Deciding on how much to budget for your video production can be a daunting task. What are the factors that you need to consider and how will they affect the end result?

Before starting this process, it is good to go through our previous posts about Preparing for your video and Choosing the right production company.

Your production, your budget

With obvious limitations related to production costs, your budget is your own and you can choose to set it based on your aspirations and requirements. You can choose to spend the bare minimum on an in-house production, you can hire a production company to produce something at the lower end of their scale or you can choose to go right to the top (as well as anything in between). Keeping the following things in mind when setting your budget will help you make a more informed decision:

What is the intended lifetime?

Are you looking to create a video for a limited time frame like a launch or a celebration? Will this be a yearly production or will your video need to withstand the test of time, at least for the next few years? How long do you want your video to be in circulation for and what are the factors that would help it be relevant for longer (if that is important to you)?

How do you want to compare to the rest of the market?

Have a look around at your competitors, those who have created productions you love, others you hate. How do you want to compare to them? What are the must-have factors that you definitely want in your video, how high-end do you need it to be? Do you want to create something at par with big budget productions or are happy with something a little simpler?

The quality of the video will depend heavily on the kind of production company you have on board, the amount of relevant experience they have, their creativity and professionalism.

Factor in costs

Will the production be shot on location or in a studio? How many different locations do you have in mind? How far are they from each other and what kind of travel is involved? What about actors? How many people do you plan to have in your production? Are they employees or paid actors?

How long do you want your video to be? How will you distribute it? Would you like the video to be translated into multiple languages?

Great expectations

Once you have a ballpark figure in mind, it’s good to share your budget with your intended production company (or companies) to discuss your expectations and get feedback about how realistic they are within your intended budget. Professionals will be able to guide you as to whether you might need to adapt either your requirements or your budget so that a clear foundation is set at the very beginning.