You need a compelling video to tell your story…but where to start, and how much does it cost anyway? You’re in the right place to find out. Read on.
Phone Call
Great relationships start with a phone call. We give you a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your ideas and sift down to the benefit you’re trying to reach. Many people don’t even have a concrete idea of what they need, what format is best, or how much it costs, but that’s ok – that’s our job! We will follow up with an email outlining your brand strategy and ideas to action. (If you’re curious to get a head start, this is the worksheet we use, but you can just cold call us instead and we will talk you through it).
Meeting
We prefer to meet in person at our office, but we can do Skype as well if you are outside of New York. By this stage you have a better idea of what you need to produce to advance your brand. You can help us by presenting a written outline, video references, or even just a bullet-list of topics you intend to cover. We cover the broad strokes of the project timeline, budget range, and any anticipated details unique to your production.
Treatment
This is where we pitch your concept back to you! After our meeting, our directors will hone the message, tone, and format of the intended project, and email it to you as a PDF. We will also give you a solid estimate of the budget at this stage. Here’s an example document from Refilmery’s own branding exercise to show what you can expect.
Budget
How much does it cost? We know this is a critical aspect for you, and also that much of the industry will say “How long is a piece of string?” Productions do vary greatly according to the creative elements…tripods are cheaper than helicopters for instance, and access to the top of the Empire State is more expensive than your office boardroom. By this stage in the process, we will be able to give you a solid budget of how much this video will cost. No one likes spending money on videos – they are expensive. So we work hard to identify the return value for you in reaching your customer through this story.
Acceptance
By this stage you are in love with the concept. I’m sure we are really excited to produce it! If you decide the concept is not in the best interest of your business, no problem – we trust you’ll tell others how great we are to work with! However, you need a video and we have the solution. This is the “I do” point.
Agreement & Invoicing
We have a standard agreement we send you to explain our work process. We split our invoicing one-third on acceptance of the job, one-third before the shoot, and one-third after delivery of the project.
Production Schedule
Things don’t happen left to their own devices, right? We will work out a schedule in partnership with you to meet your needs. Generally this revolves around a shoot date. Depending on the job, we find it’s best to allow 2 weeks for development of the idea/script, 2 weeks of preproduction, 2 weeks to deliver you the first edit, and then 2 weeks for revisions and finishing. That’s 2 months! But we can certainly do it sooner if need be.
Branding
If you are yet to define your brand, you can work with our team to shape your brand identity and establish some guidelines. Our graphic designers will create a brilliant logo to represent you, and our website developers will build your brand’s home on the Internet. We handle website registration, company email activation, business card printing, and the creation of social media accounts. If you have all this already, let’s move on to making your video.
Development
Ok, this is the fun part. This is where dreams fly and we turn that Rubik concept into specific elements such as script, shotlist, storyboards, or interview questions to refine your message and bring your personality to the fore. This process varies for each shoot – let’s discover yours!
Pre Production
When you have approved the script is locked, the preproduction phase allows us the time to prepare for the shoot: booking actors, finding locations, choosing the right camera for your story, gathering wardrobe and props and that twelve foot cardboard-cutout of a walrus.
Production
We love how unique our shoot days are. It’s hard to predict what your shoot will look like because it’s shaped by the needs of your brand, but it’s usually long and action packed! You are welcome on-set to oversee the final look. Our crew is professional, courteous and accommodating to work with. We work hard to capture the best results for you.
Post Production
Editing, color grading, sound mixing, music composition, visual effects… in the post production phase we bring it all together to realize the story we set out to achieve. We include two edit revisions in our budget so you are confident you get the narrative you want. You can review files over Dropbox to make it easy to give us feedback.
Distribution & Marketing
So, what do you want to do with your video? (This is something we will discuss in that first phone call, but for the sake of flow to this outline, read on). Perhaps you have a clear path to broadcast, or a social media influencer-campaign in mind, or online-education platforms, or just want it front-and-center on your website. We will upload it for you and making things like the thumbnails look great across Vimeo and YouTube. We love to develop campaigns and give more in-depth guidance. Just ask!