Story Telling Estimate

Production is scalable…

This is what I tell all of my clients. Costs depend on the number of crew required, gear rentals, number of shoot days, and post production (editing, color grade, audio mixing, and music licensing).

Here are a few examples of my own work to to help illustrate the differences in production costs.

One man band

Here is a story I did for Habitat for Humanity. I served as the director/cinematographer due to budget constraints. Projects like this fall into the three to six thousand dollar range (not including travel).

The approach is simply to do an on camera interview with the subject to capture the story in their own words. This, in turn, drives what the b-roll for the story should be. These productions shoot in one to two days.

Small crew

The project below, We the People, relied on a director/cinematographer plus two crew members: an Assistant Camera person and a grip/swing to help with lighting and sound on the interview. If the job is complex a producer may be needed to handle logistics such as arranging schedules, hotel and travel. These projects can run between six and twelve thousand dollars. Due to more preproduction work, these budgets can climb quickly. If the story calls for a preinterview and then a script, more time is involved and costs increase.

Midsized Crew

This project, To give is to Receive, required a larger crew and a more detailed treatment. This means more time for lighting and more specialized b-roll. The director will hire a highly skilled cinematographer. This doesn’t necessarily mean the video will look “slick”, but can be more stylized. There are at least five crew involved. This also requires more time in preproduction for planning and refining the story. These projects can run twelve to twenty thousand dollars.

conclusion

As I mentioned at the top, production is scaleable. Stories can be complex, but can be told at any level of production. I hope this information allows you to visually see the differences in production requirements. I’m happy to help in any way I can. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. I look forward to chatting more about telling compelling stories with you all.