DCV's Guide to Saving Money on Video Production
Shane Yeager
When it comes to video production, you have a choice: good, fast, or cheap. Pick 2.
When it comes to video production, you have a choice: good, fast, or cheap. you can only pick two of the options.
If it’s affordable and fantastic, it will take a longer time to produce. If it’s fantastic and fast, then it’s going to cost you more. If it’s affordable and fast, then it will likely be of lesser quality.
No one wants to allocate a massive amount of spend on their marketing if they don’t have to. It’s essential to be aware of your priorities as you’ll have to decide on the budget. If you take cheap shortcuts when producing a video, you may end up spending more to fix it in post-production.
That said, there are some ways you can lower your financial costs without sacrificing video quality. There are many amazing companies out there that can help alleviate the burden that comes with video production. It’s essential to understand the ways you can cut costs along all stages of production.
From pre-production to production and into post-production, there are tactics to employ that will save you money.
How to Save Money During Pre-Production
Before filming your video content, you’ll need to do pre-production.
During this stage, you will plan out what you will shoot, draft proposals, and decide how much you want to spend.
The best way to save money is by making relevant decisions in the pre-production phase.
1. Choose Your Budget
During pre-production, you will need to define your budget.
If you want to keep it as cheap as possible, then you will have to choose to shorten the production length or deal with the loss of quality.
After you’ve considered the options and chosen the video quality, you’re OK with you will need a plan of action.
If you’ve never done video production before then, it might be a good idea to hop and have a look at how others keep their budget in check.
If you’ve done video production before, then you can begin to answer some questions that will dictate your budget.
Consider things like:
Do you need a professional scriptwriter?
What type of videographers do you want to work with? Agency or freelance?
Will the video be animation or live-action?
What are your equipment requirements?
Do you need professional actors? How many?
Where do you want to shoot? Do you need to pay for locations?
Are you shooting one video or multiple?
Maybe you’re just starting with your idea, but asking these questions will be pivotal to your overall spend.
During the pre-production, you can change your mind regarding the budget as much as you need to.
Be aware of this as if you change your mind later on, it will end up costing you quite a bit of money.
2. Draft a Proposal
After you have decided on what you need to budget, you can then move onto writing up a proposal for your video.
Keep it short and sweet, about one page in length. The brief will break down the components of the video, how much each one costs, and why they are relevant.
In your proposal, you should address the following questions:
Who’s your target audience?
Who’s your target audience?
What is the message you are trying to convey?
What’s the end goal?
What’s the length of the video?
How are you planning to market it?
Where will it be launched? What platforms?
How much have you budgeted?
What’s the deadline?
A proposal is essential to have your video project approved. It will allow you to have something to take to the directors and producers, so they know what to expect.
3. Make Informed Decisions
During the pre-production stage, you have the opportunity to evaluate all your options. You want to be sure to you’re informed in your decisions as the last thing you want is regretting it later. When it comes to outsourcing some of your production work to a third-party or external service, there is a lot that can help you.
We’ve compiled a list of a few fantastic video services that can benefit you during your production. Some of these may help alleviate some of the stress that comes with producing video content. It will all depend on what you are shooting, as well as the expertise that you have in your in-house marketing team.
UpWork
Fiver is an online resource where you can find thousands of freelancers who offer a range of services. It’s an excellent tool for video production as you can see everyone you need at a reasonable price.
Look to Fiver for custom music tracks, voiceovers with a quick turnaround, and testimonials from actors. Each freelancer will charge an amount based on their worth, so you’ll likely get what you pay for.
You’ll be able to see all the freelancer’s reviews and ratings so you can make the best decision.
Scripted
If your team is lacking in scriptwriting expertise, then you might want to check out Scripted. Your script is one of the most important written documents next to your brief, and you want to make sure it’s good quality.
Scripted offers competitive rates on their scriptwriting services and will deliver a professional and quality script.
Visual.ly
While you may not think you need an infographic for video production, they can be beneficial.
If you’re producing an animated video, especially an explainer video, then infographics will allow you to see an overview of your information. Then, you can evaluate whether the idea is as engaging as you thought.
On top of that, you’ll get an infographic that you can use for marketing purposes. You’ve also likely seen animated business videos that are just a bunch of moving infographics, so you can always use it in your video.
VoiceBunny
If you need voiceovers for your video, VoiceBunny will provide you with quality voiceovers with a rapid turnaround.
It’s easy to use, and with over 10,000 voiceover artists in their bank, you can find what you’re looking for quickly.
How to Save Money During Production
Now that we’ve covered the pre-production side of your video, it’s time to move on to production itself.
At this stage, you’ll be shooting your video. You’ll want to complete production in the shortest period that you can as each hour you spend shooting is an extra hour of pay for all your crew and talent.
At this point, you’ve chosen how you want to shoot your video and what vibe you want to convey. You’ve also hired all your crew, actors and picked all your locations.
Make sure that you’ve got a full schedule for each day of shooting, so you know what you’ll be shooting when. It will help you stick to a timeline and hopefully eliminate going over.
The most effective ways to save money during the production stage are as follows.
1. Open Communication
Ensure you have full and open communication with everyone you’ve hired to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Likely the majority of your crew will be freelancers or agency workers who you’ve been communicating with personally.
At the beginning of each day, communicate your expectations and ensure everyone understands your vision.
You can ask questions and make suggestions so you can trust that they will execute your vision. That way, you won’t end up needing to re-shoot later on.
2. Don’t Micromanage
Have faith in the crew and staff that you’ve hired to complete the video production. They are the experts. As long as you’ve adequately communicated your expectations and vision, then you can let them take care of the rest.
Don’t be petty about how the production is going, even if you don’t think it’s playing out how you thought it would. There is still post-production to tweak things if need be.
You are the client and have hired these people for a reason, so let them do their jobs. It will ensure things get done as quickly as possible, thus saving you money on their hourly wages.
3. Insurance
If you’ve not considered insurance, consider it.
The number one way you’re going to lose money is by not having insurance when something goes wrong. The larger scale that your video production is, the more risks there will be, with so many aspects to consider.
What are the most important things to ensure during video production?
- Wardrobe, Set and Props
- Insurance for Injury/Medical Expenses
- Fire Damage
- Liability Insurance
- Videotape and Film
- Third-Party Property Damage
- Equipment Insurance
Work with your producer on ensuring you have all the necessary insurance.
How to Save Money During Post-Production
Congratulations, you’ve made it post-production! Whew!
At this stage, you’ll be compiling all your footage and editing it to its final product. Hopefully, this product is was you had envisioned from the beginning.
The majority of your spending is over. You’ve got everything shot, and now you need to make do with what you’ve got. But there are a few ways to save a few more bucks during this stage.
1. Limit the Re-edits
While it may be tempting to ask for re-edit after re-edit until it’s perfect, you’ll want to try to silence that.
Each time you need something changed, the editor will have to execute those changes and then wait on you to review it. It will lead you down a rabbit hole that will take up a ton of time and also cost you.
Be objective when you review the final product and keep the re-edits to a minimum. Likely you’ll notice small things that no one else will.
2. Forget the Licenses
Try to avoid licensing as much as you can, as it will come with a cost.
If your production team has put forward music tracks that need licensing, then ask them to opt for an un-copywritten option.
Be aware that music, stock footage, sound effects, and images can come with licensing fees, so eliminate them when possible.
3. Discuss the Final Product
Video content will never be perfect.
There will always be things you wish you would have done differently or that you want to change. You’ll also find ways that you could have saved money along the way as well.
Learn from your experiences and mistakes.
The video is complete, so don’t get hung up on what you can’t change this time around. Instead, have an open discussion with the team about the final product and use those findings to help better your tactics for the next time.
Final Thoughts
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