost for a video of 1 minute and the same video of 2 minutes will be almost the same. But if you want them to make a 3 hours long video for the same amount of money then probably the agency is not going to work with you.

Where do you want the video to be shot?

If you are hiring a video production agency from Kolkata and you want the video to be shot in Dubai, then, of course, they are going to charge the travel and accommodation expenses from you.

How much time?

Most of the video production agencies charge per day. So, if they need just one day to shoot, then the cost will be way lesser than if they need two days to shoot.

Which equipments do they need?

Buying all different lenses, lights, tripods, gimbals, cranes any everything for an agency is not possible. They usually rent them. So they will for sure add the amount they are paying as rent to the cost you pay them.

Even if they are not renting the equipment they will charge more for shooting with costlier equipment, because they have to cover the expenses they have made for purchasing the gadgets. If you want aerial shots then the agency will charge a few bucks more as the rent of the drone.

Which type of post-production do you want them to do?

Video editing, Color grading, VFX and Motion graphics, these all fall under the category of post-production. Now if you want a simple video with a natural colour tone then the agency will not charge any extra money for post-production. But if you want the video to be colour graded like Joker(2019) then they are going to charge you more. For VFX and Motion graphics they will charge a lot more.

Whom do you want as the crew members?

It’s easy to understand that if you hire a big team then you have to pay more. But that’s not all. You will also have to pay a lot more for an experienced crew member.
So, there is no particular answer to the question, “How much does video production cost?” But let me provide a standard price chart for video production in India.

2D Animation Video	Rs 5000- Rs 20000 / minute
3D Animation Video	Rs 30000- Rs 100000 / minute
Product Videography	Rs 50000- Rs 300000
Aerial Videography	Rs 10000- Rs 90000
TV Commercial	Rs 50000- Rs 500000
VFX	Rs 60000-Rs 100000 / minute
Short Film	Rs 30000- Rs 500000
Feature Film	Rs 200000- Rs 1000000
Wedding Videography	Rs 50000- Rs 200000

Now if you want really good video content with a small budget, what will you do?

First of all, don’t hire an agency

Hire a freelancer or a beginner. They are looking for projects rather than money to make a good portfolio. They will put all their efforts to make a great video for you because they will want to get their next client by showing the video they will be making for you.

Secondly, don’t expect too much

A freelancer may provide you with a video of decent quality. But never expect that the video would look like a Hollywood flick. Because they have limitations. You are not paying that much, that they can rent good equipment.

If you don’t have that budget problem, then I would recommend you to choose an agency judging them on the basis of their portfolio and comparing their quotations with the quotations of other companies.

There’s another way of saving money. You can learn the basics of the kind of video you need. Sometimes the agencies cheat their clients by saying, “Oh, it’s a huge project. We need 3 days to complete the shooting process of the video” and they charge for 3 days. But maybe actually they could do that in only one day.

You can watch backstage videos of advertisements on Youtube and get a rough idea about how much time they should actually require to shoot a scene or to set up the cameras and other gadgets.

So, next time before asking “How much does video production cost” ask yourself which kind of video you need and more essentially what your budget is.

Conclusion

The cost of video production changes depending on different parameters. It can cost you from some hundred dollars to millions.

First, know your capacity and fix a budget, then hire an agency. Otherwise, if you have more of a tight budget then hire freelancers instead of an agency, or the best thing you can do is learn yourself.

FAQ