I’ll be honest. Creating video is expensive. I’m not talking about DIY video. I’m talking about high-quality eLearning where you hire a crew to shoot, animate, and edit your videos. “But how much will it cost?” is often the first question we get asked by new clients, while they’re trying to figure out what they’ll need to complete their project successfully.
Video production costs can be a black hole for people inexperienced with the process. And, every Producer thinks about budgeting a little differently. At Edios Media, we come from a Hollywood background, so we base our line items on overall time for the finished project, day rates for a crew, and by individual video length.
Every project is unique, and here at Edios Media we tailor every online course proposal to the specific needs of a client’s project. But, there are always a few things that make the budget explode exponentially. Keep your budget intact by keeping your eye on these 3 budget busters:
1. Extra shoot days. Each shoot day requires a crew and their equipment to be on site, and can be very expensive. Day rates are based on a 10-hour, door-to-door clock. If our clients aren’t prepared – if scripts aren’t ready, or if the instructor wants to do multiple takes, it will reduce the amount of content we can shoot in a day. Multiple set ups for multiple looks can take up to 2 hours to set-up depending on the circumstances. We try to consolidate shoot days by filming as much content as possible, and we work with our clients to make that happen.
2. Extra rounds of revisions. Whether this is at the script stage or the edit stage, multiple rounds of revisions eat up time and money. Make sure you and your team are aligned early on in the project – if everyone is on the same page with what this should look and sound like, it’s usually easier to nail creative down without a lot of extra work.
3. Changing your mind about graphics. When creating animations, we start with an idea, then turn that idea into a sketch, then into a digital still, then into animation. This process takes time, and we can always make changes as we go. However, it’s much less time consuming (and thus, cheaper) to change your mind about what you want at the sketch stage than after the designer has completed an animation. Small changes are usually doable, but reconcepting a graphic after it’s been created will always require a scope change.
These things can usually be avoided with strong communication and good planning (some of which you can read about in my earlier blog post about the merits of pre-production). The Edios Media development process is designed to align the team as early as possible to avoid any big surprises – we’d never want a client to be surprised at what they’re receiving.
The reality is that high-quality video production is costly, but you can avoid unnecessary expenses by incorporating strong project management, constant communication, and the foresight to avoid costly decisions.
If you’re interested in getting a quote for your online course, please reach out to us! We’re happy to talk through your project details and provide options for how you can make a cost-effective, high-quality online course yourself.
-Elizabeth Madariaga, Co-Founder & Executive Producer, Edios Media